Life in the Fast Lane

To get to first grade (A grade as it was) I trained for three years four to five nights a week at an hour and a half per session. So the total was over one thousand hours and at least 70,000 reps, of the various lifts. I might not have been as fit as a long-distance runner, top -grade Aussie Rules, or squash player, but I never lacked energy in abundance for general living. In fact, the only people who do manage to out-distance me at bush-walking now are either top sportspeople in aerobic sports, a good deal younger, or always in the field (thus used to the work-load).

On the other hand, there have been a lot of occasions where having a bit of raw grunt to shift something heavy (such as myself up a steep slope) has been very handy. The trade-off is that having an enhanced aerobic capacity from weight-lifting in conjunction with the extra strength is more appropriate to most situations in daily life, than being a super-fit (aerobically) string-bean. I knew a soccer player who could curl more than he could bench, and of course, squat four times as much as his bench. Not the type to have at your side in a fight with a pile of sleepers or besser blocks!

In the last few years I have come to the conclusion that a carefully regulated weights program is probably more conducive to all-round health than some of the super-fitness programs promoted in traditional sports. Swimming, for example, is great exercise for general fitness. But what effect does all the chlorine have? Apparently, indoor swimmers have high levels of chloroform in the blood. Perhaps outdoor salt pools are healthy enough. This is still open to further medical research.

Recently, there have been newspaper articles on the effects of free radicals on ageing of human tissues. Because many of these free radicals (fluorine, acids, ozone, hydrocarbon combustion by-products) are constantly being added to the atmosphere by our love affair with the mobility of motor-cars, road-side joggers are taking them in in large amounts (this might be why there are a lot of fit runners in the cemetery, and only a few lifters). Lifting weights in a gym remote from roads should be healthier for a start!

Then the constant pounding on hard or uneven pavements does damage to knee ligaments.

Speaking of such, the only lifter I met with knee ligament replacement on the cards had also been an A-grade squash player. He had to carry a twenty kilo disc upstairs by dot-and-carry, using the right leg only to actually take the load. The damage was done by a series of squash injuries, and the lifter had been able to squat 180 kilos, with wraps, even after he had to climb steps one at a time. Of course his once proud Olympic career was over.

Another slightly-built fellow asked me one night many years ago, if squats would damage knees. When I asked why he was so concerned, he indicated the scar and stitch marks from an operation on his right knee. The culprit? A sideway tackle in a game of; guess; Rugby League.

Of course, competitive weightlifting does bear the risk of knee ligament damage in the ballistic receiving positions of the squat snatch, clean, and latterly, jerk. Sometimes pain can be experienced in the dip of a deep power movement. The distinguishing feature of lifting is that injuries are more often cumulative; that is, there is often warning that something is going wrong.

The most important point in this article is that the old bug-bears of lifting can be avoided by sensible programming and sufficient education (which Leo Isaac uses the word "training" recently) in physiological management. The "old wives’ tales" (which is rather sexist because I heard most of them from football players) were that weightlifters are inflexible, musclebound, unfit, and fragile. I believe that what was really happening is overtraining with lactic acid accumulation making a normal range of movement difficult. Of course gymnasts, ballet dancers and marathon runners would exceed lifters in each of, but not all, the first three categories. As for fragility, I think a healthy respect for physical integrity ensures a long lifting career!

In the end, I feel that a balanced program of light aerobic exercise, preferably on some of the new machines available, such as the swing-walker or stationary cycling (mobile cycling is pretty good, but at my present stage of development, it competes with squats or leg presses for time), can be mixed with short, higher rep moderate training. Jogging is pretty tough for me, I lack the concentration, and need to do a short circuit so I can walk home when I break down. It also tends to be catabolic. Swimming stuffs up my inner ear a lot; that’s a personal medical problem. But it is of no extra benefit to a weight trainer than the above exercises.

The actual weight routines should include the power Olympic movements, and an avoidance of excessive deadlifts. I find that limit squats slow the legs down. If Master’s comps are the aim, I tend to start some actual Olympic movements a month or so before a comp. This might allow me four Olympic workouts.

In the past few years, I have allowed ten days of rest prior to contests, but lately I feel I should be doing some light (in the strict definition of 70%) training within five days of a comp. I recently dug out a very old article which says that muscle actually atrophies after ten days without exercise. With my anti-training non-schedule, allowing for a ten-day break before a set contest can actually eventuate in no training for three weeks before some comps.

Various other body-building type exercises can be thrown in, although I have gotten wary of the good old military press! I tend to chase heavier and heavier weights in this excercise, and end up swaying and wobbling, which leads to pain. The bench press should be treated with caution, once a week maximum, as it can interfere with overhead flexibility. This would not necessarily bother a general weight trainer.