

Track and field athletes sometimes erroneously put muscle strength at the top of their priorities. However, endurance plays a bigger role in athletics, especially for shot put players. While muscle strength will provide better velocity, athletes need to have the stamina to support that upper-body momentum. For this reason, a Nazareth native and 2024 Olympic hopeful prioritizes endurance over sheer strength.
Joe Kovacs has delivered many stellar performances during his track and field tenure. Among these, his performances during the 2015 and 2019 World Championships still hold a fond place in the hearts of his fans. He wanted to add another gold in Budapest this season but walked out with a bronze. Now, he is ready to put in the reps and use his blood and sweat as the catalyst to transmute that bronze into gold at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
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Building endurance through the sport of Arnold Schwarzenegger
An old video of Joe Kovacs has recently surfaced on the internet that has inspired confined for his Olympic triumph. Throwers Universe shared the video on X with a post that read, ?THE PINNACLE OF THROWER?S STRENGTH Joe Kovacs squatting 395kg (870lbs) for FOUR reps in 2021?Truly outrageous?. With that feat, he outdid the Former Governor of California and The Terminator star Arnold Schwarzenegger.
THE PINNACLE OF THROWER?S STRENGTH ?
Joe Kovacs squatting 395kg (870lbs) for FOUR reps in 2021?
Truly outrageous ? pic.twitter.com/BAC6UqIqaW
? Throwers Universe (@ThrowersUni) November 4, 2023
Arnold Schwarzenegger, the actor?is known for his great strength and is nicknamed the ?Austrian Oak? for his rugged physique and overwhelming power. However, he could only lift 545 lbs or 247 kg during his training. Joe Kovacs had left Arnold Schwarzenegger in the dust by lifting nearly 150 kgs more.
The track and field star explained his training regime, saying, ?One of my classic weight training workouts in the Fall GPP season is the 8-6-4-2-2 for large muscle groups, like Bench Press, Squats, and Power Cleans. The Ancillary exercises, like hamstring exercises or core/ab exercises, are usually higher volume as they are less ?intense??. To compensate for this lack of intensity, he chose bodybuilding. He had some words of advice for his fellow track and field peers who desire to build the same level of strength and endurance as him.
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Joe Kovacs? advice for track and field athletes
Joe Kovacs starts every season with a dedicated training regime that builds both strength and endurance. Therefore, he wanted to bestow his pearls of wisdom on his fellow trackmates. He said, ?We would normally do this routine of 8-6-4-2-2 for about 2 months (2 cycles), then change?. Kovacs? advice entailed knowing one?s Maximum One Rep Max. For him, it was 4 reps, which, according to his calculation, put the RM at 90%.
However, he had also asked that athletes exercise caution while trying out this bodybuilding training. The risks of injury are high, and he did not want anyone to pull a muscle or tear a ligament before a major competition.
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As mentioned in his guide, he begins this routine two months before the competition schedule. With the 2024 Paris Olympics being more than eight months away, there is still time before he needs to rush to the gym.
Watch this story:?After Clinching Gold Treble at World Athletics Championship, Noah Lyles Is Ready to Conquer Another Sprint in His Latest Update
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