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12 Signposts for Old School Training by Mark Hatmaker

 


One-I address Old Schoolers Only

·        That is, my advice does not apply to anyone using pharmaceuticals of any form.

·        A-I do not use them for historical veracity. If PEDs were not around for the early expositor of advice I do not want to diffuse, complicate or render irrelevant the information by adding this ahistorical factor.

·        B-PEDs enable the organism to recover more quickly and other less than natural training curve effects. Those using aids/PEDs/cheats whatever you want to call them should consult their Bro-Pharmacist adviser and skip the Old School Way—methods differ for the drug contraindicated.

Two-You are likely working too long.

·        Marathon training sessions are out.

·        And by marathon, here we mean lengthy training sessions not the 26.2 mile run, although both qualify for what to avoid here.

·        We all know how we feel after a marathon [both kinds]; depleted and a feeling of accomplishment but…

·        That feeling for the need of extended recovery post-lengthy session/event is just the sort of thing that eats into gains.

·        Post marathon training the recovery is actual recovery in damage recuperation, not the associated minor-depletion of gradual accretional improvements.

Three—Consistency is key.

·        Gains are made via marginal revolutions, that is, steady inputs over time.

·        NOT by big work sessions hit with less than steadfast discipline.

·        This is seemingly contradictory to the advice in #2 but not at all.

·        Work sessions should be of shorter duration, this leads to rapid and easy “recovery” and the ability to return to another work session with ease.

·        With that said, you will wind up working more or just as much as the marathon sessioner, but over shorter sessions with fewer days off and “missed days” must be kicked to the curb for the marginal revolution to continue.

·        Session discipline is key, but the easier recovery allows for easier will-power access as post-session fatigue and anticipation of fatigue will not be a factor.



Four-Intensity is Scalable but Inescapable

·        These short sessions do not mean easy.

·        The exercises [no more than seven staged in specific sequence] are gauged to render the targeted function taxed.

·        Not tired, not “Whoa, I feel that” but taxed, taken to a degree of controlled no-go.

·        Scalability whether weighted or unleaded somatotrophics does NOT mean lift heavy-- often not heavy at all, or in some cases--ever.

·        Rather it means, alterations in form that render often laughably light weights, or on the surface familiar “calisthenics” ridiculously useful beasts without the addition of possibly late-damaging plates.

·        Ask any old power-lifter, bodybuilder, Cross-Fitter, O-Lifter how their body feels in their 50s and above compared to the heyday of relative youth.

·        I wager there are lots of “Uh ohs” coming down the age-pike.

Five-High Repetitions Are Not Intensity

·        There is no need for time-eating boredom inducing mind-numbing high repetitions.

·        If I do 500 Hindu Squats, which squat provides the desired effect?

·        Is rep 438 and above the ones that ensure endurance.

·        Is it rep 275 where the strengthening effects begins.

·        High reps often work at cross-purposes to both goals.

·        The aim is scalable choices that are directed at stamina and strength as low-number goals and not eat into our time and/or gains with this violation of Rule #2.

Six-Speed of Control is Key

·        Bouncing out 50 push-ups in no way resembles the low-slow-controlled 3/8s of a scaled somatotrophic push-up.

·        Bounces provide the illusion of work, but the work is actually a function of riding inertia in these cases.

·        Bounced work can possibly be damaging over time with “calisthenics” but more likely damaging in the realm of weighted work [even with light weights.]

·        If we cannot control the body [or the weight] with excruciating care at all portions of the effort-curve, then we are not actually in control or “strong” in that motion, are we?

Seven-Shock Over Plyometrics, & Task-Coupling

·        50 Box Jumps and 50 Power Cleans. Hard, right?

·        Yep. But the benefit in the end?

·        Old School shock work can look more like shallow plyometrics—smaller jumps of unusual angling or erratic planes with the medicine ball but…

·        The key is to wake-up and educate that inertial strength we waste with exercises like “bounced” push-ups or kipping pull-ups.

·        It is also key where we place the shock motions in relation to specific slow tasks so that they do not interfere with one another and thusly lead to actual progress and not mere exhaustion.



Eight- Trunk/Core Is THE Foundation

·        To Old School thought the musculature of the largest part of the body [the trunk] was vital to all else.

·        That includes the showy abs, and all the cantilevered torsion and torquing assisting musculature.

·        Not to mention, [but notice I am mentioning it] the unseen core-musculature, the spinal stabilizers, the serratus anterior that permits a bit more forgiveness in unforgiving body shots, etc.

·        There is no vanity in having a strong supple psoas lying deep in the pelvic girdle, but muscles such as these lead to big gains overall in surprising ways.

Nine-TLJ: Tendon, Ligament, & Joint Strength Over Muscular Strength

·        If Advil must be popped pre or post training, likely we have asked something of tendons and ligaments that only the muscles can provide.

·        Old School thought seeks strengthening harmony where the tendons and ligaments can answer the call of the muscles with no need of dampening the pain of our training mistakes.

Ten-Targeted Flexibility/Mobility Can Be a Detriment

·        This is a corollary of #9.

·        Flexibility/mobility as is commonly approached removes muscular tension from the equation which is the flip-side of the error of performing a muscular strengthening exercise and removing all thought of the tendons and ligaments.

·        True gains/progress in the area of suppleness must unite all three.

Eleven: Let the Endeavor Be the Stamina

·        After a strengthening session I can do roadwork for 3 miles and then seek to compress my striking, grappling, weapons work afterwards or…

·        I can skip “training to be a better runner” and put that time, effort and attention into being a better striker, grappler, weapons wielder.

·        If our chosen primary endeavors are hard [combat I am assuming] why eat into time and gains with another sport [biking, running, pretend-rowing] when you could simply tweak your already taxing goal sport to serve as the stamina builder?

Twelve-Skill in All Things, Perfectibility is the Point

·        Old School thought sees single “exercises” the same way we rough n tumblers sees individual tactics and techniques, skills to be cultivated and mastered.

·        Not simply rote movements to perform until reps are completed or time is up.

·        Be it a slo-mo swaying rock beneath the pull-up bar or a tomahawk hook off of a plunging aggression curve [See 7-Minute Video at End of This Essay] the same directed attention is applied to making it the best one can.

Conditioning is not something to endure or get out of the way, it can very well be part of the way that leads you to the bigger way.



Old School PT Roll-Out

·        We are looking to get the first volume of the real-deal Old School Body Changing PT out in August.

·        The 1st will be The TLJ Program [Tendon, Joints, & Ligaments.]

·        40+ “exercises”/holds placed into a logical sole-of-the-foot to the tip of the scalp sequencing that will go a long way towards “strengthening at the extremes” for injury prevention, rehab, and mobility.

·        This ain’t stretching, this is not mobility drilling.

·        The Old Timers distrusted “loosening joints” and were more concerned with structural stability, from this comes speed and strength and all else that will be built on this foundation.

·        There is also a 4-Part Internal Finisher that has some surprising “assists” in one of the 4F’s of Human Physiology.

·        This Video/Booklet Program will be a Black Box Subscriber exclusive initially with a roll-out to gen-pop further down the road.

·        For a bit more on this see here: https://indigenousability.blogspot.com/2021/06/foaming-boiler-old-school-pt-by-mark.html

[For more Rough & Tumble history see this blog, and for pragmatic applications of old school tactics historically accurate and viciously verified see our RAW/Black Box Subscription Service.]



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