Brian Asks: Does HIIT help with recovery for Weightlifting? HIIT supposedly stimulates the release of HGH post workout.
 
If your athlete's only goal was to get stronger overall and better at the Olympic lifts, would you add in some short HIIT or CrossFit workouts to their program to help recovery? Like 2-3 days per week?
 
I have heard Klokov talk about this but I was wondering if it could help the average trainee as well? (Klokov talks about a lot of things that are good for him but probably not good for your average Joe). Most Weightlifting programs do not mention conditioning of any kind and definitely do not prescribe high intensity workouts.
 
Greg Says: I’ve never really bought into this in the strictest sense. From what I can tell, the actual gH release you’re potentially going to get is a lot like the one you’re going to get with so many gH-releasing supplements—nothing significant. If it does provide a significant gH release, the question is whether or not that’s enough to outweigh the potential drawbacks of doing non-specific, fatiguing training. I can’t honestly tell you for sure, and it would vary dramatically depending on the athlete and the workouts.
 
I do believe in “athletic movement”… this very vague category of non-specific and potentially conditioning-type work for lifters at certain times. First, GPP is critical for lifters in their earliest stages of development, particularly when starting at young ages. Athletes need to develop a foundation of broad motor and metabolic traits to then specialize successfully later. With an established specialist lifter, this is far less important, although for a lifter who skipped the ideal early developmental phases, it can be more useful than it would be otherwise.
 
I’m including a wide range of activities here such as jumps, throws, bodybuilding and bodyweight movements, etc. I don’t believe CrossFit workouts in the conventional sense fit in because they have a purpose unto themselves that has nothing to do with weightlifting.
 
I do like lifters performing accessory work in circuits, both for economy, but also because of the low-level conditioning effect it produces. To me, this is sufficient. Whether or not you’re going to get any measurable gH increase from doing this I can’t tell you, but I’m not particularly concerned with it.
 
Bottom line is that you need to prioritize training to produce the results you’re most interested in. Adding in HIIT/CrossFit workouts can quickly and easily result in overdoing it and/or minimizing the effectiveness of your weightlifting training if you’re not careful to wisely control the volume and type of movement. If you experiment with it, start with very brief workouts (under 5 minutes) and keep the intensity moderate. If you find it makes you feel and perform better, have at it.
 
Bill Asks: I have a question regarding when to perform box jumping. I train the football team as well as the men’s and women basketball team and the women’s volleyball team. With the exception of the football team we do box jumping in the off season. I might add that for all sports we use strength training per Prilepin and Bompa Periodization Phases. I am concerned about injuries from box jumping that will carry over to the lifting platform and the football field. When is the correct phase to do the jumping?
 
Greg Says: In weightlifting, the highest volume and frequency of jumping is done during preparation mesocycles (equivalent in a sense to the off-season), but we continue in the competition mesocycle (last 4-6 weeks into a meet) with reduced volume, frequency and intensity as a way to maintain the qualities rather than develop them as was done in the preparation phase.
 
In your case, I would have the highest volume and frequency in the off season when you general training volume is highest as well. This would be the time also to do more aggressive jumping work, such as depth jumps or weighted jumps and the like. As you move into competition season, you can reduce the frequency of jumping to maybe once weekly or even once every 10 days or so, and limit the movements to simple box jumps, broad jumps and similar low-intensity jumps. Stick with 4-6 sets of 3 jumps or so—remember the idea is maintenance rather than development.