Incorporating Prowler into Starting Strength Regimen

[mkelle05]

Hey all,

I am still on linear progression phase and have been for a few months I have had all the form issues in the world (and still do have some issues), and basically did everything wrong at first and learned the hard way. I am 5'10, 177 lbs. I was 150 when I started.

Have had some good progress but still not where I would look to be in the long term

SQ - 95---> 240x5 (had a few deloads bc of form issues)
DL - 115---> 320x5
OP - 75 ----> 125x5
BP - 115 ---> 170x5
PC - 45-----> 165x3

My question is this - I have read awesome things about the prowler on this forum. so i decided id try pushing a sled at my gym (not an actual prowler but can be pushed) after my last two days of training. I freaking love it. And it is incredible workout. I felt like I was gna puke after and I love that feeling haha. Do you think it would be prudent to incorporate it into my program after lifting 2-3 days a week?? Nothing too crazy. Its on a rubber floor so it makes it tough but only able to go 30-40 meters bc of the size of the room. And only do about 6 reps as of now.

I am playing an intramural soccer league in a few weeks and would like to have a bit of a conditioning base because I have not done any conditioning (aside from 2 recent prowler sessions) in about 4-5 months.

But I do not want it to affect my recovery too much...do you think doing under 10 minutes of conditioning on the prowler 2-3 times a week would be a bad choice while trying to maintain linear progression?

My plan was to try it and see how it goes, but I figured I would get the insight from some wise people on this forum as well.

thanks

[Mr_Rogers]

It's not a bad choice at all. I wish I had incorporated conditioning when I ran LP. I would probably limit conditioning to twice a week and follow the 7 rounds, 20 seconds all out each round, 1:40 active recovery each round method Jordan recommends. Where I use the prowler at my gym takes me about 20 seconds to sprint 2 lengths of room.

If you're finding soccer and conditioning impacting your lifts it may be time to changing your programming to accommodate your other interests. I know you didn't mention it but it may be time to start paying attention to diet.

[mkelle05]

ya thats a big concern of mine - I had played soccer in the fall and it affected my lifts pretty badly. Its pretty annoying how bad my strength stalled out and even decreased. It was only one game a week for 40 minutes but after that I would be playing catch up to get back up to my previous week's number's...esp on squats. (Granted my form was terrible so maybe that was the part of the equation)... So i decided to not play in the winter and just work on strength with some success. Thing is I have alot of fun playing soccer and its only for 2 months. So I figure if my lifts suffer for 2 months its not the end of the world and I can just push through it and keep progressing linearly. I realize this is not really "doing the program" though.

Any special diet advice, aside from just eating a fuck-ton when i play soccer?

[mkelle05]

Or any programming advice for that matter? the games would be on sundays. I do the regular starting strength template - tuesday, thursday, saturday...deadlifting once a week on thursday and Power Cleans on Tues and Saturday. I also throw in 2 sets of body weight pullups and chinups to failure on alternating days.

[Mr_Rogers]

Programming is a bit out of my realm, I just know what has worked for me. Ultimately I went from LP to more of a block periodization programming. I did no mess around with TM as I had no interest in it largely because of recovery issues and life.

Optimally you'd do conditioning on off days but I don't know if that applies to the novice LP program. I really think your best bet in terms of recovery is doing the prowler work on Tuesday and Saturday. I'm not sure if you're doing light squats on Thursday but it might make sense to switch to that and also make that your DL day.

[Darkroman]

While you're playing soccer, I would suggest a max of one conditioning day on the prowler using 20 seconds on, and 1:40 rest intervals for 7 rounds. I would choose Wednesday to be that day. Since you're already having trouble keeping strength up though while playing soccer WITHOUT extra conditioning work, it might not be wise add to it. The only way you would maintain strength at this point then is to eat more. Up those protein and carbs. Soccer alone is pretty demanding on your system as it is. While you're not playing Soccer though, 2 days a week of prowler conditioning would be fine using the same system: 20 seconds on, 1:40 rest intervals for 7 rounds.

[mkelle05]

Guys thanks for all the input.

King of the Jews (love the name btw)- I actually just started reading Jordan's stuff on barbell medicine. Funny you say that. I just read Rip's article on conditioning. While I would like to balance strength and conditioning...Strength is my ultimate goal. I am playing soccer merely for fun and not performance. I actually plan to spend at least half the game as goalie so I don't burn myself out and totally kill my lifts.

Darkroman - I was planning on keeping the extra conditioning to the absolute minimum when I play. Max once a week if I have the recovery capacity but I do not think that I will so i will prob put the prowler down for those 2 months. And I will use 20 s and 1:40s rest for 7 intervals. Thanks!

Mr_Rogers - I am not yet at the advanced novice point. I am still doing 3 heavy a week. My squat numbers are pretty shitty. My flailing form had really set me back a lot and I am trying to get back up after a recent major reset. Would you recommend switching to a light day even though my squat is so low? And yes I already deadlift on Thursdays.

Thanks for the help everyone.

[mkelle05]

Good to know. Will do. Thx