some advice please

[cooky]

hiya, im a equipped lifter and just got my squat to a decent standard although would like to improve more, im in the Army and just been given a different post to my present job, which means i have to take students on long runs up to 8 miles.

What I am asking is there anyone who does a lot of running and heavy squatting too, if so what sort of routine do you use and how often do you heavy lift.

comments much appreciated

[Pork Pie]

I will be interested to see what people's responses are to this but from my own intuition I'd suggest you build in longer recovery times between workouts, try and make sure your diet and supps are spot on and possibly make your leg workouts as brief as possible - squats, plus one or two assistance movements only.

[gerthebear]

I will be interested to see what people's responses are to this but from my own intuition I'd suggest you build in longer recovery times between workouts, try and make sure your diet and supps are spot on and possibly make your leg workouts as brief as possible - squats, plus one or two assistance movements only.

i would say the opposite. provided the rest times between the run and the squat are sufficient, then the running could act as a sort of GPP(general physical preparedness) exercise and in fact condition your body for weight training much better.

conditioning the body to use weights has proved through research that there are huge benefits. hence the use of the prowler in america.

[Doc D]

Jogging and squats do not go well together (cf. fibre conversion). I'd agree with Pork Pie here: damage limitation is the goal. An hour of steady state running emphatically does *not* have the same benefits as 20 mins of interval training with a Prowler!

[cuntos]

I'm going with Doc D and Mr Pie here, even though I've never run more than a few yards (after the ice cream van) in my life!

[gerthebear]

Jogging and squats do not go well together (cf. fibre conversion). I'd agree with Pork Pie here: damage limitation is the goal. An hour of steady state running emphatically does *not* have the same benefits as 20 mins of interval training with a Prowler!

fair point about the intervals training but i would assume that the same slow twitch fibres are used for running and the prowler just on different levels? both are stamina related?

[Doc D]

fair point about the intervals training but i would assume that the same slow twitch fibres are used for running and the prowler just on different levels? both are stamina related?

It would depend on how the Prowler is used, but most applications that I have seen involve pushing hard and fast for repeated short (30-60 sec or so) bursts. Hence not only is different musculature taxed (i.e. whole body, versus jogging's focus on lower body), but also very different energy processes are involved.

Regarding fibre conversion: there was an interesting article on T-Nation a couple of years ago, IIRC, which outlined the negative effects of jogging. It tended to confirm my own experience in this regard.

[cooky]

Thanks for your comments guys, im aching like hell at the moment running, id rather squat heavy its taking its toll at present. running is definetely a different type of cardio as i always use a sledge at my gym and the recovery time is definetely different and the aches.

your saying I should squat briefly, does that mean once every 2 or 3 weeks for a heavy session or more often and being a equipped lifter should I use my equipment every session.

thanks again for the advice much appreciated

[altug]

Michsael Schwanke also does lots of running because of his job in the army. He is also a very very-high volume lifter but keeps reps to 1-2 only for his squats.

[gerthebear]

well joe defranco wrote an article in relation to the athletes at his gym where he uses running and jogging in combination with strength programes to condition his athletes and says it works really well for conditioning. im sure if cooky is running once per week and squatting a few days out from that, that it isnt going to have major effects on his squatting, infact cud it be the opposite way round?

[Doc D]

well joe defranco wrote an article in relation to the athletes at his gym where he uses running and jogging in combination with strength programes to condition his athletes and says it works really well for conditioning. im sure if cooky is running once per week and squatting a few days out from that, that it isnt going to have major effects on his squatting, infact cud it be the opposite way round?

I'm a big believer in empirical experience. Why not try doing 8-mile runs like Cooky and then see how you fare while continuing your usual squatting regime? This wouldn't provide a universally applicable answer, but it would at least let you ascertain how it affects you personally. I've done lots of jogging (up to about 5 miles), and I would say that it has had a negative effect on my ability to perform and recover from heavy leg training. It has also not been to the asesthetic advantage of my legs. As I'm not competing in PL or BB, these are not significant issues for me, and if the health benefits of jogging outweighted these drawbacks, I would certainly persist in said activity. Each to his own.

[Doc D]

well joe defranco wrote an article in relation to the athletes at his gym where he uses running and jogging in combination with strength programes to condition his athletes

Further on the above: NB that he does not train powerlifters. His athletes are largely involved in sports which involve lots of running as an essential element of their sport. In other words, running naturally tends more towards SPP than GPP for them.

[gerthebear]

yes but my point was that it was in conjuction with strength training and they very much train like powerlifters especially in the off-season. even on his youtube he has 90kgs football players squatting over 500lbs

[cooky]

interesting conversation guys, I think will try out squatting every 3 weeks heavy with equipment and see how it goes, but if you do find any good routines or info it would be appreciated if you could post it on here.

Its just I had a mate who used to powerlift with me in the army and had to stop as he was in the same boat and now he has problems with his hips after doing so much running, but that might just be a coincedence though.