Unrelated?

Let’s take two approaches to constructing a couplet.  In the first one, let’s make the two moves as seemingly unrelated as possible.  In the second approach, let’s make the two moves obviously related.

For our specific instance of an “unrelated” couplet, let’s take a medium weight, medium volume push press and a medium distance run.  You wouldn’t think those two things affect each other too much but if you’ve done a press/run couplet you know that if your arms are tired, it messes with your running stride.  Your arms swing when you run, right?  Maybe it’s obvious when you read about it but for many athletes it doesn’t occur to them until they get about 50 meters into a 400 that their running gate is off because of tired arms.

For our specific instance of a “related” couplet, let’s take today’s workout – a clean and a box jump.  The clean is powered by a jump so obviously after you’ve done all those box jumps the clean is going to be difficult.  Anyone who did the workout today can testify to the fact that the cleans are indeed much more difficult after that first round of box jumps.  The more interesting thing is that because you know you’re going to be “jump tired” for the cleans, it is in some sense easier to remind yourself mentally to jump when you clean and get a good lift.

So it’s as if the “unrelated” couplets sneak attack you with their connections and the “related” ones are easier because you know what’s in store.  Maybe it’s a good idea to look at all couplets as “related” and just figure out what that relationship is so you are ready when it hits.