USAWA

By Christopher Lestan

When I was playing sports in middle school up to high school there was always the coach that said “You can’t be tired” or “Be mentally tough”. All of these applied to the idea that you can’t overtrain, and hard work only included training, practicing more than the other team until you either collapsed or physically couldn’t move in the morning. Now I loved playing high school sports and enjoyed every minute of the hard work and the life lessons I learned from pushing further than my limits. After high school, I played college rugby and I took that same mentality there too. Practice hard, don’t rest, work more than the other team. Again I saw the same results of life lessons learned from rugby. Then I took an interest in competitive lifting. This is where everything changed.

When you train for a competition most people who come from a field sports background will drive themselves into the dirt before the day of the competition. This usually is experienced with the feeling of drowsiness, feeling weak, and sore constantly. My first Powerlifting meet I bombed out and everything I touched felt heavy. I went home disappointed that I failed. Fast forward 6 months later and I begin reading some strength books, programs and watching videos from top-level Strength Coaches. What I found was that a lot of these had one thing in common and that was recovery. Recovery was something no one said to me in lacrosse, hockey, football, or rugby. I couldn’t believe that they were suggesting resting over training more. I was shocked.

I signed up for my next Powerlifting meet. This time following a new program I got. Very low volume for main lifts with high volume in accessories. It didn’t allow me to do a max lift for 12 weeks and the intensity of the main lifts increased as I got closer to meet day. Also, it only had me lifting 3 days a week compared to the 6 days I was doing before. That meet I actually got personal bests in every lift. That’s when I realized how important rest and recovery are.

Now while I am at school my recovery routine has increased. The studies I read in class coming out on how the quality of sleep, eating and spacing of training affect your progress. I currently run a 3 day a week sometimes only 2 pending on how the school is going and if classwork piles up. The main movements are my priority so I spend the most time with them. Eating enough protein is something that people tend to overlook. I used to only consume very little protein in general until my good friend who is getting his Masters in Strength and Conditioning said: “you eat less than most lightweights”. People tend to not understand how important food is for the Strength Athlete. Since I am a “big boy” and I want to maintain this size and increase strength I need to eat a lot. I went from 90 grams of protein a day to over 300 grams when I am 12 weeks out from a big competition.

This idea of recovery was further cemented when I started training in All-Around Weightlifting. When I started training over at my neighbor Frank Ciavatonne’s house he would always advise me to take more time recovery than training. Another statement he would say to me is “Some days we go light and don’t lift that heavy”. I was hesitant at first. I loved to go intense in the gym and lifting heavy. But as we started training together more often I was listening and fully understanding. With the number of lifts we do in this sport your body needs time to rest and recover. I think it is safe to say that my body has never fully adapted to one block of training because I do some type of new lift all the time. This is where it all clicked together. There is a reason why one of the strongest in the sport of All-Around Weightlifting is enforcing the idea of recovery over rest, and that’s because we want the best possible workout every workout.

I became a firm believer in rest in recovery when it came to Nationals and Worlds. The tapering for those events would include a deload of 12 days to allow full recovery before the competition. Turns out I would have personal bests on every lift. Now that may not work for everybody, but it helps when you have a good coach with experience who encourages this type of training. The idea is to make sure recovery is a priority.

Recovery is different with everyone. Some people can recover faster than others. It’s about finding out what works best for you. I personally after heavy days need 2 days to rest. After competitions, I spend 1-2 weeks doing completely nothing to aid in recovery for the next phase of training.  Sleeping is the most difficult for me and I am sure for other people, for it’s hard to get a solid 8-10 hours of sleep with busy schedules. I can get a good 6-7 during the school week. However, some days 3 hours if I have an exam or presentation the next day. Weekends are where I spend the most on sleeping.

One trend that is common now with Strength Coaches is the amount of volume there prescribe. I see kids on my Powerlifting team squatting 3 times a week, deadlifting 3 times a week, and benching 4 times a week on programs that are 5-6 days of the week. Then when it comes to meet day they always feel tired, and groggy because their body is going into complete shock. High volume does work but for only a very little span of time. It’s more meant for getting used to the movement that is going to be used in the competition, and conditioning. However, high volume for long periods of time leads to overtraining which then leads to injury, and possibly always feeling tired.

I think I used this the best when I first coached King Philip Warriors, a high school football team. Before I arrived they were always being pushed into the group with intense lifting and training. If the kids didn’t puke they thought they were not working hard enough. It took 3 years to develop a new culture of training for performance. Now the kid lift and the conditioning doesn’t destroy them to the point of on the ground. I have them lift to win. Not lift to injure. Additionally, they have been making the playoffs every year with fewer injuries.

The moral of the story is that pushing hard is good, but like everything else in life, it has a time and place. Don’t push yourself over the edge and over train. Make training fun. Strength is a marathon and that is true. Don’t rush the process and possibly injure yourself. Enjoy making personal bests, enjoy the process of getting stronger. Become strong.