Hi 30baders,
I am not new to strenght training but, still at the beginning. I want to be functional fit, athletic and perform well in every kind of sport e.g. Frisbee, running, rock climbing. I also try to do Parkour (which combines very different moves like running, jumping, climbing and vaulting) every day for at least 30 min. I have read so many things about conditioning and now I am very confused about it. Most of the books I read recommended bodyweight exercises and different training cycles. I understand that bodyweight exercises are the way to go for functional fitness, but what I miss is a training regimen what combines well with my parkour training. If I do a hard workout one day I am not able to pull myself up a wall more than a few times the next day. I want to conditioning my whole body and to improve my technique every day. I don't want to split my strenght training in upperbody, lowerbody and off days. What advice can you give me to get stronger without exhausting myself during strength training?
Replies
Wow, you ask a lot of questions! I am starting a parkour class in a few weeks as well. I'm not an expert, but I do have some thoughts. I am 46, and definitely experience the "weaker the next day" or even 48 hours. I think this is to do be expected after a heavy, strength-building workout. It is something you have to work around. Personally, I think you still need to do heavy workouts sometimes, and just expect to be affected the next few days. This even affects endurance work---you want to have "fresh legs" if you are trying to set a PR in running, for example, so you don't run (or barely run) the few days before a race.
I believe in the "different training cycle" approach, but that is pretty advanced if you are working out less than 30 minutes a day now. Also, although I am a fan of bodyweight training and particularly the functional lifts (I do the Olympic lifts), I don't think there is any reason to exclude weight training. Weights and bodyweight training go together well.
For me, I just don't repeat the kind of activity I do two close together. I rarely do an "upper body only" or "lower body only" or worse "back day" vs. "chest day". Of course, I'm not really superfit---maybe a serious traceur will be able to answer.
hey Robert,
thanks for your answer. You said that weights and bodyweight training go well together. I thinks so too. I also believe in the different training cycle approach, but I guess there must be a way to train all muscles one day, do parkour and then do the same thing the next day. Now I have read the book Convict Conditioning and I will give a program called "Veterano" a I try. In this book the author describes 6 basic exercises and on that program you do only one exercise per day with one day rest per week. I will give it a try, but at first I thought only one time per week each exercise - how can that build strenght? I will see.