Nugent Coaching Systems

It’s not rocket science.

It’s not a magical elixir.

It’s basic.

You are simply moving your body.  Sometimes quickly, sometimes with weight.  Sometimes both.  It’s not that hard to do.   Let’s not make a big deal of it.

Just get started.

Here are four movements that will get you more than halfway to wherever you want to be:

1. Squat
2. Deadlift
3. Shoulder Press
4. Sprint

OK. Great.  Those are the movements.  Now what?

For sets and reps, start with 5×5.  That alone will do you wonders.  Want more?  Learn to recover.   Want more?  Start eating right.  40-30-30 is a good general rule, but even better: eat natural foods.  Meat, veggies, nuts and fruit.  Water.

This is simply part of your life.  Stop over thinking this and stop making exercise an EVENT.  It’s not.  You have a life to live, a sport to excel in, kids to raise, a job to do.

Books I recommend:

Easy Strength – how to build and achieve strength

Naked Warrior – body weight training

5-3-1 – Basic lifts, effective

Different Ways to Train

There are different ways to approach this.  First, make sure your mobility is good.  Don’t build a house on a crappy foundation.  If you can’t move well, what good is it to make yourself even stronger in your immobility?  Get yourself fixed!  Stretch! Use a foam roller, see a Z-health specialist, something.

Finally, if the above movements are new, learn them from someone qualified.   Oh and have fun.

This graph is actually about work done.  It’s not indicative of my exact work capacity, but with the workouts that I’ve been doing lately, could be a close approximation.  What’s interesting is that my training hours haven’t changed much.  I’m still averaging 6 to 7 hours of training a week.  My ability to move weight and produce power has changed.  To be fair here, I am also choosing workouts that maximize power output (i.e. kettlebell snatching)

Moving weight a farther distance faster, will produce the higher power numbers, and theoretically elicit a better athletic response when it comes to performance.

Does this mean I will run the American River 50 four times faster than last year?  No. (that would be AWESOME)  But I am expecting a big difference in times.

Why should you care?

CrossFit, and in general any training that is geared towards measurement, takes into account power output.  Cycling and triathlon training nowadays, if you’re trying to get to the podium, will involve training with power.   Rowing, crossfit training, and kettlebell training all utilize power.  It’s a true measurement of how much work you’ve done and to gauge your fitness.

How do you get started using power?

• Tape measure
• Timer
• Pen and Paper
• Weight scale (if you’re lifting odd objects like rocks – yes, you can train with power using rocks)

Step one: find out how much you’re lifting.

Step two: find out how far it’s traveling.

Step three: find out long it took you (time it)

Step four: CALCULATE!

Example:

You have a rock that weighs 95 pounds.  You decide to deadlift with it.  You decide you want to deadlift it as many times as you can in 5 minutes.  Let’s say your deadlift pull travels 2 feet.

2 feet x 2 = 4 feet (up and down)

5 minutes = 300 seconds

Now it’s time to do the workout.  You pull with clean, perfect form for 100 reps.

Power (ft-lbs/sec) = (( 4 ft x 95lbs ) / 300 sec)

Power = 126 (ft-lbs/sec)

Work (ft-lbs) = 4 ft x 95lbs

Work = 38,000 ft-lbs

Write this down, RECORD YOUR EFFORT!  Do this workout again after a couple weeks of similar but different style of training.   The next time you do your workout you should see an increase in power or work, or both.  Because this workout uses a fixed time variable (5 minutes), the next time you do this, you should see an increase in both power and work.

Take Away:

Use power to track your fitness progress.

Being scientific about your training does not mean you have to have access to million dollar equipment (or any equipment).

Measure and record if you are training towards a goal.  It’s the only way you’ll know if you’ve met your goal.

First off – great race.  Well organized, aid stations and volunteers were stellar.  Highly recommend running this event if you have the chance.

Key take-aways:

• This HURT.
• I’m in better shape than I thought I was, but not as good as I want to be.
• Find a new pack that doesn’t rub the back raw.
• Pacers make all the difference.

Pacing strategies:

• 5 minutes on, 1 minute off worked great.  Ran with another racer (Mike Arena) for the first 22 miles and had to let him slip away.
  • this pacing strategy lasted until mile 36, then it was pure survival.  Run when I could, walk when I had to.
  • (For 2011, I will be using a Gymboss Timer)

Gear options:

• The CWX Compression tights probably helped minimize a substantial amount of fatigue, but then by mile 26, the chaffing reached the saturation point.  I switched to Zoot tri-shorts and had zero issues.
• The Inov-8 shoes are great.  I used the Lite-220′s and my only complaint was that my feet haven’t been conditioned enough to get that much ‘textural’ information from the ground.  My feet , while they only swelled minimally, did get pretty sore.
• Socks – Smartwool all the way!

Training

• If I had more time I would add a few more 10-mile time trials
• More hills or parking lot tire dragging
• More double-unders and ankle strength work
• Everything else the same (strength and speed WODs), low volume run mileage.

Interesting notes:

• Cramping:
  • Calves seized at mile 36, slowly taking over forward progress
  • Upper right leg completely seized from knee to groin, pulling me ram-rod straight on an incline (Ryan handed over his Gatorade (undiluted) and I drank half of it.  From that point (around 36 miles) I started doubling the salt intake (two salt sticks every 30 minutes).
• No blisters!
• I’d do this race again.  Totally.
  • [Update: as of Jan 10th, 2011, I am signed up and ready to do this again!]

Race Site

I’ll definitely be using a GymBoss as I won’t have Mike Arena around for pacing