Gym Lesson II

I learned early on in athletics non-weight lifters do very poorly against weight lifters.  These days for our human athletes we have both weight room work and modern conditioning techniques that are replete all over Utube, and the results generally are astounding.  In all sports those youngsters coming up are really really good..

Yours truly has now been in the weight room 13 months, and believe I learned a lesson.  There's logical weight work that will improve performance and also other weight work that has one just spinning the wheels.

For the last year I have been involved in high repetition light weight workouts--and, must add, since I'm the only one in the weight room trying to lose weight--on my young and emaciated frame "light weight" means really really light.  My theory'd been with my high reps I was doing twice to three times the work as the muscle heads, my body frame would get wiry and strong, and indeed I have gotten stronger than I was with more definition to the old muscles, noting if there were only a way to get the old skeleton in shape also.

However, with the high repetition routine I think there are only marginal improvements in actual physical performance.  About two weeks ago the Epiphany happened--hey--I am getting nowhere with this.  There were of course fast initial improvements, and thereafter very little gains in strength or power.

Decided then after a year to junk the high rep w/o routine in favor of lifting the heaviest weights I could lift without injury.  It's quickly become obvious to me that the heavy weights are the way to go for improvements in performance.

This translates for our horses probably to avoid high rep long slow workouts completely as being largely useless to performance--as exaggerated e.g. having twice galloped horses the 6 mile Ivers w/o I have zero compulsion to ever go back to that.  Instead am considering that 2f out of the gate  in :22 or 3f in :34 would be the sort of horse weight lifting the would indeed improve performance over time IF, as always, the horse will cooperate.

What do you get e.g. by breezing a horse 6f in :12s every 4 days for weeks and weeks at a time as I've done with Ivers trained horses compared to one 3f in :34 with attendant warm ups and warm downs.  Suspecting without knowing that we'd get a faster better performing horse with the shorter faster workouts.  Speculation at this point--never done this--problems in getting rider cooperation, etc.--seems however, that if one could get a series of :34 w/os this might be expanded and lengthened over time to get a really good horse.  Theory.
Comments?

Training:  unexpectedly we're back down to 15 degrees F with wind.  Horses ran lightly riderless last couple of days with very short spurts.  All I could get out of them. Passed on riding. Warmer today. #148 scheduled to transport for surgery Mon.  This horse, of course, is the one we're unable to get on the trailer.  Could do it easily, excep--want to avoid "breaking horses will" type of training. Prefer them to volunteer and like what they do.We'll get him on eventually.