General Rules

I got a nice email from a friend and fellow masters vaulter discussing training, perceived exertion, injury prevention and so on.  I told him several general guidelines I follow and thought you might be interested.  I know you have many of your own but here are a few of my staples.

• Stay 20% below what you think you are capable of that day.
• Raise intensity or volume every two weeks but never both at the same time.
• If you feel an injury or ding will heal in three weeks, give it six and blast your strength, conditioning and flexibility.  You will come back a better athlete than when you left.
• Rather than work up to a full training program, do it ALL from day one but at a very low level, ramping up a little bit every two weeks as described above.
• If you have a break for travel or a meet, start back at a low level and ramp back up.
• The number one reason people stop during workouts, or get hurt, is because it is too hard.  Make it easy and make it every day.
• Remember, you can lift a baby calf every day for only so long before he becomes a cow that you can't budge.  Don't be in a hurry to lift the cow.  Why rush to a place where you will be stuck and risk injury?  Get the most out of every level from day one.
• If you only lift heavy you will lose endurance, and if you only lift high reps you won't gain strength.  Mix them up but keep both higher and lower reps going at all times.  Big exercises I tend to lift heavier, and smaller muscle groups I tend to lift more reps.
• If you jump 15' while benching 185 and 15' while benching 245, then redirect that energy to somewhere that will improve your vault.

I have a ton more of these and I'm sure you do too.  Enjoy and keep up the great work.  Bubba