Balancing practice and strength training

[Eric Blanchard]

My objectives for this post are two-fold:

1. Connect with badminton players and/or other racket sport athletes who've had the similar good fortune to discover SS.

2. Identify strategies on how best to manage the (at times) competing goals and training requirements of practice vs. strength training.

I realize that aspects of #2 have already come up on the forum. However I'm struggling to make it through discussions that dissolve into questions of the merit of strength training for this type of athletic endeavour.

I'm currently 4 months in to my first SS attempt and the main reason I'm strength training is to improve my badminton. I'm a decent player, collegiate level, with hopes of becoming a national champion once I hit +35 (I'm 33). I'm also going through this to become a better coach. As a family physician I feel strength training is the most valuable medicine at our disposal, but this has been discussed elsewhere.
Fortunately, I'm not your typical badminton player, I'm 6'2'', ~205 lbs and I've done a fair bit of weight training in the past. Much of this was more bodybuilding like training but I had done linear progressions as well. When my training focus shifted to badminton around 6 years ago weights took a backseat. I still hit the gym from time to time but did little more than front squats, cleans, lunges and pull ups.

Since it's the off-season, I'm still committing 100% to getting stronger. In April-June I was still hitting a bit but quickly realized that anything more than light badminton training would negatively affect my gains. Come September I won't have this luxury. I'll focus on badminton, throw in a few microcycles with a greater strength emphasis and ultimately return to a linear progression next summer. Anyone else in a similar situation?

[damufunman]

My objectives for this post are two-fold:

1. Connect with badminton players and/or other racket sport athletes who've had the similar good fortune to discover SS.

2. Identify strategies on how best to manage the (at times) competing goals and training requirements of practice vs. strength training.

I realize that aspects of #2 have already come up on the forum. However I'm struggling to make it through discussions that dissolve into questions of the merit of strength training for this type of athletic endeavour.

I'm currently 4 months in to my first SS attempt and the main reason I'm strength training is to improve my badminton. I'm a decent player, collegiate level, with hopes of becoming a national champion once I hit +35 (I'm 33). I'm also going through this to become a better coach. As a family physician I feel strength training is the most valuable medicine at our disposal, but this has been discussed elsewhere.
Fortunately, I'm not your typical badminton player, I'm 6'2'', ~205 lbs and I've done a fair bit of weight training in the past. Much of this was more bodybuilding like training but I had done linear progressions as well. When my training focus shifted to badminton around 6 years ago weights took a backseat. I still hit the gym from time to time but did little more than front squats, cleans, lunges and pull ups.

Since it's the off-season, I'm still committing 100% to getting stronger. In April-June I was still hitting a bit but quickly realized that anything more than light badminton training would negatively affect my gains. Come September I won't have this luxury. I'll focus on badminton, throw in a few microcycles with a greater strength emphasis and ultimately return to a linear progression next summer. Anyone else in a similar situation?

Not sure how they compare (baseball vs. badminton), but last summer I played baseball once a week while starting on the Texas Method. Granted, your novice phase is really the time when you should just commit to about 6 months of only strength training, as this is the only time you'll make that much progress. If you must also train badminton at this time and it's affecting your lifting, then switching to an intermediate program might be worth looking into. But you should do the novice LP as unimpeded as you can manage.

[Ivey]

Can't help you on #1 as I'm a rower.
Can say #2 (balancing sport and a linear progression) is tough.

I have yet to see a universal winning strategy for #2.

At the risk of coming off as a jackass, are you really 4 months into a novice progression? If you started with the empty bar I think that would put you at a 285# squat or so.

Anyway, I got desperate enough to stop everything and only lift. I can obviously only do that for so long before I must get back to the sport (or miss an entire season). My hope is that getting the novice progression done before adding sport-specific training will help. Also, I have a coach so I'll lean on him to help with a plan.

Look forward to following along. I am fascinated by this topic and hope you find a winning strategy for question #2. I'll be interested in reading what you settle on.

[Eric Blanchard]

Ya I'm about 4 months in to the program. I started with ~ 135 squat and my last work set was 295. There were a few weeks in there where life got in the way but I'm still adding weight to the bar.

I'm also lucky enough to be training one of the top U19 badminton players in Canada. He's back in HK until the end of the month but we got his squat up to 200 in just 1 month of SS before he left (weighing ~ 145 lbs). I'm planning on doing another month of straight SS with him in September before on-court training becomes the primary focus. I'm hoping to continue doing a bit of weights +/- short microcycles and then hit another linear progression next May- August with him.

Seeing how things play out for him will be particularly interesting. It's clear that power lifting is foreign to high level badminton players. Because of my training this player I've gained access to the upper echelon of badminton in Canada. I've worked with/ trained with the top players and coaches in the country, most of whom are former professional players from China or Indonesia. As no surprise, their idea of training is different from mine.

We find ourself in a unique situation. We live a couple hours outside of Toronto ( the hub of everything in this country, including badminton). Not only am I this player's coach but I am the only decent sparring partner than he has access to. However I cannot compare to the level of play he would receive in Toronto. The one thing I can offer is more one-on-one coaching and strength training. This player is currently only ranked in the top 10 nationally but skill wise he is definitely in the top 3. He's able to compete nationally despite much less on-court training and not training with professional players every day.

If he continues to get strong and this translates to success on court, it will be a HUGE statement.

[Ivey]

That's very exciting, Eric. I look forward to seeing what positive impact weight training has on his upcoming season. It could be huge. You do, indeed, appear to be in a very special position.