Enhancing Endurance (part 1, part 2)

Bill Starr
Weight Train to Win  Part I

Nearly every coach and athlete knows the value of strength in sports that involve a great deal
of contact: football, lacrosse, basketball, rugby, hockey, soccer and wrestling.

They also understand that achieving a higher level of strength helps anyone excel in high-skill
sports that do not entail contact, such as tennis, fencing, volleyball, swimming and field
events. Few, however, realize just how important the strength variable is in sports that rely
primarily on endurance, such as the marathon and other long-distance running events, crew,
distance skating, cross-country skiing, triathlons and other sports that require a tremendous
amount of mental and physical stamina.

Endurance strength is considered by many who engage in such activities to be quite different
from the type of strength needed by those who participate in sports that require only short
bursts of effort followed by brief periods of rest. Those who take part in endurance sports
often shun any form of heavy weight training in favor of using very light poundages, if any at
all. They feel that in order to improve their endurance, they must spend more time practicing
their chosen sports for longer periods of time. More than a few endurance athletes believe that
lifting heavy weights is actually counterproductive because it builds larger muscles and adds
unwanted bodyweight. The extra weight will slow them down, not make them faster.

That’s a misconception. It’s not necessary to add bodyweight even when heavy poundages,
relatively speaking, are used in a strength program. It’s been demonstrated numerous times
that a well-designed, properly executed strength routine will have a very positive influence on
the performance of endurance athletes, even when they use demanding resistance.

Why? I’ll let Professor Gene Logan of Southwestern Missouri State and noted authority in the
field of physiology answer that question. In his book Adaptations of Muscular Activity, he
states, “Strength undergirds all other factors when one considers the total functioning of body
movements. Without sufficient strength, factors such as endurance, flexibility and skill cannot
be used effectively.”

It only makes sense. Before a toddler can walk, he must have enough bodily strength to
support himself. After hip or knee surgery, a patient has to spend time regaining lower-body
strength before becoming ambulatory. Wanting to run, swim, row or bike longer is merely an
extension of the same idea. Getting strong is the key.

Of course I’m well aware that a great many other factors are involved in any athletic
endeavor, but creating a rock-solid foundation of strength is critical to improving all those
other attributes.

No one can deny that the amount of time athletes spend practicing the skills they need in their
sport is a huge factor in their success. Stronger athletes are not only going to be able to
practice longer than their weaker counterparts, but they’re also going to be able to use better
technique at the end of their session. In contrast, weaker athletes’ form will falter when their
strength wanes. When that happens, bad habits are formed. The well-known adage that
practice makes perfect is valid only if the skills being practiced are performed correctly.
Practicing sloppy technique is detrimental to progress.

For example, rowers who can produce the perfect stroke at the very end of a grueling race are
going to emerge victorious over opponents who are struggling with form. A distance runner
who can maintain perfect body mechanics coming down the stretch has a very definite
advantage.

Someone who increases strength by 40 to 50 percent while retaining a high degree of

flexibility, balance and technique in any sport is going to be a better athlete. It’s so basic, it’s
often ignored. Coaches and athletes are constantly seeking a more complicated solution to a
simple problem. They insert all sorts of gimmicks to improve strength in an innovative
manner, then throw in yet more gimmicks to enhance foot speed, leaping ability, lateral
movement and on and on. A great deal of time and energy are spent during those prolonged
workouts—way too much, in fact. When energy is spread too thin, little is achieved. They
trade an abundance of quantity and variety for a severe lack of quality.

My approach to helping any athlete, including the ones engaged in any type of endurance
sport, is twofold: Get stronger and practice the skills needed in that sport diligently, So instead
of having a rowing crew spend hours doing countless drills, I have them strength-train, and
then I get them out on the water. What every athlete is seeking is a better performance, and
that can be achieved through basic hard work.

I would imagine that everyone associated with the sport of Olympic weightlifting is familiar
with the achievements of Norbert Schemansky. He won four Olympic medals, more than
anyone in that sport, plus three world titles and nine national championships, and he set more
than 50 world and Olympic records. His last world record, a 363 split snatch, was set when he
was 43 years of age. When a young lifter asked him how to improve his press, Ski replied,
“Do more presses.” “How about my snatch?” the lifter said. “Do more snatches,” was Ski’s
answer.

Yet that approach is beyond the comprehension of many coaches and athletes. It’s just not
complicated enough.

There are really two categories of athletes to deal with in regard to endurance: 1) athletes who
participate in events that are long in duration and that don’t include rest periods and 2) those
who participate in sports that require brief but explosive actions. This time I’ll focus on
athletes in the first category, and next time I’ll deal with the second. I realize that triathletes
do get short reprieves while transferring from one activity to the other, but certainly they fit
into the first category.

All sports have an off-season, even if it’s only for a few months, and that’s when you need to
insert a pure strength program into the yearly training schedule. The objective of the strength
routine is to make all the major muscle groups stronger, with special emphasis on muscles
that play a prominent role in the performance of a particular sport. For example, rowers
should give more attention to strengthening their backs and shoulders than distance runners.
For the most part, however, all areas of the body should receive equal attention because
having balanced strength from top to bottom is beneficial to any athlete, regardless of sport.

The program should be condensed, not long and drawn out—the mistake many endurance
athletes make. Because their sport entails constant movement for an extended period of time,
they figure their strength-training routine should as well. Just the opposite. The weight work
should consist of only three primary and no more than two auxiliary exercises. One core
movement for each of the three major muscle groups—shoulder girdle, back and hips and legs
—can be followed by two auxiliary exercises for the smaller groups. Three workouts a week
are sufficient. That will enable athletes to recover from the new form of stress and give them
time to practice the skills of their sport.

Because the pure strength program is going to last for only six to eight weeks, the same
exercises can be done at every workout. Most, however, prefer some variety in their weekly
workouts. In that case, here’s what I recommend: For the shoulder girdle, or upper body,
alternate flat-bench presses, inclines and overhead presses. For the back do power cleans,
good mornings and either bent-over rows or deadlifts. You can do back squats three times a
week using the heavy, light and medium system or do lunges on the light day.

You should select the two auxiliary exercises with the intent of improving weaker muscles. If
no areas stand out as being considerably weaker, use the auxiliary exercises to enhance groups
that are very much involved in the sport, For instance, a rower needs an extra strong middle
back and would benefit from doing dumbbell rows while lying on a flat bench, along with lat
pulls on a machine and chins. As every endurance sport relies on strong lower legs, it makes
sense to do calf raises several times a week.

For the primary exercises use the tried-and-true strength formula for sets and reps: five sets of
five. Do the auxiliary movements for higher reps, 20s for a couple of sets. The exception is
calf raises. In order to stimulate those weight-bearing muscles, you have work them very hard
—three sets of 30. If possible, do both seated and standing calf raises. The standing version
hits the larger gastrocnemius, and the seated version the smaller soleus. If the two groups that
form the calf are going have any impact on speed, endurance or jumping ability, they must
have proportionately equal strength.

I mentioned that you can do the same three primary exercises at every workout, and many
athletes like that idea. It’s easier for them to learn proper form on three movements rather than
eight or nine. The three I recommend are incline presses, power cleans and back squats. I like
inclines over flat benches because the inclines emphasizes the deltoids and triceps, while the
flat benches involves the pecs much more. All athletes use their deltoids and triceps. They
don’t all use their pecs. Some have trouble with technique on the power clean. If that’s the
case, try deadlifting instead. If your sport requires a high degree of athleticism, however, stay
with power cleans. They will actually enhance such valuable attributes as timing,
coordination, balance and quickness.

In the beginning the primary task is to learn correct technique on all the chosen exercises,
That takes precedence over everything, including numbers. With that in mind, move through
the workout with purpose. Don’t lollygag between sets, but don’t rush either. Concentrate on
doing every rep as precisely as possible and every set better than the last. Once your form is at
least good, perhaps perfect, and the initial soreness has dissipated, pick up the pace.
Especially on the lighter warmup sets, move from set to set with little rest in between. On
your light days set up a circuit and move through the routine as quickly as possible.

A great many critics believe athletes cannot improve their cardiovascular-respiratory fitness in
the weight room. I totally disagree, and I’ve watched it happen on many occasions. Doing a
fast circuit will run your pulse rate way up, and if you stay in motion, it will remain there
throughout the workout. To me it’s an added bonus for any endurance athlete. To be able to
gain greater body strength and do a bit of cardio in the same amount of time is a real plus.

During the first three or four weeks of the strength program, pull back on your other training.
Many do not like that idea, but it’s necessary if the strength work is going to be productive.
It’s a mistake to attempt to gain an appreciable amount of strength while continuing to spend
as much time practicing the skills of an endurance sport. It’s just too much. You have to give
a little at the beginning to receive a lot at the end. Note that I said at the beginning. Once you
build a firm strength base and can recover readily from the weight workout, you can start
adding to the time you spend practicing your chosen sport. While a happy few, usually with
years of experience under their belts, can get away with doing both full-tilt from the get-go,
the majority cannot, a concept that I had trouble getting across to some coaches at Hopkins
and the University of Hawaii.

At the beginning of their off-season the coaches brought their athletes to me to start a strength
program, then added their own workouts—often on the same days—to build more endurance.
The coach of the women’s basketball team came to me complaining that squatting was
slowing her players down and that some were even unable to make it through the running
drills. I explained that they had only been squatting for two weeks and that their legs hadn’t
had sufficient time to adapt to the new form of work. In fact, most were still nursing sore
quads and hamstrings. I asked her to ease off the running for another few weeks to give her
players time to establish a firm strength base and recover from the work in the weight room. I
also suggested that they skip running altogether on the days they squatted. She was a smart
lady and an excellent coach and did as I requested—rather grudgingly. A month later, though,
she was glad she did because her players were running faster and longer due to their work in
the weight room.

Endurance athletes are never happy with the idea that they should alter their regular training
while embarking on a strength cycle. Yet it’s absolutely necessary that they do so if they want
to gain enough strength to help them become more successful in their sports. (They balk
because, for the most part, they’re obsessive-compulsive individuals. I’m not criticizing; I
consider myself one as well, and that drive is what makes them better athletes.)

Attempting to continue training with the same intensity and for the same length of time while
adding three demanding weight-room sessions per week just isn’t feasible. Where’s the extra
energy going to come from? Most endurance athletes are already pushing themselves to the
brink of fatigue. I imagine a few could manage to handle both disciplines. Maybe such
supermen as speed skater Eric Heiden and Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong could
pull it off, but that’s about it. (Tommy Suggs offered to pay me if I would add him to that
short list. It was tempting, since it was big bucks, but I had to refuse. It just wouldn’t be fair to
Eric and Lance.)

I’m talking only about slowing your pace a bit and shortening your distances, not stopping all
endurance training, although it would be a good idea for some to do just that. Take a break
from running, rowing, skating, skiing, swimming or biking for several weeks to let your mind
and body regroup.

Whenever I tell coaches or athletes that it’s possible to improve stamina without doing any
endurance training, I get a look that tells me they think I’ve been nibbling on some magic
mushrooms. Not so. I’ve seen it happen many times while dealing with athletes at all levels—
scholastic, collegiate, professionals—plus others who were mainly interested in staying very
fit aerobically.

Lani Bal always comes to mind when I think about that aspect of training. We shared a house
in Carmel, California, one winter. I went to the gym three times a week and ran on two other
days. One Sunday he said he wanted to join me for my run. He’d never run for exercise or
lifted weights. He did do a great deal of hiking on his home island of Maui, frequently
walking through the Haleakala crater, down through the lava tubes and on into the village of
Hana—a full day’s journey. He also swam and surfed, so he was fit and eager to get stronger
and improve his endurance.

Since it would be his first time, I suggested we run on the track at Carmel High School. That
way he would know exactly how far he went. Sunday was my long day, and I planned on
doing six miles. I kept a slow pace to give Lani time to get into the rhythm, but after only a
half mile he had to stop. He was dismayed to be in such bad running shape. When I told him
that strength training could help him, he said he would forgo running again until he got
stronger. I thought that was a good idea because it would let me find out if it was possible.

He did the following routine three times a week: situps, back squats, power cleans, bench
presses and leg raises. He picked up the form right away and started using the heavy, light and
medium system. The gains came quickly and steadily because he was in good muscular shape.
Only his cardio fitness was lagging. After a month of strength training we once again went to
the high school track. He covered two miles at a brisk pace and could have gone much farther,
but I had him stop. While it was obvious that his heart and lungs could handle the new stress,
his knees and ankles weren’t quite ready. He, of course, was delighted and somewhat
surprised. In all honesty, so was I. All the increase in endurance had been achieved in the
weight room.

Another important consideration of a strength program often overlooked by endurance

athletes is its value in helping stabilize the joints. When you use lower reps, your tendons and
ligaments are forced to do more work than when you do higher reps. The attachments help
secure the joints—whether knees, ankles, shoulders or elbows—and prevent them from being
injured. The added strength certainly helps eliminate many of the smaller, nagging dings such
as tennis elbow.

I want to reiterate that athletes don’t have to gain bodyweight when doing a strength program.
Most athletes desire to do so, but most endurance athletes definitely do not. Two points in that
regard:

1) All my programs have their roots in the sport of Olympic weightlifting, where athletes have
to adhere to strict bodyweight requirements in order to compete in the various weight
divisions. When I first got involved in the sport, there were seven, starting at 123 pounds,
moving up to 198, then heavyweight. Now there are eight divisions, with the
superheavyweight class beginning at 253 pounds. I began doing a systematic strength
program under the tutelage of Sid Henry, adding an average of 50 pounds to my press, snatch
and clean and jerk and more than a hundred to my back squat in six months, while staying
within the 181-pound class limit.

2) In the event endurance athletes do put on a few pounds while following a strength program,
it’s no big deal because they’re going to shed it rather quickly once they start adding to their
distance work. Plus, the extra weight will come off rather easily because their new strength
will enable them to sustain activity for a longer period of time. Some athletes find that the
new bodyweight is an asset rather than a hindrance if it’s functional muscle.

Once you learn proper technique and get over the initial muscle soreness, you must start
leaning on the numbers, pushing them higher and higher every week. The first three sets are
basically warmup sets and need not be hard, but the fourth and especially the final sets must
be demanding. With the exception of the light day, you need to apply the same effort to the
weight work as you do in training for your sport. The goal is to get stronger, and that can be
accomplished only with determination and hard work. Staying in the comfort zone just
doesn’t get the job done.

Next month I’ll present the steps for tapering off the lower reps into higher ones in
preparation for returning to a full endurance schedule and suggest ways to maintain the
strength gained in the pure strength cycle throughout the year. I’ll also discuss improving the
endurance factor for athletes in sports that call for brief but explosive actions.

Editor’s note: Bill Starr was a strength and conditioning coach at Johns Hopkins University
from 1989 to 2000. He’s the author of The Strongest Shall Survive—Strength Training for
Football, which is available for $20 plus shipping from Home Gym Warehouse. Call (800)
447-0008, or visit www.Home-Gym.com.

Enhancing Endurance

Bill Starr
Weight Train to Win  Part 2

Last month I focused on athletes who participate in events that are long in duration and that
don’t have rest periods. This time I’ll finish up with that group and proceed to those whose
events are generally much shorter and give participants many breaks and time to recover.

I recommended that endurance athletes use the five-sets-of-five formula for the core exercises
and higher reps, 20s for two sets, for the auxiliary movements. The strength work should take
priority over practicing the skills needed in a chosen sports as well as any other physical
activity, such as running.
The time to begin the strength program is during an off-season or when there’s not an
upcoming competition. Two months is best, but six weeks will also get results. After six to
eight weeks of learning correct form on various lifts and moving the numbers as high as
possible, athletes are ready to make some changes in their routine so that they can go back to
practicing their sports skills at a greater intensity.

What endurance athletes are after is to maintain a high percentage of the strength they’ve
gained during the strength cycle while utilizing some of their newfound prowess for
improving stamina and the skills needed in their sport. The strength they’ve gained in their
arms, shoulders, back, hips and legs will enable them to run, row, bike or skate longer and
with more vigor. An athlete who gained 30, 40 or even 50 percent overall strength is going to
perform better right away in all facets of any sports activity.

There are two ways of shifting the weight training to strike that balance. Which way you
choose is an individual matter. Most prefer to switch from lower to higher reps, some
gradually, staying with a certain set-and-rep formula for a couple of weeks before moving to
the next stage. Others prefer to move from fives to much higher reps in a matter of two weeks.
The first step is to change from five times five to four sets of eight. The next move is to four
sets of 12, then three sets of 15 and, finally, three sets of 20. That’s for the core exercises and
works nicely for most of them. Any high-skill movement, however, has to be done a bit
differently. Performing more than 10 reps on an exercise that requires a great deal of
technique, such as the power clean, isn’t a good idea because as you tire, your form begins to
break down. An exercise is productive only when you use proper technique throughout a set.
So stay with eights or 10s for high-skill movements—even fewer than that if your form starts
to get sloppy. Just add more sets to get the needed work in. You can also do this: Power-clean
a weight for eight to 10 reps, then deadlift it for another 10 to 15 reps.

When you move to the higher reps, work quickly. A circuit can be very effective. Set up
stations for your primary exercises, and move from one exercise to the next with a minimum
of rest, only long enough to change the plates. You can, however, slow down for your final
spin through the circuit because the final sets are the meat of the program. You want to be
rested so you can handle as much weight as possible and crank out the desired number of reps
in perfect form. If you’re not spent when you finish, you either need to move through the
routine at a faster pace or use more weight on the final sets.

As you begin spending more time with your sport, you can drop a weight-training day. Also,
if you feel you’re not recovering sufficiently from the weight work, eliminate some or all of
the auxiliary movements. Most athletes are satisfied with moving gradually up to three sets of
20, although I’ve trained a number of endurance athletes who opted to run the reps even
higher. I trained a mountain biker in Monterey, California, one fall. He had progressed up to
the three sets of 20s and said he wanted to find out if pushing the reps a lot higher would
benefit him. He was extremely fit, one of the top mountain bikers in the country, so I knew he
could handle a great deal more than a beginner or intermediate. Eventually, he ended up doing
two sets of 100 reps on a variety of exercises for his three major muscle groups, and, in his
opinion, they served him well. He could tell for certain that the weight work helped because
his sport was based on time, and he was cutting valuable seconds off his training climbs.

The other way to alter the weight program when you go back to spending a great amount of
time on your sport is to stay with the five sets of five and do only two workouts a week. You
do one session heavy on a day when your other training is light. The second session is light
and can be done on any day during the week—preferably when the training load for your
sport isn’t severe.

If you decide to do the higher-rep routine, you should go back and perform a lower-rep
workout every couple of weeks, even during the competitive season. You can do that for all
the major groups, to reactivate the attachments to some degree, or perhaps just for one
bodypart that’s lagging behind and is adversely affecting performance.

When the next off-season break comes around, repeat the process and move the top-end
numbers higher than you did the first time. You’ll find that the gains come much faster
because you now know how to do the various exercises and understand how your body
responds to certain movements and workload. Over the course of a few years you’ll be able to
greatly improve your overall strength, and that will have a direct, positive influence on your
endurance and, ergo, your performance in your chosen sport.

Endurance athletes who start on a pure strength program for the first time need to pay close
attention to several other aspects of conditioning, such as warming up thoroughly before
doing any lifting or stretching during and after each workout. The hamstrings need special
attention because the stress placed on them with squats and any heavy pulling movement is
different from staying in constant motion. Hamstrings have a tendency to tighten up after
heavy sets, and it’s smart to stretch them right away and after the session and again later on
that night. Same with calves. While an athlete may be accustomed to doing a 20-mile training
run or bike ride, hammering the calves for three sets of 30 with the last dozen reps slipping
into the painful zone is a different ballgame. Calves need to be stretched after every set, and
stretching more later on is always a good idea.

Be sure to stretch out your shoulders once you start lifting demanding numbers, especially
after flat- or incline-bench presses. The shoulder girdle may tighten up, so keep in mind that
the strength you gain can be converted to your sport only if you maintain a full range of
motion. Use a towel, and stretch between sets and again after the workout.

When you embark on a strength routine, try to get a bit more rest and increase your intake of
protein, either in food or in supplement form. The additional rest will ensure that you’re fresh
and ready for the next session. I know that most serious endurance athletes push their bodies
to the edge of exhaustion regularly, and without the extra rest they’re going to be trying to lift
with fatigued muscles, tendons and ligaments. That spells trouble. You need the protein
because when you lift weights with purpose, you use up a lot of amino acids that must be
replaced as quickly as possible or you won’t be fully recovered when the next session comes
around.

I’ve offered that advice to a few endurance athletes, but they ignored me because they
believed that if they could recover from participating in their sport for two hours without
pause, the weight work would be a walk in the park. False reasoning. The two disciplines are
at opposite ends of the spectrum, and therefore the demands they place on the body are quite
different. The weight work is much more stressful to the attachments, and tendons and
ligaments need lots of rest and nourishment to recover sufficiently to work at full capacity
again. I should add that those who didn’t bother upping their protein intake or obtaining more
rest made no significant gains in the weight room.
I’ll now turn my attention to athletes who engage in sports that require short bursts of energy
followed by brief periods of rest—or at least periods of lesser effort: Football, baseball,
lacrosse, soccer, basketball, tennis, volleyball, fencing, wrestling, boxing, the martial arts,
hockey and the field events in track all fall into this category.

Endurance is valuable in every one of those sports. The key to success for an individual
athlete is to be able to reach into the tank at the end of a competition. In team sports those
who are conditioned to have an abundance of energy left in the final minutes of the fourth
quarter, the ninth inning or final period of a hockey game will emerge the winner in almost
every case.

Endurance is a genuine plus for competitive Olympic lifters, powerlifters and bodybuilders.
Few think in those terms in the beginning, but as they become more advanced, it becomes
clear that if they’re going to improve their numbers, they must be able to train longer than
before—and more often as well. How is it that foreign Olympic lifters can train three times a
day, six days a week? No secret. They’ve built such a solid foundation over the years that they
can recover from triple sessions and still be ready for the next day’s workouts.

The first top-notch bodybuilders I trained with were Sergio Oliva and Bob Gajda in Chicago
when I moved there to attend graduate school. I was absolutely amazed at the amount of work
they did in a session. My workload was maybe half of what they accomplished, and to add
insult to injury, they moved through the exercises at a pace much faster than what I was
accustomed to. That’s when I decided to stick with Olympic lifting. When Bill St. John and
the “Russian Bear,” Val Vasilef, came to York, Pennsylvania, to train with the lifters, they
would put us to shame with the intensity and volume of work they handled. Not one member
of the York Barbell team, not even Bill March or Barski—my nickname for Bob Bednarski—
could stay with those two guys.

Endurance can be enhanced in a number of ways, but it basically comes down to being able to
handle a greater amount of work and being able to recover from the exertion. If you aren’t
able to recover, then you won’t progress. In fact, you’ll start slipping backward. That means
increasing the workload has to be done slowly. So runners, bikers, rowers and swimmers
deliberately add to their distances. Should they push out too far too fast, the consequences will
be detrimental to their cause. The foundation has to be laid properly and over an extended
period of time before it can be expanded to any significant degree.

The same rule holds true for strength training. The endurance factor can improve in the
weight room, but it has to be done systematically and not be hit or miss. That’s why anyone
who knows even the basic rudiments of strength training will tell you to start out training only
three days a week. It would be foolish to attempt to work out four or five times in the
beginning because the off days are vital for recovery; again, without recovery there are either
no real gains or gains too slight to notice. In the same vein of thought, the exercises in a
beginning routine should be limited to just three primary and two auxiliary, and the workouts
should be done in an hour or an hour and 15 minutes.

If you train consistently and use good technique, your body will begin to adapt to the amount
of work you do in a given week. That’s when it’s time to increase the load. The way I
determine that with my athletes is by watching them, checking mostly for form errors but also
to see how they deal with the final exercises in their program for the day. When they’re
making improvements on the final lifts, I know they’re ready for a forward push.
By using the heavy, light and medium concept, athletes can achieve that kind of success.
Having the capacity to perform well at the end of a grueling session is what every athlete
seeks. It’s functional endurance and can be used in any sport. We’ve all watched and
marveled at the running backs who got progressively stronger and seemingly faster
throughout the game. That was no accident, nor was it based on genetics. The players
developed stamina through hard work over a length of time.

Expanding the workload has to be done with care. Obviously, the easiest way to do that is
extend the time spent in the weight room. Training a little longer is okay for most, but when it
goes past two hours, it becomes a negative. There just isn’t enough energy to sustain you so
that the exercises at the end of the program are productive. In most instances all the extra-long
sessions do is push you into overtraining. An athlete who’s paying attention will know when
it’s happening and make some changes.

Adding another workout during the week is a better idea than extending the three sessions.
Tuesday works well. As it follows the heavy day, it must be a light-light day, especially in the
beginning. Over time you may feel that you can do more, but at first stay on the conservative
side. The exercises you select for the light-light day should not be as demanding as those done
at the other workouts. Not easy, necessarily, but not nearly as stressful—overhead presses
with a bar or dumbbells. You attack the lift with the same intensity as you do with the flat-
and incline-bench presses, but the workload is considerably lower. The same idea goes for the
back. While power snatches require a great deal of concentration, they’re not as demanding as
power cleans, deadlifts or shrugs,

Athletes who have been including a fourth day in their routine for five or six months will be
able to increase the workload on Tuesday and still handle the numbers on Wednesday and
Friday. They mustn’t try to add too much work, however, and that often happens, as they slip
in several more auxiliary movements, typically for the showy muscles. The best way to
prevent yourself from doing too much on the light-light day is to set a time limit and stay
within it—45 minutes at the beginning and never more than an hour. So if you want to
squeeze in some curls or triceps pushdowns, you have to move at a faster pace.

A simple way to add to your load on any day is to do some overloading right behind a primary
exercise: three or four sets of high pulls behind power cleans or power snatches, push presses
after regular presses or heavy supports in the power rack after squats.

Learn to move through your exercises quickly on both Tuesday and Wednesday. The light-
light day needs to be concluded in an hour and the following light day in an hour and 15
minutes, tops. The success of the program really revolves around those two days. If you
overtrain on either of them, the remainder of the week is going to be a wash, and that, in turn,
will have a negative affect on the upcoming heavy day on Monday.

The next step in the progression will take two or three years. Yes, I know that sounds like a
long time, but, in truth, it isn’t, especially if you view strength training as a lifelong endeavor.
Yet it takes that amount of time to create the solid strength foundation that enables you to
recover from greater and greater volumes of work. I’ve mentioned it before, but it bears
repeating: Buy a notebook and keep accurate records of your workouts, listing everything that
might have a bearing on your performance, plus the weight used on every set and how many
reps you did. From that you can calculate your workload, and that figure will help you
determine your next move. It may be to do a bit less for a few weeks if you believe you’re
slightly overtrained. It will enable you to know, for certain, how much you can add to your
volume. The rule of thumb I use is 10 percent a month. While that may not seem like much,
over the course of a year, it’s quite a lot.

When you find that you want to do more work in a given week but understand that when you
exceed the time limits on any of the days you become fatigued, consider multiple sessions.
Start by having one day with two sessions. You will probably be able to add yet another two
workout sessions later on, but start with just one.

There’s nothing new about the concept. It’s been used in a great many sports for a long time.
The top gymnasts put in eight-hour workouts daily, six days a week. Swimmers of the
Michael Phelps caliber do three tough sessions a day. I’ve already noted that foreign Olympic
lifters regularly do three sessions a day, six days a week.

The notion had just begun in Russia when Barski picked up on it and wanted to give it a try at
York. His problem was, he hated to train alone, so he recruited Tommy Suggs and me to join
him in the experiment. Knowing that we were flirting with overtraining, we moved
cautiously, doing just one exercise at noon, then our regular program at four. We were overly
weary for the first two weeks; then our bodies adapted, and we were okay. We had a few
things in our favor that not many other lifters in the country had at that time. The gym was in
the building, which meant we didn’t have to travel. After we finished our noon session and
showered, we went directly into the dairy bar and drank a protein milk shake and took our
vitamins. About an hour later we ate our lunches, and when four o’clock came, we were
sufficiently recovered and renourished.

The extra work helped, and within the month we added a second two-a-day. While we were
running up our training volume, we decided it would be smart to improve our cardiovascular-
respiratory base as well. Stamina was an important factor in our sport, although few think
about that attribute in relation to moving heavy weights. At a contest a lifter might have to
follow himself on platform with a short rest. In the bigger contests where there were lots of
entries, the meets would often drag on into the next day. At one Philly Open, I did my first
warmup for the press at 4:30 p.m. and my final attempt on the clean and jerk at 2:30 a.m.

Barski didn’t join Tommy and me for our twice-a-week aerobics at the York Y. Barski never
played any sports other than weightlifting and felt the work he was doing in the gym was
plenty. He was probably right, as he did carry a huge workload. Tommy and I, however,
believed that boosting our aerobic capacity would help our training and at the meets. We
chose activities that were fun. Racquetball was our favorite. We also played volleyball at the
Y and practiced with the York College soccer team occasionally.

The first time Tommy and I played racquetball, we lasted 20 minutes and were blowing like
asthmatics. Within a month we were able to go full-tilt for an hour. What we discovered—and
it’s been reinforced for me over the years—was that if an athlete has a solid strength base,
aerobic fitness comes quite readily. I once trained a female who decided she wanted to start
running. She began jogging and within nine months had completed a marathon.

That’s good news. It means that if you’re already strong, you’ll be able to extend the time you
spend doing whatever type of cardio you enjoy very quickly. The combination of gaining
strength and improving aerobic capacity is a terrific one-two punch and makes for a better
athlete in any sport. Keep in mind what I’ve been preaching: It’s much smarter to establish
your strength base before embarking on any type of aerobic program, and for team sports that
usually means running. I’ve had football players wait until two weeks before summer camp
before they ran, and all were able to make it through the two-a-day sessions as well as or
sometimes better than their teammates.

For those who are primarily interested in maintaining a high level of fitness and aren’t
concerned with moving heavy weights or playing any sport, there’s an easy way to enhance
endurance. Pick up the pace. Move through your weight workouts more quickly and walk or
swim or bike a bit faster. You might also consider doing your aerobic activity more often,
such as walking twice a day instead of just once. All the little things you do will begin to add
up in a short period of time.

Endurance is a very valuable commodity. Older people covet it, since it enables them to
pursue some of their favorite hobbies, like taking a long hike through a state park. Team
sports need it to give them an advantage in a tough contest. I recently watched game five of
the Stanley Cup, and it was a test of fortitude the likes of which I hadn’t seen for some time.
Pittsburgh tied the game with 34 seconds left in regulation. The game went to three overtimes,
which means the skaters were, in effect, playing a double header. The athletes were clearly
exhausted near the end. Hell, I was exhausted just watching, The better conditioned team was
going to win. Forget mental toughness. When strength and lungs give out, you’re not going to
perform at a high level. The Penguins prevailed over the Red Wings, avoiding elimination.
Now I’m curious to find out which team is able to recover from that epic match and be ready
for game six.

I’m also impressed by the endurance of some individual athletes, such as those participants in
the French Open tennis championships. The women often play for three straight hours, and
the men are frequently on the court for more than four.

There’s no downside to having an abundance of endurance. It’s always an asset. Endurance is

certainly a huge advantage for any athlete and is a critical factor for anyone wanting to sustain
a higher quality of life.

Editor’s note: Bill Starr was a strength and conditioning coach at Johns Hopkins University
from 1989 to 2000. He’s the author of The Strongest Shall Survive—Strength Training for
Football, which is available for $20 plus shipping from Home Gym Warehouse. Call (800)
447-0008, or visit www.Home-Gym.com.