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Info on David Boston - Training etc!

coolcolj

New member
Posted re Charles Poliquin Senimar and David Boston's 40 yar dash etc

Re Snatch deadlift - I told ya so!! Reminds me to sarting doing em :p

Todd Wilson

8/13/2002 : 2:24:35 PM
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Hi, AJ...it went very Well! Very interesting and informative.

I'll just briefly comment on some things mentioned above and throw out some things of interest and then just let me know any specific questions you have.



40 times...
Last season Boston ran a 4.27 electronically timed.

This year at a bodyweight of 248 he ran a 4.17! Charles said he got calls from the Cardinals coaching staff however, and that they were giving him grief because of Boston's weight.

Clemson mentioned Poliquin's emphasis on structural balance. Charles is huge one this. He spent the first 8 weeks of Davids training improving his lower back and hamstring strength. Strengthening his VMO with the use of split squats on a wobble board (more about that in a second). And improving Boston's upper back (read CHINS!). About the split squats on the wobble board... he was very critical of all of the balance training nonsense and said he did use the wobble board and sit fit, but it wasn't for balance, it was because it taught the athlete how to recruit the VMO.

He was big on the Snatch Grip Dead Lift from the podium (which made me feel good because it's one of my favorite movements) and variatoins there of. He will use it with chains, variations in starting height, and then move into various pulls, etc. He would also use one form each of split squats and step ups in David's program. The step ups were most often Peterson step ups in order to bring about development in the VMO.

Last year Boston benched 425 at camp, this year he can inclined that weight.

He emphasized the acceleration of the bar in concentric portion of the lift. Especially in upper body lifts such as the incline bench. He discussed several methods to achieve this using chains, eccentric hooks, and various wave loading parameters.

Also, Clemson mentioned Charles and "bodybuilding methods." While he has been criticised for this. I have to disagree with those who suggest he uses "bodybuilding methods." He rarely goes above 6 reps in the primary exercises used on a given training day. He did say that he preferred heavy/lean athletes.

Also, in their first year (i.e., summer, off-season or however long they have to train with him) of training hockey and Baseball players gain about 18 pounds of lean mass and football players gain about 25 pounds.

He said every American athlete that comes into his center has a weak lower back, hamstrings, VMO, and Lats.

He said, like most of his athletes Boston used a 3 out of 5 day frequency, but that he trained twice a day. The evening workout usually consisted of farmers walk, super yoke, log press, etc. Strongman type training.

He also emphasized that he personally felt that one thing that perhaps helped Boston the most was his improved grip strength. He trains grip after every upper body workout. They do something for grip for a few sets.

Also, be on the look out for Thomas Jones who trained with Charles this summer. Charles said that he improved his clean pulls 100 lbs. in 4 workouts. That is partly due to neural processes of learning a new skill, but that's still impressive that an athlete can adapt like that.

Anyway...that's just some stuff off the top of my head that I thought I would throw out...any questions are most welcome.

From a personal standpoint I had a great time James Walker and his staff at Pro Speed in Herndon, VA did a great job as host and they have an impressive facility. Charles did an excellent job presenting his material and was very funny throughout the seminar. I had heard plenty of stories about him berating seminar attendies, and this and that, but we talked extensively and lunch and frankly, he's my kind a guy. Very nice and down to earth. One guy did leave pissed though. After showing how to assess a VMO deficiency the guy was pissed when Charles told him that his was weak. That coupled with the fact that he was there trying to hock his fitness equipment and Charles didn't say, "Hey everybody buy equipment from this guy." Personally I would have been an asshole to the guy. He acted like a jerk, but Charles was very professional.


He's also gotten into herbalism and Chinese medicine. He's basically been readind, researching etc. trying to find out as much about it as possible. He gave me some book title to read that eventually I would like to check out as it was really interesting, but it's very empirical right now.

ANother thing I thought was interesting is he said that he goes to seminars all the time and highly recommends it as a way of learning. Lately he's been going to seminars on topics relating to Testosterone/Cortisol ratio. He's big into manipulating that ratio. And essentially he's trying to develop a supplement(s) that can help the athlete manage cortisol more efficiently.

Anyway, it was a great expierience, I would recommend it to anyone and if your in the Washington D.C. area and need a great place to train, call Pro Speed.

P.S. Charles has forearms the size of my calves!
Todd Wilson
Website Member
Posts : 7



8/13/2002 : 2:30:05 PM
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Oh yeah...Sled work!

Charles was big on this. He uses all manners of drags, pull throughs, etc.

However, he said never run with a sled! Only drag it. I agree and would be interested on others and Charlie's ideas on this, but in my opinion I dislike all forms of resisted running, towing, etc. be it with a sled, parachute, bungee cord, tubing, down hill running, weight vest or whatever. Especially for a sprinter (although I have no expierience coaching sprinters in anyway) but even in sports such as football and basketball, I feel potential disadvatages far outweigh possible advantages.
 
Todd, what types of set/rep schemes does Poliquin use with Boston?

### Well, on the first cycle he used 10 sets of 5 snatch grip DLs from the podium and in the second cycle he used like 6 sets of 5 with chains. Honestly though, he used sets and rep schemes similar to those he talked about in his book "Modern Trends in Strength Training."


Does he use any Westside Barbell methods such as dynamic/max effort work.


### Well, he uses some Westiside ideas. He said he went to a Dave Tate seminar and came away with ten things, but he doesn't use them per their guidelines as he isn't training powerlifters, he's training athletes.

Also, how does he structure the workouts? By that I mean what bodyparts does he work together on which days - like chest/lats day one, Legs and shoulders on day two, and Triceps and Biceps on Day three.


### Generally it's set up like this: Day 1 - Chest and back, Day 2 - Legs and abs if any, Day3 off, Day 4 - Arms, Shoulders, and rotator cuff. Day 5 off, repeat. I use a similar type split as well much of the time, but I prefer upper body push/pull as opposed to "arms, chest, ack, etc." And I gathered that Poliquin simply uses that terminology because everyone understands it because for example on an "arm" day the two primary exercises could be 14 inch grip bench press and close grip supinated chin up. Or overhead press and hammer curls, etc.

I began by saying, "If you're doing speed work year round..." and he cut me off and said "Ehhh, wrong!"


### Well, I think that was because he doesn't believe in training "speed" per se all year long. Also, he said and I personally am in very much agreement with him that often speed is hampered by strength deficits. With younger athletes (i.e., high school to college) I am convinced this is most often the case. In other words, and again this is for another athlete, not a sprinter, I would rather have an athlete increase his squat "X" amount as opposed to go out on the track and practice running.


Any mention of what sprinting work he did. Did he use any interval methods for endurance.

### Yes, but saves this for late in the training season. He uses many different types of intervals and individualizes it for the athlete. He didn't have time to go into it in a lot of detail, but I have a copy of one interval program he's used and have some of my own idas on that topic as well. Like a lot of things he talked about it was all very specific to the athlete.

I read in an article about Hockey players by charles that he goes from short speed to longer intervals/repetitions as the summer progresses.

### That's one way, but for example with football they are not running a long distance most of the time, so he would simply attempt to gradually decrease the rest to work ratio (e.g., 5:1 - 3:1, just as an example, I just picked those numbers).


Also interested in how he combines exercises eg what else does he do on the day with Snatch grip deads.

### One form of split squats and one form of step ups (most often Peterson step ups for the VMO).

Does Charles lower the Bar in the Snatch deadlift all the way to the platform or is it always kept elevated for tension?

### To the platform, and if you've read Modern Trends, he talks about cluster training. He really likes that method for the development of power.

I'm using a Poliquin style 3 in 5 day split myself. Just curious as to what Boston did on which 3 days? I'm having trouble deciding which exercises to put on which days.

### Chest and back, legs, arms RC work and grip on both upper body days. He also had afternoon sessions of sled drags, strong man implement training, etc.


Charlie: "What does the group think of improving VMO strength by doing split squats on a wobble board. What kind of load is used? As for speed work, it must be developed gradually for a prolonged period, which would mean most of the year."

That's an interesting question Charlie and I'm curious to yours and everyones thoughts as I've been against most of that type of stuff. Charles emphasized that it was not for balance, agility, or anything like that, it was purely to help the athlete recruit the VMO. He gave several movements to use once you assessed that the athelte had a VMO deficiency: Peterson step ups, split squat with the front foot elevated on a platform in front of a low pulley (elevated 4-6 inches), I actually tried this, it's not a squat or lunge, but is more demanding than I suspected. Heels evelvated front and back squats and then later in the training cycle when he reintroduced squats to the athlete full squat (front or back) would maintain it's development. Also, I'm wandering if perhaps the wobble board or sit fit would be better served with extreme cases of VMO deficiency?

### As for speed develpoement, Charles seems to agree that it's developed over time and as such you can tell by looking at his program that he builds to that as in one progression he showed us he went selected the primary exercises for a specific athelte in the following manor:

Snatch grip DL from the podium

Snatch grip DL from the podium with chains

Snatch grip DL from the floor

Snatch pulls in the rack

Snatch pulls from the floor

Snatch pulls with chains

Power Snatch
...That may not be exactly it as I do not have my notes with me, but that's a pretty close generalization of what one progression may look like.

In the auxillary exercises he gradually moved from the unilateral movments to squats. He said the later that you can delay squats within the training period you have with the athlete the better the squat would be and the better the training effect would be.

Todd

Would Boston's strength be able to cause him to have a decidely world class start? He can Snatch grip dead lift from a podium 2.5 x bodyweight. That's strong! How much does that coorelate from the start out to 40 yards?
 
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