Three Old School Principles You MUST Have to Un-Stick Your PT by Mark Hatmaker

 

Old School Warrior Wisdom, be it striking, grappling, or training for warriorship has more than a few nuggets that can, and to my way of thinking, should be used today.

 

These old nuggets can take the form of the specific application [the tactical] as in “Fire this elbow this way” or “Pull-ups? Nah, not like that, like this.”

 

Or the nuggets can take the form of an overall schema or approach [the strategic] as in, “A southpaw fighter will drift opposite what your mirrorwork tells you, skip the mirror when fighting one is on the schedule” or “Sequencing is King”-- training, say arms before back, will kybosh gains in both realms and does not make full use of Hebb’s Rule.

 

Today’s sojourn deals with the tactical in the physical training realm. We will touch on three principles of overall PT Program construction without going into a specific PT Program itself. I and many of the Black Box Brotherhood use The Unleaded Conditioning protocol which is a synergistic mix of low weight and somatotrophics [increasingly escalating calisthenics] to render the desired effects in less time than you ever thought possible, with far less wear and tear on ever-aging bodies. [Entropy is a fact of being a living organism.]

 

[BTW-Don’t let “low-weight” fool one into assuming high-reps. We’ll get to that.]

 

Two Things before we get to the three principles.

 

One-These will work with any PT program, Unleaded or otherwise, Unleaded is simply constructed inside-out top-to-bottom with these old school thoughts in mind. A little imagination though will allow you to adjust whatever your own flavor of mayhem is to take advantage of this wisdom.

 

Two-I address ONLY natural athletes. My bias is 100% old school, pre-steroid era, hell, even pre-creatine consumption.

 

Supplementation is designed to alter how the body can adapt to physical stressors.

 

Old School training had no recourse or desire to “hedge” training.

 

What you see is what you get.

 

What you do is what you wrought.

 

Many of us are pursuing training templates created in the shadow of pharmaceutical help, hamster-wheeling training schemas that allow the “helped” athlete to respond—not the pure OD natural warrior.

 

So, if one digs pharmaceuticals, you can skip this lesson, I speak to the Old School Warrior.

 

Much current supplement-shadow advice is akin to saying “Hey, here’s some financial advice, first get a rich dad to bankroll you, bankrupt several times but have high-powered attorneys on hand to allow you to default on recompense putting others at jeopardy while you reap rewards.”

 

One can indeed get rich that way, but most of us do not have that option or desire the ethical trade-off to enjoy that option.

 

I speak to true old schoolers, true boot-strappers.

 

Principle #1: Low-Volume

 

Many of us natural ones are working too much at cross-purposes to the goal in mind.

 

“I do 250 push-ups per day, I’m working towards 300.”

 

“I did 50 thrusters at 95#, I’m shooting for 50 at 115#.”

 

“I do 3 miles 5 days per week, I’m looking to be at 5 miles 5 days per week by January.”

 

That Hi-Volume mindset describes many of us [my former self included.]

 

Yet, often what this high-discipline delivers is modest strength gains, some stamina building at the expense of….

 

Lost time that is--Opportunity Costs—You could have been training the sport/art or simply paddling the kayak with a loved one instead.]

 

No commensurate loss in bodyfat or increase in muscle tone despite the increased effort expenditure. [Ofttimes there is a “soft” bloating due to pervasive cell damage dealing with the volume.]

 

Increased exposure to dings; the aches, pains, ibuprofen-fed feeling that the state of “good health” reportedly requires.

 

Allow me to offer, if what we do to ensure good health requires painkillers or support [ice, naproxen, support-wraps, shoe-inserts, ibuprofen, etc.] then maybe, just maybe, that ain’t such a good health practice after all.

 

If a doctor said, here take this med for your health, but every time you took it your elbow throbbed or your plantar fasciitis acted up, you’d think, “Hmm, maybe this doc is full of shit.”

 

Just what is the Old School definition of Low-Volume?

 

One-Just one exercise per body-part.

 

That means none of this noise, “Well, on chest day I do a superset of flyes and bench press, then some wide-grips, right into one set of Romans to burn it up then finish with some incline dumbbell to top off the pecs.”

 

Such routines are common and were spurred by the pharmaceutical influenced era.

If you are not on pharmaceuticals such a routine is not only not for you, it can eat up the true gains you desired in the first place.

 

Low-Volume means one exercise per body part per session. It does not mean that you cannot have variety, it simply means that you allow variety to revolve though each training day or session and that you do not stack more than one on a single session.

 

Unleaded Conditioning uses just such an ever-revolving rotation protocol.

 

Low-Volume also means, No High Reps.

 

None of this….

“I only do one set of pull-ups, but I do 100 of ‘em.”

 

“I do 300 Hindu Squats per day.”

 

And so on and so forth.

 

Get this…

 

Old school thought Low-Volume is centered around the idea of one exercise per body part, and of that exercise no more than 3 sets of that exercise.

 

3 sets, that’s it.

 

“Well, at three sets, surely those numbers are high, right, Mark?”

 

Nope. 3 sets of 6-8. That’s it.

 

And there are no “warm-up” sets included or required.

 

I wager many of you, stop right there and think, “Naw, that can’t right.”

It is and leads us to principle #2.

 

Principle #2: High-Intensity

 

Old School thought is based on the truism of “Harder not more” or “Harder not longer.”

 

Let’s think this through.

 

If I offer you a training day of “Let’s do 50 push-ups to warm-up, then 25 ring dips, then end with 5 attempts at a 1 rep max bench press” on a single day many would agree that that sounds similar to much high-expenditure box programming but…

 

We have to ask what are we building with such a training day.

 

Surely, it’s not strength. The push-ups and dips that preceded my 1RM attempts will reduce possible maximum capacity in that bench press.

 

Is it stamina, the ability to go to the well again and again with pushing power?

If that is the case, would not jumping right to the heavy bench on maximum repeat do the job?  Surely we'd leave out the low-quality work [push-ups and dips] which presumably we’ve mastered long ago.

 

Does Usain Bolt increase his maximum output in the sprint by preceding it with a series of 440s?

 

It would seem that I am proposing that the old school way of intensity is nothing more than a form of dedicated powerlifting.

 

Not at all.

 

It can be, some specialized in that enterprise.

 

What the old school way does strive for is intensity no matter the tactic chosen. And that intensity is never chosen as high-volume, be that volume 100 KB swings or 100 sit-ups.

 

The intensity is reached via scalable exercise that eats up the natural athlete’s adaptive system in a mere 3 sets of 6-8 repetitions.

 

Let’s look at it this way. If you have built up to the ability to do a dragon flag, that is full heels to floor or just past the support bench and back to pike position, well, a mere 3 sets of this exercise will stand you in better stead for strength, aesthetics, and core stamina than all the sit-ups you can shake a stick at.

 

Old School thought is predicated on the idea that high-volume is your enemy and a sign that you could have done more at a higher intensity but chose to eat more time by choosing an easier or lighter form of exercise.

 

In a nutshell it is a choose hard, work hard, get out mentality.

 

Important Point: Intensity does not necessarily mean heavy weight.

 

Old school intensity, more often than not, was a construct of peculiar attention to form. Ranges of motion that peaked effort and challenged the nervous system without necessarily going heavy.

 

Why?

 

Injury.

 

Back to what we alluded to before, if we require knee wraps, or ibuprofen or any other bolsters to perform these are signals that something is a little off in our overall strength template somewhere. Perhaps a tendon or ligament not quite up to snuff. A Gluteus Medius that lags behind.

 

One can be the possessor of a big bench but also the possessor of a weak pec minor that can manifest as recurrent shoulder pain from muscular imbalances in the shoulder girdle.

 

The definition of intensity is not heavy, it is perfection of form of the given exercise scalable to the particular athlete.

 

A canny mix of somatotrophics [gradated bodyweight work] and weights are the key.

 

Sidebar for Form: For a decade or so I would bench 225 for reps. Never really sought to push higher, just figured this was a good base rate for standard strength.

Currently, using old school form on the bench I have been at no more than 3 sets of 6-8 reps at a weight of 115 pounds for over 6 months of concentrated effort.

 

Perceived effort on the 115 is far higher than I felt on the 225 for reps--yes, a full 110 pounds "weaker." Yet, in a spot test, I can still go to the 225 for reps easily but would be trapped under the bar if I switched to old school form in the midst of a rep.

 

Perfection of forms allows me to build strength [or at the very least lose zero strength] and stay out of the possible injury hole by pursuing higher with lesser form.

 

My subjective anecdote says my strength feels just fine, my stamina feels good to go and there has been an improvement in aesthetics.

So pain-free, less time expended, the Missus digs the look. Win-Win-Win.

 

So far, we have on our side for the Old School way—less time required, less sets, less exercise volume, less gym set-ups, less pain.

 

What’s the trade-off?

 

Principle #3: Frequency

 

Those non-supplementation naturals out there must take all of that time we gained by reducing training time and turn that into more frequent training sessions.

 

That is, the drugged among us can see gains via three hard training sessions per week.

The drugged can split up body-parts willy nilly, allowing others to "rest."

 No pharmaceuticals surging through our veins, well, that will not cut it.

 We will have shorter training sessions, and they will be predicated on scalable intensity but…

 

We must hit them more often.

 

It seems three days on one day off fits the bill.

 

And these sessions must include each aspect you wish to build or maintain.

 

In Unleaded we hit the 7 body parts each session.

 

One Shock Package per session [the old school form of plyometrics.]

 

And one package devoted to cardiovascular intensity. [Again, short and sweet—the principles never vary. I use The Barbarian Battery in the Unleaded Protocol.]

 

Yes, perhaps more training sessions---or perhaps not, some train high-volume 5-6 days per week already. That being the case this will feel like a walk-back. It ain’t. Lucky us!

 

But if we are running that intensity correctly with the perfection of form protocol, nothing is a walk in the park.

 

If it were all as easy as popping a pill, we’d all do it.

 

So, Mark, let me get this straight, less time, less volume, high intensity, 3 sets and go home—that’s it?

 

Yep.

 

And it can work with any protocol, it doesn’t have to be your Unleaded thingy?

 

Right-o!

 

Anything else?

 

Well, yeah, I mentioned only 3 sets per exercise.

 

There are three factors that are applied to each 3^rd set of any exercise you do—again these are applied on a revolving basis.

 

These three factors used on a revolving basis on the 3^rd set, well, these are the cherry on top. These can take an exercise even with a mere 10# dumbbell and set you on fire and still allow you to make gains in the three realms of Strength, Stamina, and Aesthetics.

 

Well, what are these three?

 

I’ve given enough milk away for free here, that cow belongs to the Black Box Brotherhood.

 

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