Drag Your Butt Into Shape

General Physical Preparedness: Westside Style

by Dave Tate | 03/02/01

The 411 on GPP

I can remember when I was a kid growing up and playing street ball, baseball, football,
soccer, and a number of other games we just made up. On any given day there was
something going on. Now when I drive through a neighborhood I fail to see the same
games being played. The physical activities have been replaced with computer games
and the Internet. So what does all this have to do with training? Well, in some respects,
everything.

The ability to compete on a given day is known as your level of preparedness. This is
determined by your level of tness, which is in turn dependent upon your work capacity.
So all training is based upon increasing work capacity, and you can't build a high level of
preparedness without a high work capacity.

The solution to this sounds fairly simple: do more work and your work capacity will go up.
The problem is that if you increase the work too quickly your progress will go backward. If
you don't increase it enough then you'll stagnate. The work capacity has to be increased
with a ne balance between general physical preparedness (GPP) and special physical
preparedness (SPP).

SPP concentrates only on those exercises that are more specic to the sport of choice.
GPP is intended to provide balanced physical conditioning between all the tness
components such as flexibility, strength, endurance, speed, and other factors. You see,
the games we played as kids helped us to develop a certain level of GPP. While this level
wasn't enough to become a world-class athlete, it was still worth something. Nowadays,
college strength coaches see athlete after athlete with poor mobility because of
shortened hip flexors. This is probably caused by the years these athletes spent sitting on
their asses in front of the TV. They're athletes, yes, but their levels of GPP are poor.
According to Yuri Verkhoshansky in The Fundamentals of Special Strength Training in
Sport and as outlined in Supertraining by Mel C Siff, there are several functions of GPP:

1. To form, strengthen or restore motor skills, which play an auxiliary, facilatory role in
perfecting sports ability.

2. To teach abilities developed insufciently by the given sport; increase the general
work capacity or preserve it.

3. To provide active rest, promote restoration after strenuous loading, and counteract
the monotony of training.

Many coaches and athletes don't believe in the benets of GPP at all. Who are the worst
offenders? Are you sure you want to know? Bodybuilders and powerlifters are by far the
worst! They feel that all they have to do is train the main lifts to get strong. This is why so
many of them are out of shape.

I was rst introduced to the concept of GPP a few years ago when Louie Simmons and I
made a trip to Pittsburgh to watch John Davies train several of his athletes. John is a
speed coach who was working with several players in Pittsburgh at the time. I weighed
about 305 with a 2100 pound total at the time of this trip. My total was moving up but
only by about ve or ten pounds each competition. I knew I was missing something but
didn't know what it was.

John was talking about how he'd never met an American player who couldn't benet from
added GPP. He said that just about every player he'd worked with was out of shape.
American coaches, he said, were too quick to do specialized drills or movements before
developing a solid base tness level. Others athletes fail to maintain their tness levels as
they move through the ranks.

As we spoke I began to wonder if I'd lost my tness level over the years. I'd spent the last
few years force feeding myself to get my weight up and I only did those things I felt
necessary in training. I didn't want to burn any more calories then I had to. At about this
time we decided to go to lunch. The lunch hall was about a fourth of a mile away and up
hill. John decided we would walk. Even though we could see the hall I still wanted to
drive. About halfway up the hill I started to feel like I was going to die. By the time we got
to the top I was soaked in sweat and beet-red. I thought my heart was going to pound
through my chest. My question about GPP was answered.
My GPP was terrible and I was not only out of shape, I was way out of shape! I used to
think this was how you had to be if you wanted to lift big weights. What the hell do I need
to be in shape for if all I have to do is lift a weight that takes three to ve seconds to
complete? On the way home Louie and I came up with a plan. We knew endurance
training (bike, treadmill, etc.) wasn't the ticket because it wasn't bringing up any weak
points and not specic enough to our sport. We had to nd a way to increase GPP while
bringing up weak points.

The Solution: Sled Dragging

I decided to add in sled dragging six days a week with a few extra workouts. Louie had
been doing these extra workouts for about a year and I just dismissed them as a waste of
time. But the dragging sled could be used as a means of increasing work capacity. The
use of a sled has many benets:

1. The sled is easy to use and doesn't require a special trip to the gym.

2. The sled is specic to the development of the special skills necessary for maximal
strength. (And by the way, we never run with the sled.)

3. Many movements can be trained with the sled, some of which are listed below.
There are movements for the abdominals, shoulders, hamstrings, etc. Virtually every
muscle can be trained with a sled.

4. The sled is a great way to induce active restoration. In many of the upper body
dragging movements, the eccentric is eliminated because of the nature of the sled. This
in turn is great for recovery because the tearing down of the muscle is much less in
concentric-only movements.

My training schedule before was as follows:

Monday: Max effort squat/deadlift day

Wednesday: Max effort bench press
Friday: Dynamic effort squat day
Sunday: Dynamic effort bench day

The new schedule would be built to bring up my weak points, namely my abs and
hamstrings. The new schedule looked like this:
Monday
AM: Max effort squat/deadlift day This is the main training workout utilizing the method
of maximal exertion followed by supplemental and accessory movements for the squat
and deadlift. (See my past articles at T-mag if you're not familiar with Westside training.)

PM: Sled dragging, extra abdominal work and GHR (glute ham raise) This is an extra
workout I added to increase my work capacity. The sled work during this cycle was
performed utilizing the empirical rule of 60% (see below). My abdominals have always
been a weak point so extra abdominal work was also added into the weekly cycle..

Tuesday
Sled dragging The main focus of this workout is restoration. I'll give a sample workout
below.

Wednesday
AM: Max effort bench press This is the main bench press workout utilizing the method
of maximal exertion followed by supplemental and accessory movements.

PM: Sled dragging, extra abdominal work and pec-delt tie in The goal of this training
session is much like the goal of the PM session on Monday. Since I've torn both pecs, I
added in some special movements to strengthen the pec-delt tie in region.

Thursday
Sled Dragging, abdominal work Again, the main focus of this workout is restoration.

Friday
AM: Dynamic effort squat day This is the main training day for the squat, utilizing the
dynamic effort method. The box squat would be trained followed by supplemental
movements for the squat and deadlift. No changes were made during this workout.

PM: Sled dragging, extra abdominal work and GHR This workout was designed to suit
the same purpose as the Monday PM workout.

Sunday
Dynamic effort bench day This is the main training day for the bench press, utilizing the
dynamic effort method. The bench press would be trained, followed by supplemental
movements for that lift. No changes were made during this workout.

Sample Sled Dragging Movements

Around the waist forward dragging This could be classied as the king of all dragging
exercises. Run a nylon strap through the sled with the other end attached to a weight belt.
Keep the belt one notch loose to allow for you to pull in and expand your belly as much as
possible. This will allow you to better push your abdominals against the belt in the same
fashion we advise for the power lifts.

As you walk forward do so in an explosive, dynamic motion, driving into the belt as you
step. You should hear the forces snap the sled with each step. This is much different than
just walking forward. This type of dragging is great for the development of the hamstrings
and glutes.

Ankle dragging This movement is great for the hip flexors and hamstrings. To perform
it you'll need to attach one nylon strap to the sled and pass a second through the rst for
a "T" shape. Tie or loop the end of the second strap around each ankle.

Start the motion in a split stance position and pull the back leg forward with a slight bend
in the knee. Concentrate on using the hip flexors and abdominals, not the quads. This
movement has had a profound difference on many lifters I've consulted. It teaches them
how to use their abdominals in a way that's conducive to doing the squat.

Rope dragging behind the knees This style of dragging will pulverize your hamstrings.
Attach the strap to the sled. Run a rope or another nylon strap through the rst. Face
away from the sled and grip the second strap behind your knees with a close stance. Stay
in this semi-squatted position and walk forward.

Front raises This has been one of the best and most successful things I've ever seen for
sore and damaged shoulders. It's helped more lifters get back to the bench than any other
movement. Attach one strap through the rst in the same manner as the ankle dragging.
Face away from the sled and grab one strap in each hand and walk forward while
simulating a dumbbell front raise with the straps.
Rear raises This movement is performed the same as the front raise except you'll be
walking backwards and performing a rear raise. The benet to these front and rear raises
is that the loading during the eccentric phase is taken away. What you're left with is a
concentric-only activity that causes little to no soreness.

Sample Dragging Workouts

Dragging for restoration The basic guideline for restoration dragging is to keep the load
light and drag for a greater distance. The best distance I've seen for this type of loading is
200 feet. A sample restoration workout is as follows:

1. Around the waist dragging: 90 pounds for 200 feet, rest 30 seconds and return. This
movement would be performed for four trips. (One trip equals 200 feet.)

2. Front Raises: Two trips, 200 feet with 35 pounds

3. Rear Raises: Two trips, 200 feet with 35 pounds

4. Ankle dragging: Two trips, 200 feet with 35 pounds

Dragging for strength The best type of loading for strength is to drag increasingly
heavier weights for a shorter distance. The best distance we found for this is 100 feet. A
sample strength workout would look like this:

1. Around the waist dragging: Begin with 45 pounds and drag for 100 feet. Rest 30 to
45 seconds and return. Rest another 45 seconds and add another 45-pound plate. Keep
with this same distance and continue rest and loading pattern until your body tells you to
stop. When it comes to strength dragging, one movement per workout is plenty.

2. Dragging using the empirical rule of 60%: The empirical rule of 60% is one of the
best ways to induce active restoration in the course of a micro cycle. The best way to see
how this system works is to look at an example of how it's used:

Day 1: Front raise dragging: 100 pounds for two trips of 100 feet.

Day 2: Front raise dragging: 60 pounds for two trips of 100 feet. You'll notice the
weight is 60% of the weight used on day one.
 Day 3: Front raise dragging: 36 pounds for two trips of 100 feet. This time you'll
notice the weight is 60% of the weight used on day two.

These 60% drops are responsible for inducing a means of active restoration. Restoration
should be used in cycles throughout the year coupled with the heaviest loading phases.
You don't want to make restoration measures part of a yearly cycle because it's important
for the body to get sore and beat down at certain times throughout the year. This is part
of the training process we all accepted a long time ago. You do, however, want to go into
a meet as fresh as possible.

Summary
I've presented just some of the possible GPP and restoration movements. It's worked
wonders for us at Westside and for the athletes I train. The added GPP and hamstring
development has improved many of our deadlifts and the upper body work has helped
more shoulder problems caused by overtraining than anything else we've tried.

For more information on these movements or any of the others we perform, contact us at
EliteFitnesssystems.com (http://www.elitetnesssystems.com/) or call 888-854-8806.
We also provide a quality sled and straps made for these types of movements.

If you'd rather make your own sled you can always get a used tire, cut a piece of plywood
to ll the center, then load rocks or other weight on top of it. For straps you can either use
a rope or call me for the straps we had made for ours. (We have them made with extra
large loops so you can get your feet through.)

Good luck dragging yourself into shape!

Dave Tate
Dave Tate is the founder and CEO of Elitefts and the author of Under The Bar
(http://www.elitefts.com/under-the-bar.html) . Dave has been involved in powerlifting
for over three decades as a coach, consultant and business owner. He has logged
more than 10,000 hours coaching professional, elite, and novice athletes, as well as
professional strength coaches. (https://facebook.com/DavidTate)

Follow Dave Tate on Facebook (https://facebook.com/DavidTate)

03/02/01