Strength training for 90-seconds efforts

[sifro]

Hello Rip,

I don't know how many dancers asked you lifting advice, but here's one!
In particular, I'd like to hear your thoughts on training for boogie woogie competitions, in which you are basically required to lift your knees as high as possible while keeping a fast tempo, almost non-stop for 90 seconds (a bit like skipping I guess).

Example: YouTube

I weight 70kg and my 1RM Squat is 140kg\308lbs.
Not impressive I know, but it's for sure way higher than any other dancer I compete with... I'm also confident that I could beat any of them in a bodyweight squat competition.
Despite that, I can't get to 90 seconds without feeling that the lactic acid in my quads is disrupting my performances.
After 90 seconds of boogie woogie my quads burn more than on Monday's 5x5.

I'm currently on the Texas Method and I feel like I'm asking my legs too much (3x squatting, 3x boogie workouts per week) because lately I started feeling very weak, both in the gym and on the dance floor (Bench Press and DL are still progressing nicely).

In your books you said that strength training has the best transfert on other types of efforts, and is therefore the recommended one also for non-weightlifting athletes... so I think I should keep squatting. But how?

I was thinking about squatting with very little volume during the very short (late spring \ summer) in-season... like 1 set of 5 per week.
And the use the off-season (when I have boogie trainings for no more than 2x per week) to push a lot... like two or three 6-week cycles of 20-rep squats, with TM (and HIIT skipping) for the periods in which I don't do the widowmakers...
Do you think it makes sense? Would 20-rep squats work better for me? Any tips for training for this kind of sport?

Thanks!

PS: I know you won't come, but I'm among the many that would spurt joy if you came to Europe for a seminar!

[Mark Rippetoe]

Actual dancing, eh? This looks like a helluva lot of fun! I could actually do this at one time. Not at this level, of course. But my dad could get close.

This is basically a training/practice question. When training interferes with practice, and your analysis is correct about which is more critical proximate to a performance, then training must be adjusted. Think carefully: do 20-rep squats have anything at all to do with boogie? No. A strength base, and practice -- during which the specific conditioning required is developed along with the skills involved in the specific activity -- are separate factors, and must not be confused. You're not raising your knees that high anyway, and floor time at that level of intensity provides far more specific conditioning than anything you could do under the bar.

And if your schedule is leaving you trashed, it may be your diet. I'd consider this very carefully, because you're probably not recovering for this reason.

[novicejay]

Actual dancing, eh? This looks like a helluva lot of fun! I could actually do this at one time. Not at this level, of course. But my dad could get close.

This is basically a training/practice question. When training interferes with practice, and your analysis is correct about which is more critical proximate to a performance, then training must be adjusted. Think carefully: do 20-rep squats have anything at all to do with boogie? No. A strength base, and practice -- during which the specific conditioning required is developed along with the skills involved in the specific activity -- are separate factors, and must not be confused. You're not raising your knees that high anyway, and floor time at that level of intensity provides far more specific conditioning than anything you could do under the bar.

And if your schedule is leaving you trashed, it may be your diet. I'd consider this very carefully, because you're probably not recovering for this reason.

This should be read about 10,000 times by everyone.