Box Jumps and Push sleds?

[bloodhound]

Do front box jumps/timed box jumps and push sleds have any place in novice training (SS)? If so, where and how? Thanks for your time.

[Michael Wolf]

I don't see any need for box jumps in a Novice's training.

Sled pushing would depend more on context. In a perfect world, you'd finish your Novice LP without doing or focusing on anything else. But sometimes in real life, the demands of a seasonal sport, a specific event, or a psychological disorder come in to play. In those cases, some sled pushing might be included in a Novice's program, though again, I don't consider this ideal.

[Dunk]

'A psychological disorder' I'm guessing this refers to people doing cardio for the endorphins or am I being stupid?

[Michael Wolf]

'A psychological disorder' I'm guessing this refers to people doing cardio for the endorphins or am I being stupid?

That's one possibility. The general category of people who "just need to do" some cardio/conditioning/whatever you want to call it. Whether because they enjoy it or because they subjectively feel fat or sloth or lazy or my favorite, "out of shape," without it. Or any similar condition. Our distinction between training and exercise, which Rip has recently talked about at length in the 2nd podcast, and the inherent shorter-term adaptation that such work yields, explains why the best thing to do for a Novice who is training is to leave out the conditioning for now, and get as far as the LP can take him. Some people, however, are overcome by those "needs" mentioned earlier, or similar, and thus are unwilling to dedicate themselves fully to training, and still need some sense of exercise.

I obviously used the term 'psychological disorder' loosely for comedic effect; it's not really that serious, but it does represent an inability or unwillingness to do what is best in favor of what subjectively feels better.