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Do They Love Me In Arkansas?

Have you picked up a copy of the Men’s Health Book of Power Training yet? No. Really?

Here is a recent review of the book that was published in an Arkansas newspaper – apparently the author likes calorie containing beverages – read below

Celia (the reviewer) takes an interesting stance on Olympic Lifts and their safety. Whether they are safe or not isn’t a discussion for this blog. However Coach Dos does provide progressions so that you don’t have to do the complete Olympic lifts. You can listen to Coach Dos talk about the safety of Olympic lifts and the alternatives he provides in the Book of Power Training in an interview I did with him on Max-Out Radio.

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Restless reader (by Celia Storey)

 

 

Men’s Health Power

Training By Robert dos Remedios, with nutrition chapter by Mike Roussell (Rodale paperback, November 2007 ), 334 pages with index, $ 19. 95. This is a big paperback. Yes, but it’s mostly charts and photo recipes for exercises. Robert dos Remedios’ guide to designing your own training program for more strength and power includes 650 blackand-white photos. Isn’t strength and power the focus of every training guide ? No. Some are for people who want to lose weight; others focus on flexibility; some address endurance; some train you to lift less weight slowly or more safely; some suggest ways of puffing up so you look like a giant bratwurst. The focus here is on training like an athlete. Note that an athlete is not someone who is easily injured and therefore needs to approach all training as though it was “prehab” — a way to avoid ending up in rehab. But rehab is what nonathletes could be doing if they don’t read carefully. You could hurt yourself reading ?

Ask your friendly neighborhood orthopedic surgeon how much money he makes off Olympic powerlifters. So it’s a bad-advice book ? It’s a well-developed program by an experienced trainer and also interesting and educational. But anyone who stops to consider the bad things that can happen to incautious powerlifters will be more inclined to notice dos Remedios’ advice about moderating workouts when you’re tired and the parts where he quotes kinesiologist Bill Hartman’s suggestions of safer alternatives for presses involving the shoulders.

Thus armed, an aspiring athlete would be more inclined to take seriously this little bit: “It is perfectly fine to stay in the basic category indefinitely. In fact, I would not recommend progressing to the more technical exercises without proper hands-on coaching.”

Power training will hurt you if you don’t do it well.

Also, not every ego is designed to follow a training program this complex. Dos Remedios uses lots of lists, and that requires attention. And selecting the best moves for you on any given day might require an unbearably heavy load of humility.

What are the g uiding principles ? He offers plans for intense workouts two, three or four times a week. The emphasis changes every three weeks, including an optional relative-rest phase every six weeks and a mandatory “unloading” every 12 weeks. Each workout is intended to balance pushing and pulling among the body’s planes of movement. (The body can move between front and back, from side to side, between top and bottom, and then you can twist, right ? Those are the planes of movement as he describes them, but he uses harder words. )

Workouts include many exercises in which only one side of your body handles the weight while the other has to stabilize. Weight is lowered in a controlled fashion but raised as quickly as possible, keeping in mind that sometimes what’s possible won’t be very quick. As much as possible, the work is done standing. He offers no (none ) muscle-isolation exercises (like biceps curls ), although he says you’re free to add some after your workout. “Knock yourself out,” he says.

What equipment is needed ? Olympic barbell and weights, dumbbells, adjustable bench or Swiss ball, chin-up bar. Other things are used in optional exercises, like stretch bands, medicine balls and a cable pulley tower. He also admits you need a squat rack for very heavy lifts.

What’s the nutrition advice ? It’s by Mike Roussell, a doctoral student in nutrition at Pennsylvania State University who wrote Naked Nutrition: five or six meals a day, plus snacks; many more fruits and vegetables and less processed food; lean protein at each meal; starchy foods only after the workout or at breakfast (and that’s a big breakfast ); pre-workout smoothies containing sugar and a proteinisolate or -hydrolysate form of whey; more water and no other calorie-rich beverages (read: bummer !).

Who is the author ? Dos Remedios is director of speed, strength and conditioning at College of the Canyons in Southern California; he was the National Strength and Conditioning Association’s collegiate strength coach of the year in 2006. He was the first community college coach to win that award. He contributes to Men’s Health magazine (of course ) and was a presenter at this year’s JP Fitness Summit in Little Rock.

Pick up a copy a www.BookofPowerTraining.com

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