Warm down for weight training – hindu squats and hindu press ups

Have a look at this video of Tom Kurz (in his 60s) doing a Warm Down after his weights session.

Notice the lack of a foam roller, or therabands or any other gimic that hides the fact that the athlete is weak. Notice how he says that 200 squats is about right to help prevent knee pain.

I am constantly being requested to send the programme that the athlete I am training is doing to the National Governing Body.  They want to see an excel spreadsheet with pretty colours and terms like “speed strength” or “PCr workouts” on them.

The fact that the athlete struggles to do 5 press ups, or is unable to  get down and up off the floor for 30 seconds in sets of 4, seems to be irrelevant. As long as they have a “programme” then that is ok.

The more athletes I see, and especially the junior ones, the more reductionist in my approach I become. I cringe when I see the words periodised and programme now – it implies a top down,  straight out of a text book approach- is that Coaching?

Why are they being given barbell power cleans before they can do 100 squats?

Simple things, done well is my motto at present. The Hindu squats and Hindu press ups demonstrated by Kurz are a great example of this.

Further reading:

• How to cool down after training
•  The Quest for Ultra Performance