Thoughts on Variety, PR’s, and Momentum in Training
Bored? Need a Jump-Start? Maybe you need some variety…
You know, when you eat the same peanut butter and jelly sandwich for 7 years, sometimes you want a little grilled ham and cheese for little change of pace.
Today I am going to tell you how I incorporate variety in order to keep my training positive and to keep seeing progress. Maybe this will help you out in your training as well.
For me, my training is heavily based around momentum. What I mean by that is when I have a good day in the gym, I can generally pick up some momentum and have several good workout days ina row.
Momentum, baby!
Sometimes, when the PR Train is running full steam, it can even lead to back-to-back weeks of good workouts in the gym, seeing lots of progress toward where I want to be and I log a lot of PR’s.
If you are not familiar with that term, PR stands for Personal Record. Some people refer to PB’s or Personal Bests. Either way, it means you hit a lift, a feat, or a goal that you never were able to accomplish before.
It might not be the best performance in the world or in your weight class, but it does mean that you out-performed anything you’ve done in the past – and that means it is something you can be proud of.
When you incorporate variety in your training, you are giving yourself the opportunity to set more PR’s.
The way I do this in my training is I constantly find new things to train for, in order to push myself, set new PR’s and keep momentum going in my training.
I did this recently with something called a 56-lb Highland Games Throwing Weight. If you are not familiar with the highland Games, then check out this article by world-class Highland Games competitor, Adriane Blewitt – Introduction to the Highland Games.
In my opinion, one of the coolest events in Highland Games is the 56-lb Throw for Height, and recently one of my friends in Grip Strength, Ben Edwards, put up his 56-lb Weight up for sale. This summer, when the weather is better, I fully plan on going out and practicing some throws for height, but while the ground is still soggy from all of the Spring Rain, I decided I would train to lift it like a Block Weight first.
Add another chapter to Block Weight Lifting: Highland Games Throwing Weights with Handles Attached.
If you’re curious about the measurements of this griplement, it is roughly 6 inches across the flat portion at the top (kind of tough to measure) and about 6.5 inches across the flat base (much easier to measure).
My training success is driven by PR’s. I love setting them. I love lifting new things I never could before. When I am setting new PR’s, it keeps me energized for workouts and can help me get out of ruts when my training is stagnant.
Take note – this is not just something that only I do and it’s not something that works for just Grip Guys. Even AJ Roberts, one of the strongest men in the world and owner of several bench press records does the same thing in his training from time to time. He told me about it in the interview I did with him around this time last year. Put your email address in the box below and you’ll get an email to download it so you can listen to it yourself.
When we interviewed Paul Knight, one of the guys with the best crushing grips in the world, on a recent episode of Grip Strength Radio he said this is one of the concepts that has helped him to build his amazing crushing grip strength, by regularly posing new challenges for himself to try to attain.
Bottom line -this concept works.
In encourage you too look for ways you can implement variety in your training. By adding some slight variety to your training, you can accomplish more individual PR’s which can keep you excited about training and keep the results coming.
To lots of PR’s coming our way,
Jedd
with CRUSH: Total Gripper Domination.
Articles You Might Also Like:
- Thoughts on Variety, PR's, and Momentum in Training
- New Product Coming Soon: Grip Training for Track and Field Throwers
- Mighty Mitts and Thick Bar Training
- Introduction to the Highland Games
- Productive Variety: Why I Tear Cards
Tags: block weights, highland games, throw for height, weight for height
