For the guys that have tried "8 weeks out"

[KILL KILL]

I think i'm finally going to take the plunge and buy joel's book. I've heard only great things about it, and have read his posts in here, so I firmly believe in his methods. Anyway, for you guys that have bought the program, how necessary was the heart rate monitor? If it's an integral part of the program, maybe i'll invest in it, but if not, then I'll just buy the program. I lost my last heart rate monitor and could use a new one anyway. What say you S&C?

 

[bcplifter2]

its pretty important

 

[Znap]

very important, worth the investment

 

[TeddyRoosevelt]

8 Weeks Out is a wonderful source of information on energy system development and other conditioning, regardless of if you are going to run it's programming.

The programming itself is relatively adaptable, individual-oriented, and specificity-friendly, so it allows you wiggle room. But a fair amount of the "drills" do require an HR monitor to do them correctly.

 

[ozbrawler]

personally id buy it but i know some people with fantastic cardio that never used them so ya can get away with it. as for the book i liked it gave me some ideas on program implementation n that sort of thing

 

[KILL KILL]

thanks for the replies

 

[Technick]

Excellent book, be prepared to spend some time understanding everything and then putting together your program. I also had success with e-mailing questions to Joel directly, he responds fairly quickly; I was pretty surpised about that actually. If you are buying the book for knowledge then you probably don't need the HR monitor. But if you plan on actually doing anything with the new knowledge then it is a MUST.

I bought the HR monitor that he sells on his site (think he gets some % comission-not sure), but it works very well. Looking back, not having a HR monitor or a crappy inconsistent one would be very frustrating when trying to apply his methods.

 

[selfcritical]

Are there any other "Rubber-meets-the-road" (rather than theory) combat sports books that use conjugate periodization? The Juggernaut physical preparation stuff looks like it might have a similar outlook, but I don't know anyone who's read both products.

 

[db03892]

Where can i buy this from? And is it a training plan/diet?

 

[selfcritical]

It's a guide to creating long-term conditioning training plans with an emphasis on energy systems and power development. You would probably want to supplement it with additional strength programming work depending on your level of familiarity with strength training.

Oh, and to OP- The HR monitor is very, very useful. For example, I ride my bike to work every day, both ways. Having the HR monitor allowed me to make minor adjustments to my riding cadence to get in cardiac output zone, and improved my recovery over a 6 week period. That was without even getting into a concentrated loading block.

If you have access to an iphone, you should probably also look at this ithlete app for iPhone - know your body