I'll keep this short since it is Sunday....
Watched a guy warming up in the gym this morning. Probably mid-twenties--nothing remarkable about his build workout ethic. He was already there when I came in for my workout.
I finished my shoulder routine and was already half-way through by the time he was finally ready to go. It was a hodge-podge of static stretching with a few kettlebell swings (for whatever reason I guess), some rotator cuff work thrown in (as a therapist, I can always tell when a trainee has just read an article on the importance of rotator cuff work by the way they perform the exercises), and more static stretching.
What a momumental waste of time.
The warm-up must be specific and prepare the body for the upcoming workout. Warm-ups like the one I observed do neither. Think about what you're doing and why you're doing it and you'll be much further ahead in the long run.
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Sunday, September 9, 2007
More on Power...
If we again consider the power equation, P = F x d/t, we are left with two primary objectives when lifting for power improvements. One is to keep speed constant on the lift and increase the mass that we are lifting (remember that F = m x a). The other is to increase the speed at which we are lifting the same mass. I'm assuming that you don't have some sort of freaky levers or appendages that allow you to alter the distance to any significant degree, so we'll keep distance equal in all considerations. (Although you could alter the exercise slightly, say a snatch-grip deadlift as opposed to a conventional deadlift with the same weight and speed, but increasing the distance slightly, but I digress...).
Most everyone focuses on lifting more and more weight to increase power, but that's only half of the equation! You can still get tremendous results with little increase in injury potential if you focus on moving weight faster throughout the repetition. Let us not forget that very rarely is the strongest guy on the team the best athlete. This reminds me of a great story I saw years ago....if powerlifting was so great a developing athletes, then why aren't more powerlifters pro athletes? Certainly they're stronger than most pro athletes, so why struggle in a sport with such meager earnings? Why not use is for something more lucrative?
Obviously I'm being rhetorical here. There's much more to sports performance than the squat, bench and deadlift, but the point is well taken by strength coaches that train their athletes to be powerlifters. Louie Simmons does a great job of differentiating from his sport to the athletes sport and has the results to back it up. We all need to forget where we come from and focus on the client to be effective coaches.
Klaus Bartonietz, a track and field coach from Europe, brings us back to the importance of the power equation when training athletes. On the Athletics Coaching website discussion forum, Klaus reminds a poster about the importance of speed in lifting:
If 100kg are lifted with a maximum barbell velocity of 2m/s, then 20kg can be lifted with the same 2m/s or even much less, but should be pulled with 10m/s for the corresponding power outcome. For this, the bar has to be thrown away, like a overhead throw. And this is a different type of exercise.
Simple calculations showing the importance of movement speed for the power outcome during a lift:
Power outcome of snatching 100kg: 100kg x 9,81m/s2 x 2m/s = 2000 Watt
slow (“normal speed”) 20kg:20kg x 9,81m/s2 x 2m/s = 400 Watt only!!
fast 20kg: 20kg x 9,81m/s2 x 10m/s = 2000 Watt
I highlighted the point about throwing the bar. This prevents the deceleration of the bar during concentric movement...bringing compensatory acceleration to new levels!! This is bridging the gap between strength training and shock training that Dr. Verkhoshansky has so eloquently developed.
Stay tuned for more.
Most everyone focuses on lifting more and more weight to increase power, but that's only half of the equation! You can still get tremendous results with little increase in injury potential if you focus on moving weight faster throughout the repetition. Let us not forget that very rarely is the strongest guy on the team the best athlete. This reminds me of a great story I saw years ago....if powerlifting was so great a developing athletes, then why aren't more powerlifters pro athletes? Certainly they're stronger than most pro athletes, so why struggle in a sport with such meager earnings? Why not use is for something more lucrative?
Obviously I'm being rhetorical here. There's much more to sports performance than the squat, bench and deadlift, but the point is well taken by strength coaches that train their athletes to be powerlifters. Louie Simmons does a great job of differentiating from his sport to the athletes sport and has the results to back it up. We all need to forget where we come from and focus on the client to be effective coaches.
Klaus Bartonietz, a track and field coach from Europe, brings us back to the importance of the power equation when training athletes. On the Athletics Coaching website discussion forum, Klaus reminds a poster about the importance of speed in lifting:
If 100kg are lifted with a maximum barbell velocity of 2m/s, then 20kg can be lifted with the same 2m/s or even much less, but should be pulled with 10m/s for the corresponding power outcome. For this, the bar has to be thrown away, like a overhead throw. And this is a different type of exercise.
Simple calculations showing the importance of movement speed for the power outcome during a lift:
Power outcome of snatching 100kg: 100kg x 9,81m/s2 x 2m/s = 2000 Watt
slow (“normal speed”) 20kg:20kg x 9,81m/s2 x 2m/s = 400 Watt only!!
fast 20kg: 20kg x 9,81m/s2 x 10m/s = 2000 Watt
I highlighted the point about throwing the bar. This prevents the deceleration of the bar during concentric movement...bringing compensatory acceleration to new levels!! This is bridging the gap between strength training and shock training that Dr. Verkhoshansky has so eloquently developed.
Stay tuned for more.
Sunday, September 2, 2007
The more you learn...
It seems as though so much of the training information today has evolved over the past 20-30 years, but sometimes I wonder how much of that is true. I know expert strength Coach Charles Poliquin has said that information doubles every 18 months (or something like that). And maybe that's true.
But what I notice is that what's new today is really just another interpretation of something that has been around for a long time. For example, training rep speed has been debated for what seems like forever. Go slow, go fast, go moderate speeds, count your rep speed, don't count it...how can this all make sense? Dr. Fred Hatfield, the first man to officially squat over 1,000 pounds in competition, has said for decades now that speed is the most importnat factor in all of sports. I couldn't agree more. Just ask any coach. Charlie Weiss, Notre Dame's head football coach, stated yesterday in his team's post-game conference (after a blowout by Georgia Tech) that his team just wasn't prepared for the "speed of the game". And that was obvious to those of us watching.
I'm getting a bit off track. What this means to me, is that rep speed should be an important concern to any aspiring athlete or trainer. Anecdotal evidence suggests, and research confirms, that lifting at faster speeds imposes more stress (read force) on the working muscles. This leads us into the force/velocity graph that some of you may have seen before. At low weights, velocity is high and vice versa. Remember the last time you attempted to lift a 1 rep max weight? Pretty damn slow, huh?
But if I loaded the bar with 40% of that weight, you could lift it much faster, probably even throw it into the air. But the force is much lower, since the amount of weight (40% of max) is too light. So there must be a compromise, right?
Thankfully there is. Dr. Hatfield noted decades ago that striking the right balance between the mass and the speed optimizes force production. Louie Simmons of Westside Barbell fame has expanded upon these concepts a bit further for powerlifters, but the main point remains. Lifting in the range of 55-85% of your maximum allows you to keep the mass high enough to stimulate the muscles optimally, but also enables you to impart high speed upon the bar. And there is the key: high speed. This is where Dr. Hatfield's "compensatory acceleration" concept comes into play. Attempting to constantly accelerate the weight, even at the lighter percentages, allows the athlete to impart maximum force at all phases of the concentric movement. Which leads to faster eccentric movements, thus increasing the resulting concentric movement more.
The point of all this is that faster lifting speeds will yield greater dividends in muscle and speed-strength performance. I'll touch upon these ideas more in future posts.
But what I notice is that what's new today is really just another interpretation of something that has been around for a long time. For example, training rep speed has been debated for what seems like forever. Go slow, go fast, go moderate speeds, count your rep speed, don't count it...how can this all make sense? Dr. Fred Hatfield, the first man to officially squat over 1,000 pounds in competition, has said for decades now that speed is the most importnat factor in all of sports. I couldn't agree more. Just ask any coach. Charlie Weiss, Notre Dame's head football coach, stated yesterday in his team's post-game conference (after a blowout by Georgia Tech) that his team just wasn't prepared for the "speed of the game". And that was obvious to those of us watching.
I'm getting a bit off track. What this means to me, is that rep speed should be an important concern to any aspiring athlete or trainer. Anecdotal evidence suggests, and research confirms, that lifting at faster speeds imposes more stress (read force) on the working muscles. This leads us into the force/velocity graph that some of you may have seen before. At low weights, velocity is high and vice versa. Remember the last time you attempted to lift a 1 rep max weight? Pretty damn slow, huh?
But if I loaded the bar with 40% of that weight, you could lift it much faster, probably even throw it into the air. But the force is much lower, since the amount of weight (40% of max) is too light. So there must be a compromise, right?
Thankfully there is. Dr. Hatfield noted decades ago that striking the right balance between the mass and the speed optimizes force production. Louie Simmons of Westside Barbell fame has expanded upon these concepts a bit further for powerlifters, but the main point remains. Lifting in the range of 55-85% of your maximum allows you to keep the mass high enough to stimulate the muscles optimally, but also enables you to impart high speed upon the bar. And there is the key: high speed. This is where Dr. Hatfield's "compensatory acceleration" concept comes into play. Attempting to constantly accelerate the weight, even at the lighter percentages, allows the athlete to impart maximum force at all phases of the concentric movement. Which leads to faster eccentric movements, thus increasing the resulting concentric movement more.
The point of all this is that faster lifting speeds will yield greater dividends in muscle and speed-strength performance. I'll touch upon these ideas more in future posts.
Saturday, September 1, 2007
New Beginnings
Hello and welcome to my new blog!
I guess I've now joined the ranks of all of the other "bloggers" out there in the endless space known as the Internet. I'd like this to become a place for passing on general fitness knowledge and information as I come across it, or even just posting about interesting things that happen in the world of fitness and performance. Remember that what I post is my impression and opinion, and is not the "last word".
Feel free to check out my website here, where you can learn more about me and about my background. I hope you'll check back in often and enjoy what you read.
I guess I've now joined the ranks of all of the other "bloggers" out there in the endless space known as the Internet. I'd like this to become a place for passing on general fitness knowledge and information as I come across it, or even just posting about interesting things that happen in the world of fitness and performance. Remember that what I post is my impression and opinion, and is not the "last word".
Feel free to check out my website here, where you can learn more about me and about my background. I hope you'll check back in often and enjoy what you read.
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