I am looking for conditioning to do inbetween my 531 days. My current set up is this
monday-Squat
Wed-Bench
FRi-Deadlift
saturday-OP
I was thinking about doing a complex on tuesday and thursday, I dont like to run because I had knee tendonitis in HS and it flairs up when I run. My friend suggested I do 30 clean and jerks. What do you think I should do? I am also trying to gain weight, so I dont want to burn too many calories but I want to increase my GPP.
Drag the sled. Push the prowler.
CS
That will hurt my knee too much, I tried during the summer 
Pull the sled then (i.e. backwards, short steps), might even help your knee get better!
try heavy ass sled drags (see google).
honestly if it hurts your knee, you’re doing it wrong.
bodyweight circuits, like
50 burpees
50 jumping jacks
50 burpees
repeat x 3 etc, there is plenty of stuff u can do, i wouldn’t do more than one medicore complex with weights a week, and it should not be to technical. Also consider doing intervals, yet using burpees as “work period” and jumping jacks as “rest period”
foam roll the shit out of your legs,
It hurts to run but not to squat?
Yes it is strange. I talked to a nursing major who is going to go for a masters in sports medicine he said that is because the constant up and down pressure on the patella tendon while Im running. But when I do squats the joint is being used for a short amount of time.
You shouldn’t be doing 30 clean and jerks, this isn’t crossfit. I personally push the prowlers/run hills on deadlift/squat day. Or even have a fun conditioning day like playing a sport, kayaking, hiking,etc. Not being able to run is a terrible thing, and something you should probably be working on instead of ignoring.
Thoroughly warm up and do some dynamic stretches to get your knees going and start with something not challening like a low number of hill sprints or prowler pushes. How long have you been squatting? I used to have some pretty bad knees from a hockey inury until I started squatting to/past parallel.
OCCASIONALLY! a knee problem will develope due to an imbalance between the quads and hamstrings. How are your GHR’s coming ? I found less knee issues once I brought my hammies up to par with my quads. Cyclists again occasionally will suffer due to not only the imbalance but ALSO due to poor knee tracking during the spin.
just my $0.02 worth.
Don’t forget to foam roll your legs.
In my experience, knee tendonitis is usually casued by lifting all wrong or having terrible running technique. Both of those problems can be helped by doing soft tissue work and getting your form in check. Sprinting is one of the most basic skills a human has. If something is keeping you from doing that, you need to fix it before progressing in something more complicated like loading up a barbell and putting it on your back.
For those knocking the higher rep olympic movements for conditioning, I will sometimes do what I like to call the “Murder Log” for conditioning. My bench log weighs 97lbs, so when you put 90lbs in plates on it, it’s 187lbs. I will either see how long it takes to hit 30 reps or I will see how long it takes to do 10, 9, 8, 7, etc reps. I also have a 3inch axel that I will load up with 165lbs (purposefully 30lbs more than the crossfit WOD) and do the same thing. These are fucking brutal. There is nothing “crossfit” about being in good shape and being strong at the same time.
OP, I had a complete tear of my right PCL last summer (2010). Took me a few months to get back into lifting and running, I was actually well ahead of schedule. Anyhow, I developed severe tendonitis of my right patellar tendon due to the injury (the PCL never reattached) and overcompesating. I took the time to even out my imbalances. My right hip down to hamstring had become weaker and was causing the pain. I addressed this issue with posterior chain exercises and hip mobility as well as got a patellar knee strap for days I run or push the prowler.
Also, I was letting my knees travel too far forward during the last part of my squat. This was also causing some of the pain. This was pointed out to me by Juli who works at WFAC (Rip’s Gym in Tx). So, your knee issues may be due to an imbalance, improper running form, bad squat technique or a combination.
Wendler also recommends weighted walks or strongman type conditiong. If you’re trying to gain weight, doing barbell complexes may be counter productive to your goals. Increasing conditioning (or GPP) AND trying to put on size at the same time probably isn’t the best combination of goals. How much do you weigh and how much size are you trying to add?
[quote]Fletch1986 wrote:
Don’t forget to foam roll your legs.[/quote]
X 2!!
To do 5/3/1 correctly, you don’t have to push a prowler or pull a sled or do hill sprints. All you have to do is ask yourself “is what I’m doing for conditioning awesome?”.
If you answer yes, you are doing it right, if not, you are doing it wrong.
^Very true. I think my favorite thing for conditioning is kayaking. It’s fun, it’s in the water, and depending on the day I could also bring a fishing pole lol. Usually those days end up with more fishing than conditioning.
Stormthebeach- For MOST people high rep olympic lifts isn’t the way to go, especially for conditioning and especially for people who haven’t recently trained olympic lifts. If it works for you, that’s awesome. For most people I think it’d be a little too taxing on their bodies and take away from their main training, but what do I know. I’m all for being in shape and being strong.
[quote]gorangers0525 wrote:
^Very true. I think my favorite thing for conditioning is kayaking. It’s fun, it’s in the water, and depending on the day I could also bring a fishing pole lol. Usually those days end up with more fishing than conditioning.
Stormthebeach- For MOST people high rep olympic lifts isn’t the way to go, especially for conditioning and especially for people who haven’t recently trained olympic lifts. If it works for you, that’s awesome. For most people I think it’d be a little too taxing on their bodies and take away from their main training, but what do I know. I’m all for being in shape and being strong.[/quote]
No offense, but StormTheBeach probably has more authority to answer questions about training.
^ Which is why I added but what do I know. It’s more of an opinion, that could easily be wrong. To me high rep olympic lifts seem more like training than conditioning FOR training.
If you really can’t sprint, push, or pull a sled or anything olympic lifts can be used. Like stormthebeach said, you can do it in a whole bunch of ways. If you haven’t cleaned or anything before maybe start with a couple sets of 15 with minimal rest inbetween and #65lbs. It gets your heartrate going pretty fast, you’d be suprised.
Barbell complexes can be pretty brutal and awsome.