cardiovascular
How to Concurrently Enhance Cardiovascular Capacity and Target Proficiency for Bow Hunters
Here in Pennsylvania we’re less than a month away from the official start of the statewide whitetail archery hunt. It’s at about this time that hunters will be desperately getting in their target practice with a bow that many have not touched since late archery season or even before the regular firearms season of last year’s hunt.
I don’t advocate for cramming in all of your out-of-season target work last-minute, however there are realities to this. But regardless of if you’ve been maintaining your skills with the bow or not, you can use this time more effectively to fine-tune your bow skills while simultaneously enhancing your physical capabilities and hunting endurance.
Many east-coast hunters will be locked-in to their tree stands for the months of September and October, but even this is not without physical struggle. Likewise, many big-game western hunters will quickly recognize the necessity of physical preparation for the hunt, as the terrain and elevation of the west can end your hunt—or even your life—without adequate preparation.
Though your cardiovascular endurance may have quickly dissipated after the end of last-season’s hunt, it can return almost as quickly (this rapid degradation and development is unique to cardiovascular endurance, unlike the capacity of strength, which shows a much slower return of improvements as well as decrements).
Though not ideal, you still have time to become relatively prepared for the demands of the hunt.
And by doubling-up conditioning work with bow practice, this can be done in half the time, while allowing you to train with the bow in a fatigued state—as you may find yourself when faced with a deer, elk, or other game animal.
Here’s just one of the workouts we recommend to our hunters. The limit to this workout is that you need space, lots of empty space where you can safely target practice and run down range… Therefore, this only works on private property or empty public land…
To start, pick 3 distances that you’re most likely to shoot at, for me, with my fixed-pin set-up, I use 10, 20, and 30 yards. For my training, I also use an uphill with a medium grade.
Start by taking 10 warm-up shots at 10 yards, followed by 5 trips to the target while it sits at 10 yards. Each run should be progressively faster, starting with a brisk walk, ending with a sprint.
Do this yet again with a target at 20 yards… 10 shots, 5 trips.
Guess what you’re doing at 30 yards? Same thing. 10 shots, 5 trips.
As you become more accustomed to this, you can begin to add in more trips, up to 10 sprints at each target range. I don’t recommend running with the bow—some may view this as ‘sport-specific’ but can lead to more asymmetries than necessary. The more variables, like running with the bow, that you add in, the more complicated the process becomes; we’re simply looking for getting you in-shape and target-ready in the most efficient means possible.
After you’ve built yourself up to 10 sprints and 10 shots at all three designated distances, scale back down to 5 trips, but now begin timing each sprint and recording rest. By improving your time on each sprint and maintaining or reducing rest, you’re improving your overall cardiorespiratory endurance across all three primary energy systems (30 yards is by no stretch of the imagination a feat of cardiovascular endurance, but the accumulation of fatigue over the course of all sprints will certainly have beneficial effects on glycolysis, respiratory, and cardiovascular function.
Want to learn more or improve your readiness for the hunt? Email us at info@RuthlessPerformance.com and ask about our Physical Preparation for Big Game Hunters Program.
Featured Fitness Content: Volume 48
View the last edition of ‘Featured Fitness Content’ here.
Personal Training, Coaching, and Strength & Conditioning
Does Shaving Improve Swimming Performance? By Allan Phillips via Swimming Science
Weight Loss, Nutrition, and General Health
The 12 Most Effective Ways to Spark the Recovery Process By John Rusin
Are Nightshade Vegetables Bad for You? An Evidence-Based Look By Kimberly Yawitz via Diet vs. Disease
How Much Fish Oil Is Too Much? Via Strength Sensei
Carrageenan: Friend or Foe? By Nicole Spear via Strength Sensei
Strength Training, Powerlifting, and Bodybuilding
Breaking Down the Depth Jump By Nancy Newell
7 Exercises Lost to the ’80s By Skip Hill via EliteFTS
Everything Lateral Lunges By Erica Suter
Motivation, Business, and Success
A Quick and Dirty System for Goal Setting: A Done-For-You 60 Minute Workshop To Live An Intentional Life By Michael Keeler via Business for Unicorns
Physical Therapy, Alignment, and Injury Prevention
Posture By Vern Gambetta via HMMR Media
Research
Hyperoxia Improves Swimming Performance By G John Mullen via Swimming Science
Ruthless Performance Coaches’ Content
Ruthless Performance Guide to Mineral Supplementation By Jesse Rodriguez via Ruthless Performance
Internal Program Review: Collegiate Swimmer Off-Season Strength & Conditioning Program – Day 1 By John Matulevich via Ruthless Performance
Internal Program Review: Collegiate Swimmer Off-Season Strength & Conditioning Program – Day 1
The strength and conditioning community is far too fractioned; proprietary training programs and secrecy hide the inner workings of many sports performance coaching theories and facilities. At Ruthless Performance, we find this idea entirely backwards—this mentality is a sign of some fragile egos and insecurity within the industry. To do our part in mitigating this, we’re going to start a new on-going series where we’ll deconstruct some aspect of a selected program from one of our Ruthless Performers. Hopefully this will help coaches and athletes get a better idea of programming and the science of sports performance, regardless of their affiliation with Ruthless Performance.
Our inaugural installment of our Internal Program Review begins with a look at Day 1 of a male, college swimmer’s dryland training program. First, we’ll provide some context…
This swimmer is in between the freshman and sophomore season of his collegiate swimming career. Currently, we’re training him 5x per week. Most workouts have their own day of the week, but occasionally he’ll do doubles if schedule conflicts are present.
As you can see in the figure, his programming is currently changing every 4 weeks and his workout week can most easily be broken down as follows, note that each day is not specifically ‘upper’ or ‘lower’ but rather these ideas denote the dominant exercises for that particular day:
Day 1 – Lower Body
Day 2 – Upper Body
Day 3 – Conditioning
Day 4 – Upper Body
Day 5 – Lower Body
For our Internal Program Review, we’ll examine day 1…
1. Box Squat
More than 80% of athletes that we see on a regular basis have some box squat variant somewhere in their training macrocycle, usually this is on a recurring basis as well. The box squat provides a variety of benefits, going into detail here would be too great for the scope of this article. If you’re interested in learning more about how to box squat as well as their benefits, I would recommend performing a quick search for Louie Simmons of Westside Barbell and the Box Squat.
In this case, we’re slowly reintegrating the squat into his program after having some time off following his long swim season. Here, we’ve added the box squat as a means to help assist in developing leg strength, posterior weight shift (integral to developing a proficient and technically sound squat) and building muscle to subsequently assist in force production coming off of the blocks and during turns.
2. Hanging Straight Leg Raises
A crucial component to any strength and conditioning program developed by Ruthless Performance is a substantial element of force transfer in various planes. In our A2, which is paired with the A1 (Box Squats), we’re emphasizing this force transfer, and we’re doing so specifically in the Sagittal Plane.
With the Hanging Straight Leg Raises (HSLR), we’re also building the anterior chain, specifically the abdominals. Though swimmers are no stranger to ‘core’ exercises, they can be unfamiliar with lower-repetition strength-dominant work in the abdominals like this. Whether its poolside after practice or at-home at the behest of their coaches, swimmers frequently train with high repetition crunches, sit-ups, or poorly performed planks.
Exercises like the HSLR are rarely given at Ruthless as these can place too much emphasis on the Rectus Femoris which already receives ample stimulation during regular swim practice. But unlike with Bent Leg Raises, the straight leg variation provides more stimuli to the abdominals, which can partially explain why it is much harder than bent leg variations (also worth searching, but beyond the scope of our review: passive insufficiency).
Something also worth noting with the HSLR is how we manipulate this to maximize efficacy. With most weighted exercises, this is done via an increase in resistance. With a bodyweight exercise like this, we are slightly more confined in our ability to progress this over a 4-week period. Therefore we’re slowly adding more repetitions to each set throughout the program.
3. 180 Hip Extension
If you’ve never trained with us, you’ve likely gotten familiar with this exercise being referred to as a ‘back extension’. This is partially a misnomer, specifically at Ruthless Performance as we actively coach a rounded upper back on this exercise to maximize glute input, while minimizing lower back activation.
The erector muscles already receive a great deal of stimulation any time the back/hips are being used as a fulcrum (which is close to any time you are doing a non-isolation/machine exercise). Additionally, the capillary network of the low back is rather poor, causing a slow recovery time. Doing low-back work in addition to all of this could be a decrement to performance rather than performance enhancing.
This can be progressed with weights or bands as needed, but a large emphasis should initially be placed on glute activation during this exercise rather than on a large range of motion (ROM). We typically encourage an external femoral rotation when possible, which further activates the glutes on this. When the glutes can’t contract any more on the hip extension, there is no reason to add more ROM.
4. Calf Raises
One of the benefits of working with an athlete with such frequency is that we can get into some details holding them back that would otherwise be unachievable on a 2x or 3x /wk program. With this athlete, poor calf hypertrophy is likely a weak link holding back lower body development. From a physics standpoint, mass can’t be added without a broad base of support. Consider the tyrannosaurus rex, with its massive legs serving as a point of contact and base of support, or in engineering the structure and shape of the world’s largest buildings.
Specifically, to build mass in the calves without taking too much time away from more pertinent programming, we focus on density. Through the course of the program, we’re trying to have this athlete perform more reps with the fewest amount of sets possible. It is very rare to manipulate the volume so drastically from weeks 1 to weeks 4, but this is precisely what is needed in this situation.
5. High Handle Sled Push
We rarely have our swimmers perform energy system training, but in this case, the athlete is out of season and will need to preserve some basic level of cardiovascular conditioning for when he returns to college in the fall. You can learn more about our theories and thoughts on energy system training for swimmers in our article aptly titled “Why Ruthless Performance Doesn’t Emphasize Energy System Training for Our Swimmers”.
The sled provides an opportunity to help generate greater ROM between the legs, build concentric strength, increase hip and ankle mobility, and is just a generally versatile conditioning tool. You’ll also notice that the distance is relatively short. He’s been performing these bouts between 6-10 seconds. This by no means will provide an amount of conditioning conducive to in-pool training and performance, but will help maintain and improve ATP usage at the end of a long workout, which transfers nicely into a strong finish in a mid-distance/distance event.
Have any questions about what you see or would you like further clarification? Send us your questions at info@RuthlessPerformance.com. Your question may even turn into inspiration for a blog or social media post.
Featured Fitness Content: Volume 44
View the last edition of ‘Featured Fitness Content’ here.
Personal Training, Coaching, and Strength & Conditioning
Performance Programming Principles: Installment 2 By Eric Cressey
The 3 Main Goals of an Assessment By Dean Somerset
Step-by-Step Glute Training By Mike Robertson
Weight Loss, Nutrition, and General Health
Why You Might Not Need to Learn More About Nutrition By Mike Roussell
Carbohydrates – My Take on Carbs By Charles Poliquin
The Greatest Public Health Mistake of the 20th Century By Joseph Mercola
Honey Lemon Water: An Effective Remedy or Urban Myth? By Jillian Kubala via Health Line
7 Science-Based Health Benefits of Selenium By Jillian Kubala via Health Line
Strength Training, Powerlifting, and Bodybuilding
Are You Making These Strength Training Mistakes By G John Mullen via COR
Complete Core Questions By Michael Boyle
Get Tough: A Beginner’s Guide To Impact Training By Walter Dorey via Breaking Muscle
Motivation, Business, and Success
The Power of Accepting Personal Responsibility By Jen Comas via Girls Gone Strong
Truth: Half of What We Call ‘Fitness’ Isn’t Fitness at All By Lee Boyce
Before you design a chart or infographic By Seth Godin
Don’t create new content. Repurpose content. By Sol Orwell
Physical Therapy, Alignment, and Injury Prevention
[VIDEO] Recent Training and Evaluation Insights By Charlie Weingroff
Research
Science Is Self-Correcting – The Case Of The Hip Thrust And Its Effects On Speed By Bret Contreras
Featured Fitness Content: Volume 42
View the last edition of ‘Featured Fitness Content’ here.
Personal Training, Coaching, and Strength & Conditioning
What is DOMS and How Do You Deal With It? via COR
Beyond Mastery: Kettlebell Flow Workout By Karen Smith via Girls Gone Strong
Restore Your Breathing and Improve Your Conditioning via Diesel Strength
Coaching art & science By Vern Gambetta via HMMR Media
Weight Loss, Nutrition, and General Health
Could you be developing an autoimmune disease? By Buddy Touchinsky
The Hidden, Unspoken Dangers About Oral Contraceptives By Justin Janoska via Metabolic Effect
Does “low carb” have an official definition? By Kamal Patel via Examine
Strength Training, Powerlifting, and Bodybuilding
The Deadlift: 3 Reasons By Mark Rippetoe via Starting Strength
Tip: Movement Prep for Olympic Lifting By Wil Fleming via T-Nation
Tip: How to Bring Up a Weak Body Part By John Meadows T-Nation
Motivation, Business, and Success
Why The Easy Life Breeds Weakness In AND Out of The Gym By Zach Even Esh
6 Things Entrepreneurship Can Teach You About Fitness By Mark Fisher via Mark Fisher Fitness
Discounts vs. Packages in Your Cash Practice By Aaron LeBauer via The OMPT
Seeing and believing By Seth Godin
3 Ways to Improve Your Customer Service, Starting Today By Michael Keeler
Physical Therapy, Alignment, and Injury Prevention
Life Lessons I Learned from My Physical Therapist By Stella Kaufman via Mark Fisher Fitness
Research
Can supplemental vitamin D improve sleep? By Kamal Patel via Examine
Do high-carbohydrate diets increase the risk of death? By Kamal Patel via Examine
What I Learned About Injury Rates from Surveying 1,900 Powerlifters By Andrew Patton via Stronger by Science
Ruthless Performance Coaches’ Content
Why Ruthless Performance Doesn’t Emphasize Energy System Training for Our Swimmers By John Matulevich via Ruthless Performance
Why Ruthless Performance Doesn’t Emphasize Energy System Training for Our Swimmers
Outside of a handful of technological advances in competition suits and some isolated factions of coaches and athletes, the sport of swimming is largely stuck in a late 90’s – early 2000’s mentality; which is a generous approximation on my part, as the sport of swimming in the 90’s-00’s wasn’t all that much better from the handful of decades preceding it. This old school training mindset included a great emphasis on high yardage in the pool, followed by a big taper leading up to important and championship swim meets.
The high yardage/ big taper approach certainly has its applications, but much like how swimmers took the alleged 10,000+ kCal ‘Phelps Diet’ leading up to the 2008 Olympics as an excuse to overconsume and under-nourish with empty-nutrient and calorie-rich foods, braggadocios swim coaches have hijacked the good intent of high-yardage programs, and now misinformed coaches are globally vying for title of who can put their athletes through the most pain.
Since the semi-archaic idea of mega-yardage programs still have some merit, I’d like to focus dryland training, the dated and frequently perpetuated fallacies surrounding this, as well as what Ruthless Performance does with our swimmers and what other high-level programs are engaged in from a strength training perspective.
This well-known Ruthless Performance philosophy regarding dryland training for swimmers leads many concerned parents and swim coaches to ask the Ruthless Performance staff about our programs. Since swimming requires so much cardio, shouldn’t that be a main part of dryland training?
Simply put, no. But here’s the longer answer…
In the past, dryland training has mirrored pool-based training very closely. This would include ideas like distance running and other high intensity-based conditioning routines (and if you’re lucky, some lackadaisically performed, poorly designed rotator cuff band complexes). Not only is this additional energy system training unnecessary (during the in-season), but it can also be burdensome, ineffective, and at worst, harmful to performance.
One of the main reasons we don’t program a large amount of energy system training in our swimmers’ training programs is because of the sheer volume of energy system work that swimmers get while in the pool. Most swimmers can get through a large part of the warm-up without realizing that they are engaging in conditioning already. Add the various work sets done through a workout, and then repeated on a nearly daily basis, and you have a recipe for fantastic cardiopulmonary function and sport-specific energy-system development.
The problem is that coaches too frequently confuse the cardiovascular demands of the sport of swimming with the cardiovascular demands of swim practice.
Running is one such frequently assigned dryland activity for swimmers, used as a means of developing cardiovascular function. This is in part, due to the perception that swimming is a sport which requires a lot of cardio—which it does. The problem is that coaches too frequently confuse the cardiovascular demands of the sport of swimming with the cardiovascular demands of swim practice.
Adding more conditioning work on top of what is done in practice is simply providing an athletes cardiovascular system with diminishing marginal returns on ability to practice; this is largely ineffective because of how quickly the cardiovascular system responds and adapts to training stimuli. A few weeks of pre-season practice and a base level of cardiovascular function is restored to the point where an athlete can successfully compete at meets and return to more rigorous in-season training. Since most events are over in less than two minutes, this style of dryland training can become redundant and inefficient.
Adding running or various other conditioning modalities on top of traditional in-pool training can yield greater performance; just not as great as swimming performance could be if we focused on some other modalities and training tools. This is a conversation for another day entirely, but all of the strength-based training that we have our swimmers perform help in a variety of ways. Our strength training does, in fact, enhance energy system capacities, specifically the phosphocreatine (quick anaerobic energy system pathway). This is the system which leads to faster starts, quick turns, breakouts, and even negative splits in distance events.
All this to say that strength training with minimal traditional cardiovascular input is the primary way we train our athletes and for good reason. Rather than simply packing on additional volume of similar work, we are building up muscles which help prevent overuse injuries, minimizing the impact of training stressors, improve reaction time, coordination, catch in the water and so on. This allows athletes the opportunity to train more optimally in the pool, which is the primary vessel for developing skill-specific capacities in swimmers.