Weight Training for the Competitive Fencer

Putting together a weight training and fitness plan isn’t a mystery only open to fencers vying for a spot on the national team.  Lorenzo Casertano highlights the steps fencers should be taking to improve their chances on the strip:

Dispelling the “Weights slow your fencing” myth

Any competitive fencer knows that strength and power play an integral part in success at the highest levels of competition. However, when it comes to how to train outside of the usual conditioning classes and drills provided by their coaches, most fencers also find themselves at a loss for what approach to take. They may have heard the weight training is bad for fencers because they might “bulk up”, or that they should only do high reps/low  weight.  Many fencers run long distances as their cardio, some run stairs, and some don’t do cardio at all.

In truth, the ideal workout plan for a fencer depends greatly both on the pre-existing condition of the fencer, and on which part of the season the training falls into. The following is an attempt at setting some guidelines for a good conditioning program for fencers.

The first and most important point is that a fitness professional should always be consulted before starting a workout plan. When choosing a trainer to work or consult with, it is important that they do some preliminary testing with you, that you ensure that they are aware of any pre-existing conditions that may affect your exercise capacity, and that they discuss your specific strengths and weaknesses with you.

Since many trainers have never seen fencing, it would also be useful to demonstrate some the movements you will be doing (lunge, advance, retreat, etc.)to them and walk them through the phases of each. This will give them a more complete understanding of the muscles used in each movement and the biomechanics involved.

In terms of the workout plan itself, there are a few important points to keep in mind:

• Any exercise done without proper form has the potential to hurt you, and probably won’t help you.
• While “bulking up”  should be avoided (no fencer should be aspiring to become an Olympic weightlifter), heavy weights are not necessarily a problem.

Get More Power

Many fencers have problems with power and acceleration, and it is difficult to train these aspects of a movement without applying significant resistance. Bulking up will occur only if a fencer trains exclusively with very heavy weights, and particularly with isolated exercises. If the fencer makes sure to maintain their range of motion, stretch, and to involve multiple joints/muscle groups in their exercises, they should not become “bulky” or slow down.

All fencers, like any competitive athlete, should have a good base of strength and cardiovascular fitness to work from. This implies that if a fencer is just starting a fitness program for the first time, it need not be particularly fencing-specific, and cardiovascular training can be accomplished by simple jogging or running.

In this “basic strength” phase, neither weight nor reps need be high. Focus should initially be on understanding the movements involved in each exercise and performing them correctly, and on training all parts of the body (this includes the dreaded shoulder area). Exercises should involve multiple joints as much as possible, and train the body to work together.

Divide your workout by movement, not muscle group

I personally divide my workouts into different broad categories of movements (pushing, pulling, jumping, etc.), instead of specific muscles. Some important core exercises to address in the basic strength phase would be squats (often body weight is fine to begin with, focusing on avoiding the knees crossing over the toes), bench press/pushups, and lat pulldown (ideally pull-ups). These three exercises already involve the vast majority of the body’s main muscle groups , and can be easily modified (particularly in the case of the upper body exercises) by simply changing hand placement. They also all involve body stability, which is extremely important in all sports.

Other important exercises include lunges (walking lunges, forward lunges, back lunges, etc.), rows (these assist greatly in keeping the fencer’s back straight in en guarde), and a huge variety of abdominal exercises, both lying down (e.g. sit ups) and standing (e.g. twists with resistance bands).  The frequency in any of these exercises should be two or three sets of 10-12, at about 70% of the fencer’s maximum capacity for each exercise.  Since this phase is to build a base of conditioning, it is more important to get through the sets and repetitions than it is to get to particularly heavy weights (though it is very important to progress and gradually increase the weight).

Seasonality of Your Training

A more advanced athlete should begin considering how to vary his/her workout depending on the phase of the competitive season.

About a month or two before tournaments start, training should start shifting more towards being fencing specific. Cardiovascular fitness should now be steered towards the sort necessary during a bout. This means that running long distances is no longer necessary-interval training, sprints, and jump roping are much more effective and efficient.

Interval training should be done with work/rest ratios similar to a bout. For instance, I will jump rope for three minutes, “rest” by doing basic footwork for a minute, jump for three minutes, and so forth).  For running, I will jog for 2.5 minutes, sprint for 30 seconds, and repeat that cycle. This may vary between the weapons, as the average length of a touch in sabre is much shorter than that in epee. For a sabreist, it may be more useful to sprint/rest at a 5 second sprint/30 second rest ratio. An agility ladder may be incorporated, to increase the fencer’s agility and ability to change direction.

Plyometrics (jumping exercises) are also extremely effective in increasing power and speed, but can also be quite dangerous and can aggravate any previously existing conditions (the most common being patellar tendinitis), so they should be done cautiously and under close supervision. Weightlifting volume should change here as well; weight should start increasing (closer to the fencer’s limit), and repetitions per set need not be as high (this is true particularly of the lower body exercises).

The closer the fencer gets to the competition, the more he/she should focus on lots of power and speed over short periods of time, and the more specific exercises and training should be to fencing movements.

It is important to remember that fencers, like any other athletes, can benefit greatly from a good weightlifting and conditioning program. This should by no means replace the regular bouting, drilling, footwork, lessons, etc. that the fencer normally does. Cross training can also be a fun and effective way to train, particularly sports like squash and badminton that require quick changes in direction and good footwork over small distances.

A good program doesn’t need any complicated, fancy exercises.  It just needs a solid design, needs to be safe and age/skill level appropriate, and has to fit the fencer’s schedule and capacity. Any trainer should be able to design an effective program for a fencer (provided the fencer takes some time to explain how fencing works to them), and any fencer who follows a safe and effective strength and conditioning program should see significant results in their fencing.

Periodization of your conditioning plan

A good, solid conditioning plan should not remain the same throughout the year. What you should be doing to prepare for a tournament two or three months out should be very different from what you do one or two weeks before. In this article, I will try to give some basic guidelines for how to very/alter your workout plan based on where you are in your competitive season.

The first thing to do in order to properly plan is to carefully look at the schedule of tournaments, and pick which tournaments to “peak”  for. By “peaking”, I mean being at your maximum fitness and readiness for a particular competition. This will vary widely between fencers, based on whether the competitor does Division II or III events, is a cadet or junior fencer, fences in world cups, etc.

Step One: Planning Calendar

My initial advice would be not to pick for than, say, five events to peak for. This is not to say the fencer cannot be well prepared for the others, but these five should be the main focus. Ideally, it would only be a few per year, but four or five is a much more realistic number based on the number of NACs, world cups, and qualifying events there are (particularly for juniors). Choosing these events should be done carefully, as the plan will be designed around those dates.

Step Two: Build your Base

Once these dates have been chosen, the real planning can begin. Fencing generally has some sort of an offseason after Nationals for a few months, so I would suggest starting a plan in this time period. Here, for a few months, the fencer should be looking to build and/or increase a good base of overall strength and cardiovascular fitness. This can include many basic exercises that may not seem specifically helpful for fencing (bench press, shoulder press, etc.), and running/cardio exercise that is in no way specific or targeted for fencing. Volume and loads should vary based on the fencer’s goals.

If the fencer needs local muscular endurance, repetitions should close to the 12-20 range, rest periods between sets should be short (around 30 seconds), and loads should be relatively light. If the goal is general strength, these can be altered to 10 reps at a slightly higher weight. This first phase can last four to six weeks, and is a preparatory phase.

As an aside, I feel strongly that pushups and pull-ups are very good exercises and also a good way to test general strength, and I think these should be done regularly. I think this of basic squats also, but am hesitant to recommend them because of the many errors that can occur while doing them and the injuries that can result. Please do not attempt any kind of high-load squatting without having a professional watch and critique your form, for your own safety.

Step Three: Specific Strength

The endurance and high-volume portion of the preparatory period should slowly shift into more of a basic strength phase. In this phase, Exercises should start to specifically target fencing muscle groups, and look to strengthen them. For most fencers, this means that the legs should be involved in more exercises than before (although the importance of upper body strength and speed is vastly underestimated by most fencers). Here, the load should be higher than before, but repetitions also decrease to 6-8 (still usually with 3-4 sets of each exercise).

Some examples of exercises would be front or back lunges, lunges with shoulder press, etc. exercises that start to incorporate some power movements, such as the push press (which is a good exercise in that it involves the whole body and requires good coordination between the upper and lower quarter) are ideal. Some interval training should be introduced here, and some light plyometrics, both upper and lower body. Cardiovascular training should start getting more specific as well, involving some jump rope workouts, sprint training, etc.

Step Four: Train for Power

About a month to six weeks before the competition, the last part of the preparatory phase should begin. In this phase, exercises should be mainly power movements (the ideal for these are the Olympic lifts, which are extremely technique intensive and should be done supervised by a professional), Or at least broad exercises than involve many different muscle groups (bench press, step ups+press, lunges, etc.) .

Isolated exercises should be completely abandoned, and focus should be primarily in building speed, power, and explosiveness. Plyometrics and agility drills, which should have been introduced in the previous phase, should be a primary focus here. Repetitions of the aforementioned power movements can decrease to 3-4 repetitions for four sets.Cardio training should become even more specific. In terms of sprint training, it is important to vary this based on which weapon you are fencing. For instance, while an epee fencer might have a longer sprint cycle (30 second sprint/2 minutes rest), a sabre fencer might want to consider a five second sprint with 30 second rest. This phase should last around 2-3 weeks.

The Competition Phase – Hitting Your Peak

This should lead right into the competition period, in which we have the peaking phase. Whether the peaking phase continues into the week of or right before the tournament or the fencer stops all activities varies based in personal preference (I have a specialized routine for the week before the tournament, personally).

Regardless, the two weeks before the tournament should be used to fine tune the fencer’s body and prepare it specifically for the fencing movements it will be doing.

The workouts here may only involve 2 sets of 3 reps of a few different power movements, but these should be with heavy weights, and focus should be on feeling powerful and moving that weight as quickly and efficiently as the fencer can. Some plyometrics should be continued, albeit at a lower volume and higher intensity. The few days before the tournament, activity should be slowly decreased.

After the tournament, it is often good to have a period of active rest, where the fencer plays another sport, runs around, etc., without doing specific training. After that, if there is another tournament soon after the fencer should enter a maintenance phase, where he/she moves to 2-3 sets of 6-8 reps of a variety of movements until it is time for another peaking phase. If there is a longer period of rest, the whole cycle should begin again, albeit at a higher level of intensity.

The most important thing to remember is that if the fencer does mainly weight training and no fencing or intensive drilling, they will become slower and their fencing level will decrease. Lessons, bouting, and drilling should always take precedence, and ideally the fencer should work out (no pun intended) a schedule that fits in all elements of their training. The time periods presented in this article are merely suggestions, and should be changed/molded to fit each competitor’s individual schedule and goals. And as always, ideally, please consult a fitness professional before starting a long term plan like this, both for assistance with exercise selection and planning, and for your own safety.

Weird and Funny Gadgets

Till Then, Snow Fall on You.

Top 10 SEX Boosting Natural

For long these food have been known for thier SEX boosting nature (1) Asparagus (2) Avocado (3) Blueberry (4) Cold Fish (5) Garlic (6) Oysters (7) Peanuts (8) Chocolate (9) Pumpkin Seeds (10) Watermelon

1)Asparagus

2)Avocado

3) Blueberry

4)Cold Fish

 5) Garlic

6) Oysters

7) Peanuts

8) Chocolate

9) Pumpkin Seeds

10) Watermelon

Till Then, Snow Come to You.

10 of the World's Greatest Jobs

1. Paradise island caretaker

Ben Southall, 34, of Petersfield, beat out nearly 35,000 applicants from around the world for the dream assignment to swim, explore and relax on Hamilton Island in the Great Barrier Reef, while writing a blog to promote the area. He was selected for the $111,000 gig - a six-month contract to serve as caretaker of a tropical Australian island. He now has to live rent-free in a three-bedroom villa, complete with pool.

Before getting the job he had to spend four days on the island for an extended interview process, which required applicants to snorkel through crystalline waters, gorge themselves at a beachside barbecue and relax at a spa. He also had to demonstrate his blogging abilities, take swimming tests and sit through in-person interviews.

2. Luxury bed tester

A student from Birmingham City University has landed her dream job...literally! Sleeping on the job and having a lie-in will no longer be a problem for a girl, who has been selected to test out luxury beds for a month and get paid for it.

Roisin Madigan, 22, is earning £1,000 to sleep in designer beds every day for a month. The student is helping with a "sleep survey" carried out by luxury bed specialists Simon Horn Ltd. The company sells luxury Savoir Beds, originally made for the Savoy Hotel. General manager Craig Roylance said Roisin will not only provide an objective view of the beds on sale, but will also be part of a look into what brings a good night's sleep. She will spend 10am to 6pm in beds in the company's showroom in Edgbaston, and then will blog about her experiences.

3. Resort waterslide tester

Surely the envy of any desk-bound office worker, Tommy Lynch has travelled over 27,000 miles this year for his job, testing holiday resort waterslides. Mr Lynch, 29, works for holiday giant First Choice, checking the height, speed, water quantity and landing of the flumes, as well as all safety aspects. In 2008 Mr Lynch tested waterslides at holiday villages in Lanzarote, Majorca, Egypt, Turkey, Costa Del Sol, Cyprus, Algarve, Dominican Republic and Mexico. This year he will quality control First Choice's new splash resorts in Greece, Turkey, Florida, Jamaica and Ibiza.

Liverpool-born Mr Lynch, whose job title is lifestyle product development manager, was recruited to identify the very best pools to be featured in First Choice's new Splash Resort collection. He also ensures potential new resorts are up to the company's standard. 

4. Professional prostitute tester

Jaime Rascone is no different than the rest of us in that the erstwhile DJ needs to grab the occasional odd job to make ends meet. But the Chilean lothario has beat all of us by holding the type of fantasy job that just sounds too good to be true: Quality Control in a brothel.
Rascone, an occasional male model and DJ, first happened upon Fiorella Companions in Santiago, Chile while working on a story about the country's sexual revolution. He was offered the gig by Madam Fiorella, who needed somebody to provide that final “interview” in her hiring process. It goes like this: girls who are interested in working as VIP escorts for Fiorella have to undergo interviews, psychological testing, and a photo session. The applicants are whittled down to a final six, who are then fucked one after the other in a single day by Jaime. He takes diligent notes on, say, how they moved their hips and whether their groans were adequate, and makes recommendations to the madam. There is even paperwork involved. The strain of the job is actually such that he can only do it once a month, testing around seventy girls or so a year. 

5. Wine tester and blogger

Imagine moving to the heart of Sonoma County, where every day you'll come home to more than 450 wineries along the beautiful northern coast of California. Picture living rent free, learning the intricacies of making the perfect wine, and capturing and sharing the entire experience for your network of Twitter followers. Now imagine getting paid $10,000 a month to do it. Listening? Hardy Wallace of Atlanta, the first person to submit his application, was the winner for the position at Murphy-Goode Winery— a $10,000 p/mo for six months, rent-free job updating Twitter and Facebook with his winery lifestream. The interview process was simple: submit a YouTube video explaining why you would be good for the job and wait to see what happens.

6. Candy taster

Another one of the world's best job has gone to schoolboy Harry Willsher, 12, chief taster in a sweet factory. Harry's job is to test top secret recipes. He got the job after winning a contest at Swizzell's Matlow to find a recruit. According to him, after his first tour at his new job, he felt like having stepped into the book Charlie And The Chocolate Factory. He wowed judges by describing the flavor and smell of his favourite sweet, the Drumstick lolly. The Derby firm, which also makes Love Hearts, Rainbow Drops and Parma Violets, has now given the youngster chief taster overalls and business cards. As well as sampling the sweets, he will also monitor their development at the company's factory in New Mills, Derbyshire. I don't know if it's the best job, but it's definitely the sweetest.

7. Condom tester

An Australian manufacturer called for applications for what it claims could be the world's best job - condom tester. Durex marketing manager Sam White was hiring Australians over the age of 18 who could apply for one of 200 positions as a condom tester. Unfortunately the position is not paid, but successful applicants would receive a free $60 selection of Durex products and will be required to provide the company with honest feedback about the products' performance. One of the lucky 200 testers would win a $1000 bonus. Maybe the bonus is not that great, but one thing's for sure - it's a job where employees won't mind taking their work home and burning the midnight oil. We are sorry to inform you applications are closed.

8. World of Warcraft Tester

Do you Play World of Warcraft? And if so, do you play well? Can you farm 200 gold an hour and hit level 80 in under 2 weeks? If the answer is yes, you can apply for the job that about 12 million players only dream about, as a Wow game tester! There are in fact several Blizzard jobs posted on their website. The Blizzard employment database has dozens of mmorpg jobs available, mostly WoW employment opportunities. They are currently hiring for several game tester positions for World of Warcraft, under the QA department. They are in particular looking for foreign language testers, so if you speak any other language besides English, don't hesitate to apply to start your Blizzard career. And, yeah, you will be required to play at least four hours a day.

9. Director of Fun at a museum (age 6)

A six-year-old boy who wanted to become the director of York's National Railway Museum landed himself a job - as the director of fun. The ambitious youngster got a plum role at the National Railway Museum after applying to replace retiring boss Andrew Scott. Sam Pointon sent a handwritten letter headed "Application for director" asking for an interview at the centre, in York. The letter listed his credentials for the role, including his expertise on his train set. "I am only six but I think I can do this job," wrote Sam. "I have an electrick (sic) train track. I am good on my train track. I can control two trains at once." Staff was so impressed they appointed Sam an honorary "Director of Fun" and his job will be to bosses how he thinks they can ensure the museum is the most fun place for kids to spend a day out.

Ok, maybe this isn't the best job in the world for an adult, but it certainly rocks the world of a 6 year old. 

10. Bike rider-photographer for Google Maps

Google (GOOG) has hired two lucky young men to ride around France on dopey looking tricycles snapping up photos of historical sites that are inaccessible by car. This three-wheeler is a sight with its long pole holding nine cameras, a GPS, a computer and a generator. But the contraption tooling around the French capital needs all that gear to do its job – adding three-dimensional images to Google's Street View Maps.

The riders, wearing Google tee-shirts and white helmets, are visiting well-known sites such as the Chateau de Versailles, west of Paris, the Jardin du Luxembourg on the city's Left Bank or Les Halles, in the busy centre of the French capital.


Till then, Snow Fall on You.

Adrian Lux - Teenage Crime

Adrian Lux - Teenage Crime (Original Mix) lyrics


We don't sleep when the sun goes down
We don't waste no precious time
All my friends in the loop
Making up for teenage crime (-ime [x?])
[4x]

We don't sleep when the sun goes down
We don't waste no precious time
All my friends in the loop
Making up for teenage (-age [x3])

Go, go away [6x]


Till Then, Snow Fall on You.