powerlifting
TRANSCRIPT
PracticalProgrammingforStrength Training,
2nd Edition
Mark Rippetoe & Lon Kilgorewith Stef Bradford
Revised 2nd edition Copyright © 2010
by the Aasgaard CompanySecond edition 2009First edition 2006All rights reserved. No part of this publica-tion may be reproduced, stored in a retrievalsystem or transmitted in a form by means,electronic, mechanical, photocopied, recor-ded, or otherwise without the prior writtenconsent of the publisher. The authors andpublisher disclaim any responsibility for anyadverse effects or consequences from themisapplication or injudicious use of the in-formation presented in this text.Editor & Digital Edition – Stef BradfordThe Aasgaard Company3118 Buchanan StWichita Falls Texas 76308www.aasgaardco.com
Contents
1. Introduction
• Educating Practitioners• Periodization in Print• Cooking up Training Programs in the Gym• A Theoretical Approach
• Training and Overtraining
• General Adaptation Syndrome• The Single-Factor Model of Training• The Two-Factor Model of Training• Understanding Overtraining• Factors Affecting Recovery• How Hard and How Much
• Understanding Training Goals
• Starting at Square One• Power and Its Components• The Next Step
• The Physiology of Adaptation
• Muscular Contraction: The Foundation ofMovement
• Energy Metabolism: Powering the Muscle• Training-Induced Muscle Adaptations• Neural Integration: Stimulating the Muscle to
Move• Hormones: Mediators of Physiologic Adaptation• Cardiovascular Considerations• Genetic Potential• Going Backward: Detraining
• Training Program Basics
• Repetitions• Sets• Rest Between Sets• Workout Frequency• Exercise Selection• Exercise Variation• Exercise Order• Speed of Movement• Warm-up
• The Novice
• The Basics of Novice Programming• Basic Program Variables
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• The Starting Strength Model
• The Intermediate
• General Considerations• The Texas Method• The Split Routine Model• The Starr Model
• The Advanced Trainee
• The Pyramid Model• The Two Steps Forward, One Step Back Model• The Building Blocks Model• The Hormonal Fluctuation Model
• Special Populations
• Women• Youth• Masters• Post-Rehabilitation Trainees
• Example Program: Novice• Example Programs: Intermediate• Credits• Authors
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“Does history record any case in which the majority wasright?”
—Robert Heinlein“The Iron never lies to you ... The Iron will always kick youthe real deal. The Iron is the great reference point, the all-
knowing perspective giver. Always there like a beacon in thepitch black. I have found the Iron to be my greatest friend.It never freaks out on me, never runs. Friends may comeand go. But two hundred pounds is always two hundred
pounds.”—Henry Rollins
Chapter 1:Introduction
“The most erroneous stories are those we think we knowbest – and therefore never scrutinize or question.”
— Stephen Jay Gould
The ability to effectively design, organ-ize, and implement training programs is anabsolute requirement for success in all areasof exercise: performance, coaching, physicaleducation, and rehabilitation. Volumes havebeen written on programming aerobic exer-cise for a variety of populations. They areusually written by academics with practicalexperience and publishing history in long,slow distance training. Guidelines exist forprogramming aerobic exercise for virtuallyany population, little of it based on morethan mere conjecture and opinion. The liter-ature in the scientific, medical, and exercise
journals on this topic is abundant, eventhough its quality may be suspect.
On the anaerobic side of the street,where weight training resides, the situationis much different. While there is a great dealof material available for consumption by thegeneral public, its quality is equally suspect.The supposed “gold standard” for exerciseprescription recommendations, the Americ-an College of Sports Medicine (ACSM)Guidelines for Exercise Testing and Pre-scription, provides only a cursory descrip-tion of a method for programming weighttraining. Frequently, the “experts” on whomthe public relies for guidance come from oneof two camps: 1) individuals with practicalexperience and little or no specific educationand training, or 2) individuals with degrees(usually not in the area of anaerobicphysiology) who have very little practical ex-perience with weight training. The end resultis that the typical coach, gym member, or
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athlete trying to maximize performance isvery poorly served by inappropriate instruc-tion in weight training and inadequate pro-gram design.
Professionals – both practitioners andacademics – in weight training seem to avoidaddressing this issue, likely for a variety ofreasons. With little or no available informa-tion providing strong evidence in favor of aparticular approach to programming, a prac-titioner can never actually be “wrong” in pro-gramming for a client, athlete, patient, orstudent as long as the program stays reason-ably close to the ACSM’s nebulous position.And if it is close, he cannot be legally chal-lenged in terms of professional liability. Evenif he obtains less than optimal results for histrainee, according to the conventional wis-dom he is being “technically correct” in hisapproach. As a result, there is really no initi-ative to rock the boat within either the in-dustry or academia – to find out what really
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works, what actually doesn’t, and thereforeto potentially be held to more rigorousstandards of practice.
Practitioners without education are nottruly “professionals,” in the sense that oneprepares oneself academically as a profes-sional before practicing as such. But it is notonly the practitioners who have failed to ad-dress the shortage of informed guidance onweight training programming; it is also theacademics. Many well-meaning professorshave taken it upon themselves to write textson how to train with weights and how to pro-gram weight training. With very few excep-tions, there is something missing in these in-dividuals’ professional preparation: practicalexperience. How many of these exercise sci-ence teachers have experience on the plat-form? How many of them have worked in avarsity weight room as athletes or coaches?How many have coached actual weightliftersor powerlifters? How many have trained
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bodybuilders? How many have operatedcommercial gyms, serving clients with a widerange of age, ability, and motivation? A truestrength and conditioning professional mustbe versed in all areas of practice and compet-ition, through experience and education. Toignore either the contributions of experi-enced practitioners or the underpinning the-oretical concepts of any professional special-ization is to actively choose to be a less com-petent professional.
Many books have been written by prac-titioners, but they typically lack a sound sci-entific basis. For each of these, there is atleast one book written by a Ph.D. lacking theusefulness that only experience can provide.The gap between theory and practice is alarge problem within the strength and condi-tioning profession, one that has yet to be ad-equately addressed by either academiciansor coaches.
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The training of academics is a problem.How many universities have masters anddoctoral programs specifically aimed at theextension of knowledge surrounding weighttraining and its role in health and humanperformance? They can be counted on onehand. The paucity of institutions where thephysiology, mechanics, and psychology ofweight training is a focus at the graduatelevel means that academics operating as “ex-perts” in the field were not trained by expertsin the field. This is a problem. Quite fre-quently you can find expert field practition-ers who have trained themselves throughreading and on-site applied research whopossess a much better command of the ap-plication of research into weight trainingthan many academic “experts.”
There is a trickle-down effect here. Aca-demics at universities train our coaches,trainers, and teachers. Poorly trained pro-fessors produce poorly trained practitioners.
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This is an area of tremendous concern, espe-cially in athletics. The strength coach willlikely spend more individual time with anathlete than any other coach during the ath-lete’s career. Would we send an inexperi-enced, untrained, unmentored, person out torun a season of practices for a football or vol-leyball team? Obviously not. Just becausesomeone has run a marathon or played Divi-sion I football does not mean that they arecapable of coaching the sport. Playing andcoaching are two different skills. The sameapplies to weight training: just because anindividual exercised with weights while theyplayed a sport does not mean that they arequalified to coach strength for that or anyother sport. It takes training, mentorship,and education – either formal or practical.Disregarding the value of proven, certifiableknowledge and practical ability andgambling an athlete’s or team’s physicalreadiness on the effectiveness of the good-
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ol’-boy system of hiring strength and condi-tioning staff is not wise. Further, this systemof hiring limits the potential for professional-ism and public recognition in the careerfield.
The lack of preparatory courses in theaverage physical education or kinesiology de-gree program is a problem for other reasonsas well. Data from 2004 U.S. exercise parti-cipation statistics indicates that 21% of thepopulation trains with weights two or moretimes per week. The lack of educated and ex-perienced professionals in the classroom,weight room, and fitness club means thatthere may be 63,000,000 Americans train-ing with weights who were not taught to doso correctly. Additional data from the Sport-ing Goods Manufacturing Association showsthat weight training is consistently in the topthree recreational exercise activities in theUnited States, which further underscores theimportance of providing quality instruction
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specific to teaching and programming weighttraining to physical educators, coaches, andpersonal trainers. This void in professionalpreparation prevents a huge number oftrainees from making the progress that theyexpect and are capable of. Professional edu-cation programs should begin to address thisoverlooked area of instruction.
Educating Practitioners
The root of the problem can be found inthe lack of a sense of identity within physicaleducation: who are physical educators, andwhat do they do? An academic exercise de-partment at a large Division I school willgenerate teachers, clinicians, coaches, athlet-ic trainers, fitness trainers, gym managers,sports administrators, recreation workers,cardiac rehabilitation specialists, exercise re-habilitation specialists, exercise physiolo-gists, biomechanists, and sports
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psychologists. Programs are typically generalin nature, producing generally trained stu-dents intended to occupy specific occupa-tional and professional jobs. The names ofthe university departments that offer whatare considered traditional “physical educa-tion” degrees are generic, nondescript namesthat the public does not recognize as beingrelated to physical education. This lack of re-cognition actually starts on college campusesthemselves; other academic program facultywill refer to kinesiology, exercise science, orany other permutation of the name simply as“the PE department.”
It is a common practice among graduatePE programs to prepare students as “gener-alists,” meaning that the curriculum is con-structed to produce faculty who are sup-posed to be able to teach exercise psycho-logy, biomechanics, motor control, PE ped-agogy, exercise anatomy, and exercisephysiology. Generalists working in small
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college and university PE programs reducethe cost of operation; since they feel capableof teaching a variety of courses, there is noneed to hire trained experts in the special-ties, and the program remains viable. But bythe very nature of his preparation, a general-ist is not in a position to be an expert in anyfield.
It would behoove “physical education”departments to clearly define a mission, aphilosophy, and a specific professional em-ployment preparation track, and staff it withexperts in that specialty. A program that isintended to produce public school physicaleducators, as they are currently prepared,cannot at the same time produce top-flightcardiac rehabilitation specialists. By thesame token, a clinical program intended toproduce an athletic trainer, a cardiac rehabil-itation specialist, or an exercise rehabilita-tion practitioner, as they are currently pre-pared, cannot at the same time produce a
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strength coach. A rethinking of modernphysical education is warranted. Withoutchange, trained professionals capable of con-tributing to the profession of sport and exer-cise will be a rarity. Graduates capable of oc-cupying low level jobs subservient to someother professional managerial group, onethat is actually less qualified to supervise andprogram exercise, will be the rule.
There are more than 300 different certi-fications available to exercise professionals,with nearly as many businesses and organiz-ations offering them. California alone hasnearly 40 organizations offering some type ofcredential. This is an unregulated industry,and as such there are “professional certifica-tions” that can be obtained by writing acheck to a company, receiving some coursematerial in an envelope in the mail, taking atest at home or online, and then receivingyour certification in the mail in a second en-velope. Suddenly you have become a certified
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training professional with letters after yourname. Others offer an evening or Saturdayworkshop that upon completion renders youa “certified professional.” These certifica-tions benefit no one except the business of-fering the certification. They certainly cannotdevelop – or even measure – the skills andknowledge required of a competent strengthprofessional. An untrained person with noprevious education or mentored experiencescannot develop the necessary knowledge andskills to become an effective practitioner byquickly reading a study guide before a test orby spending an afternoon with a certificationinstructor. An “education” is required, form-al or otherwise, as is time in the trenchesworking with trained, knowledgeable profes-sionals. Only after gaining a satisfactoryworking theoretical knowledge and a set ofpractical skills should someone sit for a rig-orous certification examination offered by a
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professional organization with a professionalmembership.
Periodization in Print
The scientific literature related to weighttraining is frequently limited in scope andapplicability. The individuals conducting theresearch are not trained to ask the rightquestions, and they frequently have noconcept of how the research they do in thelab actually applies in the field. For example,a common problem is that findings derivedfrom a specific population – untrainedcollege-age males, for example – are fre-quently considered to be generalizable to allpopulations, including trained athletes. Butwhere can an academic researcher gain ac-cess to a trained population of athletes to ex-periment upon? Specifically, where can you
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find a large experienced group of athletes toparticipate in experimental programs thatpotentially might not provide an increase inperformance, or worse, a performance loss?You don’t. Their coaches will not allow it. Wewill see later why this problem is sufficientlyserious that it invalidates much of the re-search that has been done. Experiencedcoaches and trainers are frequently amusedby the writings of the scientific “experts” whodogmatically propose and defend all-encom-passing theories of training that have littlerelevance to the real world, or who claim thatrehabilitation-based exercise programs areapplicable for improving the performance ofhealthy athletes.
Specific to the task of programmingweight training, consider the concept of peri-odization and its supporting research. Peri-odization has been called one of the “coreprinciples” in the preparation of athletes forcompetition. It is a very simple idea: the
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athlete trains very hard for a “period” of atime and then trains less hard for a “period.”One would expect a core principle such asthis to be heavily supported in the scientificliterature, since a joint consensus statementfrom the ACSM and the United StatesOlympic Committee states that the primaryreason athletes are overtrained is thatcoaches fail to periodize. The fact is thatWestern research regarding periodization issparse. There are far more reviews and inter-pretations of how to use periodization thanthere is data to support its use. A search onthe Medline and SportDiscus academicsearch engines reveals only a dozen or so re-ports that can be characterized as controlledexperimental studies of periodization. Infact, one of the “hallmark” texts on periodiz-ation, written in a very scientific tone,provides 12 pages of more than 120 refer-ences to support the author’s concepts ofperiodization. While this may appear
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impressively thorough, none of the researchcited in that text actually came from experi-ments in periodization. The most definitivecase for periodization comes from HansSelye’s 1936 original synthesis of the GeneralAdaptation Syndrome, a statement of hypo-thesis regarding human adaptation to stress.
Why is it that the evidence supportingperiodization is not present? Why is it thatthere has not been a concerted effort on thepart of the major exercise professional or-ganizations to encourage their scientificmembers to systematically investigate peri-odization, both as a concept in itself and inits many proposed variant applications? Onepossible explanation is that exercise per-formance enhancement research is not anarea identified by the U.S. Department ofHealth and Human Services (the parent or-ganization of the National Institutes ofHealth and the Centers for Disease Controland Prevention) as relevant to their mission
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to improve and safeguard America’s health.The implicit duty of the Department ofHealth and Human Services (HHS) is to de-termine how much physical activity isneeded to stave off disease, not improve amaximum bench press or advance athleticperformance. This means that the major sci-entific research funding pool in the U.S. hasno interest in determining the most effectivemeans of improving fitness.
This has trickle-down effects that are farreaching with respect to research into fitnessand sports performance. The most apparentresult of HHS’s position is that virtually allresearch into sports and fitness is confinedto small-scale studies. Conducted with only ahandful of research subjects, these projectsare limited in scope and duration, and there-fore plagued by an inability to exclude con-founding external and unidentified internalvariables.
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Physiological systems are among themost complicated things studied by science,and inherent in the vast majority of biologic-al research is a large degree of uncertainty.Many relevant (and irrelevant) variableshave overlapping effects; many more vari-ables may be as yet unidentified in the sys-tems in question. The awareness of this tem-pers the conclusions of responsible investig-ators, and plays an important role in the res-ulting quality of the research that actuallygets done. When the effects of one trainingprotocol versus another are compared, evenin the most stringently controlled setting,any conclusions must be taken with a ratherlarge grain of salt.
Large-scale research into human per-formance – the kind that is actually requiredto draw valid conclusions in the context ofhuman adaptation – is expensive and under-funded, and therefore many projects thatcould answer valuable basic questions are
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never conducted. The small-scale researchthat represents the norm in the exercise sci-ences can at best move us along the con-tinuum of understanding from pure conjec-ture to the point where we can form intelli-gent hypotheses. But all too often, with nolarger, better designed, more reliable studiesout there, the findings of small-scale re-search in exercise are both inappropriatelyextrapolated to apply to larger populations,and at the same time given the standing oftheory or even law. This is the case with re-spect to periodization.
So the dearth of valid periodization liter-ature is the product of a lack of funding tosupport it, as well as the infeasibility of doingthe required research into complex physiolo-gical systems whose many variables are hardto control or even identify. What is presentin the existing literature on periodization isof limited utility, as it is almost always doneover short experimental periods on small
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groups representing inappropriatepopulations.
The quality of the literature notwith-standing, the history of periodization is quiteinteresting. The communist-bloc countries’sports scientists applied a form of periodiza-tion to a variety of training models used inthe development of Olympic athletes in the1940s, 50s, 60s, and 70s. If you comparetheir models of periodization with the re-views and opinion pieces in Western sportsscience literature, you’ll see that the ideasand content presented in Western literatureare essentially adapted from old Sovietliterature.
Bud Charniga (fig. 1-1) did a great ser-vice to American sports scientists when hetranslated a series of Soviet documents intoEnglish in the 1980s. However, the informa-tion presented in those works must be ap-plied cautiously. Communist-bloc sports sci-ence literature is very loosely annotated. It is
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not necessarily bad science, but it is reportedin a form that does not lend itself to the inde-pendent verification of results. There is noaccurate, reliable way to evaluate their con-clusions or methods, since they often sum-marize their findings without providing anysubstantiating data; it is as though they werewriting it for their own purposes and wereunconcerned with the subsequent verifica-tion of their work.
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Figure 1-1. Bud Charniga, translator of Russian
weightlifting literature into English, snatching 358
lbs. at a 1976 competition in Kansas City.
And sometimes the literature to which theyrefer is not accessible. The bottom line is thatthe works of Leonid Matveyev, YuriVerkhoshansky, Alexey Medvedev and otherCommunist-bloc writers have been adoptedas truth without independent confirmationof their theories and practices. And theirpractices are often applied to all populationswithout regard to their original intendeduses and intended target populations.Periodization and the American Kid.Periodization fits well with a worldview char-acterized by a high degree of planning, an at-tempt to quantify everything, and the need tocontrol it all. (This may be why academics inthe American education system like it so welltoo). Communist societies suffered the con-sequences of this manic desire to apply orderto systems that cannot be easily ordered,
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systems composed of too many variables tohandily control. As a weightlifting regimen,this kind of Soviet-type periodization pro-gram works when it has sufficient numbersof available athletes, enough that it cansimply replace the ones who can’t functionwithin the training paradigm dictated by thecoach’s particular periodization model. Itdoesn’t work as well with smaller talentpools and in situations less tolerant of artifi-cially imposed order, as in the culture ofAmerican youth.
When evaluating Communist-bloc sportscience data, we must also consider whichdata may have been acquired while the sub-ject athletes were taking part in “better lift-ing through chemistry” experiments. Train-ing models appropriate for chemically en-hanced athletes are not applicable to fre-quently tested drug-free athletes.
Communist-bloc countries had (and stillhave) large-scale sports performance
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selection processes intended to direct youngathletes into the most appropriate sport,based on specific criteria. Once there, ath-letes achieve and stay in the program or failto achieve and are sent home. The result is apyramidal selection structure that eliminatesless competent athletes, leaving only thosewho have the best chance for internationalsuccess. In the United States and mostWestern countries, some sports have a devel-opmental pipeline. Football does. Basketballdoes. In fact, most nationally recognizedhigh school sports that have a counterpart atthe collegiate and professional levels have se-lection pipelines comparable in scale to thoseseen at the zenith of the Soviet bloc’s sport-ing success. High school sport in the UnitedStates is the base of our selection pyramid.However, high school students in the UnitedStates represent a different population thanstudents of the same age in the old SovietUnion. U.S. kids play sports to get in shape,
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while kids in Soviet-type systems get inshape to play sports. In the former bloccountries, sport was one of the few ways torise above the constraints of the economicsystem, and this was a very powerful motiv-ator. This difference is fundamental and sig-nificant, creating two distinct populations ofathletes that reflect two distinct cultures gen-erating two different levels of motivation forsuccess. Soviet models of periodization weredeveloped for and apply best to only one ofthese groups.
The U.S. high school student of todaydoes not have the level of general physicalpreparation (GPP) and movement skills de-veloped by the programs inherent in com-munist systems, programs in which childrenlearned how to move effectively and begandeveloping base fitness at age 6, long beforethey entered sport-specific training. Ele-mentary school PE programs in the UnitedStates are underemphasized and
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understaffed and ignore GPP as a formalpart of what abbreviated curriculum mightexist. Effective physical education is bestdone in small groups with adequate time.While the educational literature supportsthis concept, the actual norm is one instruct-or, sixty students, and 45 minutes of classtime. “Roll out the ball” physical education isthe mode in which the teacher (whose owntraining may not be in physical education atall) operates in the context of overcrowdedclassrooms, poor administrative support,and inadequate equipment. And now thatphysical labor (farm chores, household re-sponsibilities, etc.) has been largely removedfrom the daily life of a child, an incominghigh school freshman “athlete” is a hugechallenge. He typically has no fitness base,few movement skills, and presents the coachwith a daunting task, in that he must be pre-pared to participate in possibly combativehigh school sports in as little as two weeks
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from the day the coach first lays eyes on him.Periodization cannot be applied to incomingfreshmen who are going to play fall sports.Even in the presence of the desire to use it,there is no time.
But if the schedule permits and therehappens to be sufficient time prior to theplaying season, the coach must use the mosteffective means available to make the athleteas strong as possible as quickly as possible.These methods are examined in detail insubsequent chapters.Periodization’s American Heritage.Periodization is practiced widely in track andfield and is used by a majority of NFL andvirtually all NCAA strength and conditioningprograms. The concept of periodization is lo-gical. Some very avant garde thinkers andpractitioners, such as Carl Miller in 1974(weightlifting), John Garhammer in 1979(track and field), and Mike Stone in 1981 (allsports) turned on the light for those who
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followed. The idea that the practice of a sportitself was sufficient conditioning for thesport became inadequate for preparing high-level athletes many years ago. The earlymodels of periodization used with advancedstrength and conditioning techniques havebeen absolutely essential to sport develop-ment in the United States. Dr. Stone fol-lowed his early work with a few experimentsfurther examining the effects of periodiza-tion. But by and large, research on periodiza-tion has been extremely limited in volume.What has been produced is narrow in scopeand has limited broader application.
Even in the absence of science to sup-port its use, periodization has worked in thefield, and 30+ years of Western athletic suc-cess has earned it a place in the elite coach’sarsenal of training tools. But what is the cor-rect model of periodization for an athlete orteam, and how does a coach learn its actualapplication? In most university physical
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education programs, periodization is a smallfootnote somewhere in the curriculum, ifpresented at all. PE courses are intended toprepare physical educators and coaches toteach general physical fitness and some com-monly practiced sports skills. Very fewcourses, if any, are available that teach exer-cise programming beyond ACSM guidelines,which were developed to enhance health andwellness, not to optimize sports perform-ance. Even the best texts on periodization donot teach the reader how to program trainingplans. Rather they present lots of line graphsand bar charts, lots of data tables,physiology, and biomechanics, but littleuseable material for either coach or athlete.
So the questions remain: How do youdesign an effective program for your ath-letes, students, or clients? When is it appro-priate to periodize that program? What fol-lows in this text is a logical approach to un-derstanding the concepts of programming,
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including periodization, and examples ofhow it is used. We have made every attemptto incorporate the relevant science into apractical approach to programming barbellexercise. It is derived from our academictraining, decades of combined experience inthe weight room, participation in more than300 competitive events in powerlifting andweightlifting, experience in coaching hun-dreds of elementary, middle school, highschool, collegiate, amateur, and professionalathletes toward their goals, and from work-ing with thousands of average people whojust want to be stronger.
Cooking Up TrainingPrograms for the Gym
This is not a typical programming“cookbook.” There are many weight trainingbooks for sale, some at rather exorbitantprices, that lay out a program in current use
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by a winning sports team or an individual ofsome note (athlete, actor, model, etc.). Theseare “cookbooks”: they propose to provide re-cipes for training success. Follow the recipes,they promise, and you will be as good as theSpurs and as ripped as Vin Diesel.
Actual cookbooks are usually written byskilled chefs who design the dishes with theirtrained staff, test them privately, and thencook them publicly – in restaurants or on TVshows – using their skills and experience,specific tools, fully equipped kitchens, andjust the right high-quality ingredients. Manypeople have attempted to cook gourmet foodfrom cookbooks and had results that wereless than satisfactory. Why did the recipefail? After reading a recipe, do you magicallydevelop the skills of a chef? Did you use theright tools? There is a big difference betweena good Solingen steel French knife and aVeg-O-Matic. And the ingredients might notbe quite the same; when the recipe called for
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shiitake mushrooms, did you use a can ofstems and pieces? When the recipe called forMaui onions, did you use onion salt?
If a coach decides to use a weight train-ing cookbook, the following are required: 1)the coach must be trained and think thesame way as the original coach (the chef whowrote the recipe), 2) the training equipment(cooking tools) used in the program must beavailable, and most importantly, 3) the ath-letes to be trained (ingredients) must be ex-actly like the athletes who trained with theoriginal program, the one that actually mighthave worked. Failure to meet these require-ments will result in a less-than-ideal per-formance (an inedible mess). Followingsomeone else’s specific program is usually arecipe for failure.
Reading the training cookbooks and see-ing how other people solve the programmingpuzzle is part of the education process, butcoaches and athletes must understand why
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successful programs are put together the waythey are so they can develop their own pro-grams specific to their circumstances. Copy-ing and cannibalizing successful programswithout understanding why they were suc-cessful is never a good idea. An understand-ing of the realities and practicalities of pro-gressive training and periodization is.
A Theoretical Approach
In this book, the terms “novice,” “inter-mediate,” “advanced,” and “elite” describethe trainee with respect to the time it takesfor recovery from a homeostatic disruptioninduced by training. We do not use theseterms as descriptors of a trainee’s strength orabsolute athletic ability. These terms may infact be applied differently to athletes in dif-ferent sports, but our use of the terms here isspecific to the model illustrated in figure 1-2.
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Because a novice lifts weights that arelight relative to his genetic potential forstrength and power development, the rate ofrecovery following training should be rapid.Essentially, this trainee can recover from asingle training session in a period of 24 to 72hours. The novice can train “heavy” onMonday and be ready to go “heavy” again onWednesday. These trainees are quite faraway from their genetic potential, and there-fore lack the strength and the neural effi-ciency to generate a stress heavy enough toimpede rapid recovery. For them, “heavy” isnot really heavy. At the same time thatstrength and power are improving, recoveryability is improving too. Recovery processesare as trainable as any other physical para-meter, and this is an extremely significantfactor in training progress. But it is import-ant to remember that recovery processes canalways be exceeded by the injudicious
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application of training stress. Recovery mustoccur before progress can be made.
Figure 1-2. The generalized relationship between
performance improvement and training complexity
relative to time. Note that the rate of adaptation to
training slows over a training career.
Simply put, a novice, as we use theterm here, is a trainee for whom the stressapplied during a single workout and the
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recovery from that single stress is sufficientto cause an adaptation by the next workout.The end of the novice phase is marked by aperformance plateau, typically occurringsometime between the third and ninthmonth of training, with variations due to in-dividual differences. Programming for thenovice is essentially the linear progressionmodel that is described in the ACSM manualand defined specifically for weight trainingin our book Starting Strength: Basic BarbellTraining (Aasgaard, 2007). It is importantto understand here that the novice is adaptedto inactivity (as it relates to weight training)and therefore can make progress even withtraining programs that are not specific to thetask involved. For example, doing high-volume hypertrophy work would also in-crease a novice’s absolute strength for a one-repetition lift. A previously sedentary begin-ner can even improve his 1RM (one-repeti-tion maximum) squat by riding a bike. This
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would not be the case with intermediate oradvanced trainees, where progress instrength, power, or mass is absolutely linkedto appropriate application of specific trainingprograms.
Novices accomplish two things withevery workout: they “test” their strength, andthe test loads the body to become stronger inthe next workout. The act of moving 10 morepounds for the prescribed sets and reps bothconfirms that the previous workout was asuccess at improving the novice’s strengthand causes his body to adapt and becomestronger for the next workout.
As the lifter begins to handle trainingloads closer to his genetic potential, his re-covery ability is also affected differently bythe stress. Recovery requires a longer periodof time – a period encompassing multipleworkouts (efficiently managed using aweekly schedule). This is because the athletehas developed the ability to apply stress to
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the system that requires a longer period oftime for recovery. For an intermediatetrainee, the stress required for a disruptionof homeostasis exceeds the capacity for re-covery within that period of time (say, withinthe week). To allow for both sufficient stressand sufficient recovery, then, the trainingload must be varied over the week. This vari-ation can take several forms, but the criticalfactor is the distribution, which allowsenough stress to be applied in a pattern thatfacilitates recovery. The key to successfultraining in this stage of development is tobalance these two important and opposingphenomena. Simple weekly periodization oftraining loads facilitates recovery followingone or more heavier training bouts within asingle week.
Intermediate trainees benefit from ex-posure to more exercises than novices. Theseathletes are developing their skills with newmovement patterns, and as this happens
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they are developing their ability to acquirenew skills. It is during this period that train-ees actually become athletes, choosing asport and making decisions that affect therest of their competitive careers. These de-cisions are more effectively made if they arebased on a broad exposure to a wide varietyof training and competition options.
The end of the intermediate phase oftraining is marked by a performance plateaufollowing a series of progressively more diffi-cult weekly training organizations. This canoccur in as little as two years or in as manyas four or more, depending on individual tol-erances and adherence to year-round pro-gressive training. It is likely that 75% ormore of all trainees will not require pro-gramming complexity beyond the intermedi-ate level (remember, the amount of weightlifted or years of training do not classify atrainee). Virtually all sports-specific weighttraining can be accomplished with this
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model. Athletes in non-weightlifting sportswill not train progressively in the weightroom all year; they will focus much of theirtraining on their primary competitive sport.This effectively extends the duration of thisstage in the trainee’s development to the ex-tent that even very accomplished athletesmay never exhaust the benefits ofintermediate-level weight trainingprogramming.
Advanced trainees in the barbell sportswork relatively close to their genetic poten-tials. The work tolerance of the advancedtrainee is quite high, given that the ability ofan athlete to recover from training is itselftrainable. However, the training loads thatthe advanced athlete must handle in order toproduce an adaptation are also quite high,since the adaptation that brought the athleteto the advanced stage has already occurred.This level of training volume and intensity isvery taxing and requires longer periods of
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recovery than do intermediate training loads.Both the loading and the recovery paramet-ers must be applied in more complex andvariable ways and over longer periods oftime. When combined, the loading and re-covery periods required for successful pro-gress range in duration from a month to sev-eral months. For example, we may apply asingle week of very heavy training to induceadaptation. That week of training may re-quire three or more weeks of work at lighterloadings for complete recovery and improve-ment to occur. The average slope of the im-provement curve here is very shallow (fig.1-3), closely approaching maximum geneticpotential at a very slow rate, and rather largeamounts of training effort will be expendedfor rather small degrees of improvement. Forthis reason too, the number of exercises ad-vanced trainees use is typically lower thanfor intermediates; they do not require expos-ure to new movement patterns and stress
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types, since they have already specializedand adapted to those that are specific to theirsport. Complex manipulation of trainingparameters is appropriate for use with thesetrainees. The majority of trainees will neverattain the level of development that makesadvanced periodization necessary, sincemost trainees voluntarily terminate theircompetitive careers before the advancedstage is reached.
The elite athlete is in a special subset ofthe advanced category. Elite athletes are thegenetically gifted few who also happen to bemotivated to achieve success despite theenormous physical and social costs. Theyhave stayed in their sport by virtue of theirsuccess and have dedicated themselves totraining at this level because their traininginvestment has been returned. An advancedlifter is one who has progressed beyond theintermediate; an elite lifter is one who per-forms at an elite level within the standards of
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the sport. (By this definition, the “elite” des-ignation could actually be applied to an in-termediate lifter performing at the national/international level. There occasionally exist afew athletes so talented and genetically en-dowed that this situation occurs.)
Figure 1-3. The rate of strength gain in trainees over
a training career. Note the slope of improvement to-
wards genetic potential is slower in an intermediate
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than that of a novice trainee. The slope further flat-
tens as a trainee reaches the elite level of training pro-
gression. Although the rate slows, strength can be
gained for one to two decades with continuous, pro-
gressive, and planned training.
Previous training has brought the eliteathlete very close to genetic potential, andadditional progress requires much greaterprogram complexity to scratch out any smallimprovements that might still remain un-realized. These athletes must be exposed totraining programs that are very complex –highly variable in terms of stress, althoughprobably simple in terms of exercise selec-tion – forcing the already adapted athletecloser to the ultimate level of performance.At this point the program may be consideredin terms of several months, a year, or evenan Olympic quadrennium. Any approach tothe training of an athlete of this caliber is ahighly individualized matter and is beyondthe scope of this text. We propose that far
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less than 1% of all trainees regardless oftraining history will ever reach this level.
Unlike beginners or intermediates, ad-vanced and elite trainees need large amountsof intense work to disrupt homeostasis andforce adaptation. This means that the stressrequired for progress will creep nearer andnearer to the maximal tolerable workloadthat the body can perform and recover from.An elite athlete who is doing ten sets ofsquats and making progress may not makeany progress with nine sets and may “over-train” by doing eleven. The window for pro-gress is extremely small.
If workload is not increased, thenneither performance nor comprehensive re-covery processes will improve, since no dis-ruption of homeostasis is forcing them to doso. The manner in which increases in train-ing load are applied is determined by thelevel of training advancement. The ability ofa novice to adapt to training differs enough
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from that of the intermediate and advancedtrainee that similar training organizationswill fail to produce results for both. Eachlevel of training advancement requires itsown specific approach.
Periodization is a useful tool in achiev-ing training goals, but like any tool it must fitthe job it is being used for. By understandingthe theoretical basis and proper applicationof the models of programming, anyone whocoaches weight training can become betterequipped to improve the fitness and per-formance of those entrusted to theirguidance.
“Sometimes exercise can be painful, but it’s worth it in theend.”
—The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy
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Chapter 2: Trainingand Overtraining
When considering the need for specificprogramming approaches for trainees of dif-ferent levels of advancement (novice, inter-mediate, or advanced), one must clearly un-derstand the processes working to affectphysical readiness. The coach and athleteneed to have a firm grasp of how training af-fects the basic anatomy, physiology, andphysics of human movement. An effectivecoach must be able to use that information toteach athletes. All such human responses totraining can be considered within the contextof a single overarching theory, the GeneralAdaptation Syndrome, proposed by HansSelye on July 4, 1936, in his paper titled “ASyndrome Produced by Diverse NocuousAgents” in the journal Nature. The basic
premise of this theory states that the bodygoes through a specific set of responses(short-term) and adaptations (longer-term)after being exposed to an external stressor.In our context, the external stressor is liftingweights.
General AdaptationSyndrome
Selye considered exercise to be a “nocu-ous” or poisonous stressor capable of causingdeath if the loading was too large or appliedtoo frequently. His theory was the result ofobservations of animals under stress and op-tical microscope examinations of stressedcells. He was working without any know-ledge of the basic details of human metabol-ism and the mechanism of skeletal musclecontraction, which were not yet understoodwhen his paper was published. Despite thecomparatively sparse information on which
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he based his observations, his ideas were atthe time, and remain, quite sound. Now, sci-entific data allows us to better interpret andapply Selye’s theory. Our understanding ofthe acute phase response and the stress pro-tein response, both possessing very identifi-able time courses, along with modern in-sights into post-stress cellular events, hasadded weight to Selye’s prescient concepts.
Selye’s premise is that repeated sub-lethal exposures to a stressor lead to a toler-ance of subsequent exposures to the samestressor (thus lending support to the conceptof specificity – that a training stress needs tobe relevant to the performance being trainedfor to elicit an applicable adaptation). Thetheory holds that the body will go throughthree stages, the first two contributing tosurvival and the third representing the fail-ure of the body to withstand or adapt to thestressor.
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Stage 1 - Alarm or Shock. The Alarmphase is the immediate response to the onsetof stress, in which a multitude of events oc-cur. Selye noted that a major characteristicof stage 1 was a rapid loss of “muscular tone”lasting up to approximately 48 hours. Wenow know that other occurrences during thisstage are inflammation, the acute phase re-sponse, and the stress protein response, pro-cesses which enable adaptation at the cellu-lar level. One of the major results of theselatter responses is a general suppression ofbasic cellular processes in order to stabilizecellular structure and metabolism until thewithdrawal of the stressor. This is a survivalprocess, and one that can also serve as amarker of an effective exercise stimulus.Mild musculoskeletal discomfort may ac-company this stage, indicating the disruptionof homeostasis and the possible micro-rup-tures of muscle cell membranes, events thatare thought to stimulate structural and
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functional changes in the muscle after train-ing. A trainee may not perceive soreness orpain in this stage; he is more likely to de-scribe the sensation as “stiffness,” feeling“flat,” or having “heavy legs.” Regardless ofthe subjective perception, a transient reduc-tion in performance accompanies this stage,although it may be imperceptible within theconstraints of a barbell’s typical 2.5-lb incre-mental loading system. Performance de-creases will be more discernible in tech-nique- and power-based exercises and lessnoticeable in absolute strength exercises.
Selye did not foresee his theory beingcentral to exercise programming for healthyindividuals. If he had, this first stage mighthave been described with more variation induration dependent on an individual’s workcapacity. With novice trainees, disruption ofhomeostasis occurs with smaller loads thanthose used by advanced trainees, since train-ing has not yet developed either strength or
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work tolerance. As the level of advancementincreases (from novice to intermediate to ad-vanced), so does the magnitude and/or dura-tion of stress needed to induce stage 1.
Stage 2 - Adaptation or Resistance. Instage 2, the body responds to the trainingload through the modification of gene activ-ity, increased production of the relevant hor-mones, and the accumulation of structuraland metabolic proteins. In essence, the bodyis attempting to ensure survival by equippingitself to withstand a repeated exposure to thestress. In the context of exercise, fitness andperformance increase when this occurs.Selye generalized that the Adaptation stagetypically begins at about two days post-stressand that if the same stressor is reappliedperiodically, complete adaptation could oc-cur within four weeks or less.
We now believe that adaptation occurson a sliding scale that varies with an indi-vidual’s existing level of work tolerance and
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proximity to their genetic potential.Someone far away from genetic potential(the novice) will adapt quickly, within 24 to72 hours; a stressor large enough to disruptsuch an individual’s homeostasis is not reallya gigantic physical insult, and it can be easilyrecovered from within that time frame undereven sub-optimal conditions. On the otherend of the spectrum, the advanced traineemight require one to three months, and pos-sibly longer, to adapt to a training stress suf-ficiently large and cumulative that it exceedshis highly developed work tolerance enoughto disrupt homeostasis and permit furtheradaptation.
Stage 3 - Exhaustion. If the stress on thebody is too great, either in magnitude, dura-tion, or frequency, the body will be unable toadequately adapt and exhaustion will occur.Selye proposed that an overwhelming stressof one to three months in duration couldcause death. This is an interesting
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observation if we consider maximal exerciseto be an overwhelming stress. In practice thisconcern is most applicable to intermediatesand advanced trainees, and probably meansthat an extended period of excessively relent-less maximal work should be avoided. Thebottom line is that no one wants to be instage 3, which we call “overtraining.”
The application of Selye’s theory to exer-cise training is presented graphically in fig-ure 2-1. Progressive training within the con-text of the General Adaptation Syndrome re-quires that an increase in training load beapplied as soon as it is apparent that recov-ery has occurred. Continued use of theinitial, already-adapted-to load will not in-duce any disruption of homeostasis andtherefore cannot lead to further progress.Using the same training load after adapta-tion to it has occurred represents ineffective(if not typical) coaching and training if per-formance or fitness improvement is the goal.
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Figure 2-1. Within the parameters of Selye’s theory,
there are three possible outcome pathways following a
training stress: no progress, progress, or loss of pro-
gress, depending on the appropriateness of the stress
applied.
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The Single-Factor Model ofTraining
If a single episode of weight training candisrupt homeostasis in the novice, a predict-able set of outcomes can be detailed basedon the degree of disruption. This model ispresented in figure 2-1. We can examine thisconcept in both simple and broad terms as itaffects a single factor: an individual’s abilityto lift a maximal weight, as measured by hisone- (or two-, or five-) repetition maximum.
In the novice, a single training sessionwill disrupt biological equilibrium locallywithin the muscle and systemically withinthe body. The result of this is a transient andvery slight depression of performance. It isonly slight because novice performancelevels are already low and typically inconsist-ent, and small losses are hard to measure atthis level. This depression occurs immedi-ately after the training session and
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represents stage 1 of Selye’s theory. In thehours and days after the training session,performance abilities will recover to normaland then performance ability will exceed thepre-stress level. This is supercompensa-tion. At this point the trainee has success-fully completed Selye’s second stage and hasadapted to the initial workload (fig. 2-2, lineA).
It is important to understand that thetrainee is not getting stronger during theworkout. He is getting stronger during therecovery period after the workout. The nextlogical step is to increase the workload in thenext workout – i.e., to employ simple pro-gressive overload. Applying the same work-load again produces no progress, since thisstress has already been adapted to, butmerely reinforces the existing level of fitness.At this point, a small increase in exerciseload will once again take the trainee throughSelye’s stages 1 and 2 to repeat the overload/
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adaptation cycle at a slightly higher level.When the overload increment is the same foreach successive increase, the training pro-gram is referred to as a linear progression.
This organization of training can contin-ue for many months, until the trainee’s pro-gress plateaus. At this point it is likely that itwill require a series of two or three trainingsessions specifically arranged to have a cu-mulative effect, plus a longer work/recoverycycle of perhaps a week’s duration, to ad-equately take the trainee through Selye’s firsttwo stages. This represents the response ofthe intermediate trainee (fig. 2-2, line B).The intermediate period of a trainee’s career,depending on the purpose of training, can bequite long, possibly years.
As the body gets better at producingforce against a load, it is also getting better atrecovering from that stress. As both per-formance competence and recovery abilityincrease with progressive training over time,
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eventually it will take weeks to adequatelydisrupt homeostasis to stimulate adaptation,and then another length of time for recoveryand supercompensation. The advancedtrainee may require even up to a month’stime to progress through stage 1 and stage 2(fig. 2-2, line C).
Figure 2-2. The intended result of a training stimu-
lus is to induce supercompensation in the form of per-
formance competence above baseline. As the trainee
progresses from novice to advanced, a longer training
and recovery cycle is required to induce
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supercompensation increases. In fact, the duration of
the supercompensation cycle is one way to classify the
level of training advancement. In the novice, a single
training stimulus results in supercompensation in 24
to 72 hours (A), just in time for the next training ses-
sion. For the intermediate trainee, multiple training
sessions in a week are required to induce supercom-
pensation (B). For the advanced trainee, the cumulat-
ive effects of weeks of training are needed to induce
supercompensation in a month’s time or longer (C).
Arrows represent workout sessions.
The Two-Factor Model ofTraining
The two-factor model derives from andelaborates on the single-factor model, in thatit considers the reasons for the performanceresponse typical of training, not just the per-formance response itself. Two-factor models
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of training responses and adaptations arenot new. Vladimir Zatsiorsky proposed sucha model in his years at the Central Institutefor Physical Culture in Moscow and reiter-ated it in his text The Science and Practice ofStrength Training (1995). In his model, “fit-ness” and “fatigue” are the factors that affect“preparedness.” Although the details of histheory are not well defined, the basic conceptis sound.
If we consider performance competencethe result of “metabolic and structural fa-tigue” and “comprehensive recovery pro-cesses,” we can better understand the ra-tionale for using different programmingmodels for specific levels of trainee advance-ment. “Metabolic and structural fatigue” canbe defined as the localized intramuscular andsynaptic perturbations that are associatedwith the slightly reduced performance capa-city in Selye’s stage 1. Such fatigue is short-lived, an acute variable. “Comprehensive
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recovery processes” are the collective repairstatus of the various organ systems and pro-cesses affected by the training bout: endo-crine and immune systems, chronic inflam-matory processes, and protein synthetic re-sponses. Fatigue and recovery together con-tribute to adaptation and progress, with su-percompensation considered complete ad-aptation to the workload used in the trainingsession or series of sessions – stage 2 ofSelye’s theory (fig. 2-3). For optimal fitnessand performance gains, the effects of meta-bolic and structural fatigue must abate be-fore the effects of comprehensive recoveryprocesses diminish.
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Figure 2-3. The two-factor model of the human re-
sponses and adaptations to a single bout of training.
During and immediately after training, there is a sup-
pression of comprehensive recovery processes (Selye’s
stage 1). Shortly after training ceases there is a general
increase in recovery process activity (Selye’s stage 2).
An important observation here is that the increase in
fatigue that results from training has a short-lived
negative effect on performance. This deficit is not
made up until recovery processes near completion.
The more advanced an athlete becomes,the greater the importance and usefulness of
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the two-factor model and its approach to bal-ancing the two opposing forces of construct-ive human adaptation, in that: 1) the work-load must be sufficient to disrupt biologicalequilibrium enough to necessitate an adapta-tion, and 2) recovery must be sufficient toenable the adaptation to occur while avoid-ing overtraining (figs. 2-4, 2-5, 2-6, and 2-7).The athlete walks a knife’s edge here. For thenovice, it is very dull and wide, not reallymuch of an edge at all, and rather easy to ne-gotiate. The edge for the intermediate traineeis sharper, requiring a more complex ap-proach. For the advanced trainee, it is razorsharp, and balancing on it without damagerequires careful manipulation of all the pro-gramming variables.
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Figure 2-4. Two factors affecting both performance
and tolerable workload in the beginner are 1) meta-
bolic and structural fatigue and 2) comprehensive re-
covery processes. There is an inverse relationship of
fatigue to performance: as fatigue increases, perform-
ance decreases. The relationship of recovery to per-
formance is direct: as recovery increases, performance
increases. Gray bars represent workout sessions.
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Figure 2-5. The two-factor model of an intermediate
trainee’s responses and adaptations to a series of
training stresses over a week’s duration. While similar
to the single-workout cycle of the novice, note that fa-
tigue does not entirely dissipate between each train-
ing session, nor do recovery processes catch up until
the conclusion of the week. This defines the difference
between the novice and the intermediate trainee. The
workout load presented here is a heavy-medium-
heavy-light organization that would repeat the follow-
ing week.
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Figure 2-6. The advanced trainee responds to period-ized programming over a longer period of time thaneither the novice or the intermediate trainee. Gray barsare days of training. White bars are days off. Per-centages are loads relative to 1RM.
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Figure 2-7. The relationship between workload and
work tolerance. Regardless of training classification
there is a ceiling of work tolerance (designated by ar-
rows) that once breached decays into “overtraining”
and an inevitable loss of work tolerance and perform-
ance capacity. Note that 1) work tolerance increases
significantly throughout the training career, and in-
creased tolerance is due to a progressive increase in
workload, and 2) a descent into overtraining and the
manifestation of performance decrements will occur
more rapidly and precipitously as the training career
advances (note the sharper drop-off for more ad-
vanced trainees after the work tolerance peak is
reached). Although overtraining can be a problem at
every stage, prevention is critical at the advanced and
elite stages, as the rate of performance decay is very
rapid once work tolerance is exceeded. Conversely,
the diagnosis of overtraining may be a problem at the
novice and intermediate stages, as the reduction in
performance capacity occurs at a much slower rate
after work tolerance is exceeded, and easily could be
missed or misinterpreted.
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Understanding Overtraining
Key to understanding progress in anyathletic endeavor is the concept of over-load. Overload represents the magnitude ofwork required to disrupt biological equilibri-um and induce an adaptation. For progressto occur, the physiological system must beperturbed, and in weight training the per-turbation is heavier weight or more volume(or, for an intermediate or advanced trainee,less rest between sets) than the athlete is ad-apted to. The overload is applied to the sys-tem through training, with the specific workthat disrupts equilibrium referred to as anoverload event. For novice trainees, eachworkout constitutes an overload event. Forintermediate and advanced athletes, theheavier elements in a week or more of train-ing might constitute the overload events.
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But without recovery from an overloadevent, the overload does not contribute toprogress. Overload without adequate recov-ery just induces overtraining. The term mi-crocycle, traditionally defined as a week oftraining, is better thought of as the period oftime required for both the overload eventand the recovery from that overload event.This period will vary with the level of train-ing advancement of the trainee. For a novice,a microcycle is the period of time betweentwo workouts. The more advanced a traineebecomes, the longer the microcycle becomes,until the term loses its usefulness for eliteathletes, who might require a period of timefor this process that would more tradition-ally be described as a mesocycle. For usthen, these terms lack the concise nature re-quired for utility.
Overtraining is the bane of any program.When the demands of training outstrip theability of the body to adapt, the trainee is at
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risk of not only ceasing to progress but actu-ally regressing. To put it in the terms wehave been using, the overtrained athlete hasentered into Selye’s stage 3. Understoodwithin the single-factor model of training, animbalance between training volume or in-tensity and recovery has occurred, such thatthe trainee will not recover from the stressand supercompensation cannot occur. Per-formance will remain depressed from theinitial overload and will suffer further de-cline with continued loading. Or, in the two-factor model, overtraining can be understoodas the failure of comprehensive recovery pro-cesses to overcome metabolic and structuralfatigue. The effects of fatigue are so pro-nounced that recovery processes, which maybe either unaffected or diminished, are nev-ertheless overwhelmed, leading to persistentand potentially escalating fatigue. The endresult is the inability to train and to performat the previous level.
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There are three possible effects of exer-cise stress: 1) fatigue, 2) overreaching, and 3)overtraining. Each of these is associated witha reduction in performance ability, but onlyone is a training problem.
Fatigue. Fatigue is usually definedphysiologically as a reduction of the force-production capacity of a muscle. It could bedescribed as simple and transient “tiredness”resulting from physical effort – a necessarycomponent of training and the one that res-ults from the stress necessary to enter Selye’sstage 1. In the novice it is expected that fa-tigue will abate within 24 to 72 hours. In theintermediate lifter fatigue may not dissipatecompletely until the completion of the train-ing week. And in the advanced trainee com-plete recovery to supercompensation maynot occur for a month or more. For the inter-mediate and advanced trainee it is not expec-ted nor desired that each workout begin free
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from fatigue. If an intermediate, advanced,or elite trainee is persistently fatigue-free,the loading scheme is not rigorous enough toinduce homeostatic disruption and adapta-tion. In fact, if an athlete is chronicallyfatigue-free, he is by definition still a novice.
Overreaching. Overreaching has been de-scribed as the cumulative effects of a seriesof workouts, characterized by a short-termdecrease in performance, feelings of fatigue,depressed mood, pain, sleep disturbances,and other miscellaneous effects that requireup to two weeks to recover from. Certainhormonal changes such as a short-term re-duction in testosterone and increase incortisol occur at this level of perturbation,and in fact these are among the factors thatproduce the positive systemic effects of bar-bell training. A significant problem with thisdefinition is that it differs from that of over-training only in that “overreaching” can berecovered from with approximately two
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weeks of reduced work or rest – a rather ar-bitrary distinction – whereas recovery fromovertraining takes longer.
In addition, this definition of overreach-ing does not consider the level of training ad-vancement of the individual and the recoveryabilities associated with that level, a problemtypical of the conventional exercise scienceliterature. The novice trainee will notexperience so-called overreaching on a prop-erly constructed novice program, since re-covery to supercompensation occurs withinthe 24- to 72-hour period. It is important tounderstand that the novice trainee will notoverreach unless far more than the recom-mended load is used, because the hallmarkof novice status is the ability to recoverquickly from the incremental increase inworkload used to produce gradual, steadyprogress. Even when a late-stage novice plat-eaus within a simple progression regimen, asingle additional short-term reduction in
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training load is adequate to restore homeo-stasis. The intermediate trainee can recoverfrom a stage 2-level homeostatic disruptionin the time allotted for a weekly trainingperiod, since intermediate-level traineescharacteristically respond to short-term cu-mulative training loads. The advanced train-ee, after a long cumulative disruption ofhomeostasis, might require four or moreweeks to recover and supercompensate,more than the two weeks allowed for by thedefinition. The utility of the term “overreach-ing” is therefore questionable.
Moreover, the concept of overreachingdefined as a negative effect misses the point.Overreaching simply represents the targetstress necessary to disrupt homeostasis, in-tentionally breaching the maximal workloadthe trainee has adapted to in order to inducesupercompensation. It is more relevant,practical, and understandable to discard theterm and simply use the term “overload,”
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since it describes both the load and the stim-ulus for inducing adaptation in all trainees,regardless of advancement level. Every fit-ness or performance enhancement trainingprogram should include periods of overload,as is required by any practical application ofSelye’s theory; these periods should be un-derstood as adaptive, not detrimental; andthey should be appropriate to the trainee’slevel of advancement if they are to producethe desired effects. Judging this level of ef-fort can be difficult and requires vigilantmonitoring, since a rapid descent into over-training can occur if loading is too severe orrecovery is inadequate.
Overtraining. Overtraining is the cumulat-ive result of relentless high-volume or high-intensity training, or both, without adequaterecovery, that results in the exhaustion of thebody’s ability to compensate for trainingstress and adapt to it. The primary diagnost-ic indicator is a reduction in performance
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capacity that doesn’t improve with anamount of rest that would normally result inrecovery. Although the accepted (AmericanCollege of Sports Medicine and U.S. OlympicCommittee) definition of overtraining holdsthat recovery from it requires no less thantwo weeks, overtraining is obviously relativeto the advancement level of the trainee, andthere are actually no hard and fast rules gov-erning its onset or its abatement. Even theheinous abuse of a novice with an over-whelming workload, one that induces a lossof performance ability, would resolve fairlyquickly. Although the time frame would becompressed, the symptoms observed by thecoach would be those of overtraining. Al-though overtraining in the novice can occur,it may not be easily diagnosed because themagnitude of the loss of performance mightbe difficult to perceive, due both to a lack oftraining history for comparison and the lowlevel of performance overall (as represented
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in fig. 2-7). Once again, as with overreaching,the overtrained intermediate fits the com-monly accepted ACSM/USOC definition: anovertrained intermediate will not be able torecover in less than two weeks. In the ad-vanced trainee, however, recovery is neverplanned to be complete for a minimum offour weeks anyway, and for the elite trainee,it may be considerably longer than that. Theexisting definition is inadequate for thesetrainees. It is also easier to diagnose over-training in advanced and elite trainees, sincethe performance reduction is quite notice-able against the background of an extensivetraining history.
A working definition of overtraining thatapplies to all levels of training advancementrequires a better way to quantify recoverytime in each stage. Overtraining occursspecifically when performance doesnot recover within one reduced-loadtraining cycle. The duration of that cycle
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will vary according to the athlete’s level ofadvancement. For example, if a novice train-ing every 48 hours has a workout that ismarkedly off due to excessive load in the pre-vious workout, this will be apparent duringwarm-up. His range of motion will be de-creased due to the soreness, and his barspeed will be noticeably slower and morelabored as the weight increases through thesets. The coach should then stop theworkout, having determined the problem (inthe last workout he did five extra work setswhile another trainee was being coached inthe other room, for example) and send himhome with orders to rest until the nextworkout 48 hours later. He comes back in forhis next workout, and warm-ups reveal thathe is fine now, recovered and capable of thesets he should have done the previousworkout. He was overtrained, and now he isrecovered. This is possible because he is anovice, and this recovery time frame is
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consistent with a novice’s ability to recover,both from normal overload and from over-training, since the mechanism is the same.
If an advanced trainee on a four-weekcycle of loading declines below expected per-formance levels during a cycle, either theathlete has come into the cycle overtrainedor the current cycle has exhausted recoverycapacity. In such a case, as much as fourmore weeks of reduced training load mightbe required to facilitate recovery. For boththe novice and the advanced trainee, a re-peated and dramatically reduced load cycleof equal duration should immediately followthe diagnosis of overtraining in order toreestablish homeostasis. Elite lifters usingvery long training cycles cannot afford thetime required to deal with a programmingerror that might take months to notice, andeven longer to correct.
Overtraining is yet another example ofthe profound differences between novice and
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advanced athletes, in that the more advancedan athlete becomes, the more costly over-training becomes. A novice might be incon-venienced by a missed training session orgoal, but that inconvenience lasts for acouple of days, and is of no consequence toanything other than the next workout. Inter-mediate athletes have committed to theirtraining to the point of selecting a sport, andare in the process of becoming competitors.An advanced athlete is by definition alwaystraining for a competition, has investedmany thousands of hours, many thousandsof dollars, and many gallons of sweat in histraining up to this point, and has much tolose as a result. Elite athletes may have titles,sponsorship money, endorsements, andpost-competitive careers riding on their per-formance at the next competition. As careersadvance, so does the price of failure, even ifit is temporary.
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Is consideration of overtraining import-ant? According to the USOC/ACSM “Con-sensus Statement on Overtraining,” 10 to20% of all athletes are suffering from over-training on any given day. If this is true, it isa problem. How many coaches can afford tohave 20% of their team performing belowpar on game day? Having a significant num-ber of athletes overtrained at any given timehas important ramifications for team suc-cess, as well as for the careers of the indi-vidual athletes. The culprit here is a lack ofthe appropriate application of the principlesof exercise programming to the training ofathletes.
Diagnostic signs of overtraining in non-novices are severe, when finally apparent:obviously compromised performance, dis-rupted sleep, increased chronic pain, abnor-mal mood swings, elevated heart rate,change in appetite, and other physical andmental abnormalities. (In fact, these are the
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same physical symptoms characteristic ofsevere depression, a clinical problem alsoarising from the accumulation of unabatedstress.) However, not all trainees will displaythe same symptoms even if they becomeovertrained on the same program. Onceagain, the coach’s eye is essential in determ-ining changes in the performance and well-being of the trainee. Once overtraining isdiagnosed, it is imperative to take remedialaction, as longer periods of overtraining re-quire longer periods of recovery. It quite pos-sibly can take as much as twice as long to geta trainee out of overtraining as it took to pro-duce the condition. Horror stories aboutsevere overtraining abound, with examplesof athletes losing entire training years. No ef-fort must be spared in recognizing and treat-ing this very serious situation.
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Factors Affecting Recovery
The topic of overtraining is usuallytreated in a fairly narrow sense, with only theratio of work to recovery discussed. Theseare the two controlling factors in disruptinghomeostasis and forcing adaptation, but, ul-timately, recovery is multifactorial and is af-fected by much more than just time offbetween workouts. The importance of atten-tion to detail during rest and recovery is es-sential in avoiding overtraining. Unless thecoach and trainee both understand and act-ively attempt to facilitate optimal recovery,no method of training can produce optimalresults or be effective in preventingovertraining.
Aside from the work/rest ratio, severalfactors affect or contribute to recovery, themost important being adequate sleep, hydra-tion, and proper intake of protein, energy,and micronutrients. Each of these factors is
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under the direct control of the trainee (butnot the coach). A good coach will explainwhy these things are important for progress,attempt to reinforce their importance on aregular basis, and then realize that betterathletes will treat this responsibility as theyshould, and that average athletes will not.The best training program in the entire uni-verse will be a dismal failure if athletes fail tohold up their end of the deal. The success ofany program is ultimately the trainee’sresponsibility.
Sleep. It should be intuitive, but traineesand coaches alike often overlook the import-ance of sleep during periods of increasedphysical demand and stress. While ratherlimited in scope, the scientific literature onthis topic does support the followingobservations:
1) Lack of adequate sleep during recov-ery leads to a decrease in competitive
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ability, reduced determination, and lackof tolerance for intensity in training.2) Lack of adequate sleep negatively af-fects mood state, leads to a greater levelof perceived fatigue, promotes depres-sion, and can induce mild confusion.3) Lack of adequate sleep can reduce thecapacity of the physiological mechan-isms that enable adaptation to the stressof training.A number of physiological changes oc-
cur during sleep. Among them, hormonal se-cretion is perhaps the most important for re-covery from physical exertion. An increase inanabolic (muscle-building) hormone concen-trations and a decrease in catabolic (muscle-wasting) hormone concentrations and activ-ity take place during the sleep cycle. Levels ofthe anabolic hormone testosterone begin torise upon falling asleep, peak at about thetime of first REM, and remain at that leveluntil awakening. This means that sleeping
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shorter durations limits the recovery contri-butions possible from testosterone. Anotheranabolic hormone, somatotropin, or humangrowth hormone, also has a characteristic se-cretion pattern during sleep. Shortly afterdeep sleep begins, growth hormone concen-trations begin to rise, leading to a sustainedpeak lasting 1.5 to 3.5 hours. A major func-tion of growth hormone is the mitigation ofthe negative effects of the catabolic hormonecortisol. A disruption or shortening of thesleep period will reduce the beneficial effectsof these important anabolic hormones.
How much sleep is required? The U.S.military believes that four hours of continu-ous sleep per night allows for survival andthe maintenance of basic combat function.Your mom tells you that eight hours a nightis needed to be healthy and happy. The aver-age American adult gets somewhere betweensix and seven hours per night. So what isright? Military combat is a rather specialized
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situation, and during non-combat times theArmy advises more sleep. The “average”sedentary person is not significantly stress-ing the body’s recuperative capacity. ButMom knows. An average of eight hours ofsleep, especially during very rigorous train-ing, will aid in recovery. After all, the pur-pose of sleep is to induce a state of recoveryin the body. The longer the period of sleep,the better the quality of recovery.
The number of hours of sleep is not ne-cessarily the same thing as the number ofhours spent in bed. Very few people go tosleep when their head hits the pillow. Atrainee going to bed at 11:00 and getting upat 7:00 may not be getting eight hours ofsleep. It is more realistic to add extra time toaccount for any delay in actually fallingasleep, ensuring that eight hours is obtained.
Hydration. Water is essential for recoveryfrom strenuous exercise. After all, nearlyevery biochemical process occurring in the
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human body takes place in water. Dehydra-tion causes loss of performance, and when itis severe it can be catastrophic. But howmuch water do we need to drink to supportrecovery and avoid overtraining?
Everybody’s physician, dietician, nutri-tionist, trainer, coach, and friend “know”that it is “absolutely necessary” to drink “8 ×8”: eight 8-ounce glasses of water per day.This equals half a gallon, or about 1.9 liters,of water a day. Note that standard beveragecans or bottles are 12 ounces or 20 ounces,and that a 16-ounce cup is usually a sold as a“small” drink at a restaurant, so the require-ment is not necessarily eight commonlyavailable “drinks.”
But do we really need to drink this muchwater? The 8 × 8 recommendation is not ac-tually based on any scientific evidence ob-tained through research, but on a subjectiveviewpoint stated in a 1974 nutritional textthat was seized upon by the clinical
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professions and has slowly entrenched itselfin both clinical dogma and conventional wis-dom. Most fluid intake values found in theresearch data indicate that between 1.2 and1.6 liters per day, less than the 1.9 liters ofthe 8 × 8 prescription, is sufficient for main-taining hydration status in healthy humanswho exercise mildly. These recommenda-tions must of course account for different en-vironmental conditions – the hydrationstatus of a person in Florida in June will bedifferent than that of a person in Manitobain October – so in reality there can be no ab-solutes with respect to fluid intake. It is alsohard to imagine that the human body hasspontaneously lost the ability to self-regulatehydration status since the bottled-water in-dustry developed; after all, very few humansocieties developed a penchant for sippingwater all day from a convenient containercarried in the hand or the backpack. So self-selected fluid intake in response to thirst
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probably represents an appropriate methodfor maintaining health and function undermost circumstances. But does it represent anintake that can support recovery from in-tense training?
An increased metabolic rate increasesthe requirement for water. Increasing stor-age of energy substrates (such as ATP, CP,and glycogen) in the muscle increases theneed for intracellular water. So how muchfluid is needed beyond the 1.2 to 1.6 liters perday that reportedly supports a healthy mildlyactive life? Larger, more active individualsrequire more water intake to support theirgreater quantity of metabolically active tis-sue, the increased caloric cost of increment-ally larger workloads, and their less-efficientheat dissipation characteristics. One sizedoes not fit all in terms of hydration. A goodrule of thumb might be one liter for every1000 calories expended. A 5000-calorie perday expenditure would require five liters (or
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1.3 gallons) of fluid. This volume of fluid mayseem quite high, but considering the needs ofan extremely active athlete training severalhours per day, it is a reasonable recommend-ation, and in fact might still be inadequatefor a warm training environment. This re-quires that attention be paid to fluid intake,since 5+ liters per day is a lot of water todrink. Excessive water consumption is ex-tremely dangerous, but the intake of toxiclevels of water requires a conscious effort farabove any effort to assuage thirst under anycircumstances, and it cannot be doneaccidentally.
One last consideration is which fluidscount toward hydration. Many popularhealth practitioners and advocates willboldly state that only water and a few other“natural” beverages count toward hydration.They discount anything with caffeine or alco-hol or even sugar as a viable rehydratingbeverage. The statement has actually been
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made that “You wouldn’t wash your car witha diet soft drink – why would you use it forhydration?” Such an attitude demonstrates amisunderstanding of the mechanism bywhich water is absorbed from the gut: any-thing that contains water, even food high inwater, counts toward water consumption.Water itself is the best rehydrating fluidsince it can be taken up faster than com-monly consumed commercial beverages (ifthat is actually a practical consideration innormal hydration situations), but every fluidconsumed contributes. The water content ofa 20-ounce diet cola counts toward hydra-tion even though it contains caffeine and ar-tificial sweeteners. A 20-ounce regular colafull of high-fructose corn syrup also countseven though it contains caffeine and sugar.Alcoholic beverages have been quite effectivehydrating agents at various points in humanhistory. Beer and wine, in more primitivetimes, were major rehydrating fluids
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necessary for survival, since they were saferthan the available untreated water supply, aswas the grog – rum mixed with water – ofthe British Navy in the eighteenth century.We are not proposing that soft drinks, beer,and wine should be staple components of thetraining diet, but honesty compels the con-sideration of the realities of the Americanlifestyle and how it may affect recovery.Aside from the question of their other bene-fits or detriments, moderate consumption ofthese beverages does in fact contribute tohydration.
Protein. How much protein do athletesreally need? Recently, a growing pool of re-search has surfaced regarding the proteinneeds of strength-trained athletes. The Un-ited States Recommended Daily Allowance(RDA) values call for a protein intake of 0.8+/- 0.35 g/kg/day (grams per kilogram ofbodyweight per day) for males and females
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fifteen years and older. The RDA is based onthe needs of the average population, and theaverage American is sedentary. Is it logical toexpect the nutritional requirements of asedentary individual to be the same as therequirements of anyone undergoing a pro-gram of systematically increasing physicalstress and adaptation? It has been well docu-mented that any type of exercise increasesthe rate of metabolism in the muscle andalso accelerates the rate of muscle proteindegradation and turnover. Research showsthat resistance exercise stimulates muscleprotein synthesis that lasts well past the endof the exercise bout.
Protein synthesis, the process by whichnew muscle is built, requires a dietary pro-tein source. The primary way muscles recov-er from stress and improve in fitness is formuscle protein synthesis to occur faster thanthe muscle protein breakdown that is the in-evitable result of exercise. If protein
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synthesis is to exceed protein degradation,anabolism, or constructive processes, mustexceed negative catabolic processes. If nutri-ents needed for protein synthesis (to main-tain or repair damaged tissue) are not suffi-ciently available from dietary sources, thebody will take them from its own proteinstores – its existing muscle mass. In essence,the body will rob Peter to pay Paul in orderto maintain function. By ensuring adequatedietary protein intake, the trainee providesthe body with the building blocks necessaryfor new protein synthesis.
So, how much protein is needed to sup-port training? The literature includes a broadrange of recommendations that go as high as2.5 g/kg/day. Some coaches and traineesdon’t like to do arithmetic, or aren’t comfort-able converting pounds to kilograms. Aneasy way to ensure enough dietary protein,and the tried-and-true method used by theweightlifting and strength training
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communities for many years, is simply to eatone gram of protein per pound of body-weight per day: a 200-pound athlete shouldtry to get about 200 grams of protein perday, from various dietary sources. Thisworks out to 2.2 g/kg/day, a value that, whilein excess of the consensus recommendationof between 1.2 and 1.8 g/kg/day, remains be-low the highest recommended value in theliterature of 2.5 g/kg/day, and will ensure atarget high enough that missing it a little willstill be sufficient for full recovery. This calcu-lation disregards considerations of lean bodymass and therefore assumes an already “nor-mal” body composition; individuals with ahigher bodyfat percentage should take thisinto account when planning protein intakes.
It is important to note that there is abso-lutely no evidence to support the notion that“excessive” amounts of protein are harmfulto normal kidneys with unimpaired excret-ory function, despite the ill-informed advice
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of some health-care professionals. In fact, inpeople without active kidney disease thereare no unsafe levels of protein consumptionin the context of dietary intake.
Protein supplementation is useful inthat it can help an athlete get a sufficientprotein intake, making up the differencebetween that found in the diet and the re-commended level. And a protein drink, beingconvenient to make and consume, is usefulfor post-workout recovery. Despite the mar-keting efforts of many manufacturers, thereis very little difference in the net effect of thequality or purity of the protein supplement –in the grand scheme of things, the most ex-pensive whey protein has no significant ad-vantage over ground beef in terms of thebody’s ability to use the amino acids it con-tains for protein synthesis.
Energy Intake. Since calories are expen-ded during exercise, mostly derived from thebody’s ready reserves of stored carbohydrate
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and fat, an obvious requirement for recoveryafter exercise is an increased need for energyto replace that consumed during training.There are two reasons exercise creates aneed for calories: 1) exercise of all types,volumes, and intensities expends some frac-tion of the body’s energy stores, and thesemust be replaced before another bout ofactivity, and 2) exercise of sufficient load dis-rupts homeostasis and muscle structural in-tegrity, producing a requirement for bothprotein and fat/carbohydrate calories to fa-cilitate repair and recovery.
The source of the energy – carbohydrateor fat – is not terribly important as long as issufficient in caloric content and a proteinsource accompanies it. Fat requires a longertime for breakdown and utilization than car-bohydrate, but the body’s metabolic rate iselevated for many hours after exercise andhaving a very energy-rich substrate (fat hasmore energy by weight than carbohydrate)
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slowly metabolized over a number of hoursrather than a mass of carbohydrate digestingfor an hour or so after eating may be benefi-cial. In fact, it has been clearly demonstratedthat the primary fuel source used in the 18hours following exhaustive exercise is, infact, fat. Given adequate caloric intake andadequate protein, the composition of the dietmust also consider the requirements of vit-amin intake, essential fatty acids, and fiber,as well as the glycemic index of the balanceof the food and the resulting insulin effectsof the meal. The quality of the diet should beas high as the resources of the traineepermit.
It is important that the total caloric con-tent of the diet be at least equal to, butpreferably greater than, the total caloric ex-penditure of the training day. Matching in-take to expenditure will maintain fitness andstrength but will not support maximal fitnessgain. As a practical matter, caloric surplus is
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needed to drive progress, regardless of theprecision with which we are able to calculateenergy expenditure and intake. If we simplypay back the energy used during exercise anddaily activities, we are not providing the ex-tra energy required to drive homeostatic re-covery and adaptation through muscle massincrease. To get stronger and more fit, theconventional literature advises the consump-tion of around 200 to 400 calories more en-ergy than we expend. It has been the experi-ence of the authors that a more reasonableintake to ensure recovery and strength gainswould be 500 to 1000 calories per day. If again in muscular bodyweight is the primarygoal, a surplus of at least 1000 calories perday, and perhaps much more for somepeople who are inefficient metabolizers, willbe needed.
Vitamins and Minerals. Frequently, it isstated that the average American dietprovides all the vitamins and minerals
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necessary for a healthy life, and that state-ment is almost always considered to extendto hard-training men and women. Virtuallyno one is ever tested for vitamin and minerallevels unless they display deficiency diseasesymptoms. Therefore, few individuals,sedentary or athletic, ever know for surewhether they have all the required vitaminsand minerals present in sufficient quantities.
Severe vitamin and mineral deficienciesare not common in the United States, butthey do occur. Mild deficiencies are muchmore common – the majority of Americanfemales are consistently iron and calcium de-ficient to a small but significant degree, forinstance. Calcium has a tremendous varietyof functions in nervous and muscularphysiology, growth, and performance and adeficiency can limit recovery from training.Iron has a crucial role in oxygen transportand metabolic function. A mild iron
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deficiency can have significant negative ef-fects on the body’s ability to recover afterexercise.
Vitamins and minerals act as mediatorsof biochemical reactions in the body. Re-ferred to as “micronutrients,” they areneeded in relatively small amounts and oc-cur naturally in foods in varying concentra-tions. To obtain all the vitamins and miner-als required for life – and certainly for train-ing – we must consume a variety of foods.The average American kid does not. If par-ents were aware of the basic need to provideyoung athletes with a diet of high quality andvariety, this would not be an issue. But weare a culture of convenience and habit, and itis common that people consume a very lim-ited selection of foods and food types, oftenthose that are processed to increase the con-venience of storage and preparation. Suchprocessing typically reduces the vitamin andmineral content of food to the extent that the
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quality of the diet – even though sufficient incalories and maybe even protein – is quitelow.
The result is that while the typical ath-lete’s diet may not be so woefully inadequatethat deficiency symptoms are present, it maycontain less than optimal amounts of essen-tial vitamins and minerals, nutrients neededto assist in recovery from rigorous training.Recent research on normal sedentary popu-lations has concluded that vitamin supple-mentation has no effect on longevity; we arenot concerned here with longevity, but ratherperformance. After all, if it is logical that anathlete in hard training needs increased cal-ories, water, and protein, then a higher vit-amin/mineral intake would also be required.Given the diverse regional, ethnic, cultural,and economic tastes and habits within theU.S. population, and without specific andcostly laboratory testing, there is no easy wayfor the coach or athlete to assess the
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vitamins and minerals present in any givendiet. Thankfully, this is not necessary: nutri-tional supplementation to ensure that theseimportant micronutrients are present fortraining and recovery is safe, effective,simple, and economical.
The best way is to start simple andcheap. An inexpensive generic vitamin andmineral supplement containing all the com-monly supplemented vitamins and mineralsis readily available at grocery stores or on theInternet. More money will get you a better,purer, more readily absorbable product. BillStarr in his famous book The Strongest ShallSurvive advocated the use of the “shovelmethod”: just take a lot, and the body willexcrete what it doesn’t use. Since vitamintoxicity is excruciatingly rare, especiallyamong hard-training athletes, this is goodadvice.
Fatty acids. Another set of compounds thataffect recovery are essential fatty acids
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(EFAs). Although a bias against dietary fatremains currently in vogue in some circles,fats are essential nutrients as well as efficientsources of energy. While there are no essen-tial carbohydrates, there are some essentialfatty acids – the body can synthesize many ofthe lipids it needs from dietary fat sources,but it cannot make omega-3 and omega-6fatty acids. These two types of lipids play animportant role in the maintenance of thebody’s structural integrity, are crucial to im-mune function and visual acuity, and are in-volved in the production of eicosanoids, theprecursors of the prostaglandins which regu-late the inflammatory process. Of the two,omega-3 fatty acids are the most importantto recovery: they support anabolic processesand assist in the management of post-exer-cise inflammation and pain. They are alsoless likely to be present in adequate amountsin the diet. Omega-6 fatty acids may actually
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contribute to inflammatory processes if theyare present in the wrong proportions.
Deficiencies in EFAs are fairly commonin the United States, since fish, the primarysource of omega-3 fats, has never tradition-ally been an important component of mostAmerican diets. Chronic profound deficien-cies result in growth retardation, dry skin,diarrhea, slow wound healing, increasedrates of infection, and anemia. Sub-clinicaldeficiencies would likely not produce symp-toms that could be easily diagnosed by ob-servation. Acute clinical deficiencies quicklydevelop in individuals with very low-fat di-ets, with symptoms evident in two to threeweeks.
Only a few grams of omega-3-rich oilsare required. This can be done with aboutone generous serving of fatty fish, such assalmon, per day. Many people find that tak-ing an omega-3 fish oil supplement is help-ful, since hard training benefits from higher
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dietary levels of EFAs. Cod liver oil too is aninexpensive source of EFAs, and is also veryhigh in vitamins A and D.
How Hard and How Much
Periodization. Possibly having en-countered Selye’s theory and realizing that ithad direct applications to the training of ath-letes, Soviet exercise physiologists proposedseveral methods of training that capitalizedon the body’s ability to adapt to increasingworkloads. The roots of this method, calledperiodization, are often attributed toLeonid Matveyev in the Soviet Union in the1960s (advanced versions of Soviet-styleperiodization can be traced further back toHungary in the 1940s and 50s). Periodiza-tion was brought to the attention of the U.S.weightlifting community in the 1970s by Carl
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Miller and molded into a hypothetical modelfor weight training for sports performance byMike Stone in 1981. Since then, periodizationhas become one of the primary tools of suc-cessful training program design, regardlessof the sport.
The objective of all training for perform-ance improvement should be to take thebody through Selye’s stages 1 and 2 of thestress model, providing enough trainingstress to induce adaptation without reachingStage 3, exhaustion. Correctly designed pro-grams achieve positive results by controllingthe degree of stress placed on the bodythrough the manipulation of the volume andintensity of training. It is therefore import-ant to have a method of quantifying volumeand intensity.
Volume is the total amount of weight liftedin a workout or group of workouts:
repetitions × weight = volume
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The following table shows an example ofvolume calculations for a squat workout:
For this one exercise, warm-up reps in-cluded, the trainee lifted a volume of 4150pounds. This calculation is repeated forevery exercise included in the workout ses-sion. In that way the total volume of stressapplied can be quantified. It may be moreuseful to consider only work set volume,since it is the work sets and not the warm-ups that are disrupting homeostasis andbringing about stage 1. As shown in the table,this significantly reduces calculated volume.If a trainee does an inordinately large
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number of warm-up sets, it might be appro-priate to consider their effect on trainingvolume.
Intensity is the amount of weight lif-ted, or the average amount of weight lifted ina workout or group of workouts, in relationto the trainee’s 1RM (“one-rep max,” or themaximum weight that the trainee can lift fora single repetition):
volume / repetitions = average weightused
average weight used / 1RM × 100 = %intensity
For the example in the table above, the aver-age weight used is 4150 pounds/30 reps, or138.33 pounds per rep. If the trainee’s 1RMis 225, the intensity is 138.33/225 × 100 =61%. It is easy to see how an excessive warm-up can affect the average weight of all the
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reps, and the average intensity, making it de-sirable to use only work sets in the intensitycalculation. For only the work sets in this ex-ample, the intensity is 82%.
Let us reiterate: Intensity is consideredas a percentage of 1RM. An intensity of 80%of 1RM is greater than an intensity of 50% of1RM. While this is a simple concept, thereare many different ideas about “intensity” inthe scientific, medical, and popular literat-ure. Intensity is sometimes equated with thelevel of power production in a given exercise.Things as abstract as the amount of mentalfocus given to a repetition (“Let’s really focuson this next rep and get your intensity up!”)or the individual’s subjective perception oftheir effort during the exercise (the BorgRating of Perceived Exertion scale, for ex-ample) have been proposed as definitions.Another proposed description is related tofatigue: if it fatigues the muscle, the exercisewas intense. All these concepts have been
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elaborated upon in the literature, butwithout exception they are not practical forthe strength training professional becausethey are not quantifiable, a characteristicthat both scientists and practitioners regardas pivotal. Intensity, as defined with respectto % of 1RM may be somewhat simplistic,but is the most practical and useful method,especially for coaches and trainers who pro-gram for large groups and need a way to ob-jectively assess work and improvement.
The simple calculation of a range of in-tensities of an exercise weight relative to1RM:
Squat 1RM (lbs) 22595% = 225 x 0.95 = 21490% = 225 x 0.90 = 20385% = 225 x 0.85 = 19180% = 225 x 0.80 = 18075% = 225 x 0.75 = 16970% = 225 x 0.70 = 158
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Traditionally, the manner in which peri-odization controls volume and intensity –and therefore the degree of stress placed onthe body – is by dividing training into peri-ods whose lengths and load characteristicsvary according to the level of the trainee.
Interpretation of the literature on over-training must be done with an awareness ofthe fact that much of it is based on aerobictraining. The overtraining that can be in-duced by anaerobic training such as weight-lifting has different characteristics than thatinduced by the quite different stimulus ofaerobic work – referred to by lifters as longslow distance work, or LSD. The differentways in which volume and intensity aredefined between the two disciplines have abearing on the analysis of overtraining.Modern competitive road cyclists, for ex-ample, may spend hours each day on thebike, generating a huge volume of training.When they want to work harder, they add
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miles, hours, or training days, accumulatingwhat have been termed “junk miles.” Theyalso tend to ride at a sustainable percentageof their VO2 max, and if this is used as ameasure of road cycling intensity every train-ing session typically averages out to be simil-ar to the one before it. It is important to notethat VO2max occurs at about 30 to 40% of amuscle’s maximal strength of contraction.So, intensity (measured as a percentage ofabsolute strength) is not usually a majortraining factor in the average self-coachedAmerican competitive cyclist’s training pro-gram. But because volume is essentially theoverloaded training variable, road cyclistsgenerally suffer from volume-inducedovertraining.
Because weight training programs ma-nipulate both volume and intensity of train-ing, trainees can experience either volume-induced or intensity-induced overtraining.Extremes in programming styles are
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represented by the “go-heavy-or-go-home”approach, which may precipitate intensity-induced overtraining, and the “train-to-fail-ure” approach on the other hand, which mayproduce volume-induced overtraining. Morecommon is overtraining that has elements ofboth types, since most programs manipulateboth variables. Understanding the rate of re-covery from both types is important. In well-trained weightlifters, intensity-induced over-training – a function of the nervous systemand its interface with the muscular system –seems easier to recover from than itsvolume-induced counterpart, which affectsprimarily the contractile components andmetabolic systems of the muscle cells. Whenpeaking for a strength or power event, in-tensity continues to be included in the pro-gram, at greatly reduced volume, up to verynear the event. When peaking for an endur-ance event, both the volume and intensity ofweight training should be curtailed several
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weeks in advance, since longer period re-quired for volume recovery will directly af-fect the competition.
The basic cure for overtraining is thecombination of time and reduced workload.The time spent dealing with overtrainingcosts the coach and athlete valuable pro-gress: reduced workloads do not produce im-provement, or even maintenance; a completelayoff results in detraining to some inevitableextent. Since the costs of overtraining arehigh, prevention is the best approach. Cor-rectly designed training programs appropri-ate for the athlete and the sport are the key.
Although properly executed simple pro-gression can produce rapid progress withoutovertraining in the early stages, for more ad-vanced trainees, more complex program-ming – periodization – is necessary.
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“How can I possibly put a new idea into your heads, if I do
not first remove your delusions?”
—Doctor Pinero in “Life-Line” by Robert A.
Heinlein (1939)
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Chapter 3:UnderstandingTraining Goals
Starting at Square One
Planning a program of weight trainingrequires a clearly defined set of goals for theathlete. Once the goals are established, train-ing must be relatively specific, meaning thatexercises and programming should pertainspecifically to the sport. Training withoutplanning is not much of a program, and ifprogress occurs it will be in spite of the pro-gram rather than because of it.
The average trainee has some type of fit-ness goal in mind when beginning an exer-cise program. The competitive athlete
certainly does. Despite the fact that most in-dividuals know what they want out of a pro-gram, the academic community is less clearabout what fitness actually is. Physical fit-ness is poorly defined in the literature, andthe published and conventionally acceptedapproaches to gaining it are misdirected inmany, many instances. A useful definition ofphysical fitness should center on the “physic-al” and describe physical readiness in termsof function, as does the following one, pro-posed in a 2006 article by Kilgore and Rip-petoe in the Journal of Exercise PhysiologyOnline [9(1):1-10]:
Possession of adequate levels ofstrength, endurance, and mobility toprovide for successful participation inoccupational effort, recreational pur-suits, familial obligation, and that isconsistent with a functional phenotypicexpression of the human genotype.
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After all, human survival in a human envir-onment depends on being able to perform avariety of physical tasks at a moment’s no-tice. We can divide the broad spectrum ofabilities required to conquer the average per-son’s life tasks into three basic categories:strength, endurance, and mobility. Liftingweights can help develop each of these threeareas of fitness to varying degrees, depend-ing on the emphasis of the program, but theusual focus with lifting is on strength and itsrelated characteristics, power and mass.
Coaches and trainees, either consciouslyor unconsciously, tend to bias their weighttraining toward strength, power, or mass.Each is defined by specific physical,physiological, and functional characteristics,so training for each requires differentstrategies and program organization. Anytraining program needs to reflect the specificneeds of the particular training objective itwas designed to achieve, since excellence in
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each requires specific focus on its uniquecharacteristics.
Poor programming choices will signific-antly affect the development of the desiredperformance characteristics. In the barbellsports, this can be illustrated by comparingthe training objectives of a weightlifter (acompetitor in the sport of Olympic weight-lifting) and a powerlifter. The weightlifterhopes to achieve a great deal of explosivepower in order to successfully perform thesnatch and the clean and jerk with bigweights which requires great speed. Thepowerlifter hopes to gain absolute strengthin order to squat, bench press, and deadliftbig weights. The difference between thesegoals may not seem apparent, since both lift-ers need to move heavy weights and thus ul-timately depend on strength. But the speedwith which the bar moves and the distance ittravels, the factors that determine power, arethe distinguishing characteristics. As it turns
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out, the development of power is – or at leastshould be – the primary goal of training formost athletes in the weight room. To clarifythe difference between strength and powerwe need to understand a few more terms.
The modern fitness industry’s concept of “toning”muscles is specious—it might sound cool, but it lacksany tangible and definable meaning. The term “muscletone,” or tonus, describes an electrophysiological phe-nomenon, a measure of ionic flow across muscle cellmembranes. It can be thought of as the muscle’s readi-ness to do anaerobic work. The more “fit” the muscle,the more electrophysiological activity it exhibits atrest. Lack of exercise leads to poor tone, aerobic exer-cise improves tone a little bit, low-intensity weighttraining improves tone more, and high-intensitytraining improves tone the fastest. As a test, go pokethe traps or quads of an elite weightlifter at rest, ifshe’ll let you. They’ll be hard as a rock. The samemuscles of an elite road cyclist at rest will be firm, butnot hard. Then compare both athletes’ muscle tone tothat of a sedentary person. The results will be quite en-lightening. Most exercise programs that claim to im-prove muscle tone are actually lower-intensity hyper-trophy programs and are only moderately effective
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for improving muscle tone. If “tone” is the goal,strength is the method.
Power and Its Components
Strength. Strength is a measurement of theability of a muscle to exert force against ex-ternal resistance. In its broadest interpreta-tion, strength is the ability to move a weightirrespective of the amount of time it takes, aswith a heavy deadlift moving slowly to lock-out. The benefits of improving strength forathletes in anaerobic sports are obvious,since force production is such an importantaspect of these activities. Less obvious arethe benefits of increasing strength in aerobicathletes, but it has been well documentedthat strength increases improve enduranceperformance by prolonging the time it takesbefore muscles fatigue.
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Measures of strength are often associ-ated with slow movements or no movementat all. Powerlifters move heavy weights relat-ively slowly. In so doing, they display a greatdeal of strength. Consider as an example alineman trying to move an opposing playerafter the initial contact (the opposing playeris the weight). Upon contact, the movementmight stop completely, resulting in isometricmuscle action. As the opposing force is over-come, movement speed increases from zerobut remains slow relative to the explosion offthe line. Overcoming the resistance that theopposing player provides takes superiorstrength – the ability to hold position iso-metrically while better mechanical positionis obtained, and the ability to produce moreforce concentrically once it is. Strength im-provement should be a goal for all traineesbecause it always contributes toperformance.
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Speed. The amount of time it takes an ob-ject, or one’s own body, to move a given dis-tance is an important component of the vastmajority of sports. Speed is critical to thecorrect performance of many barbell exer-cises, specifically the Olympic lifts and theirvariants; bar speed in a snatch is a criticalanalytical marker for coaching the lift. Anobject’s speed is determined by measuringthe distance traveled and dividing it by thetime it took for that movement to occur; it isthus the rate of change of the object’s posi-tion in space. (The object’s velocity is therate of change of its position in a given direc-tion, a technical distinction of little import-ance to this discussion. For our purposeshere the terms are used interchangeably.)Beating an opposing player to the ball re-quires speed. Strength contributes to speedby enabling the body to overcome inertia andinitiate acceleration, the rate at which speedincreases. Once movement is initiated,
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strength is required for the continuing rapidtransfer of force that maintains the velocityof the object against its tendency to slowdown.
Power. The production of power is the keyto most sports. It is the amount of work per-formed per unit of time. Work is the forceapplied to an object and the consequent dis-tance it is moved by that force; an easily un-derstood unit of work is the foot-pound, theenergy needed to move a 1-pound load a dis-tance of 1 foot. Therefore a unit of powerwould be 1 foot-pound per second – the rateat which the work of moving the object isperformed. Power is understood best as theability to exert force rapidly, or as strengthapplied quickly. If a large muscular force isgenerated that moves a heavy weight veryquickly, power production is high; thehighest peak power outputs ever recorded inall of athletics have been produced duringthe second-pull phase of the snatch. It can be
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considered as the rate of force production,usually measured using a force plate.
On the other hand, if an athlete in train-ing climbs ten flights of stairs faster todaythan he did last week, he has moved themass of his body the distance of ten flights ofstairs more quickly. Or if an athlete finishesthe task of doing three rounds of 30 pull-upsand running 400 meters faster than she didit last month, the mass of her body hasmoved faster over a shorter period of time.These are examples of rate of work produc-tion, and could be improved by merely rest-ing less between the components of the workwithout increasing the rate of the force pro-duction of the movements themselves. Inother words, the density of the cumulativeefforts increases – an increase in frequencywithout an increase in the amplitude of theindividual component efforts. Improvementsin rate of force production and rate of workproduction require different metabolic
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adaptations, which may or may not overlap.For our purposes here power is the ability togenerate high levels of force rapidly. The suc-cessful lineman comes off the line very fast,accelerating his bodyweight quickly enoughto meet his opponent, completely stop theopposing forward momentum, and start theprocess of pushing him out of position. Theeffects of his power – the momentum createdby his speed and the mass of his body mov-ing at that speed, and his subsequent abilityto quickly generate force against his oppon-ent – determines more about his perform-ance during the play than any other aspect ofhis movement.
Some aspects of work, and thereforepower, are difficult to measure. If we con-sider only the power developed against thebar, the calculation is simple, but incom-plete. The athlete and the bar form a system,both components of which move. Work doneby the muscles against the skeletal
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components of the system – the maintainingof isometric back extension during a deadlift,for example – is difficult to measure. But theforce expended during the effort to maintaina rigid spine for improved force transfer effi-ciency is in fact a quantity, and must there-fore be a part of the development of thepower of the movement. Force is being ap-plied to a part of the system that cannot bequantified by measuring its movement. It isusually unnecessary to be this precise, but anunderstanding of the system as a whole isimportant for an appreciation of the import-ance of good technique and its dependenceon strength.
This is of extreme importance to everyathlete and coach: the ability to generatepower directly affects performance inall sports. Training programs that increasepower output should be used for all athletes,from novice to elite, from tennis players to
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shot putters. It was noted in the 1980s thateven elite Soviet weightlifters could improvetheir performance by increasing their powerdevelopment. All other things being equal,the more powerful athlete will always beatthe less powerful athlete.
The development of power requirescareful program design based on the require-ments of the specific sport, a careful assess-ment of the strengths and weaknesses of theathlete, and an understanding of the effectsof various exercises on power production.The simple act of increasing strength for thenovice lifter will increase his power, sincepower depends on strength and strength im-proves rapidly for a novice. For example, anincrease in the deadlift will immediately de-crease sprint times for an inexperienced kidmuch more productively than time spentworking on sprint mechanics. For the moreadvanced trainee, training for power re-quires the use of exercises in which heavy
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loads are moved quickly, such as theOlympic lifts – the snatch and the clean andjerk and their derivatives – which cannot bedone slowly. For a competitive lifter, sprinttraining combined with heavy squats will in-crease sprint velocity and strength, but notnecessarily power output. Performing powersnatches at 50% of 1RM and then doingsnatch-grip deadlifts might very well leavepeak power production – as measured by anincrease in 1RM snatch – unaffected. An at-tempt must be made to improve the ability toaccelerate increasingly heavy loads if peakpower production is to be improved.
The results of two different trainingmethods on power output can be evaluatedwith a simple set of calculations. Take the ex-ample of a very strong offensive lineman whotrains with traditional powerlifting exercises:
Bodyweight = 140 kg (308 lb)
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Deadlift personal best (1RM) = 300 kg(660 lb)Distance from floor to lockout = 0.65metersTime from floor to lockout = 4.0seconds
To calculate his power output in the deadlift,first calculate the work performed (force ×gravitational constant × distance):
Work = 300 kg × 9.8 m/s² × 0.65 m =1911 Newton meters (N-m)
Next, calculate total power generated (work/time):
Power = 1911 N-m / 4.0 seconds =477.75 watts
This can be expressed in a form that allowsfor the comparison of two individuals, by
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calculating watts per kilogram, or relativepower output (power/bodyweight):
Relative power = 477.75 watts / 140 kg =3.41 watts/kg
This measurement of relative power is nowscaled for the mass of the athlete.
Next, use the same formulas to calculate thepower generated by an offensive linemanwho trains specifically for power develop-ment by using the power clean (from floor toshoulder):
Bodyweight = 140 kg (308 lb)Power clean personal best (1RM) = 150kg (330 lb)Distance from floor to lockout = 1.27metersTime from floor to lockout = 0.6seconds
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Work performed (force × gravitational con-stant × distance):
Work = 150 kg × 9.8 m/s² × 1.27 m =1866.9 N-m
Total power generated (work/time):
Power = 1866.9 N-m / 0.6 seconds =3111.5 watts
Relative power output (power/bodyweight):
Relative power = 3111.5 watts / 140 kg =22.2 watts/kg
The main difference between the two is thetime it takes to move the load. The workdone in the two lifts is essentially the same:1911 N-m for the deadlift and 1867 N-m forthe power clean. The power clean is faster, somuch faster that it generates more than sixtimes the power despite the fact that it is
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only half the weight and moves twice the dis-tance of the deadlift. (See fig. 3-1.) This cal-culation clearly demonstrates that Olympic-style weight training is “high-power” where-as traditional – and obviously misnamed –powerlifting-style training is “low-power”(but “high-strength”). This doesn’t mean thatabsolute strength training should be avoidedby power athletes; in fact, force production isinherent in the production of high levels ofpower, and strength is actually a neglectedcomponent in the training of many AmericanOlympic weightlifters these days. It doesmean, though, that the Olympic lifts andtheir derivatives should be included in anyprogram designed to increase an athlete’spower output, because if power is improvedduring training, the ability to generate poweron the field improves too. Both strength andpower training have important places in acomprehensive program for athletes.
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Figure 3-1. A comparison of the deadlift and the
power clean. The deadlift (A) moves a heavy weight
over a short distance slowly, while the power clean (B)
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moves a lighter weight over a longer distance quickly.
Much greater power is produced in the power clean.
Figure 3-2. Velocity-power graph. The dashed line
represents velocity, and the solid line represents
power output. Peak power occurs at approximately
30% of maximal isometric force and 30% of maximal
movement velocity. This would equate to 50 to 80% of
1RM, depending on the exercise. Strength movements
above are those that are limited by strength, such as
the squat, press, deadlift or similar exercises. Power
movements are those limited by power output such as
the snatch, jerk, clean or other similar exercises.
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Mass. Muscle size is normally associatedwith strength. We’ve all seen people who justlook strong. They have an imposing muscu-lar appearance. And there is truth in thisperception: absolute strength increases as amuscle’s cross-sectional area gets bigger. It isan inevitable consequence of weight trainingthat muscles will get larger, and this is whymost people do it. This growth happenswhether the intent of the training is strength,power, or mass. But by specifically usinghigh-volume lower-intensity training, onecan maximize muscle-mass gains. Body-builders know that performing five sets oftwelve reps of an isolation-type exercise withminimal rest between sets is optimal for pro-ducing muscle hypertrophy in the musclegroup trained in the exercise. Bodybuildingworkouts are organized so that all the musclegroups are trained, although since they are
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trained separately their coordinated per-formance remains untrained.
Mass, not strength or power production,is the primary training goal for bodybuilders.Frequently though, coaches and trainers ofactual athletes place them all onhypertrophy-type training under the as-sumption that all hypertrophy is the sameand that big muscles – no matter how theyare produced – are always equally strong andpowerful. This is not the case. The hyper-trophy resulting from bodybuilding trainingis physiologically and functionally differentfrom the hypertrophy resulting frommaximal-strength or power training. High-rep, low-intensity training of isolated musclegroups results in hypertrophy of those isol-ated muscle groups, but strength and powertraining that relies on multi-joint barbell ex-ercises provides a functional advantage overbodybuilding-type training: more strength
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and more power, and a body that functionsas a coordinated system.
Training for hypertrophy is an import-ant consideration for athletes involved insports that favor size. Football, for example,is a different game today than it was manyyears ago, before the advent and necessity of300-pound linemen and 245-pound defens-ive ends. Most heavy-implement throwersand strongman competitors are bigger ath-letes as well. It’s simple: size is commonlyassociated with strength athletes because, ingeneral, stronger is bigger. Bigger is also use-ful in team sports involving contact, likerugby and basketball, and even those tradi-tionally played under endurance conditions,like soccer, because heavier players areharder to push around than lighter ones.
But bigger muscles also mean more effi-cient leverage around important joints.Knees, elbows, hips, and shoulders work bet-ter when the muscles that operate them are
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larger, since the angle at which the musclescross the joint is more mechanically efficientfor the joint’s third-class lever system: thesteeper the angle of attack that the tendonhas on the bone, the more efficient the pull.Big quads thus work better than small quads,both because they are stronger in terms ofcross-sectional area and because at least aportion of the muscle mass is positioned toextend the knee more efficiently.
When training for mass, specialization isless effective than generalization. The endo-crine system responds in a dose-dependentmanner to stress. Large-scale, multi-joint(sometimes called “structural”) exercises aremore effective in producing an anabolic hor-monal stimulus than small-scale, single-joint, isolation-type exercises, even when us-ing the same intensities and repetitionschemes. In the context of non-chemicallyenhanced training, exercises such as thesquat and the bench press are more effective
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in producing hypertrophy for athletes whotrain the body in a systemic, coordinatedmanner than for those who use isolation-type exercises such as leg extensions or thepec deck.
The Next Step
The conventional wisdom holds that allstrength and power training for sportsshould be done in a manner that mimics themetabolic demands of the sport as closely aspossible, requiring specificity with respect tothe energy systems used (ATP/CP vs. glyco-lytic vs. oxidative; see chapter 4), the musclegroups primarily involved in the sport, andthe requirements for force generation, speedof movement, range of motion, and fre-quency of contraction. But as with all othertraining program considerations, this mustbe tempered with an understanding of the
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level of training advancement of the athleteas well as an understanding of the contribu-tion of strength to the sport in question. Forexample, the marathon or any other long-distance endurance event would probablynot greatly benefit in terms of performancefrom the type of training an Olympic weight-lifter would do. Endurance athletes requireadaptations in oxidative metabolic capacityto improve performance, an adaptation thatweight training at high intensity and lowvolume develops only peripherally. But high-er repetitions and lower-intensity weighttraining do not develop oxidative capacityanyway. Endurance athletes benefit from theincreased strength provided by a typicalnovice program because the vast majority ofendurance athletes are novices with respectto strength development, and increasedstrength decreases the percentage of the en-durance athlete’s absolute strength requiredto sustain the repeated submaximal efforts
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which accumulate into an endurance per-formance. An advanced sprinter, however,who operates entirely in anaerobic metabol-ism during performance, and who needs agreat deal of explosion and power, would dir-ectly benefit from high-intensity strengthand power training. Every coach should befamiliar with the metabolic demands of hissport: the longest and shortest effort; the in-tensity of these efforts; the recovery timebetween them; the normal duration of theevent, and the typical length of its rest peri-ods. He should also be familiar with the be-neficial effects of a simple increase instrength, because the absence of sufficientstrength limits the development of all otherathletic parameters.
So the concept of specificity of traininghas its limitations. While training should berelevant to the goal at hand in terms of se-lecting exercises that develop the musclesused in the sport, it is neither necessary nor
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desirable to exactly mimic either a sport skillor the exact metabolic demands in theweight room. Strength is a very generally ac-quired and utilized characteristic, developedthrough training. Strength is developed byexercises that use lots of joints and lots ofmuscles moving lots of weight over a longrange of motion. Fundamental strength exer-cises like the squat, the press, the deadlift,and the bench press, along with power exer-cises like the clean and the snatch, alwaysform the basis of any strength and condition-ing program that is actually useful to an ath-lete, irrespective of the level of training ad-vancement. This is true precisely becausethese exercises are quite nonspecific – theydevelop useful strength and power that canbe applied in any athletic context. Sportspractice involves motor patterns and meta-bolic pathways that apply the generalstrength of the athlete in ways extremelyspecific to the activity. In an attempt to be
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sport-specific with strength and power train-ing, it is quite possible to be so specific withrespect to both the movement pattern selec-ted and the anticipated metabolic pathwaythat the ability to induce strength and powergains is compromised; high-rep training mayseem more applicable to a sport that requiressustained effort, but it is an inferior way todevelop strength, and strength may be thelimiting factor in the ability to sustain an ef-fort. Specificity in programming must beconsidered in terms of the optimal way inwhich the most fundamental athletic attrib-ute – strength – is acquired, and the needs ofthe athlete relative to his level of trainingadvancement.
Metabolic specificity refers to the degreeof similarity between the energy substratesused to power the sports performance andthat used to power the training activity, andis a more important consideration for
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intermediate and advanced athletes whohave already developed their basic strength.For example, a shot put lasts a little longerthan one second, is powered by ATP storedin the muscle (more on this later), and nevereven remotely approaches muscle fatigue. Itdepends entirely on the ability to generateforce rapidly in a coordinated manner con-sistent with the technique the athlete haspracticed. A training activity specific to theshot put would be one that also utilizesstored ATP at a rate consistent with that ofthe shot put and that generates force rapidly,even if in a movement pattern that does notat all resemble the shot put. An Olympicweightlifting-type exercise done for very fewrepetitions at high effort would fit this de-scription. Something like long- or middle-distance running, powered by carbohydrateor fat metabolism and lacking a rapid force-production component, would not. If meta-bolically similar exercises are utilized to
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prepare for a sport activity, the transfer ofthe training adaptation to performance im-provement will be larger than if non-similarexercises are used. This should be intuitive toanyone experienced in sports preparation.
The degree of specificity, however, existson a sliding scale. Compare, for example,push-ups for many, many repetitions,bodybuilding-style bench presses with light-er weights at 12 to 15 reps, and bench presseswith heavy weights at 3 reps. For our shotputter, the push-ups, which may take 45 to60 seconds, are less specific metabolicallythan the bodybuilding bench press, which inturn is less specific than the heavy benchpress. Work-to-rest ratios must also be con-sidered within this metabolic context. An ob-vious example is a football play, which mayinvolve 6 seconds of intense activity followedby 45 seconds of very low-intensity activityand recovery. Training in the weight room oron the track with similar periods of exercise
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and rest will better prepare the athlete forthe demands of on-the-field performance,while longer durations of rest during barbellworkouts may assist in better developmentof maximal strength, also useful on the field.The coach must use his judgment in order toselect the best work-rest ratio to augment theperformance of his athletes, often on an indi-vidual basis.
Motor specificity refers to the degree ofsimilarity in movement pattern between asport activity and a training activity. If weconsider three superficially similar exercisesfor the shot put – the press, the incline press,and the bench press – we might visually se-lect the incline press as the most specific,since it most closely mimics the angle ofprimary effort and release of the shot. Manytrainers and athletes regard the incline pressas an important exercise, but the press andthe bench press develop both the horizontaland vertical ability to generate force, and
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overlap the area trained by the incline. Andthe press is the only one of the three with animportant characteristic for the throw – theuse of the whole body all the way to theground as an active component of the exer-cise. All three are useful, and the coach mustdecide which to emphasize for the needs ofeach athlete.
Consider another example: a cyclist andthe squat. A cyclist’s knee is never flexedbeyond 90 degrees, so if specificity is con-sidered only in terms of knee flexion, theconclusion would be that squatting aboveparallel is specific to cycling performance,and that full squats are not. This, in fact, iswhat many coaches and trainers believe andadvise their athletes to do, in more sportsthan cycling. This is misguided. The problemhere is a misunderstanding of the exerciseand its relationship to the sport skill: a par-tial squat does not produce a strong ham-string contraction. Any cyclist who does
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partial squats is not developing balancedstrength around the knee and is neglectingthe muscles used in the hip-extension aspectof a properly executed pedaling cycle. In cyc-ling jargon, the trainee will be developingonly the ability to “pedal in squares,” themark of a beginner and of mechanical ineffi-ciency, when she should be developing theability to pedal in circles, the mark of a skill-ful, strong rider. So although the partialsquat may superficially look more specific, inanatomical action and in the quality of mus-cular function and development the moregeneralized full squat is more applicable tothe activity. The addition of leg curls to theprogram is not the answer; correct analysisof the squat is.
In a novice, the need for specificity intraining is low, since the trainee is far awayfrom his genetic potential for performance. Anovice is untrained, and may be accustomed
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to little or no activity. For a trainee at thisstage, any type of training that improves fit-ness will improve performance. In contrast,an elite athlete must be trained with a highdegree of specificity. This trainee is veryclose to genetic potential in fitness, condi-tioning, and strength, and is at the elitelevels of the sport. Practice that contributesdirectly to maintaining expertise in the sportactivity is required but is insufficient in andof itself (fig. 3-3). It is very important to un-derstand that absolute specificity – doingonly the sport activity – is not adequate forthe vast majority of the athletic population.For everybody except a tiny fraction of thegenetically gifted (who quite unfortunatelycome to represent the norm to the generalpublic), performance skill is developed by re-peatedly practicing the sport activity, buthigher-level expression of that skill requiresthe improvement of other physical paramet-ers that are best affected by training.
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Training should never reach 100% spe-cificity, as this does not allow for varying thenature of training stress in order to continu-ally drive adaptation.
In the clean and jerk, for example,simple performance of the exercise will atsome point fail to drive adaptation. Oncemaximal technical performance has beenwell established, repetition of the maximumwill fail to satisfactorily disrupt homeostasis.This is because at maximal weights, severalfactors contribute to the lack of progress –technique, psychological factors, power, andstrength. Of these, the easiest to affect withother exercises is strength. For this reason,less specific exercises that allow for over-loads are necessary even in elite trainees whorequire the highest level of training spe-cificity. General strength exercises such asthe squat, heavy pulls of various types,presses, and overhead support work provideoverload, yet are sufficiently specific to the
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force production requirements of the cleanand jerk to be applicable. The additionalstrength obtained by increasing the squatand the deadlift thus applies to the executionof the clean and jerk.
Figure 3-3. Specificity of training as a function of
proximity to goal performance in a task. As a trainee
comes closer to achieving a performance goal near his
genetic potential, the training stimulus must more
closely mimic the physical nature of the performance
goal. Whereas a novice can make substantial progress
with generalized training, an elite trainee must use
more specific methods, although absolute specificity
is not productive.
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“An approximate answer to the right question is worth a
great deal more than a precise answer to the wrong
question.”
– John Tukey
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Chapter 4: ThePhysiology ofAdaptation
Muscular Contraction: TheFoundation of Movement
To understand how to train the body forimproved performance, you must under-stand how the performing body actuallyworks. Muscle is the basic physiologic unit ofmovement. The structure of muscle dictatesits function, and training is intended to bringabout changes in both structure and func-tion. A familiarity with basic physiologicprinciples related to muscle and to its train-ing for peak performance is essential for ef-fective program design.
Muscle Structure. The largest structuralunit of the muscular system is the muscle it-self, which attaches to the skeleton at a min-imum of two points by connective tissuescalled tendons. Individual muscles are separ-ated from each other by a thin sheet of an-other type of connective tissue called fascia.An individual muscle is an organized mass ofthousands and thousands of individualmuscle cells, also called muscle fibers.These cells are arranged in bundles, and sep-arated from other bundles by more connect-ive tissue. The muscle cells that make up thebundles contain hundreds of myofibrils, or-ganelles which contain the contractile com-ponents. These structures are organized intorepeating basic contractile units, the sar-comeres. Sarcomeres are composed of pro-tein strands that interact with each other toproduce shortening, or contraction. Musclecells also contain organelles required fornormal metabolic function: cell membranes,
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cytoplasm (called sarcoplasm in musclecells), nuclei, mitochondria, ribosomes, en-doplasmic reticulum, etc., all of which areimportant contributors to muscle functionand all of which also adapt to training.
The myofibrils within a muscle cell havea characteristic striated appearance due tothe structural arrangement of each sar-comere. The major contractile proteins, actinand myosin, are aligned in an overlappingthin filament/thick filament pattern (fig.4-1). There are several other proteins associ-ated with the thin filament, actin. Two ofthese proteins, troponin and tropomyosin,are major parts of the regulatory mechanismof muscle contraction.
There are several types of muscle fibers.These different types are often generally re-ferred to as “fast-twitch” and “slow-twitch”muscle fibers (fig. 4-2), but this classificationscheme does not indicate the actual breadthof difference between the types. A better
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system of categorizing fiber types is by theirprimary method of fueling metabolic activity.Table 4-1 illustrates the continuum of fibertypes, with a range of anatomic and metabol-ic properties. These properties dictate how amuscle composed of varying percentages ofthe different fibers performs and responds totraining. Weight training can dramaticallychange muscle architecture and metabolism,thereby altering function.
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Figure 4-1. Sarcomeric structure (A). Note the ori-
entation of the contractile elements, actin and myos-
in. Huxley's sliding filament theory holds that ex-
penditure of ATP will cause actin and myosin to tran-
siently interact with each other in a shortening action
that pulls the z-lines at each end of the sarcomere to-
gether (B).
Figure 4-2. Type I, sometimes called “slow-twitch”
muscle fibers (A, stained black) are chemically, struc-
turally, and functionally distinct from the two cat-
egories of type II or “fast-twitch” fibers: fast oxidative
fibers (B, stained dark grey) and large, fast glycolytic
fibers (C, stained light gray).
Muscle Function. The muscle is composedof several functional units, the largest beingthe entire muscle itself. When a muscle
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contracts, it pulls the bones attached ateither end toward each other, resulting inmovement around the joint between them.Improving this large-scale ability to move isthe ultimate goal, and the smaller-scale com-ponents of muscle tissue are the elementsthat must actually adapt to training.
Actin and myosin, proteins of the my-ofibril (usually referred to as “contractileproteins”), are two of the major players inmuscle contraction. When actin and myosinbind to each other, there is a shape change inthe myosin molecule that pulls the ends ofthe myofibrils – and the cells that they areinside of – toward the centerline.
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Table 4-1. Muscle fiber types and their properties.
While there are other fiber-type classifications in
common use, this one applies best to the discussion of
adaptation for strength and power.
When adequate numbers of these unitsinteract, enough force is generated to causethe entire muscle to move, producing large-scale movement around a joint. The energyneeded to induce the configurational change
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in myosin comes from adenosine triphos-phate (ATP), the high-energy product of avariety of metabolic pathways.
The amount of force a muscle can poten-tially exert is generally considered to be pro-portional to its cross-sectional area. Thismeans simply that the bigger the muscle, themore force it can generate. All other factorsbeing equal, the only way to make a strongermuscle is to make a larger muscle, one thatcontains more contractile protein. But allother factors are seldom equal, and there areseveral that contribute to effective musclefunction. One factor directly related to mus-cular function is the availability of ATP andthe efficiency of the mechanisms by whichATP is utilized and regenerated within themuscle. Low concentrations of ATP or a poorability to synthesize or utilize it will diminishmuscular function, and training induces anincreased ability to store and synthesizeATP.
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As previously mentioned, there are sev-eral types of muscle fibers, each with a char-acteristic set of metabolic properties that re-late to ATP generation and utilization. Type Ifibers are described as slow oxidative, mean-ing that they rely primarily on aerobic oroxidative (oxygen-requiring) metabolismand its associated pathways. These fibers aresmaller, are capable of generating less force,and have less potential for enlargement thanother fiber types. But they are extremely fa-tigue resistant since they preferentially relyon enzymes that enable the use of an essen-tially inexhaustible energy substrate: fattyacids. The enzymes that break down fattyacids are dependent on the presence of oxy-gen for their function; they are thus referredto as oxidative, or aerobic, enzymes.
Type II fibers depend to a greater extenton energy production from carbohydratesthan do Type I and display a higher glycolyt-ic activity. Type IIb fibers are termed fast
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glycolytic, meaning that they primarily usethe process of glycolysis, by which glucose isbroken down to yield ATP, a process thatdoes not require the addition of oxygen. TypeIIa fibers are intermediate between Type Iand Type IIb. Their function can be skewedtoward either purpose, depending on thetraining stimulus. Type IIa and IIb are muchlarger than type I fibers, have higher enlarge-ment potential, metabolize ATP more rap-idly, and are less fatigue-resistant. Butweight training can change how all of thesemuscle fiber types behave.
Energy Metabolism:Powering the Muscle
Energy Sources. Muscle contraction, andin fact all intracellular activity, is powered byATP. It is the very stuff of life. Our bodiesproduce ATP from the breakdown of food.Everything we eat – carbohydrate, fat, and
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protein – can serve as a source of ATP. (Fatand protein are less important in power per-formance energetics, since carbohydrate isselectively utilized for this purpose, whensupplied in adequate amounts, by the typeIIb muscle fibers which dominate this type ofactivity.) This indispensable molecule is pro-duced during a series of biochemical eventsthat occur after the breakdown of food in thebody. For the purposes of this discussion,ATP is produced in three ways: 1) throughthe regeneration or recycling of previously-stored ATP by creatine phosphate, 2)through non-oxygen dependent glucosemetabolism (glycolysis), and 3) throughoxygen-dependent metabolism that utilizesboth fatty acids and the end products of gly-colysis (oxidative phosphorylation). Conven-tionally, the first two mechanisms for ATPproduction are termed “anaerobic” and thethird “aerobic”. Each of these distinct path-ways provides ATP at different rates and
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contributes a greater proportion of the re-quired ATP under different circumstances.Energy Utilization. Stored ATP is alwaysthe energy source utilized during muscularcontraction. During contraction, ATP losesone of its three phosphate groups and be-comes adenosine diphosphate (ADP), liber-ating energy stored in the molecule and al-lowing its use in muscle contraction. As ATPreserves are depleted, which takes just a fewseconds, ADP is rapidly recycled back intoATP by the transfer of a replacement high-energy phosphate ion from a creatine phos-phate (CP) molecule back to the ADP. Creat-ine phosphate thus serves as a carrier of thisreplenishing energy for ATP.
ATP utilized and resynthesized by thistwo-part mechanism powers intense, short-duration exercise (less than 10 to 12 seconds)such as sprinting and weight training. If theexercise is longer than this few secondsworth of stored ATP can cover, the ATP that
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would normally serve to replace that justused becomes the ATP that now must powerthe exercise. Sources for these slightly longerefforts are 1) ATP produced through glycolyt-ic metabolism, if the effort lasts up to acouple of minutes, and 2) ATP produced byoxidation of fatty acids and glycolyticproducts, if the effort is of very long dura-tion. However, all the ATP utilized duringmuscle contraction comes from this storedATP pool, and the other processes functionto replace it there.
The form of energy stored within themuscle is glycogen, the storage form of gluc-ose, which is made up of long branchedchains of glucose molecules stuck together.Intense exercise longer than 12 seconds andup to a few minutes in duration, such aslonger sprints and high-repetition weighttraining, requires the breakdown of glycogenmolecules into glucose, a process called gly-cogenolysis. The resulting individual glucose
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molecules are further broken down throughthe processes of glycolytic metabolism. Stepsin this process generate ATP, and the ATPproduced by glycolysis is available as a fuelfor continued intense exercise. In addition toATP, glycolysis produces pyruvate and lact-ate as end products. These glucose break-down products can be further used to pro-duce ATP through oxidative metabolism.Lactate is able to move out of the cell and betaken up for use by other cells as a fuel foroxidative metabolism or, in the liver and kid-ney, as a precursor to new glucose formation.Under conditions of very high energy de-mand, lactate levels in the blood rise as re-lease outstrips uptake.
Of lesser importance to individuals whotrain for strength and power is the produc-tion of ATP through oxidative metabolism.Lower-intensity rhythmic repetitive exer-cises that can be sustained for minutes tohours, like jogging, walking, or distance
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cycling, depend on the processing of fattyacids and glycolytic end products throughthe Krebs cycle and then the electron trans-port chain (ETC). Fatty acids are brokendown into acetyl coenzyme A (Acetyl-CoA)through the process of beta-oxidation beforeentry into the Krebs cycle. Pyruvic and lacticacids also enter this system after they areconverted to Acetyl-CoA. Both beta-oxida-tion and oxidative phosphorylation takeplace in the organelles known as mitochon-dria. Large amounts of ATP are produced byoxidative metabolism. Oxygen is required forthis process.
But since a single set of a weight train-ing exercise takes considerably less than aminute, is very intense, and consumes a lotof ATP, oxidative metabolism is not a factorin this type of training. Even though it doesoperate (all of the various processes of ATPproduction are always operating), oxidativemetabolism contributes very little to the
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actual performance of a heavy set, since ittranspires over a much longer timeframe andyields ATP more slowly. An overview of basicenergetics is presented in figure 4-3.
Figure 4-3. The metabolic speedometer. How hard
and how long we exercise directly affects which meta-
bolic pathways our bodies primarily use to fuel the
activity. All physical activity lies along a continuum,
from rest to all-out maximal effort. All activities are
powered by the ATP already present in the muscle,
and all bioenergetic activity acts to replenish these
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stores. Low-intensity exercise depends on cardiopul-
monary delivery and muscular uptake of oxygen, the
ready availability of which enables the body to utilize
aerobic pathways and fatty acids as substrates. These
aerobic processes take place inside the mitochondria
within the muscle cells. As activity levels and energy
requirements increase, the ability of oxidative meta-
bolism to meet the increased demand for ATP is ex-
ceeded. Weight training and other forms of high-in-
tensity training exist at the anaerobic end of the con-
tinuum, utilizing substrate that does not require ad-
ded O2. The diagram above represents the relation-
ships between the energy substrates and the metabol-
ic pathways in which they are used in different types
of exercise. With the exception of short-duration, all-
out maximal effort, no activity uses only one metabol-
ic pathway, so the scale above represents a sliding
scale of continually increasing intensity of activity.
There is a huge interest in the supplement creatinemonohydrate, so huge that nearly half a billion dollarsannually are spent on it by athletes and recreationalexercisers. So huge, in fact, that about 50% of all highschool football players and about 75% of all strength
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and power athletes take it routinely for its purportedbenefits. But the NCAA bans its distribution by affili-ated schools and school-associated personnel, and lotsof other clinical and consumer protection groups criti-cize its use and propose that it is both ineffective andunsafe. How can it be both worthy of a ban and inef-fective, both biologically useless and unfair to use?Creatine is a component of the “CP” part of the ATP-CPsystem discussed in this chapter. It is part of the meta-bolic machinery that powers short-duration activitiessuch as weight training. It is obtained from meat in thediet, and it is produced in the liver, with about half ourdaily requirement coming from each source. The dailyrequirement is determined by body mass; bigger peopleneed to eat more and make more creatine. If we are us-ing 2 grams of creatine a day to support general lifeprocesses, we need to consume about 1 gram and ourbody will make the other gram. The one gram of creat-ine we need to eat could come from eating two 4-ouncesteaks. So providing our bodies with an external sourceof creatine is a normal human activity. Creatine mono-hydrate is a stable form of creatine that is manufac-tured for use as a dietary supplement. It is supplied as apowder, and is suspended in liquid for consumption bystirring it into water or juice. It does not dissolve well incold liquids, and is not stable for long periods in liquid,so it is best purchased in powder form.There is more to creatine than simple survival. It is welldocumented that increasing high-energy phosphatestores in the body improves the ability to produce force.
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A good analogy is that of a gas tank. Our normal tank ishalf or 3/4 full. We never really get close to our geneticpotential for storage on a daily basis if we are un-trained, since we aren’t strenuously active and ourmuscles have no reason to be full. When we start to liftweights or do other power training, our body’s stores ofcreatine increase by about 10 to 20%. Driven by thebody’s adaptation to new, high-intensity physical de-mands and facilitated by an increase in food consump-tion to support the new level of activity, creatine sup-plies from both internal and external sources increase.Studies have shown that creatine monohydrate supple-mentation provides a rapidly assimilated source of cre-atine that optimizes storage beyond the additional 20%driven by exercise and diet, pushing it up to near genet-ic potential. Our creatine gas tank becomes much fuller.A huge body of well-controlled research has clearlydemonstrated that creatine supplementation is quite ef-fective, with improvements in performance noted in aslittle as seven days. The real value of creatine supple-mentation, though, lies not in its short-term perform-ance enhancement but in its ability to assist in recoverybetween sets and workouts done repeatedly over time.Better recovery as a result of a full creatine tank leadsto better quality and quantity of work done during aseries of sets and a series of workouts. This leads to bet-ter gains in strength and performance. The best re-search results are always found in longer-duration sup-plementation studies, precisely because of this.
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The second point to consider is safety. Creatine is fre-quently kicked around in the press by “experts” usingindividual case studies of diseased individuals who de-veloped further health problems during creatine sup-plementation, or silly people doing silly things at thesame time they were taking creatine. But no study ofany duration has demonstrated negative effects of sup-plementation on healthy athletic populations. A wiseman once said, “You can prove anything with one ex-ample.” The very thing the detractors of creatine sup-plementation accuse creatine supporters of doing is ex-actly what the detractors are guilty of: using poorly de-signed research and faulty logic to make their case.Heed the advice of Nobel laureate Kary Mullis: “Itdoesn’t take a lot of education to check things out. All ittakes is access to resources and a minor distrust ofeveryone else on the planet and a feeling that they maybe trying to put something over on you.” Go to the lib-rary and read the research. Thus enlightened, makeyour own decision.
Creatine Safety Starting Points
Schilling, B.K., et al. 2001. Creatine supplementationand health variables: A retrospective study. Medicineand Science in Sports and Exercise 33(2):183-8.Waldron, J.E., et al. 2002. Concurrent creatine mono-hydrate supplementation and resistance training doesnot affect markers of hepatic function in trained
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weightlifters. Journal of Exercise Physiology5(1):57-64.
Training-Induced MuscleAdaptations
Weight training elicits numerouschanges in both muscle structure and func-tion. If the training program is well plannedand the exercises are correctly performed,exercise-induced changes can be beneficialand enhance fitness and performance. Ifworkouts are poorly planned and/or incor-rectly performed, gains may be slow or ab-sent, or performance may actually decay.Figure 4-4 illustrates the continuum of re-sponses to different organizations of trainingprograms with respect to reps per set.
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Figure 4-4. The repetition continuum. Different re-
petition schemes result in different anatomical and
physiological adaptations. The program chosen
should match the goals of the trainee. Black = greater
effect, white = little effect. (Rippetoe & Kilgore 2005)
When it comes to understanding the ef-fects of various repetition schemes in train-ing programs, there is a difference of opinionbetween those who rely on practical experi-ence and those who have only the academicinterpretation of limited research to go on.Several academic sources have proposedthat, in essence, all repetition schemes will
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result in the same gains in strength, power,mass, and endurance – that is, that doing aset at 3RM will yield the same result as doinga set at 20RM. This is in stark, obvious con-trast to the observations of practitioners fa-miliar with training athletes for strength,power and mass, and performance. It ig-nores the basic tenets of metabolic spe-cificity, the same principles that are eagerlyapplied to endurance training. A 40-metersprint is a much different race than an 800--meter event. Running a mile is differentfrom running 26.2 miles. Training for theseevents requires some degree of specificity,and no one would suggest that all runningyields the same result. Why would anyonewith even a passing interest in the training ofathletes suggest that a 3RM squat, whichtakes a few seconds and exists entirely withinthe ATP/CP end of the metabolic spectrum,yields the same training result as a set at20RM that takes 60-120 seconds and exists
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squarely within the glycolytic middle of thespectrum? There is good quality researchthat supports the validity of the repetitioncontinuum presented in figure 4-4 andprovides for a thorough understanding of thephysiologic basis for the concept. That datahas the added benefit of more than a centuryof recorded practical application to back itup. The failure to correctly apply this inform-ation results in wasted training time and in-effectively designed programs.
One of the results most closely associ-ated with weight training is an increase inmuscle size. This phenomenon, hyper-trophy, is the result of increased proteinsynthesis and decreased protein degradation,which leads to an increased accumulation ofproteins within the muscle cell and a result-ing increase in the size of the whole muscle.There are two basic types of hypertrophy. Inmyofibrillar hypertrophy, more actin,
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myosin, and other associated proteins areadded to those already existing in the cell.More contractile elements within the cellmean more actin/myosin interactions andmore force production. This type of hyper-trophy is typical of low-repetition, high-in-tensity training. It adds less mass but pro-duces greater increases in the force gener-ated per unit area of muscle than the secondtype of hypertrophy, sarcoplasmic hyper-trophy. In sarcoplasmic hypertrophy thereare more cytoplasmic and metabolic sub-strate accumulations than in myofibrillarhypertrophy. Lower-intensity, high-volumetraining produces a significant addition ofmyofibrillar elements but less than that ad-ded by high-intensity, lower-volume work.
Bodybuilding-type training utilizes veryhigh-volume repetition and set configura-tions that cause an increase in metabolicsubstrate stores in the muscle. The additionof glycogen and high-energy phosphates to
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the cell causes additional water to be stored.This effect, combined with minor accumula-tions of fat droplets, enzymes relevant to theadditional activity, and a moderate increasein contractile proteins, causes the cellvolume to increase. However, since this typeof hypertrophy lacks a significant force-pro-duction component, it explains why some in-dividuals with smaller muscle mass arestronger than individuals with much moreextensive muscular development derivedfrom bodybuilding training.
Concentrations of the enzymes respons-ible for driving ATP production also increaseas a consequence of training. Several re-searchers in the 1970s independentlydemonstrated increases in the concentra-tions of enzymes responsible for catalyzingall three of the ATP pathways discussedearlier. Of primary interest is the finding thatconcentrations of enzymes driving the resyn-thesis of ATP from ADP and creatine
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phosphate, as well as those responsible forglycolytic metabolism, can be increased withweight training. The degree of increase in en-zyme concentrations is related to the dura-tion, frequency, and intensity of training.Programs that elicit increased enzyme con-centrations enhance performance throughmore efficient production and utilization ofATP.
Energy stores within the cell also in-crease in response to weight training. ATPand CP reserves increase by about 20% aftera prolonged (multi-month) training pro-gram, resulting in more energy immediatelyavailable for contraction. Larger stores ofATP and CP correlate with improved poweroutput. Glycogen stores are also increased asa result of prolonged training, which both in-creases the amount of rapidly available en-ergy and also contributes to musclehypertrophy.
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Measures of contractile properties, suchas power output, absolute strength, and rateof force production are obviously improvedby training. These changes are likely relatedto the effects weight training has on the fibercomposition of muscle, since the rate of ATPutilization differs according to fiber type. Indecades past, changes in muscle fiber typeswere thought not to occur, but more recentresearch has shown that shifts in fiber typedo in fact occur in response to various typesof exercise. Furthermore, even in the ab-sence of a fiber type change, fibers with slow-twitch contractile properties can assumemore fast-twitch properties followingstrength training. Resistance training of fourto six weeks in duration has been shown toreduce the number of muscle fibers classifiedas slow-twitch. This trend away from fiberssuited for endurance activity may potentiallyaffect increases in contractile performance.It is also interesting to note that the
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intramuscular concentrations of ATP and CPare related to the fiber composition of amuscle; if ATP and CP are depleted in themuscle for long durations, there will be aswitch from fast-twitch contractile propertiesto slow-twitch properties. It is also likely thatthe elevated ATP/CP stores associated withheavy weight training may drive this rela-tionship in the other direction, toward fast-twitch characteristics.
Neural Integration:Stimulating the Muscle toMove
Structure and Function. While themuscle fiber is the basic unit of contraction,without its intricate link to the nervous sys-tem, coordinated movement could not occur.The central nervous system is linked tomuscle fibers by way of motor neurons.
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These neurons vary in size and innervatevarying numbers of muscle fibers dependingon fiber-type and muscle function. Slow-twitch fibers are innervated by smaller motorneurons. Fast-twitch fibers are innervated bylarger motor neurons. In terms of speed andmagnitude of conduction, think of the motorneurons for type I fibers as drinking strawsand those of type II fibers as fire hoses.
The number of fibers innervated by asingle neuron depends on the muscle and itsfunction. Large muscles responsible forlarge-scale movements, such as the rectusfemoris muscle of the thigh, have a low ratioof motor neurons to fibers, with a single mo-tor neuron innervating a large number offibers, up to one neuron for as many as 1000fibers (1:1000). Muscles responsible for finemotor activity, such as certain eye muscles,may have a high ratio of neurons to fibers,nearing 1:10. The term motor unit is usedto describe a motor neuron and all of the
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fibers it innervates, and the term neur-omuscular system describes the function-al integrated whole of the body’s nerves andmuscles. The motor unit is the basic func-tional unit of the neuromuscular system,since muscle fibers fire only within motorunits and never individually. Heavy, high-ve-locity training over time improves recruit-ment, defined as the quantity of motor unitsin the muscle actually generating force dur-ing contraction. A higher percentage of re-cruited motor units means more force andmore power. Average novice trainees can re-cruit around 70% of their available motorunits on the day they start training. Interme-diates have increased their neuromuscularability to recruit motor units and generateforce, and by the time they become advancedtrainees they may be able to recruit in excessof 95% of the available motor units. Neur-omuscular improvement is one of the mainreasons strength and power can be gained in
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the absence of muscle-mass increases, al-though hypertrophy normally accompanies astrength increase.
The number of fibers innervated by amotor neuron dictates the maximum amountof force the motor unit can produce duringcontraction. The more fibers contained in themotor unit, the higher the force production.An active motor neuron stimulates all thefibers it innervates to contract. The amountof force a muscle generates will vary with thenumber of motor units recruited. If all themotor units in a muscle are recruited simul-taneously – an event that occurs only as aresult of a planned 1RM in training – max-imal force is generated.
There has been and continues to be debate betweenvarious factions of the exercise science community re-garding how muscle hypertrophy actually occurs,whether through “cell hypertrophy,” the enlargementof individual cells, or through “cell hyperplasia,” an in-crease in cell numbers. In reality, there should be no
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debate, since the works of Phil Gollnick and Ben Tim-son clearly demonstrate that cell hypertrophy is re-sponsible for muscle hypertrophy.Hyperplasia, either through fiber splitting or cell divi-sion, is inconsequential and occurs in only one situ-ation. There is a population of undifferentiated stemcells immediately adjacent to the outer cell membraneof the muscle that are referred to as “satellite cells.”Weight training can induce microruptures of themuscle cell membrane (not necessarily a bad thing),which then stimulates any satellite cells at the site ofthe microrupture to differentiate into tiny new musclecells in an effort to repair the damage and assist in ad-aptation to the stress that caused the microrupture.These little mononucleate cells start to produce sarco-plasm and myofibrillar proteins as they assume theirnew identity as muscle cells. This constitutes an altern-ative version of hyperplasia. But this process is re-sponsible for no more than 5% of muscular hyper-trophy, and then only transiently, as the newly differen-tiated satellite cells quickly fuse with existing musclecells for zero net increase in cell numbers at the com-pletion of the hypertrophic process.
Motor units are recruited in a specificorder, according to each one’s threshold ofstimulus required for the contraction to
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occur. Lower-threshold slow-twitch motorunits are recruited initially regardless of theintensity of the exercise. These motor unitsare associated with the maintenance of nor-mal posture, and as such they fire most ofthe time the body is upright. Walkingincreases low-threshold motor unit recruit-ment, since posture is being maintainedwhile the body propels itself forward. Themuscles associated with posture and walkingtherefore would be expected to have propor-tionately higher percentages of slow-twitchfibers, and they do. During low-intensityaerobic-type exercise, slow-twitch motorunits are preferentially recruited, but as in-tensity increases higher-threshold fast-twitch motor units get called intocontraction. Low-threshold fibers continueto be recruited at high intensities but theircontribution is negligible relative to the con-tribution of the high-threshold fibers. If highpower output is the objective of the training
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program, it must be designed to improve theability to recruit high-threshold fast-twitchmotor units.
It is often noted in novice trainees thatstrength gains are larger than would be ex-pected as a result of muscle size gains alone.An individual becomes more efficient inneuromuscular function by improving bothtechnical competence and motor unit re-cruitment. As expertise increases, strengthand power gains become more directly re-lated to gains in muscle mass than to neuralfunction, since muscular growth can occurlong after technical and neural improvementplateaus. Nevertheless, whether for novicesor for elite athletes, a primary training ob-jective should be more complete, coordin-ated, and effective recruitment of motorunits in the working muscle. Neuromuscularefficiency is the easiest, fastest way for im-provement to occur, and well-designed train-ing programs optimize its development.
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Hormones: Mediators ofPhysiologic Adaptation
Hormones are compounds produced byglands, and they are integral regulators ofthe vast majority of the physiological func-tions in individual cells, the organs, and thebody as a whole. Hormones are secreted intothe entire body systemically, and their spe-cific function is produced in the tissues thatcontain receptor sites sensitive to those par-ticular hormones. Each hormone system iscapable of responding to external stress,since the body uses these systems to copewith stress and to facilitate adaptation to fu-ture stress exposure. As such, hormone sys-tems are an integral part of the mechanismsby which the processes in Selye’s theory ofadaptation operate. Each hormone has acharacteristic effect or effects on specific tar-get tissues (table 4-2). Muscle magazines arefilled with ads and articles about hormones
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and how to manipulate them through exer-cise, diet, and supplementation to get biggerand stronger, huge and muscular, moremassive and powerful. As you might ima-gine, not all of these ads are exactly accurate.
Hormone Function. Hormones affectphysiologic events in two basic ways. First,hormones can change the rate of synthesis ofspecific substances. Examples of this are anincrease in contractile protein synthesis orincreased enzyme production. Second, hor-mones change the permeability of cell mem-branes. Membranes are selective barriers, al-lowing certain molecules to pass into the cellwhile keeping other molecules out.Hormone-induced changes in permeabilityaffect cellular function in many ways, all ofthem important, since substances outsidethe cell are usually necessary for the modific-ation of the environment inside the cell.
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Training program composition (fre-quency of workouts, duration of workouts,exercises, sets, repetitions, and rest periods)affects hormone production in the body. Ef-fective program design capitalizes on thebody’s innate hormonal response to thesechanges.
Hormonal Adaptations. There has beenconsiderable research in the area ofhormone-specific exercise physiology. Whileexercise in general affects numerous hor-mone systems, a few hormones have a directeffect on muscle structure and function asthey relate to weight training.
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Table 4-2. Hormones of specific interest to training.
Testosterone. This hormone has been thecenter of much scientific and popular atten-tion for many years as its role in anabolism– protein synthesis and tissue growth – iswell known. It is also associated with bonegrowth, metabolic rate, glycogen reserves,red blood cell production, and mineral
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balance. Elevated levels have a beneficial ef-fect, but there is limited experimental evid-ence that exercise or training of any type eli-cits increased testosterone production.
Researchers have produced many stud-ies of high-intensity, short-duration exercisesuch as weight training which show in-creases, decreases, or often no changes, intestosterone levels over the course of an ex-ercise bout. The inconsistency and lack ofclear pattern between these studies may bedue to the relatively complex nature of res-istance training. Protocols used have variedwidely in the volume, intensity, load, rest in-tervals and total muscle mass involved in theexercises. Each of these factors interacts withthe others to influence the nature of the exer-cise stress and thus the response that is pro-duced. Study design and its interpretationare further complicated by the circadian fluc-tuations of testosterone which may makechanges more difficult to elicit and observe,
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especially where few time points were selec-ted for analysis.
Although the acute effects of each train-ing session on testosterone levels remainsobscure, the cumulative effects of multiplesessions is more clear. Resting levels oftestosterone can be significantly reduced fol-lowing multiple sessions over longer periods(one to eight weeks) of sufficiently high-in-tensity or high-volume training. Testoster-one levels recover to previous baseline orgreater levels (that is, they supercom-pensate) after the training load is reduced toan appropriate level for an adequate periodof time. While this reduction of testosteronelevels may seem counterproductive on itsface, it is an important result of training, partof the process that produces the adaptationto the training. Training programs designedto produce a disruption of normal testoster-one levels followed by its recovery have beensuccessfully used to improve performance in
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advanced athletes (see discussion oftestosterone-cortisol ratio below).
Cortisol. In contrast to testosterone, the neteffects of cortisol may be more negative thanpositive for the athlete. The role of cortisol innormal physiology is catabolic – it acts as ananti-inflammatory by dismantling damagedtissues and ushering them in the direction ofthe excretory pathways, thus making roomfor the synthesis of new tissue. But when ex-cessive stress (both physical and non-physic-al) is applied to the body, cortisol productiongoes up, often in excess of the levels associ-ated with normal anabolic/catabolic balance.In fact, excessive cortisol levels are one of themain influences and contributors to meta-bolic and structural fatigue after training.Normal cortisol secretion promotes proteindegradation and the conversion of proteinsinto carbohydrates, and conserves glucose bypromoting fat utilization. At higher levels it
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inhibits protein synthesis, promotes hyper-glycemia, depresses immune function, pro-duces perceptions of fatigue, and is probablyone of the mechanisms that produce thesymptoms of clinical depression often associ-ated with severe overtraining. As a catabolichormone it counters the effects of the ana-bolic hormones testosterone, growth hor-mone, and insulin-like growth factor. Itwould be beneficial for the hard-training ath-lete to maintain lower concentrations ofcortisol. It has been shown that cortisollevels increase with normal training and withany external stress, including the mechan-isms that hamper recovery, such as inad-equate diet, lack of sleep, and psychologicaland emotional stress. Resting cortisol levelsare significantly increased after long periodsof high-volume or high-intensity training,but they return to baseline with adequate re-covery, rest, and nutrition.
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Cortisol response is also trainable. Aftera bout of maximal exercise a novice may ex-perience a much greater than 100% increasein blood cortisol levels, whereas maximal ex-ercise in an elite trainee may induce as littleas a 20% increase. The novice’s cortisol re-sponse is more acute on both ends – it comesup higher and goes back down quickly,whereas a more advanced trainee has both amore blunted increase and a slower decreasein cortisol levels. As we progress through thetraining stages, novice to elite, this is one ofthe ways it becomes incrementally more dif-ficult to disrupt homeostasis. Proper pro-gramming, progressive or periodized, is or-ganized so that it disrupts homeostasis andincreases cortisol levels but then facilitates areduction in resting cortisol levels. This re-quires that adequate recovery be incorpor-ated as an integral part of the program.
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Testosterone-Cortisol Ratio. The relat-ive amounts of testosterone and cortisol maybe a more important and practical measureof training stress and recovery than eitherhormone alone. The ratio of testosterone tocortisol provides a glimpse of the generalhormonal balance and removes the complic-ation of accounting for the circadian fluctu-ations in the systemic levels of each hor-mone. Although we know that we benefitfrom higher circulating levels of the anabolichormone testosterone and lower levels of thecatabolic hormone cortisol – a hightestosterone/cortisol – it is the depression ofthis ratio in the body that marks a significanttraining stress. Data from much research inadvanced athletes suggests that a short seriesof workouts can initially reduce testoster-one/cortisol productively. This occurs astestosterone levels decrease while cortisollevels rise. A change in testosterone/cortisolof less than 10% indicates that stress
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inadequate to force adaptation has occurred;on the other hand, levels that are chronicallydepressed by 30% or more are associatedwith overtraining. The goal of programming,in terms of testosterone/cortisol, is to trainhard enough to initially reduce its value bymore than 10% but not more than 30%, andthen provide appropriate loading and recov-ery to re-attain and then exceed the previousbaseline value. The application of this obser-vation to novice and intermediate athletes isunclear, but we suggest that the basic mech-anism is in operation there as well, varyingonly in magnitude, but nonetheless still theprobable mechanism. Supercompensation isstrongly associated with strength and per-formance gain, and this concept will be ex-plored further in association with advancedtraining programming in chapter 8.
Changes in testosterone/cortisol in re-sponse to training stimulus are predictableand intensity dependent. Further, it is likely
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that these systems adapt predictably to long-term-training, and that these adaptations areboth intensity- and volume-dependent. It isalso apparent that the recovery of hormonalstatus after a workout or series of workoutsis strongly associated with improved per-formance. Understanding that both short-term responses and long-term adaptations inhormone levels relate to Selye’s theory andthe two-factor model – since they are an es-sential component of the comprehensive re-covery processes discussed in chapter 2 –can help us design effective trainingprograms.
Growth Hormone. Human growth hor-mone is a peptide hormone that has numer-ous physiologic effects: it increases bonegrowth, cartilage growth, cell reproduction,and protein deposition in the cells. It stimu-lates the immune system, promotes glucon-eogenesis in the liver, and drives metabolism
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toward fat utilization. Studies have demon-strated that weight training induces an in-crease in circulating growth hormone. Con-centrations change little during the first fewsets of a whole-body workout composed oflarge-scale multi-joint exercises but increaseabout twelve sets into the workout. Concen-trations peak about 30 minutes after theworkout then return to normal approxim-ately an hour and a half later. This datacomes from an experiment using a forty-minute workout, and it is possible thatlonger workouts may elicit a larger or moreprolonged growth hormone response. Isola-tion exercises targeting only one segment ofthe body are probably ineffective in alteringgrowth hormone levels. The effect of shorterduration higher intensity whole-bodyworkouts has yet to be investigated.
Insulin. A highly anabolic hormone, insulinregulates the permeability of cell membranes
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and facilitates the transport of glucose andother substances into the cell. This functionis crucial for recovery from training, sincedepleted glucose and amino acids must bereplaced so that comprehensive recoveryprocesses can occur. Animal research hasdemonstrated that hypertrophy can proceedin the absence of insulin, so other mechan-isms are also at work, but insulin remainsone of the most potent, abundant, and easilymanipulated anabolic hormones.
Insulin-Like Growth Factor. IGF-1 is apeptide hormone similar to insulin inconfiguration. Insulin-Like Growth Factor-1has a strong anabolic effect in both childrenand adults. It is secreted by the liver in re-sponse to growth hormone, and low levels ofGH as well as inadequate protein and calorieintake can inhibit its release. It affects al-most every cell in the body, and is a potentregulator of cell growth. Production of this
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hormone has been linked to weight trainingin a few studies, but this finding has not beenconsistently demonstrated.
One study has shown that bathing isol-ated muscle cells with IGF-1 in a Petri dishinduces hypertrophy, but there is no gooddata showing that IGF-1 can be easily and fa-vorably manipulated with training. It hasbeen observed that IGF-1 is found in milk,possibly contributing to milk’s reputation asa growth food for heavy training.
Epinephrine/norepinephrine. Thesecatecholamines have widespread effects allacross human physiology as both neuro-transmitters and hormones, and are largelyresponsible for the “flight-or-fight” responsefamiliar to all humans. Epinephrine (EPI oradrenaline) and norepinephrine (NE ornoradrenaline) acting as endocrine hor-mones are produced in the adrenal glandslocated on top of the kidneys and are
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secreted directly into the bloodstream. NE isthe dominant neurotransmitter released atsympathetic nerve endings. Among manyother things, the combined effects of directsympathetic nervous system stimulation andEPI/NE released into the blood cause an in-crease in the amount of blood the heartpumps each minute and promotes the break-down of glycogen. During intense bouts oftraining, epinephrine concentrations can in-crease a dozen times over. This may help thebody cope with the rapid onset of exerciseboth by quickly increasing blood supply tothe working muscle and by helping provide arapid energy source(glycogen?glucose?ATP). This response istransient, with exercise-induced increasesreturning to normal within six minutes of thecessation of exercise.
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The bottom line for the athlete is thatthe body reacts to the stress of training witha specific sequence of hormonal responses.These responses derive from the body’sgeneral stress-response/adaptation mechan-isms, as predicted by Selye’s theory. If thecoach designs an appropriate training pro-gram and the athlete adheres to it and getsadequate rest and good nutrition, the bodywill respond – largely through hormonalmechanisms – optimally to training, and im-proved performance will be the result.Coaches can attempt to employ trainingmethods that induce and capitalize on short-term hormonal responses and long-termhormone-mediated adaptations. However,with very few exceptions, coaches are forcedto approach this task by the seat of the pants,as it were. Blood tests are not widely avail-able or useful to the average coach; he mustrely on his own observations of his athletesand correlate those observations with the
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signs and symptoms of what he knows to bethe effects of desirable and undesirable hor-mone responses. Essentially, a coach mustmake an educated guess as to how to tailorthe training program to induce the necessaryhormonal changes required to drive im-proved performance. Later chapters willpresent some programming models thathave been shown to induce productivechanges in testosterone and cortisol, prob-ably the two most important hormones rel-evant to strength training.
CardiovascularConsiderations
When a heavy weight is lifted, severalevents occur that stress the cardiovascularsystem. One of the first is that the contract-ing muscles compress the blood vessels andthus increase their resistance to blood flow.
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This increase in resistance causes a dramaticincrease in blood pressure. There are reportsof blood pressure increases as high as two tofour times their normal values. These pres-sures place a tremendous load on the heart,which has to pump harder to compensateand to continue to deliver blood not just tothe compressed working muscle but to allareas of the body.
After long-term weight training, theheart adapts to this stress by increasing thethickness of the muscular wall of the leftventricle (fig. 4-5). The increase in heartmuscle mass enables the heart to deliverblood efficiently in spite of temporary bloodpressure increases during exercise.
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Figure 4-5. There are a number of different types of
cardiac hypertrophy. The normal, unadapted heart
has a “normal” left ventricular (LV) chamber size and
muscle wall thickness (A). Long-term resistance train-
ing increases the thickness of the muscle walls
without significantly changing chamber size (B).
Long-term endurance training increases chamber size
without increasing muscle wall thickness (C). Patho-
logical hypertrophy results in increased chamber size
and reduced muscle wall thickness (D).
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Requirements for CardiorespiratoryFitness. An issue of importance to thestrength or power athlete is cardiorespirat-ory fitness, sometimes confused with aerobicfitness or endurance. Aerobic/endurance fit-ness relates directly to the efficiency of oxid-ative metabolism and is not the same as car-diorespiratory fitness – the capacity to effi-ciently deliver oxygenated blood to workingmuscles. Specifically, aerobic fitness – theoxidative mechanisms of ATP generation ad-apted for prolonged, low-intensity exercise –does not contribute to power performance,either directly or indirectly. Exercise scient-ists trained in academic programs where aer-obic exercise is the focus will usually say thataerobic training is necessary for all athletes.Exercise scientists trained in programswhere anaerobic exercise is the focus will ar-gue against that point vehemently, as studieshave shown that aerobic training actually
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interferes with maximal strength and powergains.
These arguments should be evaluatedwith four things in mind. First, cardiorespir-atory fitness is primarily a health issue, andcompetitive athletes do not normally fallwithin the population that needs to be con-cerned about heart attack prevention. (Thefact is that elite competitive athletes are notconcerned about their health; they are con-cerned about winning.) Individuals withbelow-average levels of cardiorespiratory fit-ness are in fact at a higher risk for develop-ing high blood pressure and cardiovasculardisease, both of which are certainly detri-mental to health and performance. Compet-itive athletics has already selected againstthese individuals. People for whom aerobictraining addresses a problem that does notexist would be better served by devoting thetime to skill acquisition, more complete re-covery, or a hobby.
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Second, although a degree of cardiores-piratory fitness is needed to more efficientlyrecover from sets or workouts, supplyneeded oxygen and nutrients to the workingmuscle, and carry away waste products fastenough for adequate recovery, a VO2 maxonly 2-3 ml/kg/min above normal is ad-equate for accomplishing this task instrength and power athletes. This is not atremendous improvement in cardiorespirat-ory fitness above normal level. In fact, anaer-obic training alone, over time, develops aer-obic fitness to just above average levels andtherefore negates the argument for includingaerobic training in power athletes’ programs.Limited early-season aerobic work would besufficient to solve any endurance problemsthat might be encountered. If power athletesstay in the weight room year-round, therewill be no real need for long slow distancework outside the weight room.
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Third, even if an increase in VO2 maxwere desired, long slow distance-type endur-ance training is not as efficient a way to ob-tain it as a more intense approach to train-ing. A concentrated dose of high-intensityglycolytic-type work lasting several minutes,utilizing exercises that incorporate a fullrange of motion for a large amount of musclemass, which putatively produces significantO2 desaturation, has been shown, in practice,to drive improvement in VO2 max betterthan low-intensity long slow distance exer-cise that produces no oxygen desaturation atall. Small scale pilot data from our laboratoryhas shown that 4 consecutive weeks of multi-modal exercise that elicits depression ofblood oxygen saturation to 91% or below,when performed 5 days per week improvedVO2 max by 33.4%. In is interesting to notethat in our experiment the longest bout oftraining was 21 minutes in duration, theshortest was 8 minutes. The popularity of
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CrossFit and its use of “metabolic condition-ing” has demonstrated the value and practic-ality of developing significantly greater en-durance capacity without actually doing tra-ditional forms of endurance exercise.
Finally, research regarding the use ofendurance training for strength and powerathletes rather strongly suggests that endur-ance work interferes with all the parameterssuch athletes are concerned with developing.The most recent research into interferencedeals with the tendency of aerobic training toreduce the magnitude of anaerobic improve-ment when the two are done together or inclose sequence. And this research does notconsider what happens to existing powerperformance. It has been well known sincethe 1980s that a program of endurance train-ing will cause large reductions in verticaljump height. For athletes whose sport re-quires a mix of anaerobic and aerobic/en-durance training, studies suggest that
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separating the two by as little as an hourblunts the negative effect of the enduranceworkout. The studies, and practical experi-ence, indicate that aerobic training may beincluded at low volumes and intensities if de-sired by the athlete or coach, but the ques-tion remains as to whether it contributes toeffective training and time management.Many athletes have for decades excelled intheir sports in spite of the inclusion of en-durance training, not because of it.
Research examining aerobic-anaerobicinterference typically looks at the effects oflong slow distance-type training on strengthperformance. It is quite likely that the inter-ference between the two occurs due to differ-ences in the nature of the activities and themetabolic pathways involved. We suggestnot only that high-intensity glycolytic exer-cise drives improvements in VO2max, butthat this type of training can be used
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alongside weight training programs withoutsignificantly reducing strength gains.
The distinction between cardiorespirat-ory fitness and aerobic training is particu-larly important. Anyone who has ever done a20RM set of deadlifts knows that there is acardiorespiratory component to the work.The depression in O2 saturation produced bythis high level of glycolytic intensity is muchmore disruptive to the homeostasis of oxy-gen transport and utilization than traditionallow-intensity types of aerobic (“cardio”)training. This is probably what drives boththe moderate improvement in VO2max seenin traditional weight training programs andthe high degree of improvement associatedwith high-intensity glycolytic exercise.
Genetic Potential
“Genetics” is a term bandied about fairlyloosely in sports. A good definition of genetic
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potential is whether the athlete possesses theactive genotype necessary to excel in sport.In simpler terms, does the athlete have asuitable set of genes, and enough of themturned on, to be good in the sport of choice?
There are at least 78 genes associatedwith fitness and performance. While humansall swim in the same genetic pool, there is ahuge amount of variation in both the genespossessed and the genes actively expressed.These variations lead to differences in per-formance potential. And so, like it or not,here is the rule: DNA ? RNA ? protein ? func-tion. The reality is that genetic potential ulti-mately affects the performance of everyindividual.
As an example of how a specific genemay affect performance, consider the ACTN3gene, a little segment of DNA that ultimatelycodes for the production of alpha-actinin, astructural protein in the z-line of the sar-comere (see figure 4-1 above). Studies have
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shown that possession of specific variants ofthis gene was strongly associated with elitesprint performance. Three variants of thisgene have been identified; RR, RX, and XX.Possession of a specific actn3 profile isstrongly associated with either an elite poweror an elite endurance performance. In elitesprinters (up to the Olympic level), 50% ofthe ACTN3 variants present were RR, 45%were RX, and 5% were XX. Elite enduranceathletes were markedly different, with only31% RR, 45% RX, and 24% XX. In light ofthis data, the RR variant was termed the“sprint” variant and the XX the “endurance”variant. It seems clear that the possession ofthe two different variants in significantly dif-ferent ratios is associated with different per-formance capacities. A vast number of genescode for functional or metabolic proteinsthat can exert the same type of effect.
Occasionally an athlete possesses an ex-cellent genetic profile, is highly motivated to
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succeed, responds well to training, and im-proves beyond expectations. These are theexceptions, those rare individuals that canmake an average coach look exceptional. Butmost coaches and trainers must deal with alltypes of athletes, genetically gifted or not.Athletes cannot change genetic profile unlessthey are willing to enter into the moral andethical quagmire of gene doping (insertingexogenous genes into a human to improveperformance. It is sad to say that, at the timeof this writing, it has been suggested thatthere was at least one genetically enhancedhuman competing in the Olympics in 2004, anumber that is expected to increase dramat-ically in future Olympiads.) Only coacheswho work at the highest levels of sports havethe luxury of working with many gifted ath-letes. Most coaches must learn to deal withthe average athlete, since they will make upthe bulk of any normal team or clientele, and
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must relish the rare opportunities presentedby the occasional genetic freak.
Genetic redundancy is a useful featureof our biology. Within every human’s gen-ome there are multiple copies of many genes.These duplications function as backup in theevent of damage or malfunction. Eventhough we have multiple copies of genes, notall of them are active at any given time;many or most of the copies are inactive orsuppressed. In times of need, the genes canbe expressed through various biological pro-cesses and can allow for large-scale produc-tion of important end products which thenaffect performance (fig. 4-6). If we stress thebody appropriately, we can turn on the spe-cific set of genes that would drive the adapta-tion to that stress. For example, if a traineehas a number of dormant ACTN3 RR genes,we may be able to use high-intensity, low-volume training to activate those genes whilenot activating the additional associated
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ACTN3 XX (endurance) gene variants. Thispreferential activation will help power ath-letes attain their fullest performance poten-tial without the clutter of unnecessary aer-obic adaptation. Alternatively, an enduranceathlete could be preferentially trained withhigher-volume, lower-intensity work to ac-tivate the ACTN3 XX variant copies theypossess in order to make a better aerobicathlete.
Figure 4-6. The effect of gene redundancy on per-
formance potential. Note that an individual with few-
er gene copies (dashed lines) will have a lower
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potential for strength gain than and individual with
more copies (solid lines). Failure to train leads to less
gene activity and reduced performance.
The take-home point is that, whilecoaches cannot alter an individual’s “geneticpotential,” they can program appropriatelyto capitalize on each trainee’s genetic profile,if that potential is recognized. An athletewho is genetically favored will progressfaster and ultimately reach higher levels ofperformance if the nature of his potential iscorrectly identified and trained for. Everyoneresponds to training in much the same way,through the same mechanisms; only the rateof progression and the magnitude of the res-ult will vary. This is why it is possible todefine useful generalizations about trainingand coaching. But it also means that indi-vidualized training is necessary and that youmust know your athletes – their strengths,their weaknesses, and the nature of their ge-netic potential.
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Although an individual with only a fewcopies of a gene such as ACTN3 may notreach the same level of performance assomeone with multiple copies of a specificvariant, appropriate programming can stillproduce impressive results. Frequently, indi-viduals with great genetic potential fail totrain appropriately, since success has alwayscome easily. A lack of work ethic is some-times the result of exceptional genetics, andcockiness occasionally allows a geneticallygifted athlete who trains inappropriately tobe beaten by a less gifted athlete who is re-ceiving proper coaching and programming.
As is often the case, sports preparationcan shed light on the human condition. Hu-mans are built to move. We evolved underconditions that required daily intense phys-ical activity, and that hard-earned genotypeis still ours today. The modern sedentarylifestyle leads to the inactivation of the genesrelated to fitness and performance,
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attributes that were once critical for survivaland are still critical for the correct, healthyexpression of the genotype. The genes arestill there, they just aren't doing anything be-cause the body is not stressed enough tocause a physiological adaptation requiringtheir activation. Heart, lungs, muscles,bones, nerves and brain all operate far belowthe level at which they evolved to function,and at which they still function best. Thoseamong us who are sedentary suffer theconsequences.
Going Backward: Detraining
When an athlete stops training for asubstantial period of time, there will be a re-gression in strength levels. Althoughstrength is a much more persistent adapta-tion than endurance (strength declines muchmore slowly than VO2 max does), a trainee’sability to generate force can be reduced
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within a few weeks time and can drop at arate of about 15% a year depending on indi-vidual circumstances. This loss of fitness isperfectly consistent with what we knowabout the stress-response/adaptation re-sponse. In this case, the stressor is a lack ofactivity, and the corresponding adaptation isdetraining.
If an athlete stops training for a periodof a few months and restarts training again,he should start back one level below wherehe was when he stopped. For example, an in-termediate trainee who stopped for 6 monthswould re-start using a novice’s program. Hewould continue using this program until hisprevious levels of strength were regained,and then move to a program consistent withwhere he was before he quit training. Thisprocess will occur much faster than the firsttime, due to a group of phenomena collect-ively referred to as “muscle memory.” A com-bination of persistent neuromuscular
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adaptation and increased numbers of musclecell nuclei make the rebuilding process pro-ceed quickly. The replacement of the layoff-depleted glycogen stores and cytoplasmicvolume are the main reasons muscle size re-turns as quickly as it does. In other words,the presence of all the metabolic machineryoriginally built during previous training anda diminished but quickly replaceable level ofthe substrate that makes it work are thefactors that make regaining previously ac-quired muscle size and function and fitnessoccur in a fraction of the time it originallytook.
A longer training hiatus requires a dif-ferent approach. If an advanced or elitetrainee “retires,” and then a year or two laterdecides to once again start training and com-peting, it would be best to begin with a ver-sion of a novice program, rather than redu-cing just one level to an intermediate pro-gram. This athlete has regressed far enough
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away from genetic potential that a short peri-od of simple progression will be useful forreestablishing fitness. After the gains fromsimple linear progression begin to plateau,the athlete would follow an intermediateprogram for the short time it would be use-ful, and then, when improvement plateaus orwhen the coach judges him ready, he wouldadopt an advanced training organizationagain. This entire process might take any-where from 3 months to a year, dependingon the athlete, the sport, and the length ofthe layoff, but in any case, the process wouldtake a fraction of the time originally investedin the progress from baseline.
It is very important to understand thatpreviously trained athletes returning fromlayoffs – even relatively short layoffs – mustbe handled with care. Ambition is useful;greed is dangerous. Athletes with even an in-termediate training history have developed aneuromuscular system that is far more
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efficient that that of an untrained individual;this athlete can still recruit a high percentageof his available motor units, although theyare not in shape to be used very hard. Thisathletic neuromuscular system enables themuscles to generate more force than they arecurrently conditioned to produce. In practic-al terms, this means that these trainees aregoing to be very, very sore, unless marked re-straint is used for the first few workouts. Theathlete or coach ignores this fact at peril. Ex-treme cases of soreness, to the point of lossof function, disability, or even rhabdomy-olysis (the breakdown of muscle caused bymechanical, physical, or chemical injury thatcan lead to acute renal failure due to the ac-cumulation of muscle breakdown products inthe blood) can and certainly do occur. Socoaches and trainees need to resist the urgeto push to the limit when returning to train-ing after a layoff. During simple progressionwe are redeveloping the mechanical and
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metabolic adaptations within the muscle tomatch the neural abilities that have persistedover the period of detraining. Patience hereis a priceless virtue.
An interesting phenomenon has been noticed in thetraining of cyclists in the weight room. High-level cyc-lists, especially good time-trial riders and track cyc-lists, who have no previous barbell training experienceare nonetheless very strong and tend to be able tosquat relatively heavy weights even though untrainedin the exercise. This presents immediate, potentiallyserious problems to both coaches and athletes who arenot aware of the need to practice restraint.Cycling lacks a significant eccentric component – a“negative” movement. An eccentric contraction, one inwhich the muscle lengthens under a load, occurs inmost slow barbell movements, since lowering theweight is an integral part of most exercises (this is notnecessarily true of the Olympic lifts, which modernequipment allows to be done in a concentric-only fash-ion: with bumper plates and platforms, we can nowdrop our snatches, cleans, and jerks without tearingup the weight room). Cycling has no equivalent load-ing pattern, since a correct pedal stroke either pushesdown or pulls up. Never is the pedal resisted
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eccentrically. So the eccentric phase of the contraction,and the ability of the muscle to lengthen under load,remains untrained. Add to this the fact that cyclingutilizes a limited range of motion, one that never ap-proaches the extent of that used in a full squat. A cyc-list very well may be strong enough concentrically tocome up from the bottom of a deep squat, even withoutever having lowered a weight that far. He is thereforein the position of being quite capable of pushing aweight that is relatively heavy for an untrained lifterup from the bottom of the squat while at the same timebeing completely unadapted to carrying it down.It is widely recognized that the eccentric phase of aresistance exercise is the part of the movement thatproduces the majority of the soreness associated withtraining. A cyclist is unadapted to eccentric contrac-tion but able to generate high concentric force. Ex-treme care must therefore be used when training theseathletes, lest they be crippled by soreness from squat-ting weights they appear to handle easily. Coachesshould recognize the need for light workouts at first,and although this may lead motivated cyclists to be-come frustrated with the seeming ineffectiveness of thebarbell program, it is necessary. These problems mayalso be the reason many cyclists fail to stick withweight training as part of their sports preparation:the choice between extreme unaccustomed musclesoreness or what is perceived as slow progress on anineffective and irrelevant exercise is often one thatcompetitive road cyclists refuse to make.
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“The radical of one century is the conservat-ive of the next. The radical invents the views.When he has worn them out, the conservat-
ive adopts them.”— Mark Twain
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Chapter 5: TrainingProgram Basics
Strength training programs may varyconsiderably depending on the sport, thegoal, the athlete, and the coach. But allstrength training is based on the use of a fewbasic tools. These have been developed overthe past hundred or so years out of the ex-periences of millions of smart folks who paidattention to what worked and what didn’twhile they were getting strong.
Repetitions
Organized training programs are basedon the concept of the “repetition maximum”(RM or max) or personal record (PR). This is
the maximum weight that an individual canlift for a specific number of repetitions:
1RM = maximum weight that can be lif-ted one time
10RM = maximum weight that can belifted ten times in a single set
All RM tests that are lighter than a 1RM are,by definition, done with a submaximalweight, since a 1RM defines maximal. A 5RMwill be done with a weight that is 85 to 90%of the 1RM, and is thus submaximal. It isvery heavy relatively – the maximum thatcan be done for 5 reps – but it is still sub-maximal to 1RM.
There is no single repetition scheme thatis appropriate for achieving all training goals(fig. 5-1, and see fig. 4-4 above). The number
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of reps per set is important because differ-ent numbers of reps produce differenttypes of adaptations. This is an extremelyimportant principle of exercise program-ming, and it often goes unappreciated bythose without a background in the subject.Strength, a basic objective of training and animportant component of power perform-ance, is gained using lower repetitions (1 to3) with heavier weights (90 to 100% of 1RM).Muscular hypertrophy is produced by usinghigher reps (8 to 12 or more) at lighterweights (65 to 80% of 1RM). Power, thecombination of speed and strength, is de-veloped by using moderate numbers of reps(3 to 5) performed at maximal velocity withloads between 50 and 80% of 1RM. Thespeed component of power is developedwhen each individual repetition is performedat maximum velocity. The load range of 50 to75% of 1RM allows most people to developmaximum power in each rep. This weight is
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heavy enough that a high amount of forcemust be used to accelerate it, but lightenough that the velocity is sufficiently highfor power production. Power training of thistype also increases strength at heavierweights by teaching the neuromuscular sys-tem to recruit high-threshold motor unitsmore efficiently. When heavy weights areused, this improved ability to “explode” isuseful even at the slower velocities of 1 to 5RM sets.
Figure 5-1. The repetition continuum. Different
numbers of reps have different training effects, and it
is important to match the correct reps to the goal of
the trainee (Rippetoe & Kilgore, 2005).
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In power sports that involve lengthycompetition periods (football, basketball,etc.), endurance represents the ability to pro-duce many consecutive bursts of anaerobiceffort, as opposed to the more conventionalunderstanding of the term “endurance” tomean long durations and low intensities.This type of anaerobic endurance is depend-ent on strength, and for the already-strongathlete is best produced by increasing thenumber of low-rep sets, rather than by in-creasing the number of reps per set, sincethis more closely duplicates the metabolicdemands of the sport. An approach would beto condition with multiple short sprints, per-haps 40 reps of 20 meters, as opposed to do-ing longer distances for fewer reps.
Although endurance is usually associ-ated with aerobic exercise, it is important tounderstand that there are different types ofendurance. Aerobic endurance for long slow
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distance is one example, but endurance canmean several things. Local muscular endur-ance – the ability to tolerate the pain that de-velops in the muscles during intense effortslasting 30 seconds to several minutes – canbe very effectively improved through weighttraining. High-rep sets are used for this pur-pose. And by increasing the absolutestrength of an endurance athlete, it is pos-sible to quite effectively increase the time tofatigue by reducing the relative effort re-quired for each submaximal contraction.High reps, in excess of 15, can be used effect-ively for such athletes to increase pain toler-ance and the ability to contract while fa-tigued, and sets of 5 can be used on alternat-ing workout days to increase absolutestrength. Even though neither of these repschemes directly improves any aspect of ox-idative metabolism, both do in fact improveaerobic endurance performance.
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Sets of more than 15 to 20 reps will sig-nificantly improve muscular endurance, butwill not produce large strength gains due tothe lighter weights necessarily involved, andthis is certainly not optimal for any athletewith the primary goal of improving eitherpower or strength. Athletes for whom powermust be produced repeatedly for extendedperiods must still be trained to producepower in the first place, and high-rep sets donot accomplish this. The advantage of usingmultiple low-rep sets is that both power andstrength are trained in the precise metaboliccontext in which they will be used incompetition.
Sets
Most national exercise and credentialingorganizations recommend 1 to 3 sets (groupsof repetitions) per exercise, irrespective of
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the fitness goal. This is generally acceptablein that it works better than no exercise at alland therefore improvements will occur forthose people who have never exercised be-fore, but results will be better if the numberof sets is actually designed to produce a spe-cific result and achieve a definite training ob-jective. Doing one set at 8 to 12 RM will yieldabout 80% of the potential gains from train-ing in the 8-to-12-rep range. This may beenough to achieve the fitness goal of a typicalhealth club member, or it may be adequatefor assistance exercises after the actual bar-bell workout. It is inadequate for athletestrying to improve strength and power.
As with other aspects of training, thenumber of sets must produce the metaboliceffect desired as an adaptation. One set of anexercise is not capable of producing thestress that multiple sets can produce, be-cause stress is cumulative. If one set is all thework that is necessary to force an adaptation,
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then the athlete has not been training eithervery long or correctly, because an athlete’sability to adapt to training stress is itself oneof the aspects of physiology that adapts. Asan athlete progresses through the stages ofadvancement, more stress is required to dis-rupt homeostasis. One set of an exercise – nomatter how hard, or long, or heavy – is notenough stress to cause an adaptation in analready adapted athlete. As an athlete pro-gresses past the novice stage, his adaptive ca-pacity becomes advanced to the point wherestress must be accumulated, not just withmultiple sets during one workout but overseveral workouts, and training complexitymust accommodate this fact. This will re-quire programming more complicated thanone-set-to-failure, one set of twenty, or othertypes of single-set training organizations thatmight work well for some novices or in body-building and physique activities.
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Multiple sets are required to make thebest use of a trainee’s gym time. Basic exer-cises that are critical for enhancing sportperformance should be done for multiplesets. Depending on the trainee’s level of ad-vancement, this could be as few as 3 to 5 setsfor novices or as many as a dozen sets for theelite athlete. Numbers of sets, as mentionedabove, can accumulate for an emphasis onendurance for sports that involve long peri-ods of time under competitive stress, such asfootball or boxing. Lighter-percentage setscan be done under controlled rest intervalsto simulate the metabolic stress of the sportfor a very effective preparatory tool. The pos-sibilities are limitless, depending only onyour ingenuity in creating the metabolic con-ditions necessary for further, specificadaptation.
When referring to the number of sets, adistinction must be made between warm-up sets, the lighter preparatory work that
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readies the trainee for heavier work, andwork sets, which accomplish the training ob-jective for that workout. Warm-up sets pre-pare the tissue and the motor pathway forthe coming work. As such, they should notfatigue or interfere with the work sets; theirpurpose is to facilitate the work sets, notfunction as work themselves. When properlyplanned, warm-up sets need not be countedas work, since they will always be lightenough that in the absence of the subsequentwork sets no adaptation would result fromtheir having been done.
Work sets are the heavy sets that pro-duce the training effect of the workout; theyconstitute the stress that causes the adapta-tion. They may be progressive – they may goup five or ten pounds per set until they areall done – or they may be done “across,” withthe same weight for all sets. Progressive setsare a good way to explore an athlete’s capab-ilities with a load if uncertainty exists about
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his ability with it. For instance, coming backfrom a missed week, an injury, or an illnessmight indicate the need for small progressivejumps at work-set intensity. Sets of 5-repsquats at 285, 295, 305, 315, and 325 are anexample of progressive sets for an athleteotherwise capable of 315 × 5 × 5 (5 sets of 5reps each, all done with 315 pounds on thebar), which is an example of sets across. Setsacross is a marvelous way to accumulatetotal set volume of high quality, since theweight chosen is repeated for all the worksets, producing higher average load at thelimit of the trainee’s ability.
Rest Between Sets
The time between sets is an importantvariable in workout configuration. Severalexercise organizations recommend 30seconds to 2 minutes between sets. This alsovaries with the goal of the training program.
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If strength gains are the primary training ob-jective, rests of greater than 2 minutes arenot only okay but necessary. While partialrecovery from anaerobic exercise is rapid(50% of ATP/CP stores recover in 3 to 5seconds), complete recovery doesn’t occurfor three to seven minutes, depending onseveral individual factors such as the intens-ity of the set, the fatigue and nutritionalstatus of the lifter, as well as the trainee’sage, the temperature of the facility, and in-jury status. Competitive strength and powerathletes are often instructed to use rests ofmuch greater than two minutes. In contrast,if muscle hypertrophy is the only concern,rests of 45 seconds or less are best. Thereseems to be a link (although not necessarily acausal relationship) between lactic acid pro-duction from resistance exercise, hormonalstatus, and increases in muscle mass.Between-set rests of about 45 seconds wouldbe optimal in maintaining this relationship.
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If a training regimen is undertaken to in-crease muscular endurance, very little, if any,rest should be taken between the sets of dif-ferent exercises.
It is also important to consider whichsets the rest occurs between. Warm-up setsfunction as preparation for work sets, andthey should be approached with this in mind.The lightest warm-ups will not be heavyenough to produce any fatigue, and no restneed be taken longer than the time it takes toload the bar for the next set. As they get pro-gressively heavier, more time should bespent between warm-up sets. As a rule,warm-ups facilitate work sets; they shouldnot interfere with them. If three heavy setsacross are to be done after warm-up, 15warm-up sets done as fast as possible up to 5pounds away from the work set would be in-appropriate, since the fatigue ofinappropriate warm-up would interfere withthe work-set intensity.
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Workout Frequency
The American College of Sports Medi-cine (ACSM) prescribes training two daysper week for improving “muscular fitness.”Many exercise organizations propose a threeday per week schedule, yet the vast majorityof elite weightlifters train six days per week,with multiple workouts per day. Why such adiscrepancy? First, the ACSM’s guidelinesare minimal recommendations for thesedentary, completely unadapted-to-exercisegeneral American public, not for athleteswho have been training for years. Second,textbook recommendations often fail to ac-count for individual differences in ability,level of training advancement, training ob-jective, and all other parameters that may in-fluence the ability to recover from more fre-quent training. Finally, elite athletes arehighly adapted to training and can not onlytolerate, but in fact require, much higher
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training loads than novice or intermediatetrainees to sufficiently disrupt homeostasisand facilitate further adaptation. This level oftraining stress cannot be administered inthree sessions per week without overwhelm-ing the athlete’s recovery ability; it must bedistributed more uniformly over the week.This will require many more than threeworkouts per week and possibly multipledaily workouts for some athletes. These spe-cific details are addressed in subsequentchapters.
Careful selection of the exercises in-cluded in a series of workouts can enable thetrainee to recover more efficiently and there-fore perform more work per week. Basicguidelines are a good starting point, butevery trainee is different. Table 5-1 offerssome basic guidelines regarding workout fre-quency. Experimentation with variousworkout frequencies is the best way to
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determine each trainee’s capacity and optim-al workout frequency.
Table 5-1. Factors involved in determining the num-
ber of workouts to include in a training program.
Too few workouts per week will not ad-equately stress the body, and no positive ad-aptation will occur. A common way to organ-ize training among recreational lifters and
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bodybuilders is a “split” routine, where onebody part or “muscle group” is worked eachday, until the entire body has accumulated aworkout. If “chest” is trained only once aweek, even though training may occur sever-al days per week, “chest” will not receiveenough work to constitute overload, and op-timal adaptation cannot occur. By the sametoken, “chest” will usually include triceps,since the bench press is the favorite chest ex-ercise; if “shoulders” involves pressing,“arms” get their own day too, and “back”really means lats and therefore lat pulldownsor chins, it is possible to expose the triceps tofour or more workouts in a week. This is anexample of poor training organization pro-ducing a schedule that includes both inad-equate and excessive exercise frequency.
It is also worthwhile to note that the in-cidence of training injury is not significantlyincreased with greater strength training fre-quency. However, it is quite high with more
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than five aerobic workout days per week,particularly monostructural (single-activity)workouts. These kinds of aerobic exerciseprograms involve thousands of identical andrepetitive movements over a short range ofmotion, and are thus inherently differentfrom weight training, even when weighttraining workout frequency is very high. Theend result is a higher incidence of repetitiveuse injuries in endurance training than instrength training.
Exercise Selection
The combinations of exercises includedin a workout and in a long-term training pro-gram directly affect progress. The most im-portant consideration is to select exercisesthat have functional application to the train-ing objective. The exercises included shoulddevelop the muscle mass, strength, or powerof the athlete in ways that apply to the sport
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or event he is training for. They should pro-duce strength and power in ways relevant toperformance, using the muscle groups in-volved in the sport in ways that are metabol-ically relevant. It is not necessary, or evendesirable, that exercises exactly mimic or du-plicate the skills or movement patterns of thesport. It is necessary, though, that exercisesadequately prepare the neuromuscular sys-tem for the range of motion, power require-ments, strength requirements, and endur-ance requirements of the sport. Specificsport skills are acquired in sport practice;fitness for sport is enhanced by appropriatestrength and power training outside of sportpractice. And the whole panoply of athleticperformance characteristics can be enhancedby “general physical preparation,” or GPP,the practice of general movement skillswhich may not be specific to the sport butwhich enhances its performance nonethe-less. Sprints, jumping, gymnastics skills
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work, rope climbing, and intense recreation-al sports unrelated to the primary sport areexamples of productive GPP.
Virtually every single effective exerciseprogram for sports performance will includethe following rather short list of weight roomexercises: squat, press, deadlift, bench press,clean or power clean, jerk, snatch or powersnatch, and chin-ups or pull-ups. Thesemovements and their simple variations canbe used in various ways to satisfy all the re-quirements for exercises that contribute toperformance. It is imperative that their per-formance and correct use be mastered byboth athlete and coach.
The next consideration in exercise selec-tion is how many times per week an exercise,or type of exercise, should be done. To makeexercise selection more logical, it is best toconsider specific groups of related exercises.For an Olympic weightlifter, there would befour basic groups: 1) snatch-related, 2)
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clean-related, 3) jerk-related, and 4) squatsand deadlifts. An athlete in a less specializedsport concerned with strength and powermight use three categories: 1) squats andsquat variants, 2) pressing and pressing vari-ants, and 3) pulling, which includes dead-lifts, cleans, and snatches. The example herefor a weightlifter can also be used as a basictemplate for power sports, such as fieldevents. Football players would use the less-specialized template, since there is a signific-ant strength component in addition to thepower demands of the sport. There is a greatdegree of possible variability within each ofthese templates. For weightlifters on a three-workouts-per-week schedule, two workoutsmight be devoted to more technicallydemanding snatch-related exercises and oneday to clean- and jerk-related exercises, andthen the emphasis could be reversed the fol-lowing week, with two clean and jerkworkouts and one snatch workout. Squats
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and pulling strength movements would beincluded in workouts on all three days, sinceathletes need strong hips and legs. Footballplayers should also squat all three days, andcould alternate bench presses with pressesand deadlifts with cleans.
Note that this represents a whole-bodyworkout every time, the preferred approachto training. It is not productive for athletes tothink in terms of body parts or musclegroups, as bodybuilders do. The human bodyfunctions as a system – in both sports andlife – with all its component parts operatingtogether in coordinated synergy. It makes nosense to separate it into its constituent com-ponents for training when the desired resultof the training is the improvement of thewhole system. It does not function that way,and it cannot be effectively trained that way.
Workouts should consist of three to fiveexercises, appropriately selected from thetemplate groups. Athletes seldom need more
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exercises than this, but if circumstances war-rant, say, six exercises, it may be more effect-ive to do them in two workouts per dayrather than all in a single session. Fewcoaches and athletes are afforded the luxuryof unlimited time in the gym, so if six exer-cises are required and they must be done inone workout, try to do them efficiently.
Workouts should not consist of ten tofifteen exercises. If they do, there are twopossibilities. They could be composed of toomany core exercises, like squats, cleans,snatches, deadlifts, and chins, along withbenches and presses, and will produce over-training. Or they are composed of ten differ-ent isolation movements like leg extensions,leg curls, three kinds of dumbbell curls, twokinds of dumbbell flyes, and two kinds of calfraises, and are a waste of time. Three to fivecorrectly chosen and performed exercises areall an athlete needs, and should be able todo, in one workout. Any energy left over for
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arm exercises means energy not used whereit should have been, and is typically a sign ofan unfocused athlete or a badly designedprogram.
Exercise Variation
It is normal to vary the individual exer-cises and total number of exercises includedin a training program at several levels: theindividual workout, the training cycle, andaccording to the advancement of the trainee(fig. 5-2). For the novice, effective workoutsare short, basic, intense, and progressive. Ex-ercises are chosen to accomplish the pro-gram’s specified goal in the most efficientmanner possible. This means large-scale,multi-joint exercises involving large musclemasses working in a coordinated manner. Ittherefore requires that coaches be effectiveteachers of movement skills and that athletesbecome better at learning them. Among
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other things, novices are developing motorskills that will allow them to handle a largervariety of exercises later in their training ca-reers. As they proceed from the novice stageto the intermediate stage, the number of ex-ercises in the program increases. This is be-cause they have gained strength and motorskill and can now tolerate and directly bene-fit from a wider variety of exercises.
Figure 5-2. The selection and total number of exer-
cises used in a training program varies by advance-
ment level and the goal of training. Initially the begin-
ner has few exercise skills and the primary purpose is
to teach basic technique and develop basic strength,
so only a few exercises are included. As the trainee de-
velops strength and motor control with free weights,
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additional exercises can be added. The intermediate
trainee benefits from a wider variety of exercises to
reach his sports preparation objectives. The advanced
trainee will have already selected a sport and is a com-
petitive athlete. This allows the coach to narrow the
exercise selection to those exercises most relevant to
the sport. The elite athlete is an accomplished expert,
competing at a high level, and uses only those exer-
cises that have proven to be necessary and useful for
continued performance at that level.
During the late novice and the interme-diate stage, an athlete who will ultimatelyproceed to advanced or elite levels definesthe course of his career, choosing a sport totrain for and compete in. Many decisions arerequired of the athlete at this point.Strengths and weaknesses, abilities and in-terests, time and financial restrictions, andthe support of family and friends are gauged.This involves experimentation with trainingand its application to the chosen sport, and itrequires a greater variety of exercises than a
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novice either needs or can tolerate. An inter-mediate’s skills are developing as fast as hisstrength, power, and recovery ability. It is atthis time, when the ability to learn is peak-ing, that an athlete benefits most from ex-posure to new movement patterns and newtypes of stress. For these reasons, exercisevariety for intermediates is higher than fornovices.
It is also higher than for advanced ath-letes, who already know the things an inter-mediate is learning and who have by defini-tion developed in their competitive careersinto specialists at one sport. These athletesuse fewer exercises, because they know ex-actly which ones are relevant to competitivesuccess and know how to manipulate theirwell-developed stress/adaptation mechan-isms. Elite athletes are accomplished com-petitors, experts in their sport, and are wellinto their careers. They have developedhighly individual training programs that
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might involve only four or five exercises butthat very specifically develop critical aspectsof their already highly-adapted muscular,neuromuscular, and psychological abilities.
Variation in exercises improves thestress/adaptation response to training,thereby delaying the inevitable performanceplateau as long as possible. Essentially, thepurpose of exercise variation is to make thebody treat each workout as if it were a newstimulus, so that further adaptation can oc-cur. From a psychological perspective, it alsoreduces the boredom that can accompanymonotonous workouts and further stimu-lates progress by keeping motivation levelshigher. Motivated trainees tend to pushharder, contributing to the quality of thestimulus on the stress/adaptation system.
Exercise selection must be based on athorough understanding of both the benefitsand limitations of the exercises and the re-quirements of the sport for which they are
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being used. A few basic principles should bekept in mind whenever designing weighttraining programs for sports. First, the exer-cise must fit the sport biomechanically. Thevast majority of sports that use weight train-ing as a conditioning tool rely on the co-ordinated effort of all the muscles in thebody as they generate force against theground and apply that force through the up-per body; effective weight training exercisesfor these sports should do the same. Large-scale structural exercises – squats, presses,cleans, deadlifts, bench presses, andsnatches – provide the best quality, bio-mechanically applicable work for sports thatrequire strength, power, balance, and agility.Exercises that attempt to divide the body in-to segments for separate training are muchless effective, since it is the coordinated useof all the segments working together thatproduces the sport-specific movement.Whole-body exercises have been shown to
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produce superior results, through their abil-ity to train the system as a coordinated wholeas well as their capacity to perturb homeo-stasis and affect the entire hormonal milieu.
The second principle for programmingweight training for sports is that the exercisemust benefit the sport metabolically. If thesport requires brief, explosive bouts of highpower generated by the whole body, thechosen exercises must be capable of produ-cing this adaptation. If the sport requirespulses of explosion for several seconds re-peated over a longer period of time, the exer-cises must challenge the depth of the ATP-CP system’s ability to provide for this. If thesport demands muscular endurance at in-tensities near anaerobic threshold for exten-ded periods, the exercise must be capable ofproducing this stress in a controllable, pro-grammable way. All these requirements arepredicated on the athlete’s strength, which
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must be adequate to the task before moreelaborate preparations are necessary.
Meeting the demands of sports with thisdegree of specificity involves more than justmatching sets and reps to the expected loads;the exercises themselves must be capable ofproducing these specific qualities of the ex-pected stress in ways that fit the mechanicalrequirements of the sport. It is not enough todo 50-rep sets of leg extensions if hill climb-ing on a bicycle is to be prepared for cor-rectly, since more muscles than the quadsare involved in the sport. Heavy preachercurls do not prepare a defensive lineman forthe job of moving a guard and making atackle, since the biceps are probably the leastimportant muscle group in the kinetic chainthat accomplishes the job.
Third, the exercise must be workablewithin the context of the program – the timeand equipment available, the skill levels andmaturity of the trainees, and the ability of
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the coach to teach and administer the pro-gram. A $10,000 barbell-based weight roomin the hands of an experienced coach is infin-itely superior to a $300,000 collection of ex-ercise machines run by an inexperiencedtrainer. Every situation is different and feware ideal, but at a minimum the programshould include as much barbell time as pos-sible, and the complete absence of machinesshould not be considered a drawback to thesuccess of the program.
Adding variation to the program is ac-complished within the context of function.New exercises should have a purpose otherthan just being new. For example, for anOlympic lifter, reasonable squat variationsmight be high-bar (Olympic) squats andfront squats. The leg press would not bereasonable because it is not a functionalmovement – it does not provide either thebiomechanical specificity to sports or the ca-pacity to produce the systemic stress
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necessary to be considered functional. If legpresses are done at all, it should be only asan assistance exercise, not as a variation ofthe squat, and as such they would occupy adifferent place in the workout hierarchy.
If an intermediate trainee needs to addanother workout – a medium or light day –to his week, or if the decision is made to cutheavy pressing work back to twice per weekand substitute a variant for the third day, itmight be appropriate to introduce a dumb-bell exercise as the variant workout. This iswhat is meant by “variation,” where the qual-ity of the workout remains high due to thecareful choice of substitute exercises that ac-complish the same purpose as the basicmovement but in a slightly different way.
For the novice lifter, each training day ofa three-day week should be a heavy day,since this is consistent with linear progres-sion. As intermediate status is achieved,more variation becomes necessary, and light
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and medium days become part of the week.New exercises should be initially included onlight and medium days because the neur-omuscular novelty of these exercises willproduce beneficial adaptations at lower in-tensities. This way, a light day of training canproduce a significant training stimulus whilestill allowing for recovery from the precedingheavier workouts.
It is important to note that with any newexercise, the weight that can be used in-creases quickly, much like the general re-sponse seen in a novice trainee. Adaptationsin neuromuscular efficiency and motor co-ordination are responsible for much of thisearly improvement. After this early progresstapers off, the variant exercise is no longer avariant, and can then join the standard exer-cises for inclusion on heavy days. In this waythe intermediate increases his training rep-ertoire as more exercises accumulate.
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Exercise Order
Workouts should be ordered in a waythat allows the most important exercises tobe done first. “Important” is obviously a rel-ative term, and the most important exerciseto a novice is very likely different from thatfor an advanced athlete. Basic strength for arank novice is the primary training consider-ation, and this means that squats should al-ways be done first. Between strength move-ments that use some or most of the samemuscle groups, it is useful to insert exercisesthat use other muscles so that some measureof recovery can occur. Bench presses orpresses are commonly done between squatsand deadlifts, so that the best performancecan be obtained from both of these lower-body exercises done in the same workout. Ifpower cleans are to be done, they can usuallybe performed effectively by novices after theshort break from squats provided by benches
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or presses, since these trainees are not yetproficient enough at power cleans that asmall amount of fatigue will adversely affectthem. Any other assistance work would bedone after the structural exercises, if timeand energy levels permit, since their inclu-sion in the workout is not as critical to thebasic effects of training.
As the trainee advances, other consider-ations complicate the scenario. If power be-comes a primary training objective, as it willfor Olympic lifters and throwers, the em-phasis will shift to those exercises and theywill be performed first, with squats movingto the end of the workout. As a general rule,the faster the movement, the more precisethat movement must be, because of the de-creased amount of time during the rep inwhich position adjustments can be made;and the more precise the movement must be,the more important it is to do it without theinterference of fatigue. For intermediate and
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advanced athletes, snatches, cleans, jerks,and their related movements should be doneearly in the workout, with slower strength-focused movements done later.
Fatigue decreases the precision withwhich motor unit recruitment patterns canbe managed and has a direct bearing on theskill with which a movement can be executedand practiced. Movements that dependhighly on skill of execution – those for whichtechnical components are more limiting thanstrength level for determining the 1RM –should be done first in the workout, beforefatigue has blunted the unimpeded contribu-tion of efficient force production to themovement. A snatch is limited by the abilityof the lifter to execute the movement in atechnically correct manner more than by theabsolute strength of the athlete. But if theathlete’s strength is compromised by fatigue,the ability to apply that strength in the cor-rect way will interfere with the technical
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execution of the lift, since correct techniquedepends on the ability to deliver maximumpower to the bar at the right time in the rightposition, all of which are affected by the abil-ity to produce maximum force, the very thingthat fatigue affects (fig. 5-3).
Figure 5-3. Electromyogram (EMG) and force pro-
duction tracings from a high-rep set. Note that the
muscle fatigues as more repetitions are completed
and that motor control erodes with fatigue, as evid-
enced by the amplitude scatter of the EMG tracing.
This effect can result from a single set, as presented
here, or can be the cumulative result of repeated sets.
Speed of Movement
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There is a persistent belief among thepublic, many personal trainers, somecoaches, and even among many exercise sci-entists, that weight training exercises mustbe done slowly. The intentional use of slowmovement in weight training reflects an in-adequate understanding of the nature of effi-cient power production, the physics of work,and weight-room safety.
A slow cadence increases the time undertension (how long the muscle spends in con-traction) and is thereby thought to increasethe amount of work the muscles do and theresulting amount of muscular development.An examination of the physiology of powerproduction, though, is enlightening. The vastmajority of research demonstrates a clear re-lationship between high movement speedand the ability to generate power both at thatspeed and at all slower speeds. Conversely,exercising at a slower speed developsstrength only at that speed and does not
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improve power at faster movement speeds.Complete power development across thewhole range of movement speeds requireshigh-velocity loaded movement.
This is because high power productiondepends on the recruitment of a maximumnumber of motor units to generate the highamount of force necessary to produce thatpower. More power requires an increased ef-ficiency in the number of motor units firingduring contraction and – most importantlyfor the person interested in more muscle – aresulting increase in the actual amount ofmuscle tissue involved in the work. As morehigh-threshold motor units are recruited togenerate more power through increasedforce production, more of the muscle fibersin the muscle go to work, using more ATPthat must be replaced through active meta-bolic recovery processes. Studies have foundthat longer duration repetitions with a longertime under tension actually demand less
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metabolic work when compared to the fastmoving repetitions. This is because only thelower-threshold motor units are recruitedand fatigued by lower-movement-speed ex-ercise. It is true that the motor unit fatigueproduced during sustained contractions orwith higher repetitions (8 to 12 or greater)produces a “burn,” a sensation that we maybelieve to be an indicator of high-qualitystimulation. But the fact is that more muscletissue is recruited and worked by higher-ve-locity movement than by slow exercisespeeds. In the interests of both muscle massand power training, higher velocity worksbetter.
The commercial emphasis on exercisewith machines may be the source of a lot ofthe misinformation about weight training,due to considerations other than thephysiology of exercise. Because of their con-struction, weight machines generally havelimitations in their use, one of which is that
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if the stack is dropped, the plates may frac-ture. Over the decades since the invention ofweight machines, this limitation has resultedin the dogma that a specific exercise cadence(a count of 2 up and 4 down or somethingsimilar) is needed for optimal results fromweight training. This also controls the noiselevel in the spa. Thus, the conventional wis-dom developed from the desire of spa man-agement to extend the life of their machinesand make for a more placid business envir-onment, not from exercise science or experi-ential evidence. The practices that benefithealth club management are not necessarilythe ones that contribute to your increaseddevelopment and performance.
Safety also gets dragged into discussionsof movement velocity, under the assumptionthat fast is dangerous, as in driving a car. Butjust as in driving, it really depends on theability of the operator. The more experiencedan athlete becomes with barbell exercises,
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the more efficiently and safely he can per-form them at higher speeds. Squats can bedangerous for novices at high speeds, but foradvanced athletes high-speed squats are avery productive power exercise. If techniqueis correct, all multi-joint exercises can beperformed in a way that enhances powerproduction. Safety is the result of cor-rect technique, at any velocity. High-speed exercise is necessary if power is to betrained. This obviously means that powertraining is not inherently dangerous; if itwere, the only powerful athletes would be theones that were born that way. Bad techniqueis inherently dangerous, whatever the speedor load. Good technique increases safety, andthat should be the emphasis in every weightroom.
The correct movement velocity of an ex-ercise should be determined by the move-ment pattern of the exercise and the effectthe exercise is intended to produce, not by
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arbitrary notions of intensity or safety. Manyexercises cannot be performed slowly. A slowclean is not a clean; in fact, a clean cannot beperformed without an explosion at the topthat converts the pull to a catch. On the otherhand, some single-joint exercises cannot beperformed both quickly and correctly. A bar-bell curl cannot be performed rapidlythrough the entire range of motion. In fact,one might argue that the more slowly an ex-ercise must be executed, the less valuable itis for sports training. Also, the closer aweight is to 1RM, the slower it moves; this istrue for any exercise, regardless of its nature.A heavy snatch comes off the floor moreslowly than a light one, although it will stillbe faster than a heavy deadlift. Movementsthat are limited by absolute strength will ap-proach zero velocity in a true 1RM, and willalways be slower than a 1RM explosivemovement. Many factors affect movementspeed, and blanket statements about what is
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best are seldom useful – except for this one:faster is almost always better.
Warm-up
Warming up is an essential componentof training, but it need not be a tremend-ously creative affair, with lots of arm waving,hopping, wiggling, and calisthenics. Onceagain, the warm-up should fit the workout,and if weight training is the workout, thenthe warm-up should prepare the body forweight training. Preparation is both muscu-lar and neuromuscular: it elevates the tem-perature of the muscles and associated tis-sues, making them more flexible and lessprone to injury, and it improves muscularcontractile properties while at the same timeallowing the movement pattern to be prac-ticed so that it is familiar, comfortable, andmore automatic at work set weights. Beginwith a simple five minutes on an exercise
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bike or rower; other types of aerobic exer-cises, like treadmill walking or the ellipticaltrainer, are less desirable since they involvean inadequate range of motion and lessmuscle mass. Five short minutes with agradual increase in intensity elevates bodytemperature and prepares the body to exer-cise. Then move directly to the first barbellexercise. Do the complete range of motionfor that exercise with an empty bar first, foras many sets as necessary to warm the rangeof motion (this might be as many a five setsfor an injured athlete, or a creaky old mas-ters guy). Then increase the weight in evenincrements for 3 to 5 sets until the trainee isready to handle the work set weight. Afterthe work sets, repeat the process (withoutthe aerobic part) for every exercise in theworkout.
In more experienced trainees, warm-upreps can be tapered down to two or even to asingle rep for the last warm-up set, saving
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gas for the work sets. Novices who need themotor pathway practice should stay with thefull number of reps all the way up, until skilllevel permits the taper.
And it is very important that the athleteunderstand the proper role of warm-ups:they prepare for the work sets; they do notinterfere with them. If the last warm-up setis too heavy – i.e., too close to the weight ofthe work set – it will fatigue rather thanwarm. The warm-up sets are valuable in thatthey ready the body for the work sets, butthey do not themselves make anythingstronger. If 295 × 5 × 3 are the bench presswork sets, 285 × 5 is not a good idea for thelast warm-up. If 295 is heavy enough to con-stitute an adaptive load, 285 will reduce thelikelihood of succeeding at all 15 reps of worksince it is close enough to be tantamount toanother heavy set done before. By the sametoken, if 295 × 5 × 3 will actually go for all 15reps, 285 × 5 will not produce a strength
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increase, because that adaptation has alreadyoccurred or 295 would not be feasible.
Flexibility is traditionally defined as having completerange of motion around a joint. It is probably moreusefully described as the ability of the muscles thatlimit motion around a joint to extend beyond theirresting length, which affects the range of motionaround the joint. Stretching increases flexibility by in-creasing the ability of the muscles to lengthen, and itshould not be thought of as acting on the connectivetissue of the joint itself. Stretching has traditionallybeen included as part of the pre-training, pre-eventpreparatory ritual. It is thought that stretching beforeexercise prepares the joints to move through theircomplete range of motion, thus improving perform-ance and reducing the incidence of injury. A great dealof money has been spent on posters and books dealingwith how to stretch effectively, and it is nearly univer-sally accepted among exercise professionals thatstretching must precede exercise. But hang on...An examination of the scientific and medical literaturepaints a different picture. The majority of the dataavailable indicates that pre-training stretching neitherreduces the frequency of injury nor effectively improvesflexibility, the two areas in which it is supposed toprovide benefit. Studies of marathon participants failedto show a difference in injury rates between athletes
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who stretched before the race and those who did not.But wait, there’s more!Evidence from studies on vertical jump and broad jumpperformance indicates that pre-event stretching actu-ally reduces power output, and other studies suggestthat this is true for other explosive activities, such asweightlifting, as well. This may be due to a reduction inthe effectiveness of the stretch-reflex portion of theconcentric contraction caused by proprioceptive resetduring the stretch.If pre-training stretching doesn’t increase flexibility orreduce injuries, what does? Proper warm-up safelydoes both. The loaded human body moving through itsmaximum range of motion actually provides a stretch-ing stimulus for the antagonist muscle groups, the veryones that are tight. (The agonists cause the motionaround the joints, while the antagonists resist or decel-erate that motion. A lack of extensibility in the antagon-ists is the usual cause of flexibility problems.) A num-ber of studies have shown an increase in flexibility as aresult of complete-range-of-motion weight training.Improvements in hip and knee flexibility on the orderof 40% or better are commonly experienced. This is be-cause proper form requires complete range of motionof the involved joints and, if proper position is main-tained, the weight puts the body into a properlystretched position at the bottom (or top) of each rep,exposing the antagonists to a stretch stimulus eachtime the load is moved. This obviously requires goodform, and good coaching. Properly done, each weighted
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rep provides a better stretch than an unweighted tradi-tional stretch, because the complete range of motion iseasier to reach with the help of the weight. More im-portantly, and most especially for the hamstrings, thepostural position of the back – the very critical lumbarextension that must be maintained to fully stretch thehamstrings – is best accomplished with a loaded spine,since the load gives the spinal erectors some resistanceto contract against to maintain proper lumbarcurvature. It is common to see athletes attempt tostretch the hamstrings with a rounded lower back; thiscannot be done effectively.If traditional stretching exercises are desired, theyshould be done at the end of the workout, when themuscles are warm and the stretch will not interferewith performance. There are several methods ofstretching currently practiced, but the only type ofstretching really needed, beyond the active flexibilitywork inherent in full-ROM strength training, is staticstretching. Move the joints into a position of mild dis-comfort and hold the position for 30+ seconds. Repeat2 to 3 times for maximum benefit. Problem areas –hamstrings often need extra attention from both veryyoung and older lifters – should be stretched afterevery workout.But a more critical question might be: how flexible doesan athlete need to be? If full range of motion in all thepositions encountered during training and performancecan be properly expressed under load and during skillexecution, the athlete is sufficiently flexible. Training
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through a full range of motion and the correct practiceof sport skills will maintain flexibility, just as they haveestablished it to begin with, and an attempt to furtherincrease flexibility is at best a waste of time.
“Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time
and annoys the pig.”
—Robert A. Heinlein
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Chapter 6: The Novice
Programming for the novice is the mostimportant task a coach will encounter, andthe most important task an athlete can un-dertake. Done correctly, it sets the stage for alifetime of proper training habits, long-termprogress, and athletic achievement far abovewhat would be possible without it. Insuffi-cient attention to detail, and to the trainee’sresponse to training during this phase, cancost valuable progress that may not be recov-erable later.
In one very important respect trainingnovices is easy: virtually anything that makesa novice work harder than bed rest will pro-duce positive results. As a result, manypeople have an erroneous impression of thequality of their training system. Single sets,multiple sets, high volume, high intensity,
super slow, supersets, giant sets, gnarlmon-ster sets – quite literally anything resemblinga training program will produce better res-ults than no program at all in novice train-ees. The ignorance of this simple fact hasproduced profound confusion among bothacademics and coaches in the strength andconditioning profession, with many coachesbelieving that there is only one right way totrain all athletes, and many academics be-lieving that research conducted on untrainedeighteen-year-old males is relevant to allpopulations, including athletes.
Most research into weight training hasbeen done on the untrained populationscommonly found in college weight trainingcourses – unfit young adults eager to earnbonus points by participating in a study. Un-fit and inexperienced people are by defini-tion far removed from their genetic potentialfor athletic performance. Older adults,middle-aged women, large populations of
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nurses, active 30-year-old walkers, and anyother relatively sedentary population thathas never trained with weights for any signi-ficant period of time or with any degree oforganization – the groups most commonlystudied – will be quite distant from their ge-netic potential for strength and power. Thesubjects used in these experiments, and allnovice trainees for that matter, will exhibitlarge increases in fitness and performancefollowing a short series of exposures toweight training, regardless of the nature ofthat exposure. The literature provides many,many examples of statistically significant in-creases in fitness within a very few weeks us-ing virtually any training program. Figure6-1 illustrates the steep slope of performanceimprovement for the novice trainee. It isquite easy to produce fitness gains in abeginner.
These studies may be valid for the popu-lations studied, depending upon the training
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acumen of those designing the study pro-tocol. Quite often, however, even this is notthe case, since researchers inexperienced inthe weight room sometimes design studiesusing unrealistic, impractical methods thatan experienced coach would considerbizarre. But this is not really the problem.Frequently, the data acquired from these es-sentially novice populations has been gener-alized as valid for all training populations,from novice to Olympian, from healthy todiseased, young to old. It would be a grossunderstatement to characterize this asmerely inappropriate. The results of a studydone on a specific population – one withspecific characteristics that make it very dif-ferent from other specific populations – ap-ply only to that specific population. Theseresults cannot be applied to other popula-tions, because their differing characteristicswill change the results. In the same way thata training program must be specific to the
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sport that it is designed to produce an adapt-ation for, the program must also be specificfor the athlete’s level of adaptation.
The very essence of training is the cor-rect application of the stress/adaptationcycle, and the outcome of this cycle is ex-tremely dependent on the physiological char-acteristics of the individual to whom it is ap-plied. As the characteristics of the individualchange, so must the stress, if the adaptationis to continue. Novices eventually become“trained” and thus move to the intermediate,advanced, and possibly elite stages. Diseasedpopulations respond differently dependingon their pathologies. The elderly adapt tostress less efficiently; children and adoles-cents adapt more efficiently, but only to cer-tain stresses; males respond differently fromfemales; motivated athletes progress fasterthan casual trainees. Specific training organ-izations are necessary for each populationand for each stage of life and of fitness, and
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the blanket application of one programacross all populations is absurd.
Yet we claim above that all novices re-spond to any stress by adapting – an appar-ent contradiction. The point is that in an un-adapted trainee, any stress serves to cause anadaptation, but a program that makes optim-al use of the novice trainee’s ability to adaptquickly is better than a program that doesn’t.And as the novice trainee becomes more ad-apted to stress and more closely approachesthe limits of genetic potential, the stressmust become more and more specific to thatindividual’s level of advancement in orderfor adaptation to continue.
The Basics of NoviceProgramming
The result of the universal “novice re-sponse” is that there are nearly as manytraining programs for beginners that
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produce at least marginal improvement asthere are coaches. They all produce resultsbecause the beginner adapts to an increasedtraining load quickly, in as little as 24 to 72hours (fig. 6-2). This means that, as long asthe novice training program provides over-load at some point, performance improve-ment will be the result.
This actually means that any program-ming model fits within the context of Selye’sGeneral Adaptation Syndrome theory whenapplied to novices. Any stress causes an ad-aptation, because so little adaptation hasalready taken place.
So what’s the fuss? If everyone is right,can’t we all just train? Actually, everyone isright, but some are much more right thanothers. And some are right only accidentally.Being “more right” means basing the train-ing program on the optimal recovery rate ofthe athlete being trained. To be most effect-ive and efficient at improving fitness for
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novices, a program must progressively in-crease training load as rapidly as tolerable sothat meaningful results happen in a usefultimeframe – and that they can continue bey-ond the trainee’s universal novice response.
Figure 6-1. The generalized relationship between
performance improvement and training complexity
relative to time.
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Figure 6-2. The two-factor model of the human re-
sponses and adaptations to a single bout of training.
During and immediately after training, there is a sup-
pression of comprehensive recovery processes (Selye's
stage 1). Shortly after training ceases there is a general
increase in recovery (Selye's stage 2). An important
observation here is that during the period when fa-
tigue has increased as a result of training, there is a
negative effect on performance.
Most people arrive at this conclusion in-tuitively. In gyms all over the world, inexper-ienced people training by themselves knowthey can successfully add weight to the exer-cises they did last time, and most will do so
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unless told they can’t by someone who issupposed to know more than they do. Mostindividuals enjoy testing themselves withheavier loads or more reps. They derive asense of pleasure and accomplishment fromthe improvement, and only become frus-trated with exercise when improvementstops. Simple progression is everyone’sfriend. It works well. It’s how weak peoplecan get very strong very fast.
Up to a point. The keys to maximum ef-ficiency in using simple progression are se-lecting the correct amount to increase theload each time and timing these increases tocoincide with recovery from the previoustraining session. This is where the role of acoach becomes important: applying the dis-cipline of a program to an eager trainee whomight otherwise not exercise discipline orthe judgment that comes from experience.
Novice trainees adapt to stress morequickly than is usually recognized by the
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typical strength and conditioning academicor coach. As illustrated in figure 6-2, the besttime to train again after the first sessionwould be somewhere between 48 and 72hours later: train Monday, rest Tuesday,train again at the same time on Wednesdayor Thursday. The goal is to drive adaptationas quickly as possible. In a rank novice, a 48-to 72-hour recovery can generally be expec-ted, meaning that 2 to 3 workouts per weekwill generate excellent results (fig. 6-3).
All successful, productive training relieson the body’s innate ability to adapt to stress.Novice training may very well be the athlete’sfirst exposure to truly hard work done in aplanned, logical, progressive manner. Thisregimented approach to work is not neces-sarily fun, but the results it produces aresomething that motivated people find re-warding and encouraging. The desire to testone’s limits is harnessed for the first time ina program of this type, where hard work is
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done in a logical manner to produce a pre-dictable, directable outcome. Athletes’ re-sponses to this phase of training – in severaldifferent ways – determine their ability tomove to the next level.
Figure 6-3. A week of simple progressive training
according to and integrated Selye/two-factor model
would look like this.
Novice trainees, by definition, have littleor no weight training experience. Havingbeen a member of a health spa, using themachines at the Y, or curling with theplastic-coated weights in the garage doesn’t
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count. Novices lack the motor skills to per-form the basic barbell exercises that form thecore of the program, and they must learnproper and safe exercise execution. Thenovice is also unexposed to systemic exercisestress and has not developed the ability to re-spond to the demands of exercises that causewhole-body adaptation. Since the trainee isboth inefficient and unadapted, only a fewbasic exercises should be used, and theyshould be repeated frequently to establishthe basic motor pathways and basic strength.The squat, deadlift, press, and bench pressshould be learned first, with the power cleanand the power snatch introduced as skill andability permit. These core strength andpower exercises develop the foundation ofstrength, flexibility, and motor control thatwill allow for the later inclusion of more de-manding exercises, because they utilize allthe muscles in the same coordinated fashionthat more advanced exercises do.
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It may be tempting for individuals whoare very fit from other activities to assumethat that fitness translates to the barbell ex-ercises. Even fit individuals who have nottrained with weights before are novices andtheir programs should be designed accord-ingly. More importantly, even people whohave trained with weights extensively butwho have never followed a program thatdrives progress in a linear fashion are stillnovices with respect to their response to lin-ear programming. Progress through thenovice stage occurs very rapidly for everyonesince an increase in weight every workoutgenerates the fastest possible progress math-ematically, and this therefore constitutes themost efficient possible use of training time.But if the trainee is placed immediately intoan intermediate program, the rapid initialimprovement of the novice will not occur,since the weekly workload increase is slowerfor the intermediate than the every-workout
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increase for the novice. The fit trainee cantolerate incremental increases in loadingevery 24 to 72 hours just like a decondi-tioned person, and rapid initial progress isthe objective of a well-designed program.
There are two important differences forthe very fit novice. First, a very fit traineemight be able to make bigger initial incre-mental increases through the novice phasethan a poorly conditioned person. Second,and as a result, the period of time beforeintermediate-type training programs are ne-cessary will probably be shorter, since theinitial progress has occurred more quickly.This is because a very fit person, althoughunadapted to barbell training, is closer to hisgenetic potential than a completely uncondi-tioned person and thus has less far to go.
Basic Program Variables
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The first goal for the novice should bethe development of basic usable whole-bodystrength. At this stage in a trainee’s develop-ment, even short-term goals unrelated togetting stronger are irrelevant. Sports per-formance, general fitness, and improved ap-pearance all depend, first, on the acquisitionof basic strength. It is the foundation for allother physical improvement, and it must bethe trainee’s first concern.Exercises. The core of the novice programcomprises just a few “big” exercises to devel-op the novice trainee’s strength base: thesquat, the press, the bench press, and thedeadlift. After a few weeks of successfultraining – or sooner, depending on theaptitude of the athlete – the power clean canbe added to the program. Power cleans areconsidered a core exercise for most sports,but they not are included in a beginner’s pro-gram until the basic strength and motorskills have developed enough that they can
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be done with reasonable form. The four basicexercises have been used for many decadesby strong men and women to improve basicstrength, and no substitute exists for them.Together they form a complete package ofloaded movements that stress the wholebody in exactly the patterns that get used insports and in life. It is critical to a program’ssuccess that everyone involved learn to per-form and coach these exercises correctly.
Once the basic exercises have beenmastered, accessory exercises can be addedinto training. The most valuable assistancemovements are those that improve anyweaknesses in the basic exercises or other-wise benefit their performance. To the extentpossible, they should also be multi-joint,since more muscles involved in an exercisemake it both more functional and a betteruse of training time.
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A coach who is responsible for a large number of be-
ginning trainees at one time, such as a PE teacher or
a public school sports coach, should consider using
only the four basic exercises. The power clean does
not lend itself well to some programs due to the limit-
ations imposed by time, experience, and equipment.
The technical demands of the powerclean are such that many trainees willrequire individual attention from acoach experienced in solving the prob-lems encountered in Olympicweightlifting-derived exercises. Some-times neither the time nor the expertiseis available for this. Cleans and snatchesare best coached by people who havebeen trained to do so by competentcoaching instructors. Complex multi-joint movements have lots of potentialfor error, and they are harder to getright than slower lifts because the errorshappen faster and are thus harder to ob-serve. Coaches who lack the experience
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to work with athletes on the clean andsnatch serve their charges better by notteaching things wrong. Cleans also tearup the floor in the absence of bumperplates, since heavy cleans will getdropped. This is unavoidable, and if theequipment is not available, power cleanswill be a costly exercise to perform.For these reasons, in certain contextsand for certain coaches, it might beprudent to leave power cleans out of theprogram and concentrate just on thecorrect execution of the four basicstrength exercises. Focusing on thesefour exercises without the power cleanaccomplishes several important things:
• They develop an excellent strengthfoundation.
• The elimination of the power clean exped-ites the teaching process.
• Training will be more inclusive, since dif-ferences in existing motor skills will not beas significant a factor in learning the slowlifts.
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• Time can be managed more effectively.• Performance-related fitness will still be
significantly improved.
Back extensions and their derivative theglute-ham raise are very useful for addingextra work on the spinal erectors and hip ex-tensors, as is the Romanian deadlift, a spe-cial version of the stiff-legged deadlift thatstarts at the hang position rather than at thefloor. The classic barbell row is a good build-er of back strength when done properly,starting each rep off the floor like a deadliftand finishing each rep touching the abs (theyare, however, not a substitute for powercleans). Chin-ups (with hands supine) andpull-ups (prone hands) are the staple upper-body assistance movements, since they workthe entire arm and the upper back muscles ina way that closely duplicates the pulling andgrasping functions of the arms and hands insports and work. Chin-ups also build a nice-looking set of arms, since biceps get used
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more in this version of the movement, thussatisfying the normal male concerns aboutarm appearance while at the same time beinga more useful exercise than curls. Armsshould probably be included in the program– a certain amount of “beach work” will getsneaked in anyway, and lots of chins do thejob better than any other exercise.
Focused abdominal exercises may be themost important assistance movements to in-clude. The lower back is supported from theanterior by the abs, and ab work, done cor-rectly, protects and assists lumbar stability.“Done correctly” means that the abs arestrength-trained, as opposed to endurance-trained with high reps and low resistance.Weighted sit-ups or some version of them,knees-to-elbows from a hanging position onthe chin-up bar, and exercises that isomet-rically load the abdominals in a fashion sim-ilar to their normal postural-support func-tion, are preferred over exercises (e.g.,
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crunches) that do not adequately stress themuscles in a way that actually applies totheir role as spinal supporters.Reps and Sets. Figure 5-1 illustrates thecontinuum of physiological responses tovarying repetition and intensity schemes.Absolute strength is gained by using very lowreps (1 to 3) per set, mass is increased withhigher reps (10 to 12), and local muscularand systemic endurance is developed witheven higher reps (20+). For the novice, a re-petition scheme that is right in the anaerobicmiddle works best: sets of 5 reps. Fives areclose enough to the strength end of the con-tinuum to provide tremendous increases instrength, the primary goal of the novice.Fives are also enough reps to develop a toler-ance for elevated work levels, and provide fora good amount of hypertrophy so that mus-cular weight gain occurs too. This mix of ad-aptations provides a very good fitness basethat allows for progress. Fives are optimal
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for the novice; they effectively stimulatestrength gains and other forms of progresswithout producing sufficient muscular orneuromuscular exhaustion to cause tech-nique deterioration at the end of the set.
Some assistance exercises, when finallyintegrated into the program, will be donewith higher reps. Chin-ups and pull-ups, forinstance, might be done with up to 15 repsbefore weight is added. They function as anarm and upper back exercise, and are usefulfor satisfying most trainees’ desire for rapidpositive effects on their physiques. They arealso a very good basic strength indicator; atrainee who cannot do many chins needs towork on them, since chinning strength isclosely related to pressing strength and im-proving a weak chin-up/pull-up will improvethe pressing movements.
The number of sets to be done varieswith the athlete’s circumstances: firstworkout ever, or second month of training;
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sore from the previous workout, or fresh as agarden tomato; perfect form, or in need oftechnical practice to hone a skill. It also var-ies with the exercise being done: core lift orassistance exercise; presses, which do not tapin too deeply; or heavy deadlifts, which arehard enough at 5RM that one set is plenty formost people. These decisions must be madeon an individual basis each time, but it ispossible to establish some generalguidelines. As a rule, work sets for squats,bench presses, and presses should be threesets across (three sets at the same weight) fornovices, but as much as five sets across or aslittle as one work set might be appropriate,depending again on the circumstances.
The number of sets per exercise is thesum of the warm-ups and the work sets.Warm-up sets are done as necessary, more ifthe trainee is sore, inflexible, or older, fewerif he is already warm from previousexercises. Warm-up sets add to the total
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number (and total work done), which might,in atypical cases, be as high as twelve sets ifextensive light warm-up sets and three worksets across are done.
As mentioned in chapter 5, sets acrosshave several advantages. They allow suffi-cient tonnage to be accumulated to producethe necessary adaptive stress, more than ispossible with only one work set. But theyalso allow a coach to observe enough reps toanalyze any form problems a trainee mightbe having, and then observe the effectivenessof the correction in the next set. Gross tech-nique problems can be seen immediately byanyone familiar with the movement; lesspronounced or intermittent form problemsneed more reps for diagnosis. Sets acrossprovide that opportunity.
Scheduling. For a novice trainee, the ad-aptation to a new training load occurs within24 to 72 hours. Three days per week yields atraining session every 48 hours with one
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72-hour interval at the end of the week (thelonger break following what might be aharder workout). Three days per week fitswell into most people’s work schedule, animportant factor for most novices just get-ting started, trying to integrate a trainingschedule into their lifestyle.
Monday, Wednesday, and Friday are themost obvious training days for most peopleon a three day-per-week program. In fact,Monday and Wednesday are the busiest daysin all gyms everywhere, Monday being re-ferred to as Guilty Conscience Day since somany people show up on Monday to apolo-gize to themselves for Friday’s missedworkout. Depending on the facility, thismight be an excellent reason to use a Tues-day/Thursday/ Saturday schedule, or aSunday/Tuesday/Thursday one.
Depending on individual schedulingflexibility, recovery ability, and personalpreference, a trainee might decide to use an
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every-other-day schedule, where each weekis different but each break between workoutsis the same 48 hours. This schedule does notallow for a longer break between two harderworkouts, and works best if two differentdaily workouts are being alternated, an op-tion we will explore later.
Workloads. Any novice learning a new ex-ercise, regardless of training history, appar-ent fitness level, aptitude shown on previousexercises, or protestations to the contrary,should begin with an empty bar. And thatempty bar may need to be a lighter one thanthe standard 20-kg/45-lb type, depending onthe trainee. For the novice, the law is: learnfirst, and then load. There will be plenty oftime to put weight on the bar later; the firsttask is to learn the movement patternwithout having to worry about how heavy itis. Heavy always competes with correct, andat this point correct is much more import-ant. The vast majority of the time, a trainee
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will learn the movement well enough that theload can be increased during the firstworkout, but it is important that a good com-mand of the movement pattern be estab-lished before any plates are added to the bar.This process may take three sets, or it maytake three workouts, depending on bothcoach and trainee. Do not rush this process:this is not the place for impatience. If thefirst workout for a 150-pound trainee pro-gresses through the empty bar for three setsof five, then 75 × 5, 95 × 5, and 115 × 5, andthen ends with 135 × 5 × 3 sets, all with goodform and the bar speed on the work-setsslowing down just a little, it is a very goodfirst day.
This is enough work to disrupt homeo-stasis and bring about Selye’s stage-1 re-sponse. The trainee has done more workthan he is accustomed to already, and addingmore weight is pointless on the first day oftraining. If the trainee has worked through
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the entire range of motion of an unfamiliarexercise, he will experience some musclesoreness. The goal for the first workoutshould be a little soreness, but not so muchthat daily tasks are markedly impaired. It ac-complishes absolutely nothing for a novicetrainee to wake up the day after the firstworkout with crippling soreness, and many,many people are discouraged to the point ofquitting when faced with what they think willbe a second workout with the same result.An exercise professional will never let thishappen intentionally, although it is some-times unavoidable.
After the first workout has establishedthe trainee’s strength level, subsequentworkouts should progressively increase thework-set weights of all the exercises. Thisshould occur at every workout. Weight is theonly variable in the progression that is adjus-ted up. The number of reps is fixed by thephysiologic effects that the training program
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is designed to improve, as discussed earlier,and if five reps is the assigned workload, restcannot be decreased without compromisingthe ability to do all the reps. The incrementsby which the weight of the work sets increaseare determined by both the exercise and theability of the trainee.
As a general rule, the smaller the num-ber of muscles the exercise involves, thelonger it will take for the trainee to getstronger at it. Exercises that use large num-bers of large muscles, such as deadlifts andsquats, get strong much faster than upperbody exercises like the bench press. Exer-cises such as the press, clean, and snatch,which use a lot of muscles but are limited bythe contribution made by smaller muscles ortechnical proficiency, get strong more slowlyas well. Chins and assistance exercises thatinvolve only one joint get stronger veryslowly, and progress on them is expectedonly on a monthly basis.
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People of different sexes, sizes, ages,levels of experience and athletic ability, andlevels of motivation make progress at differ-ent rates. As Selye’s theory predicts, thosepopulations most capable of adapting to ex-ternal stress will make the fastest progress.People whose hormonal, dietary, rest, andmotivational circumstances are optimal forrecovery from physical loads – well-fedyoung men on sports teams, for example –will make more rapid gains than any otherpopulation when subjected to intense train-ing. All other groups will progress moreslowly, and will attain commensurately lowerlevels of absolute performance, althoughtheir relative performances may certainly becomparable.
So, for young males who weigh between150 and 200 pounds, deadlifts can likelymove up 15 pounds per workout, and squats10 pounds, with continued steady progressfor perhaps three weeks before slowing down
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to half that rate. Bench presses, presses, andcleans can move up 5 to 10 pounds for thefirst few workouts, with progress on theseexercises slowing down to 2.5 to 5 poundsper workout after only two to three weeks.Young women tend to progress on the squatand the deadlift at about the same rate asyoung men, adjusted for bodyweight (whichwould mean 5-10 pounds instead of 10-15),but more slowly on the press, bench press,clean, snatch, and assistance exercises. Pro-gress can be made for quite some time, andspecific strategies to maximize it and delaythe onset of a training plateau should be em-ployed as progress starts to slow. Thesemethods are discussed below.
Linear progress, for as long as it is pos-sible, is the most efficient way to utilize anovice’s training time, since every workoutyields a strength improvement. This is trueeven if the increases are very small; twopounds per week on the press still adds up to
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104 pounds per year, pretty good progress ifyou can make it. As progress begins to slow –i.e., as work sets become harder to do and tocomplete – or as reps begin to get missed,smaller incremental increases should beused. Smaller jumps will allow for more lin-ear progression, so that more progress is ac-cumulated before a radical change in pro-gramming is necessary.
The Starting Strength Model
As outlined in Starting Strength: BasicBarbell Training, a novice starts with threeor four basic whole body exercises and afterwarm-up does three work sets (except for thedeadlift) at a weight that is based on the per-formance during the previous workout.When the prescribed sets and reps are com-pleted at the assigned weight, the load is in-creased for the next workout. This is very
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simple, and it works for quite a while formost beginners. In the presence of adequaterest and nutrition, it would be unusual forsomeone to fail to add quite a bit of muscleand strength before any changes to theworkout are needed at all. In fact, the failureof a novice to progress on this simple pro-gram means that it was not followedprecisely.
For a rank novice, the simplest ofworkouts is in order. This short program canbe followed for the first few workouts:
The two workouts alternate across theMonday-Wednesday-Friday schedule for thefirst couple of weeks, until the freshness ofthe deadlift has worn off a little and after thequick initial gains establish the deadlift well
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ahead of the squat. At this point the powerclean is introduced:
After this program is followed for a shorttime, chin-ups and pull-ups can be added,along with back extensions or glute/hamraises for a break from pulling everyworkout. This somewhat more-complicatedprogram looks like this:
In this variation, the deadlift and powerclean alternate every time workout A is done,and the chin-up alternates with the pull-uplikewise. The 2-week schedule would looklike this:
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The squat, bench press, and press are donefor 3 sets of 5; note that the bench press andthe press alternate in all variations of theprogram. The deadlift is done for 1 set of 5reps every fifth workout, due to its hardernature at heavy weights, and alternates withthe power clean, which is done at 5 sets of 3reps across. Squats continue each workoutuninterrupted; this is possible because theystart lighter than the deadlift due to a longerrange of motion but are less fatiguing due tothe inherent stretch reflex at the bottom.Unweighted chin-ups or pull-ups are done to
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failure for 3 sets unless the trainee can com-plete more than 15 reps per set (unlikely for arank novice), in which case weight is added.Chin-ups use a supine grip (and thus morebiceps), while pull-ups use a prone grip. Ifthe athlete can maintain his chin/pull-upnumbers as his bodyweight increases, he isactually getting stronger.
This is a reasonable exercise selectionfor a novice, and a reasonable weekly plan. Itcan be followed for several months if carefulattention is paid to the increments of in-crease, rest, adequate nutrition, and theelimination of activities that compete for re-covery resources during this important peri-od of rapid strength increase.Back-off Periods. Inevitably, progress willstall. There are two basic scenarios, one inwhich the trainee does everything right butstill fails to stimulate further progress andanother in which progress stalls or regressesbecause of greed for quick progress or
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because of a lifestyle factor that affects re-covery. In either case, something must bedone to salvage the novice’s ability to usesimple linear progression and milk all pos-sible progress from the first level of trainingadvancement.
The first scenario assumes proper ap-plication of all the progression principles,adequate attention to recovery, sleep, andnutrition, and proper technique on all the ex-ercises. This may be a bit of a stretch, sincefew novice trainees execute all parts of theplan without flaw. But for purposes of illus-tration, we’ll make the stretch, we’ll use thebench press as an example, and we’ll ignorethe effects of the press workout done on al-ternate days to simplify the example (a factorthat would obviously have to be consideredin an actual situation of this type).
If the trainee correctly follows thesimple progression program, does not getgreedy, and eats and rests correctly, then he
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will be able to add weight to the bar at everyworkout for quite some time. He might startby adding weight in 5-pound increments ateach bench press workout and progress to 1-to 3-pound increases. At some point, addingweight will cause missed reps in one workout(usually in the last set), followed by all threesets of 5 completed at that weight the follow-ing workout. Finally, he will begin to missthe last reps in the work-sets for two to threeworkouts in a row.
Quite a few things could be changedabout the workout, but the correct approachwill accomplish two things. First, it will offerthe highest probability of restoring linearprogress as quickly as possible and, second,it will keep the trainee as close as possible tohis most recent 5RM, thus avoiding the lossof hard-won progress. The trainee needs achange but will do best with a change thatdisrupts the essence of the program as littleas possible. A slight back-off in training
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weight with the immediate resumption ofslow and steady progress identical to whathas taken place in previous months isappropriate.
Any time a trainee working very hard isallowed a bit of extra rest and recuperation,performance will increase. This is evidencenot of a dramatic unexpected increase inoverall physical ability, but of the increasedability to display it on a given day. It’s notthat he’s actually stronger; he’s just not tired.“Peaking” for a contest or testing procedureworks the same way: no dramatic increase instrength occurs at a peak, just the ability todemonstrate the strength that is actuallypresent as a cumulative effect of the trainingprogram. And, in this case, this is exactlywhat is necessary. A trainee at this stage isnot terribly “stuck” and will not take muchunsticking to get back on the road to pro-gress. A little extra rest will always allow asmall increase in the weights that can be
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handled afterward, and the accumulation ofstrength through progressive loading can re-sume from there.
For example, say work-set weights forthe bench press have been 165 × 5 × 3 (threesets of five reps at 165 pounds) on Monday,167 × 5 × 3 on Friday, 170 × 5 × 3 on Wed-nesday, 172 × 4, 172 × 4, 172 × 3 on Monday,and then the same for the next benchworkout. The following Wednesday the sameworkout would be done, with an 8-to-10%reduction in training load, and then a returnto incremental increases from there. So thework sets would be 160 × 5 × 3 on that Wed-nesday, 165 × 5 × 3 on the next bench pressday, and 170 on the next one. These will beperceived as light weights, and the tempta-tion to do extra sets must be resisted if theunloading is to do its job. It will take abouttwo weeks to get back to the previous level ofperformance, the precise number ofworkouts depending on the weight being
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used and the jumps in weight betweenworkouts. At this point the weight that wasmissed, 172, should be used at the nextworkout. The following workouts with 175,177, and on up, can be done just as if thelittle “detour” never happened. The extra restand recovery – the small “peaking” effectfrom the temporary reduction in trainingload – should allow success with a weightslightly above that which the trainee was suc-cessful with previously, and the act of liftingthis heavier weight should spur further pro-gress for several more workouts.
The second scenario, in which progressstalls because of impatience or other externalfactors, is different. Here, the trainee has ac-tually regressed slightly, or possibly morethan slightly. The build-up of fatigue is morepronounced, and the back-off should there-fore be more drastic. The first example hadthe trainee dropping his bench press pound-age back from 172 to 160. Assume that the
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second trainee is also stuck at 172, exceptthat instead of getting 4 reps for 2 to 3workouts in a row, the last workout with 172netted only 1 or 2 successful reps. In this cir-cumstance there is really no point in backingoff only 8 to 10%, because that would still besomewhat difficult and it would not allowsufficient rest and recovery. The first back-off workout should be very light and easy,and lower in volume than a normal workout.For example, 3 work sets of 5 reps at 160should be reduced to only one set of 5 at 145.Another approach might be to warm up nor-mally, using standard incremental sets up tothe last warm-up, and then stop, doing nowork sets at all and letting the warm-up setsserve to maintain the motor pathways.
The second and third workouts will de-pend on how much work the trainee was do-ing when progress stalled. If he was at 3 to 5work sets, then in the second workout hewould warm up to 10% below the point
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where progress stalled, and then do thatweight for one set. This prevents detrainingbut still allows some rest. The content of thethird workout will depend on how the train-ee feels. The warm-up and first work setshould be the same as the second workout,but a decision should be made after the firstwork set. If the weight feels light, as such aweight should, and the trainee feels good,then he should do three sets across there. Ifthe weight feels heavy or he still feels tired,then he should again stop after one work setand try again the next time. When possible,usually within two short workouts, trainingcan proceed with three normal work sets be-ing done at 10% lighter than the pre-stallwork sets, progressing right back up to andthrough the previous loads.
Small plates are necessary for small jumps, and smalljumps are necessary for progress. An understandingof this very practical matter is fundamental to contin-ued improved performance under the bar.
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As training progresses, the ability to adapt to the stressof training slows, as discussed at length previously.What were once easy 10-pound jumps for sets of 5 repsbecome difficult 5-pound jumps for 5 reps. Withstandard 2½-pound (or 1.25kg) plates, sets of four isthe inevitable result. The object is to use sets of five, forthe physiologic effects produced by five reps, and train-ing is designed around a certain number of reps for thisspecific reason. So it is necessary to be able to make in-cremental increases while holding the reps constant,and this requires that the increments be small enoughthat an adaptation can occur during the time allotted. Anovice trainee who has correctly followed the programwill eventually not be able to adapt to 5-pound jumpsbetween sets.But that trainee can get strong 1 pound at a time, or 1.5pounds or 2 pounds at a time, depending on the exer-cise. Certainly for small-muscle-group exercises like thepress, bench press, and even chin-ups, small jumps arethe only way progress will accumulate smoothly. And ifa 2-pound jump is loaded, it will have to be loaded with1-pound plates. Several companies make small plates,in both pounds and kilos. Or they can be made in thegarage out of 2-inch washers glued, taped, or weldedtogether in varying increments. Or 2½-pound platescan be shaved down at a machine shop. In pounds, therange should be ½, 1, and 1½; in kilos, 0.25, 0.5, and0.75.It is also important to understand how the small platesrelate to the rest of the equipment. Standard “Olympic”
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barbell plates are castings, and castings are inherentlyinaccurate. Even good-quality calibrated plates, whichare milled to tolerance, are not dead-on. When loadinga bar, which will itself have a small error, with severalplates, all of which have a small error, it is likely thatthe face value loaded weight is not actually what is onthe bar.This is not important for warm-ups, or for back-off sets,or for anything else during the workout that does notrepresent a measured incremental increase over theprevious workout. But when the load on the bar is sup-posed to be 173.5 pounds, and it actually weighs 175.5due to plate error, the target has been missed. It maynot be possible, or even necessary, to have dead-onplates; it is possible to have the same big plates on thebar as last time, so that the increase made with thesmall plates is exactly what it is supposed to be. That isthe concern anyway – that the amount lifted today beexactly the specific intended amount more than lasttime. If training is done in a commercial gym or schoolweight room, number or mark the bar and a set ofplates so that they can be identified for use at everyworkout, and buy and bring with you your own smallplates. This way, the amount of the increase can be ex-actly what it needs to be, the increase will be exactevery time, and progress can be better ensured.
One aspect of back-off workouts is that,to the extent possible, intensity should not
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drop more than 10% for more than oneworkout. This is an important concept to fol-low if the back-off period is to be kept shortand new personal records for 3 sets are to beset afterward without much time elapsing.Again, the key feature of novice training islinear progress – the ability to steadily in-crease the weight on the bar at each workout– and every effort should be made to keepthis from stopping.
The reason intensity is kept relativelyhigh while the volume of training is droppedis to maintain neuromuscular efficiency, theability of the neural system to fire the motorunits in a way that allows all the muscles towork together to efficiently display strengthin a movement pattern. Basic musclestrength remains relatively constant (fig.8-4) even with reduced training. Neuromus-cular efficiency, however, is much more in-fluenced by short-term changes in training.This is why we keep intensity relatively high
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and cut volume drastically: high intensity de-velops and maintains neuromuscular effi-ciency, while high volume with low intensitydoes not. Keeping the weight within 10% ofwhere it was while drastically droppingvolume maintains a high state of neuromus-cular readiness, while at the same time al-lowing for some additional recovery. It al-lows the trainee to resume personal record(PR) performance after the back-off period.
This back-off method is an importanttool that will be used throughout the train-ee’s career, from novice through advanced.For each different rep and set scheme andlevel of fatigue there is a different “ideal” wayto do it. But the basic concept is simple: rest,but don’t detrain. The more fatigued thetrainee, the more his performance hasdropped, the longer the progress lasted be-fore reaching a sticking point, the more gainsthat were made, and the longer the traininghistory, then the longer the back-off period
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will have to be. A novice who has trainedthree months and then simply stalled in hisprogress and not regressed will need only ashort back-off period and a moderate reduc-tion in load, while an advanced athlete whohas trained seven years, has hit a serious wallat the end of a very hard training cycle, andhas regressed quite a bit due to fatigue overhis last 2 to 3 workouts will need a muchlonger back-off period and much lighterworkouts to begin it.
Once a back-off period has become ne-cessary, other changes can be made in theprogram that are appropriate for the moreadvanced novice. The squat can go fromthree days per week to two, with the intro-duction of lighter squats at 80% of Monday’swork set weight into the program. Theyprovide a break in the intensity due to theunloading, which helps to prolong linear in-creases. The program would now look likethis:
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Deadlifts are still done for one set offive, although more sets could be added dueto their reduced frequency in the program.Deadlifts are very easy to overuse; they areimportant for basic strength, but too manysets make recovery difficult because of theweights that can be used and the amount ofstress they can produce cumulatively. Chinsand pull-ups should have improved, or atleast kept pace with added bodyweight. Ifchin/pull-up reps are consistently above 10on all of the three sets, they should be doneevery other workout with weight, either hung
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from a belt or with a dumbbell held in thefeet, so that failure happens at 5 to 7 reps.This will increase the reps on thebodyweight-only days and increase arm andshoulder strength for the presses. Any otherassistance exercises should be done after thebasic program exercises, and then for nomore that three sets.
A simple recycling of the training intens-ity will work once, and maybe twice. If train-ing has been going well in the context ofproper progressive programming and properrecovery, more than two training intensityback-off periods usually will not be product-ive. A need for a third usually indicates aneed for more complex programming. If,however, there were problems the first and/or second time through, with progress stop-ping suddenly because of lack of rest, im-proper or inadequate diet, or greed for un-reasonable incremental increases, one moreback-off period might fix a sticking point.
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After the second back-off period, an honestevaluation of training status is warranted.
This is a rough outline of the first threeto nine months of training for most novices.Starting with three work sets, the weight in-creases steadily until progress stalls. Theweight drops 10% to get unstuck, the exer-cises are changed slightly, and progress ismade again until another plateau occurs.Finally the point is reached where theamount of work needed to disrupt homeo-stasis exceeds that which the trainee can re-cover from between workouts, and moreelaborate programming is needed. Key tothis novice level of training advancement arethe workout-to-workout increases that arepossible during these first months. Thetrainee has made rapid progress and is nowmuch stronger than he would have been hadsimple linear progression not been used.
At some point, usually between the thirdand ninth month of training, the standard
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variations on linear progression will havebeen exhausted, and training will need to beorganized into weekly periods instead of theworkout-to-workout periods that character-ize the novice phase. At this point, the train-ee can be considered an intermediate.
“Loyalty to petrified opinion never broke achain or freed a human soul.”
–Mark Twain
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Chapter 7: TheIntermediate
After several months of steady linear-progression training, with no layoffs and un-interrupted steady progress, all trainees willget stuck. This is the normal, inevitable res-ult of progress having advanced the traineecloser to the limits of genetic potential. Bythis point both strength and muscular body-weight have improved quite a bit. So has thetrainee’s ability to recover quickly fromheavy training, but this is offset by the factthat increased strength levels allow heavierand therefore more taxing loads. This moreadvanced trainee is more efficient, in bothrecovery and in the ability to tax recovery ca-pacity. And with increased efficiency comeschange: simply increasing the workload ateach workout can no longer be relied on to
spur continued progress. When the trainingoverload of a single workout and the recov-ery period allowed for by the 48- to 72- hourschedule does not induce a performance im-provement, the novice trainee needs achange of program. A single training stressconstitutes an overload event for a novice,and this overload and the recovery betweenthat training stress and the next one isenough to disrupt homeostasis and induce again in strength for the beginner. Once this isno longer the case, the trainee is no longer anovice. His program must be adjustedaccordingly.
An important characteristic of interme-diate trainees is that they have specific train-ing goals developed from their experience atthe novice level. The high school kid whosimply wanted to “learn how to lift” and getbigger and stronger for sports might nowrealize that he wants to concentrate on train-ing that will increase his performance in the
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shot put. The 35-year-old who started offwanting to get back in shape might havebeen bitten by the bodybuilding bug, andnow wants to concentrate on muscle size.Even competitive athletes who knew fromthe start that they were training for a sport –but as wise novices to weight training de-cided to begin with a novice program – willfind that this is the time to tailor their train-ing to their now more-specific needs.
Simple progression works for monthswhen the trainee is new to a program of or-ganized training. At this level, the amount ofwork that disrupts biological equilibriumand results in an adaptation – the overload –can be applied in one workout. As the traineeadapts to the stresses of training, he becomescapable of applying enough stress in oneworkout that he will not be recovered from itbefore the next one. A “heavy” load for anathlete at this level is relatively more stress-ful on the body than a “heavy” load for a
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novice, and so requires a longer recoveryperiod. At this point, if progress is to contin-ue, training must be reorganized into periodsof work that constitute a recoverable over-load for the trainee at this level of adapta-tion. This involves training periods that in-clude more than one workout – enough workto accumulate into sufficient stress to consti-tute an overload event and enough built-inrecovery time to allow adaptation to takeplace. At the intermediate level of adapta-tion, training organized in week-long periodsfunctions well for this purpose (fig. 7-1).
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Figure 7-1. The generalized relationship between
performance improvement and training complexity
relative to time.
There is nothing magical about oneweek of time. It might very well be that 96hours (4 days) might suffice to allow enoughwork to accumulate and be recovered from,since the previous work/recovery period was48 to 72 hours. But it is likely that more than
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4 days will be necessary, because only oneworkout in 72 hours has probably beenbarely sufficient – in terms of both sufficientstress and sufficient recovery – for sometime. The trainee has not suddenly flipped aswitch and become unable to produce anoverload/recovery in 3 days, so increasingthe cycle period to 4 days will probably notreally solve the problem. Five days might,and 6 days probably will, but given the factthat society is organized along weekly time-frames, one week works most easily intomost people’s schedules.
The intermediate program must differsignificantly from the novice program. Anovice using 3 sets of 5 repetitions on thesquat three days per week will find that those3 sets are sufficient to stimulate progress,and that recovery from that quantity of workoccurs quickly enough that each subsequentworkout can be done with heavier weight. Anovice bench press program might be 3 work
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sets of 5 reps on Monday and Friday, withthe press done on Wednesday. An intermedi-ate lifter using 3 work sets of 5 reps onMonday will not receive sufficient stimula-tion to spur progress. Five sets might beenough, but it also presents a problem. Do-ing 5 work sets across at an intensity highenough to drive progress may exceed recov-ery when done twice per week. Some vari-ation of the work must be introduced to ac-commodate the intermediate trainee’s needfor both more work and sufficient recoveryfrom that work (fig. 7-2).
Figure 7-2. Two-factor model of an intermediate
trainee’s responses and adaptations to a series of
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training stresses over a week’s duration. While similar
to the single-day cycle of the beginner, note that fa-
tigue does not dissipate between each training session
(gray bars) nor do recovery processes catch up until
the conclusion of the week. This defines the difference
between the beginner and the intermediate trainee.
The workout load presented here is a Starr-model
heavy-medium-heavy-light organization that would
repeat the following week.
There are many ways to accomplish thisand produce the desired variation across theweek. Three methods will be presented laterin this chapter, all proven to work well fordifferent applications. But first, let’s look atthe general principles guiding intermediateprogramming.
General Considerations
Exercises. The most important considera-tion for programming at the intermediate
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level is the selection of exercises, which willbe determined in large part by the trainee’schoice of sport or training emphasis. Ifpowerlifting is the sport of choice, trainingwill based around the squat, bench press,and deadlift; if it is weightlifting, the snatchand the clean and jerk will form the basis ofthe program. Athletes training for heavy fieldevents will incorporate power exercises suchas clean and snatch variants into the basicstrength program. Those interested primar-ily in hypertrophy will use more isolation ex-ercises at higher reps along with the basicstrength-based program.
It is likely that athletes in sports that areless dependent on strength – the lighter fieldevents, sprinters, basketball and baseballplayers, non-grappling martial artists, etc. –will never have a need to advance much bey-ond this initial phase of intermediate train-ing. Strength acquisition is perhaps the mostimportant part of any athlete’s preparation
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because it has such a profound impact on theability to efficiently develop and express allthe other parameters of athletics. But theseathletes are engaged in activities that aremore dependent on skills acquired in thepractice of their sport than the strength andpower provided by training in the weightroom under the bar. One reason it is import-ant to identify training goals is that the levelto which a trainee is intentionally advanceddepends on the need for such advancement.The degree of specialization in exercise selec-tion is therefore also determined by the needfor more than basic strength enhancement. Ajavelin thrower might opt for a 3-day pro-gram that involves squats, presses, cleans,snatches, and chins; any more complexitythan this is unnecessary and would takeaway training time better spent on thishighly practice-dependent sport.
Exercise selection will, to a certain ex-tent, determine sets and reps. The basic
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strength exercises – squats, presses, benchpresses, deadlifts – can be used at a varietyof rep ranges, from singles to sets of twenty.This is one of the reasons they are so useful:they can be used throughout the repetitioncontinuum to obtain the entire range ofphysiologic response, from absolute strengthto power to hypertrophy to endurance.
Less versatile are the weightlifting-de-rived movements, the snatch and the cleanand jerk, and their variants the powersnatch, the power clean, and hang snatchesand cleans. These exercises, referred to asthe “quick lifts,” are seldom used at high repsin programs specifically designed forstrength or power development because theirtechnique-dependency renders them lessvaluable under conditions of high-rep fa-tigue. The fact that they cannot be doneslowly is both an asset and a limitation. It iscommon to restrict snatches and cleans tosingles and doubles, occasionally using sets
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of 3 reps for cleans, the thinking being thatsince fatigue causes technique to break downthe reps should be restricted to 3 or less sothat fatigue is not the limiting factor.However, high-rep snatches and cleans andtheir variants have been used quite success-fully for a long time as very good condition-ing exercises, in part because the full-bodynature of the movements produce an output-demand and quality of fatigue that are hardto duplicate with other training modalities.
Assistance exercises will be used byintermediate-level trainees. These move-ments are more valuable here than at anyother period in a training career. An inter-mediate trainee is developing a feel for thedirection he wants his training to take, andassistance exercises are a necessary part oflearning the ropes. There are thousands totry, but only a few are valuable. The mostuseful assistance movements are functionalin nature (they utilize normally encountered
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human movement patterns), use multiplejoints, incorporate a balance component, andcontribute to the performance of the basicexercises. Chin-ups satisfy these criteria, forexample; wrist curls do not.
Front squats can be used by intermedi-ate trainees interested in Olympic weightlift-ing as a squat variant; they are regarded bysome not as an assistance exercise but as an-other core lift, in our view their omission ofsignificant hamstring involvement limitstheir consideration as such. Chins and pull-ups are quite useful upper-body exercisesthat support pressing strength and function-al arm strength for sports that involve throw-ing or pulling with the hands. Romaniandeadlifts (RDLs), a deadlift variant thatstarts at the top instead of on the floor, andbarbell rows (pulled from the floor on eachrep) can be added at this stage of training.Lower-back-specific exercises such as glute/ham raises and reverse “hyperextensions,”
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are used by intermediate trainees to improvetrunk stability for the basic movements,along with weighted sit-ups. These exercisescan be varied along the repetition continuumdepending on the result desired, but gener-ally they are used at higher reps than the ba-sic strength movements, since their role is tosupport the function of the basics, not re-place them.Sets and Reps. The number of sets willalso vary with the exercise. The bulk of thework should always be focused on the exer-cises that produce the majority of the disrup-tion in homeostasis. This means that thecore lifts will receive the majority of the workin terms of sets per week and time devoted tothem, since they deliver more results for thetime spent doing them. Cleans and snatches,being used at lower reps, will need more setsper week to equal the amount of work; tomatch the reps from 5 sets of 5 squats with
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that from cleans, you would have to do 8 setsof 3 cleans to be nearly equivalent.
Assistance exercises using higher repsper set might accumulate more total repsthan the core lifts. If squats are done for 5sets of 5 across after 3 warm-up sets of 5,and 5 sets of 10 glute/ham raises are done af-terward, more reps of glute/hams have beendone than squats. But in terms of totalvolume (weight x reps) – and in terms oftheir contribution to homeostatic disruption– the squats have been worked far harder.
So, within the framework of the exer-cises used, our training goals will generallydetermine the nature of the sets and reps.Strength work needs up to five sets of 1 to 5reps on the core lifts, hypertrophy calls forfive sets of 12 to 15 reps, and power work re-quires five to ten sets of 1 to 5 reps at weightslight enough to move fast. Cleans andsnatches will be done with five to ten sets of 1to 3 reps. Assistance exercises will be done
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with higher reps, usually 10 to 15, and fewersets, usually three to five.Scheduling. At the intermediate level, theweekly schedule conforms to the trainee’s in-dividual needs with regard to continued pro-gress, not to the calendar. At the advancedlevel, quite often the training cycle will betailored to a competitive schedule, but inter-mediate trainees are still making relativelyrapid progress and they should be allowed todo so as long as possible with minimal inter-ference from scheduling factors external tothe training program. If a competitive calen-dar is superimposed on the training programat the intermediate level, the disruption toboth the competitive performance and to thetraining schedule itself will be relatively min-imal. High school football players are oftenin this position: they are making good pro-gress on a training program despite the factthat football season is on, and with adequaterest and nutrition are able to do both, to the
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benefit of both. Intermediate trainees are notso far along in their training that an occa-sional game day will destroy the delicate bal-ance between stress and recovery; the bal-ance is not yet that delicate, as it will be atthe more advanced, specialized levels.
As a general rule, squats will be done atevery workout – 3 days per week – until thetrainee goes to a 4-day-per-week schedule.Squats at 80% of the heavy day work setweight are done as the unloading dayworkout. As proficiency increases, the per-centage moves up to 87 to 90% for medium-day loads. The pressing movements are stillalternated for shoulder balance, with pressesand bench presses alternated every otherworkout. This results in a two-week cycle,one week pressing twice and the next weekbenching twice. The deadlift and the cleanwill alternate as well, and as the trainee ad-vances and the deadlift gets very strong,RDLs, stiff-legged deadlifts, and eventually
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power snatches may be substituted for dead-lifts every other workout to allow for morerecovery if necessary. Assistance exercisesshould be used only once or twice per week,placed in the schedule so as to create themaximum benefit without interfering withthe execution of the core lifts by causing ex-cessive soreness or fatigue. Chins, for ex-ample, if done too hard the workout before aheavy bench press day, would becounterproductive.
The time allotted for a training sessionwill obviously vary with the number of exer-cises, sets, and reps. Rest time between setsshould be adequate for recovery but notenough to allow “cooling off,” or a decreasein preparedness for the next set. Too muchtime between sets represents wasted trainingtime and, in institutional contexts, an ineffi-cient use of the training facilities. Too littletime between sets causes failed reps andmissed work sets and defeats the purpose of
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training. Make sure that enough time is al-lotted that the whole workout can actually bedone in one session. Any workout that takeslonger than two hours probably involves toomany exercises, too many sets, or too muchtalking.Intensity. In intermediate programming,the intensity of the work varies across theweek (table 7-2), and this means that for thecore lifts and the quick lifts, the percentageof 1RM and the numbers of reps must be cal-culated for each workout. Using the progres-sion outlined in table 7-1, a little math, andsome experience and common sense, weightsfor the work sets of the core lifts and quicklifts can be assigned across the week. Light,medium, and heavy correspond to differentpercentages, depending on the number ofreps used for the exercise, as the table shows.If several sets across are to be done, theweight will have to stay a little below the cor-responding RM to allow for accumulating
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fatigue: 355 × 5 done as a 5RM would needto be reduced to 335 or 340 × 5 for 5 setsacross.
While a measured 1RM is nice andmakes workload calculation easy, an accur-ate evaluation of daily performance is better,because minor variations in technique, re-covery, and daily status are the realities oftraining human athletes. This is one of themost important functions of the coach, andone of the best reasons to have one. Perform-ances vary for many reasons, and human re-sponse is not an exact science. A coach with agood eye can judge a “relative maximum,”the weight the individual trainee can lift on agiven day under specific individual circum-stances. This coach/athlete interaction in-volves a great deal of experience and feed-back from both the coach and trainee. In thatcontext, “heavy” could be defined as thepoint where technique begins to break down,or the point where the more experienced
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trainee says it is. “Medium” could mean thattechnique is well maintained and the traineefeels like he’s working hard but lots of“room” is left. “Light” should always meanthat form is perfect and several sets across atthat weight would not amount to a signific-ant training stress. This is somewhat similarto using the RPE (rating of perceived exer-tion) scale in aerobic exercise programming,but RPE depends entirely on the subjectivejudgment of the trainee, and this is not al-ways useful, especially in the weight room. Ittakes an experienced coach to be able to ap-ply this method effectively. For traineeswithout access to high-level coaching, thepercentage of 1RM classification works well.
As training progresses and strength andpower are developed, the rate of improve-ment slows down. The closer the trainee is tohis genetic potential, the slower the progresstoward it will be. The squat may advance 5
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pounds per week, instead of 5 pounds perworkout, and the bench may go up only 2pounds per week, if that much. The more anexercise depends on smaller muscle groups,the more slowly that exercise will get strong.It is prudent to keep this in mind. There isno point in getting frustrated when the pressmoves up only one pound. Any steady pro-gress is good progress for the intermediatetrainee, and this becomes more true as theathlete advances and progress inevitablyslows.
There will be many times over themonths and years of using this weekly train-ing model that a change within the programwill be required to continue adaptation andimprovement. Many things can be done toaccomplish these changes. Reps and sets canbe varied as needed, and will be changed bythe observant coach or the perceptive traineeto accommodate changing conditions as theyarise. Warm-ups will vary almost daily, in
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accordance with soreness and minor injur-ies; more work sets should be added as theycan be successfully handled and until theneed for more sets finally justifies an addi-tional training day. Exercise selection andfrequency can be varied. As noted in table7-1, workout frequency will change progress-ively, but it’s also possible that training fre-quency will need to be decreased temporarilyas a result of a brush with overtraining. Andthe workouts themselves can be manipulatedto produce varying physiologic effects bycontrolling the rest time between sets.
There is a tremendous amount of pos-sible variation in training stress that can beused to drive adaptation for a long time.Only the creativity of the coach or traineelimits the possibilities, as long as thephysiologic requirements of the goal are keptin mind and trained for.
As training progresses in intensity andvolume, the role of the coach changes from
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that of a teacher of movement patterns to aconsultant in movement, and from that ofthe planner to the planning advisor. Thematuring trainee will eventually have enoughexperience – from being coached and help-ing coach others with whom he trains – thatthe kind of coaching he needs will change. Amore experienced trainee needs the coach’seye to check what he himself cannot see,since he has been taught the movement cor-rectly and has months of experience doing itcorrectly. Technique needs just checking orcueing, not ground-up teaching, at thispoint. The coach becomes a source of adviceabout the application of the program insteadof the controller of all its elements. Coachinginput becomes more subtle, and should be-come more precise regarding detail as thetrainee acquires finer skill. The coach shouldprovide input about exercise variation afterall the exercises have been taught correctly,guidance about load and intensity variation
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after it has been determined how the traineeresponds to it, and constant, absolutely ne-cessary reminders about technique on all thelifts, long after technique has been learned.
Variation. The intermediate stage is theplace where most athletes make their biggesttraining mistakes. It is very true that manynovices start out on terrible programs, train-ing with no reason or logic, or adopting pro-grams that are designed for more advancedtrainees which prevent them from progress-ing as quickly as they could. But the magicaladaptability of the novice is often strongenough to overcome even the poorest of de-cisions. Beginners can seemingly make pro-gress under even the worst of circumstances.But for the intermediate trainee, progress isharder to come by, and the body is muchmore particular about what it responds towhen it comes to improving an already-honed performance. Many intermediatetrainees get caught up in an endless cycle of
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changing routines, constantly messingaround with the weekly schedule of exer-cises, sets, and reps. In an effort to feel thatprogress is being made, they often talk aboutchanging even their core goals. How manytimes does someone in the gym (or, for god-sakes, on the Internet) who hasn’t really pro-gressed in years talked about how they aregoing to concentrate on “cutting” now in-stead of “bulking”? Most often, that personstill just wants to get bigger and stronger, butafter a long period of no progress and henceboredom, frustration sets in and the goal ischanged to something perceived as more at-tainable. Or someone stuck on the benchpress for months decides to just quit doing itand instead focus on the IsoLateral Dyn-oPressMaster. People can ride the merry-go-round of different exercises, differentroutines, and different set and rep systemsfor years with no real progress.
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The proper way to include variety in theprogram is to use it in ways that reinforcetraining goals, so that different types oftraining during the week have a functionalpurpose. This means that the variety lies inthe way the basic exercises are applied, andnot in a bunch of new exercises. Sets of 5 onthe basic exercises will always be useful as apart of most every program, and constructivevariations will involve different interpreta-tions of sets, reps, and movement speed. Ifan athlete is training for a sport that requiresspeed and power production, including someadditional explosive-type exercises is a goodidea. After the novice stage, some sort oftraining that involves moving a moderateweight quickly is very useful for these train-ees. For those whose main goal is increasedmuscular weight and size, keeping a higher-volume day in most training cycles is neces-sary. For those who want increased strength,and especially an increase in strength-to-
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weight ratio, keeping the higher-volumeworkouts out of most training cycles mightbe smarter, with the concentration on powertraining and lower-volume, higher-intensitytraining.
The coach uses the training log kept by every serioustrainee as an important source of data for determina-tions regarding staleness, overtraining, the effective-ness of newly added exercises, and the overall effect-iveness of the training program. Sometimes it may benecessary to make large-scale changes in the programdue to an unexpected lack of response, the inability torecover from the program because of individual life-style factors outside the trainee’s control, or a changein the athlete’s training goals. The log reveals trends inboth training and schedule compliance that have adefinite bearing on progress. It should also include theathlete’s impressions of that day’s workout, useful cuesdiscovered, and any other subjective information thatmight serve a purpose later. It might also includenotes about sleep, diet, and other information pertin-ent to recovery. It is an essential tool for both traineeand coach, and as such is not optional.The best way to log workouts is to follow a columnformat, top to bottom, using a small enough hand that
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the whole workout fits in one column, and that at leastfour or five workouts fit on one page. This way it is pos-sible to display up to three weeks training data on twoopen pages, so that trends over time are visible.This means that a good quality book will be needed. Itshould be a good enough book to last at least a year, souse a notebook with a decent binding. It need not be ex-pensive, but it should be better than a spiral. Spiral-bound books don’t last very long because the pages tearout easily. The best training logs are ledger books withrelatively plain paper, but simple composition books,the kind with the mottled covers, work just fine.
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A specific example might be the traineewho is mostly interested in gaining muscularweight. He has completed the novice stage,and has finished a training cycle with 5 setsof 5 for one workout and dynamic effort setsfor the other. He wants to gain weight, so hewill keep the 5 sets of 5 portion of theworkout and add in a higher-volumeworkout for the second session. The choicesmight be 5 sets of 10 across, 5 sets of 12, oreven 3 to 4 sets of 15. The first set of the 5might be a 10RM effort, with the last 4 setsdone to failure and the rest between setscontrolled so that full recovery does not oc-cur. Or each set might be done for all 10reps, with enough rest between to ensurethis. Rep schemes for the volume workoutcould change for each of the next few cycles,while the 5 sets of 5 keeps pace with anddrives improvement on the volume trainingdays.
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Another example might be the traineewho is mostly interested in speed and power.As workouts are added or variety is intro-duced, singles, doubles, and triples will be-come more important. Dynamic effort setsare an invaluable component of this type oftraining, as are cleans and snatches and theirderivatives. Experimentation in subsequenttraining cycles would include multiple setsacross of heavy singles or doubles, and 3 setsof 3 across or ascending or descending inweight through the work sets, along with acontinued emphasis on sets of 5. The focus isalways on force production, with highvolume only a secondary consideration.
The problem is that most people, at vari-ous points in their training careers, lose sightof the basis for all productive training. Theyforget that the goal is always to produce astress that induces adaptation through re-covery and supercompensation and that, asadvancement continues, the increased
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timeframe of this response must be factoredin. Variety for variety’s sake is pointless. Alltraining must be planned, and success mustbe planned for. All the variety in the world isno substitute for correct planning.
The following are a sample of the manypossible interpretations of basic weekly pro-gramming. They are meant to be used aguide to your own discovery of a solution tothe problem – a starting point on the way tounderstanding this most important period inthe development of a strong athlete.
The Texas Method
This method uses a sharp contrast intraining variables between the beginning andend of the week. High volume at moderateintensity is used at the first of the week, alight workout is done in the middle for
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maintenance of motor pathways, and then ahigh intensity workout at low volume endsthe week. A classic example of this variationwould be a squat program where, after thewarm-ups, Monday’s workout is 5 work setsof 5 across, Wednesday’s is lighter – perhaps5’s at 80% of Monday’s load, and Friday’s isa single heavier set of 5. It looks like this:MondaySquat, 5 sets of 5WednesdaySquat, 2 light sets of 5FridaySquat, 1 heavy set of 5
This simple program is probably themost productive routine in existence fortrainees at this level. (As with all the follow-ing example programs, the sets enumeratedare work sets, with adequate warm-up sets ofincreasing weight and decreasing reps donebeforehand.) It is usually the first program touse when simple linear programming doesn’t
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work anymore. The trainee in transitionfrom novice to intermediate is unable tomake progress with either a (not sufficientlystressful) workload that he can recover fromenough to do 2 to 3 times per week, or con-versely, a workload that is stressful enoughto induce the stress/recovery/supercom-pensation cycle but that he cannot recoverfrom quickly enough to be able to do 2 to 3times per week.
In the Texas method, the first workoutof the week is the “stress” workout, the light-er midweek workout comes during the recov-ery period, and the last, higher-intensity/lower-volume workout is done when thetrainee has recovered enough from the firstday to show an increase in performance.Both the Monday and Friday workouts in-crease in weight each week by 5 pounds. Thetotal weekly training volume and trainingstress is low enough that as each week beginsthe trainee has no accumulated fatigue from
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the previous week, yet the one “stress”workout on Monday is high enough involume to trigger an adaptation, the heavysingle set on Friday provides enough intens-ity that neuromuscular function is reinforcedwithout fatally upping the volume, and eachweek produces a small net increase instrength.
This is the simplest level of periodiza-tion, and this is the first appropriate time touse it. While the trainee was making pro-gress with simple linear progression, thistype of variation would have wasted trainingtime: more progress was being made eachweek using the simple incremental increaseevery workout than could be made with thissmaller weekly increase punctuated by themid-week offloading. But at the intermediatelevel, the trainee’s ability to progress thatfast has diminished, and in order for pro-gress to continue, the midweek offload and
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the Monday/Friday load variation becomenecessary.
Most intermediate trainees will be ableto make progress for months on programsset up like this one. Different set and repschemes can be used, as long as the basictemplate of a volume workout, a lightworkout, and an intensity workout isfollowed.
Here is another example of this basic in-termediate template, this time for pressingexercises:MondayBench press, 5 sets of 5WednesdayPress, 3 sets of 5FridayBench press, 1RM, 2RM, or 3RMLike the sample squat workout, this benchpress workout uses a high-volume session onMonday, a related but less-stressful exercise(because lighter weights are used) on
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Wednesday, and a high-intensity session onFriday where training volume is low but PRsare attempted. Once again, the plan is prettysimple. The Monday workout should bestressful enough to cause homeostatic dis-ruption. Any trainee who has gotten to thispoint in training should be able to make apretty good guess at what is needed, and setsacross is a proven strategy, one that hasworked for many people for decades. Thesecond training session is a different exercisethat contributes to the development of theprimary muscle groups being trained, work-ing the muscles and joints involved througha different range of motion, but at a load thatdoes not add significantly to the disruptioncaused by the first workout. In fact, this lightworkout might stimulate recovery by in-creasing blood flow to sore muscles, in effectreminding them that they will have a job todo on Friday. The third day should be an
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attempt at a personal record (whether for 1,2, or 3 reps) on the first exercise.
Again, this is the key to intermediatelevel training: workout-to-workout progressis no longer possible, since much of the dis-tance between completely untrained andtotal genetic potential has been covered inthe novice months. What is possible isweekly progress, and Friday’s workout is theopportunity to demonstrate it. Every effortshould be made to choose weights carefullyso that the PR can actually be done. Much isriding on the trainee’s ability to stay unstuckduring this phase of training. The reps eachFriday do not have to be the same; it is quiteuseful to try for a max single, double, ortriple on Friday, and rotate between allthree. There is enough difference betweensingles and triples that the variation helpswith staying unstuck.
When a program like this is started, thegoal is to make progress on both Monday
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and Friday, just as in the novice program.When all the prescribed sets and reps onMonday are accomplished, raise the weightfor the next week. If a new 1RM is set Friday,next week try for a new 2RM. In essence, lin-ear progress is still being made, but the lineis now being drawn between Monday andMonday and between Friday and Friday, in-stead of between Monday and Wednesday.
Very often, after several weeks of pro-gress with personal records getting more dif-ficult on Friday, the cycle can be sustainedfor a few more weeks with nothing morethan a slight reduction in Monday’s work-load. Cut back the number of sets, or eventhe weight on the bar a little, and progress onFriday’s workout can usually be maintained.The object is to make Monday’s workoutstressful enough to spur progress, but not sostressful that it interferes with Friday’s PR.
It is always possible to exceed recovery,just as it is always possible to
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understimulate. Balance between the twomust be achieved, or progress does not oc-cur. The novice has little chance of chronic-ally exceeding recovery ability unless hein-ous abuse occurs, in the form of crazy num-bers of sets and reps due to inexperienced orabsent supervision. And if any increase inweight at all is occurring each workout, pro-gress is being made, although slower pro-gress than might be possible with more ag-gressive loading. (The novice can exceed hislifting ability – the limits of strength – inwhich case the weights chosen cannot actu-ally be done for the prescribed reps and sets.This error will also lead to no progress, but isso obvious that it can and must be immedi-ately corrected.) The intermediate phase oftraining, then, is the first opportunity for theserious misapplication of training variablesthat would result in an imbalance betweenstress and recovery.
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The ability of the body to recover from aworkload increases with training, but evenwith the same sets and reps, the workload in-creases as strength – and the weight on thebar – goes up. The novice squatting 200pounds for 3 sets of 5 was challenged by thetask of recovery from that workload. Now,the intermediate lifter squatting 300 poundsfor 5 sets of 5 several months later is still be-ing challenged. Of course 200 pounds for 3sets would be very easy to recover from atthis point, but doing that doesn’t accomplishanything since it now does not constitute anadaptive stimulus. Can 300 pounds for 5 setsbe recovered from as easily as 200 poundswas months ago? Maybe, maybe not. That iswhy Monday’s workout has to be adjusted asnecessary, and not always adjusted up in asimple stepwise manner as with earlierworkouts. Sometimes as strength goes up, aset must be dropped from the workout, orthe percentage of max slightly lowered to
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keep residual fatigue from creeping in. Themore advanced the trainee, the finer the linebetween not enough and too much.Stalled Progress. In chapter 6 we dis-cussed two possible remedies for stalled pro-gress in a novice’s linear training cycle.Those principles can be applied at the inter-mediate level as well, specifically to the taskof keeping Monday’s training stress from go-ing too high or too low.
If progress simply stalls, with no reduc-tion in the ability to complete Monday’sworkouts but an absence of personal recordson Fridays, the stress needed to spur pro-gress is probably not being applied onMonday. Often an increase or slight changein Monday’s workout will restore progress.Adding a set is a good idea. Or, holding thetotal number of reps constant while usingmore lower-rep sets with slightly higherweight also works well. For example,Monday’s 5 sets of 5 (25 total reps) with 300
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pounds becomes 8 sets of 3 (24 total reps)with 315 pounds. The addition of one or twohigher-rep sets done after the regular worksets is another option; these are referred toas back-off sets. The trainee doing 5 sets of5 with 300 pounds could follow that with aset of 10 at 250, or even at 225 if done with apause or some other alteration that makesthe reps harder at lighter weight. The possib-ilities are endless, but they should not all beexplored at the same time; stress should beadded in small increments.
If, however, actual regression occurs,not only in Friday’s workout but with stale-ness carrying over into Monday, then usuallythe workload on Monday is too high, and re-sidual unrecovered fatigue is creeping in.Possible solutions could be to eliminateexcessive warm-up volume, to drop a set ortwo from the sets across, reduce the work-setweight, or reduce the reps in the work sets –
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from 5 sets of 5 with 300 pounds to 5 sets of4 with 300, for example.
With intelligent, careful use, it is not un-common for this type of program to yieldmany months of continual progress.
Dynamic Effort Sets. A valuable trainingtool that fits very well into the Texas methodtemplate is dynamic effort (DE) sets, as pop-ularized by Louie Simmons in his Westsidemethod. The authors are grateful to Louieand his athletes for this extremely importantcontribution to the strength trainingportfolio.
High-intensity training, that is, using avery high percentage of your force produc-tion capacity, is very productive but difficultto recover from in large doses. Any reps donewhere maximal force is applied train the effi-ciency of motor unit recruitment. The mostcommon way to generate maximal force is touse maximal weights – 3, 2, or 1RMs. Theproblem with using maximal weights is that
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it is extremely taxing and hard to recoverfrom. Lifting heavy weights is obviously auseful thing, but heavy weights must be re-spected and used properly and sparingly orchronic injuries can develop. Tendinitis, liga-ment injuries, bursitis, tendon avulsion in-juries, cartilage damage, and long-termchanges in bony anatomy can accompany themisuse of heavy weights at low reps.
Another way to increase the number andefficiency of motor units recruited to gener-ate force is to generate that force quickly andexplosively, requiring the coordinated, sim-ultaneous firing of high numbers of motorunits. DE sets increase neuromuscular effi-ciency, in effect making it easier for the bodyto regularly recruit this larger number of mo-tor units by teaching the neuromuscular sys-tem to do it on demand. The most useful wayturn on more available motor units each timethe bar is lifted is to use a lighter weight,somewhere between 50 and 75% of 1RM, and
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push the bar as fast as possible. This has ad-vantages over using maximal weights: it al-lows far more reps to be done, practicedwith, and recovered from, and it can be usedfor long periods of time without injury due tothe lighter weights involved and the reducedstress on joints and connective tissue.
A proven way to use this method is withtimed sets, usually done with about 10 sets of2 or 3 repetitions with a short, controlledrest between the sets moving the bar asquickly as absolutely possible for each rep. Itcannot be stressed enough that even thoughthis type of training is usually done withlighter weights, each repetition must be donewith maximum effort. The magnitude of theforce production is determined by the degreeof acceleration of the load, not the amount ofweight on the bar, and acceleration is com-pletely volitional – the lifter must actively tryto move each rep faster than the previousone. Herein lies the difficulty: this level of
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focus is hard for many people to maintain,and it must be maintained for all ten sets orthe benefit is lost. A 65% weight is of no usemoved slowly, but, when moved explosivelyfor 20 reps in 10 minutes, it becomes a verypowerful tool for the development ofstrength and power.
When beginning this type of training, itis normal to continue to use 5 sets of 5 onMonday and replace Friday’s workout withDE sets. A lifter ready try this on the benchpress might have done 250 pounds for 5 setsof 5, 270 for one set of 5, and might be as-sumed to have a 1RM of around 300. A goodfirst week for this type of program might be240 for 5 sets of 5 on Monday and 185 for 10explosive triples on Friday, with one minutebetween sets. The weight to use for the sets isthe most weight that allows all 30 reps to bedone explosively. If even the last rep of thelast set slows down, the weight is too heavy.In fact, the first time this workout is used,
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the last set of 3 should be noticeably fasterthan the first set.
The object is to maximally accelerate thebar and complete each set as quickly as pos-sible. It is normal to take 2 to 3 workouts tofind the correct weight, and then stay at thatweight for several weeks while the weight in-creases on the sets-across workout. For in-stance, 185 on the bar for Friday’s DE setsmight work for 4 to 5 weeks, while normalprogression on Monday’s workout carries theweight incrementally back up to and past theprevious 250 for 5 sets of 5. Remember, theobject on Monday is heavy weight for setsacross that goes up a little each week, andthe object on Friday is moving the sameweight as last Friday faster.
This is probably the best way to utilizethis method the first time. It’s the hardest toscrew up, and the very act of trying to accel-erate the bar, even without increasing theweight every week, will improve the ability to
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fire more motor units, which helps drive pro-gress on the 5 sets of 5.
DE sets can be used with most multi-joint exercises, although different exercisescustomarily use different reps and sets.Squats use 2 reps, usually for 10 sets, whilebench presses and presses typically use setsof 3, again for 10 sets; both are done with aone-minute rest between sets. Deadlifts workwell with 15 singles on a 30-second clock.Weighted chin-ups have even been done thisway. It works best to take each set out of therack on the minute, re-rack it quickly afterthe set, and focus on the next set during therest.
DE sets work well within the general in-termediate template, because at first theability to do relatively light weights fast willbe underdeveloped, and the speed workoutwill not be that stressful. The speed workoutis substituted for the PR workout on Friday,with the high-volume workout remaining as
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the primary stressor on Monday. The uniqueneuromuscular stimulus of this type of train-ing should allow steady progress onMonday’s workout for a while without sub-jecting the body to more stress than it can re-cover from. But as proficiency at DE sets in-creases, this workout can become stressfulenough to be used as the main stressor onMonday, with a lower stress workout, pos-sibly several heavy singles across, at the endof the week.
The Split Routine Model
The three-day-a-week, whole-bodyworkout plan that has been used up to thispoint is a very effective way to organizetraining. In fact, most people would be wellserved by continuing this basic programdesign through their whole training career. Itis an efficient use of time, and it provides a
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complete workout. There are, however, reas-ons to change from this model.
One possible reason is simple boredom.Training should be fun, and more progresswill be made if it is. Different people havedifferent psychological needs for variety. Forsome, the prospect of continuing on for yearsand years training the whole body threetimes a week is not welcome. These peoplewill respond better to a program that variesmore during the week, one that varies everyweek, or even every workout, as CrossFitprogramming does.
For some, a shift in goals or the need tocombine gym workouts with more specifictraining for a competitive sport will prompt achange. This could be caused by time con-straints, or by the need to avoid the systemicfatigue that a whole-body workout causes soit doesn’t interfere with sport-specific train-ing. Split routines address this problem bydividing the workload into more manageable
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segments along the lines of functional differ-ences in the exercises.
A good example of a weekly schedulechange would be that of a competitive shot-putter changing from 3 days a week to a4-day-a-week program, as follows:MondaySquats and pressing exercisesWednesdayPulling exercises such as cleans andsnatches, and other back workThursdaySquats and pressesSaturdayPulling exercisesThis can be appropriate for several reasons.Trainees involved in sports like the shot putnormally do technique-oriented training sev-eral days a week, throwing various imple-ments and using some form of plyometrictraining and sprint work. Good quality tech-nique training is difficult the day after a
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whole-body workout, just as thirty throwswould interfere with squats, pulls, andpresses if done within an hour or two ofpracticing the shot put. What many wouldconsider the most important exercises forthe shot put – dynamic pulling exercisessuch as snatch, the clean, and related exer-cises – are placed by themselves so that thetrainee can devote an appropriate amount ofattention to them.
Many competitive powerlifters use atraining schedule like this one:MondayBench press and related exercisesTuesdaySquatting and deadlifting exercisesThursdayBench press and related exercisesFriday or SaturdaySquatting and deadlifting exercisesFor the powerlifter, the split serves a differ-ent purpose than for the shot-putter. The
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specialized equipment used in the sportlengthens time it takes to train each lift.Training all three lifts in one session wouldoften mean an enormous stress on the bodyand a 4-hour session, something neither de-sirable nor possible for many people. Thebench press is best trained the day before thesquat so that it is not affected by the fatigueproduced by squatting and deadlifting. As re-lated movements, squatting and pulling ex-ercises can be combined. With the focus onvery heavy weights and the use of squat suits,bench press shirts, and wraps in the sport,these two lifts cannot be trained heavy morethan once per week by most competitive lift-ers. Since the same basic muscle groups areused, it is convenient to have a heavy squat/light deadlift workout, and another that isheavy deadlift/light squat.
The Starr Model
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A different model of weekly periodiza-tion described by Mark Berry in 1933 calledfor three training days per week and vari-ation in workload among those days. In thismodel, the whole body is worked every dayusing many of the same exercises, but theamount of weight varies each day: a mediumday, a heavy day, a light day. Various per-mutations of this model have been used forseveral decades, one of the most popular be-ing the version presented by Bill Starr in his1976 book The Strongest Shall Survive.Starr’s was a similar three-day-per weekmodel, with the loads ordered from heavy tomedium to light, a slightly different applica-tion of the load/rest relationship than in theTexas method described earlier in thischapter. Another version was used by Dr.Mike Stone as early as 1976 and outlined in anumber of his publications from the Nation-al Strength Research Laboratory at AuburnUniversity in the early 1980s. Stone’s
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method uses a simple load variation amongfour workouts per week (rather than thethree of previous incarnations). Both theStarr and Stone models call for varying theexercises between days in addition to varyingthe load. Dr. Stone’s model is perhaps themost completely researched and frequentlycited periodization program in Westernsports science literature. It works very wellin its early three- and four-day stages formost strength and power athletes. Othercoaches have adapted this program forOlympic weightlifters, adding a fifth and asixth day as the athlete advances and adaptsto an ever-increasing training load (table7-1). For general strength development andpowerlifting, a 5-to-6 day program is excess-ive, but due to the nature of weightliftingtraining – most importantly the marked re-duction in the amount of eccentric workprovided by an emphasis on the snatch andthe clean and jerk – the extra days do not
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provide the type of stress that more absolutestrength work would, and thus the longerschedule can actually be recovered from.
Adding a day for the purpose of increas-ing training volume is actually different fromdoing a 4-day split routine as describedabove, where the four days are essentiallytwo workouts that have been divided intofour. When increasing training volume froma three-day schedule, another complete dayis added and the entire body is trained, as onthe other 3 days, but at a different intensity.
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Table 7-1. Progression of the variations of training
frequency and intensities. Note that each time a day is
added, it is medium in intensity. Each schedule is
used for a few weeks or months until progress stalls,
before attempting the next, more demanding, level.
Notice that there is only one “light day” included in
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each weekly series and there is at least one complete
day off each week. The 5- and 6-day versions of the
program assume an Olympic weightlifting emphasis.
Assuming 3 months to adapt to each new frequency/
load, this table would represent about two years of
training and progression in both volume and
intensity.
It is extremely important to understandthat the addition of training volume in theform of extra training days works only aslong as recovery is being carefully managed.Adding an additional day to a program thatis already producing overtraining would ob-viously be a bad idea, so the Starr modelmust be carefully applied to the right situ-ation. If it can be determined that overtrain-ing is not the cause of an athlete’s plateau,the careful addition of the fourth workoutcan prompt progress to resume. If it doesnot, a review of the recovery milieu shouldreveal the problem, and the program shouldbe reevaluated accordingly.
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So far, we have used the terms “heavy,”“medium,” and “light” very loosely, but it ismost useful to consider loads as percentagesof 1RM, since this is a quantifiable value foreach athlete. In general, “light” is any loadless than 70% of 1RM, “medium” is greaterthan 70% but less than 85% of 1RM, and“heavy” is a load greater than 85% of 1RM(table 7-2), but this depends entirely on thenumber of reps done with the weight.
Table 7-2. The difficulty of a repetition scheme is a
function of both the intensity and the volume used.
The numbers in the table represent reps. A set of 3 re-
petitions with 90% 1RM is heavy, as is a set of 15 with
60% 1RM. As such, 60% for 15 reps cannot be con-
sidered a recovery workout any more than 90% for 3
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reps can. Recovery during periodized training re-
quires a reduction in relative intensity. For example, if
sets of 3 are being used to train for strength, 90%
would be a hard workout, and 70% for 3 reps would
be considered an easy workout that will allow for
recovery.
The heavy/medium/light concept seemssimple enough. More complex, though, is itscorrect application. Doing one set of 3 with70% is light work and will facilitate recoveryas “active rest” if used as part of a light-dayworkout. But what happens with 5 sets of 10at 70%? Each trainee at the intermediatelevel has a specific training goal: strength,power, or mass, and each of these goals has aspecific repetition range associated with it.Each range also has an intensity (%1RM) as-sociated with it that is a maximal stress. Forexample, a trainee should be able to do threesets of 10 with about 75% of 1RM. This wouldbe difficult, so its relative intensity is highfor the repetitions. Knowing this, offload or
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recovery days can be planned for by reducingthe intensity without changing the reps. If 3sets of 10 reps with 70% constitutes theheavy day, offload would be 50-60% of 1RMfor three sets of 10. But if 80% for sets of 5 isthe work, 70% for sets of 10 is not offloading,and it will not facilitate recovery. It is im-portant to understand the relationshipbetween repetitions and intensity, how tomanage that relationship correctly, and howtrainees respond to it (refer back to table7-2).
Notice that we introduced the concept of 1RM testingand application for the first time in the discussion ofintermediate trainees. As useful as 1RM is for traineesat this level, it does have its limitations for athletes inother situations.Novice trainees cannot use a 1RM to determine any-thing, because 1) they cannot perform a true one-repe-tition maximum effort, and 2) if they could perform a1RM, it would not be valid for exercise programming.Novices, by definition, lack the motor skill to perform avalid 1RM on any barbell exercise. They have been per-forming the movements only a short time and have nothad a chance to develop the motor pathway of the
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movement to the point where the effort can be the fo-cus instead of the movement pattern. So, by definition,any heavy one-rep attempt at any barbell exercise by anovice is submaximal. Such a test proves nothing, testsnothing, and is dangerous enough for inexperiencedtrainees that it is not worth the risk.One very good reason that the percentages calculatedfrom such a test are invalid for determining work loadsfor the novice is the fact that novice trainees getstronger every time they are exposed to an effort theyhave not previously performed. If the test itself makesthe trainee stronger, then the test has functioned as atraining stimulus and the assumption that the value ob-tained is actually a 1RM is wrong. If a novice’s abilityimproves every time he trains, he is essentially a differ-ent athlete than the one for whom the test is supposedto determine workloads.Older athletes over 40, even at the intermediate level,need to be cautious when attempting 1RM, especiallyfor purposes of determining programming percentages.It is one thing to risk an exposure to a heavy weight in acontest environment, since that is the purpose fortraining for the event. It is quite another for a mastersathlete to test an actual 1RM as a diagnostic for furtherprogramming. If done using correct technique, 1RMcan be tested during a heavy-day workout without agreat deal of risk for an experienced athlete, and theresults of a 1RM are more accurate than a sub-max RMtest. But any 1RM effort is by definition less that perfecttechnically – if it were absolutely perfect a little more
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weight could be used. Masters competitors haveenough problems already, among them chronic injuriesbeing trained around, inelastic ligaments and tendons,and less efficient recovery abilities. Sometimes it mightbe better to rely on the subjective perception of theolder, experienced athlete for information about abso-lute strength regarding his programming, depending onthe acumen of that particular individual.If the occasion arises that makes strength testing neces-sary, which should be done, 1RM or multi-RM? Amulti-RM test done within the parameters of theworkout program, using the same reps that the pro-gram is using at that time, is useful for determiningprogram effectiveness. It provides a test result and doesnot disrupt the volume/intensity scheme the way aseries of heavy singles would. But in the context of aneffective program, a trainee is never far removed from amaximum multi-rep effort anyway, so this informationis readily available without the test. The result of aformal 5RM test will not usually be more than 3 to 4percent higher than 5 heavy reps done in the course oftraining.All exercise testing carries a small amount of risk, butwhich is safer? A 1RM test is no more dangerous than amulti-RM for an open age-group competitor. A failed1RM does not occur because it fatigues the muscle; themuscle simply cannot generate enough force to movethe weight through the complete range of motion of thelift, and the spotters take it or the weight is dropped. Inthe absence of an active injury and assuming good
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technique, a 1RM is not inherently dangerous for an ex-perienced lifter. Contrast this to a multi-RM test thatuses repetition to muscle fatigue and subsequent fail-ure. Not only is an additional factor (fatigue) added tothe test (which now tests stamina in addition tostrength), but the trainee is exposed to a larger, longertesting load. Neuromuscular fatigue and big loadshandled to true 5RM intensity are more potentiallydangerous than simple failure with one rep.The process of executing a 1RM test is fairly straightfor-ward. After a warm-up, a series of progressively heavierattempts is made. Weight increases should be relativelysmall, and the test should include about 10 to 12 totalreps. For a multi-RM test, the number of reps should beconsistent with the current training program – it is un-wise and ineffective to attempt a 5RM when sets of 5have not been trained for several weeks. Weight shouldbe added progressively after each successful set, withjudgment exercised so that the last set before the final5RM does not produce sufficient fatigue to adversely af-fect the results.It should be understood that a 5RM test yields a 5RM;and a 5RM is not terribly useful for predicting a 1RM.Many factors influence the efficiency with which an in-dividual converts a 5RM to a 1RM, and it is not an exactscience. There are many formulas that have been de-veloped, none of which can take into account thefactors peculiar to the individual test situation: theneuromuscular efficiency, experience, fatigue, mood,and sex (see chapter 9) of the athlete, not to mention
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the differences with which individual exercises convertfrom 5 reps to max single. If a 1RM value is required,then 1RM must be tested, since there is no other accur-ate way to produce or calculate one.
Remember, the goal of any model ofweekly periodized training is to produce adisruption in homeostasis through the cu-mulative effects of training days, and then al-low supercompensation to occur with the in-clusion of the light day and the rest itprovides. The light day is an absolutely es-sential component of the program; it is a re-covery day. A light training load should notbe enough to induce an overload and disrupthomeostasis, and it is not really a part of theoverload event. It should be light enough toallow for recovery while at the same timeproviding enough work through the move-ment pattern to keep it fresh. Failure to in-clude the light day indicates a lack of under-standing of the actual workings of the pro-gram. A 70% day may seem too easy and
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appear to be wasted time, but the offloadingit provides is necessary for progress. The av-erage gym member focuses on how he feelsduring and after each workout – “I caught amost excellent pump today, my man!” –while the athlete trains for long-term im-provement. Do not yield to the temptation topush up the percentages on light days. Re-member this: you don’t get strong by liftingweights. You get strong by recovering fromlifting weights.
Recovery begins immediately after eachworkout, as the body begins to repair thedamage done by the stress so that adaptationcan occur, and all the significant damage isdone during the heavy workouts. Light daysdo not add to the damage. They aid recoveryfrom it by increasing blood flow to the soreareas, working the joints through the ROM,and helping with fatigue the way nature hasbeen dealing with it for millions of years – byforcing recovery during unavoidable
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continuing activity. The light workout istherefore embedded in the part of the weekin which recovery takes place. In this model,it does not matter what day of the week thelight day falls on. A light day on Fridaymeans that by Monday a trainee should berecovered and ready for more. If the lightday is on Monday, the trainee should be re-covered and ready for a larger load on Wed-nesday or Thursday.Intensity Variation. It is imperative in theStarr model to vary training stress during theweek in some form or another. Varying theintensity – the percentage of 1RM lifted – isonly one way to do so. Doing the sameheavy-day workout in a weekly schedule thatcalls for 2 heavy days per week will not workvery long. When a week contains multipleheavy days, different ways to train heavymust be used each time or staleness will res-ult. In the example above, 5 sets of 5 acrosson Monday with one heavier set of 5 reps on
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Wednesday is an excellent way to vary thequality of the heavy day and keep the intens-ity high. Using different numbers of reps atthe same high relative intensity works well:for a week with three heavy days, a good or-ganization would be 5 heavy sets of 5 acrosson Monday, one heavy triple on Tuesday,and 5 heavy singles on Thursday. The criticalfactor is the variation among the heavyworkouts, keeping the overall training stresshigh while changing up the quality of thework done.
Rest between sets is a variable that lendsitself to manipulation quite readily. In theearlier discussion of dynamic effort sets, wenoted that control of the rest time is an im-portant variable. All training facilities shouldhave an analog clock with a sweep secondhand for this purpose. Sets that would other-wise be easy can be made very hard by limit-ing recovery between sets to a minute or less,such that only partial recovery is possible
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and each following set is done in a climate ofaccumulating fatigue.
As discussed above, speed of movementis a variable that can be manipulated very ef-fectively, especially if power production is aprimary training consideration. A high barspeed with an exercise traditionally doneslowly produces a much higher power out-put, allowing the squat, press, bench press,and deadlift to be trained at a high rate offorce production while using a relatively lightweight. This work increases neuromuscularefficiency because of the amount of force ne-cessary to accelerate the weight to high velo-city, but it lacks the heavy skeletal load thataccompanies weights closer to 1RM, thusstressing the ligaments less than heavierweights otherwise would and contributing tobetter and easier recovery.
Some exercises are by their nature moredemanding than others, in terms of their ef-fects on recovery. Heavy, limit-level deadlifts
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are very stressful on the entire physiologicalsystem, making sets across at a high percent-age of 1RM a bad choice for the deadlift be-cause of their effects on the rest of the train-ing week. One heavy set of deadlifts usuallyproduces sufficient stress without the needfor more sets. Conversely, the stress pro-duced by even very heavy power cleans is ofa different quality, since the factors that limitthe amount of weight in the power clean donot involve absolute strength and thereforedo not stress the contractile components ofmuscle, the ligaments and tendons, and thenervous system at the level the deadlift does.Heavy cleans produce their own unique typeof stress, related to the impact involved inracking the bar, but it is quite different fromthat produced by a heavy deadlift. As a gen-eral rule, exercises strictly dependent on ab-solute strength for their execution at heavyweights are harder to recover from thantechnique-dependent exercises that are
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limited by skill of execution and power pro-duction and that are typically done without asignificant eccentric component. This is whythe Olympic lifts can be trained with a higherfrequency than the power lifts, and whytraining programs for athletes must take intoconsideration the relative intensities of theprimary components of the program.
Whatever the method used, higher in-tensity work must be varied if it is to be usedfor long periods of time in the context ofweekly programming. If variation does notoccur, and good choices are not made abouthow to approach training stress variation,progress will slow prematurely.Frequency Variation. The obvious way toincrease volume during the training week inthe Starr model is to add workouts. Addtraining sessions one at a time and hold thevolume constant for several weeks ormonths, until progress slows at that volume,at which point you can add another day. The
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tremendous number of possible combina-tions of workouts per week and light-medium-heavy loading make this model oftraining useful for 2 to 3 years, possiblylonger than either of the other two models.When introducing an additional workout,initially add it as a medium-intensity day.Later, as the trainee adapts to the load, therelative intensity of the additional day can beincreased.
Progression through the number ofworkouts per week requires close observa-tion of how the trainee tolerates each addi-tion. Some trainees initially appear to handlea fourth training day with ease, but thencrash two to four weeks later: work tolerancegoes down, performance decreases, nagginginjuries or pain become evident. This pointmay be the upper limit of the trainee’s workcapacity, the point beyond which overtrain-ing will occur. Some offloading must happenfor a short time, either by changing a heavy
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day to a light day or by eliminating a singleworkout (not the light one) for two weeks oruntil the trainee feels normal again. Failureto do so could easily result in a first exposureto overtraining, costing valuable trainingtime and producing frustration and possiblechronic injuries that could interfere withlong-term progress. The way this first expos-ure to excessive overload is handled is cru-cial to later dealings with overtraining issues.Correct offloading and recovery now teachesthe importance of recovery in the grandscheme of training and establishes a preced-ent for an intelligent approach to handlingovertraining.
Most athletes will not need to even at-tempt training schedules of more than fourdays per week. There are few sports that be-nefit from more than four days of trainingoutside their specific practice requirements.Powerlifting, as it has been traditionallytrained, does not typically use more than
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four days per week, although some moreprogressive lifters have gotten good resultsby doing so and the paradigm is changing.But field sports, Highland games, strongmancompetition, and team sports that use bar-bell conditioning will not normally need ordesire any more gym time than a four-dayprogram provides. So anyone interested infive or six days of training is probably a com-petitor in one of the barbell sports – weight-lifting or powerlifting – or is a physiquecompetitor.
For these athletes, each increase intraining volume must be carefully gauged. Astraining progress slows each time volume isadded, the cause of the plateau must be cor-rectly evaluated to make sure that the slow-down is not caused by a non-volume-relatedtraining variable. It might be that the intens-ity is too high on one or more of the heavydays or too low on more than one of theheavy days, or that proper recovery is not
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being attended to. If the cause of the plateauis determined to be other than trainingvolume, progress should be restored by fix-ing these problems before volume is in-creased again.
Very fit trainees who tolerate the five-and six-days-per-week schedules may fur-ther benefit from doing two workouts on oneor more days per week. Dr. Keijo Hakkinenhas shown that strength gains may be moreefficiently produced by dividing up a day’straining volume into two workouts instead ofone. This system is used in many nationalteam training situations where the athlete’sschedule is completely free of outside con-straints on time and recovery. Instead ofspending two to three hours in the gym atone time, an hour or so two or more times aday allows the body to experience additionalrecuperation between training stresses. Incollegiate programs and in professionalsports situations, it is the strength coach’s
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job to be there to help, and the athletes’ re-sponsibility to do everything they can to im-prove. But most athletes will not be able toconform to a schedule like this due to obvi-ous conflicts with school, work, and family.In high school programs, the schedule is de-termined by the available time, not by whatwould be ideal for training.
The intermediate trainee can use thisprogramming schedule for quite some time.There is a great deal of room for progression,with variations in both sets/reps andworkout intensities as strength improves andthe number of training sessions increasessystematically. The limit on the number ofworkouts per week for this model of period-ization is highly individual. Personal sched-ules, family commitments, work, and theability to physiologically and psychologicallyadapt to high training volumes all play a role.At some level, the ability to increase trainingvolume to the maximum tolerable level may
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determine the ultimate success of the athlete.Five heavy training days and one light dayrepeated every week for three months issomething from which very few people canrecover adequately; most will be overtrainedon such a demanding schedule. The vast ma-jority will not get even this far before over-training becomes a major problem. Only themost genetically gifted athletes who are alsoable to devote all necessary time to trainingand recovery can function at this high levelof loading without gigantic problems. Theability to do so indicates that the athlete canfunction and progress at the extremes of hu-man ability, the very quality necessary forelite-level performance.
If it is determined that the trainee hasreached the end of the usefulness of weeklytraining organization, advanced program-ming methods are warranted.
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Chapter 8: TheAdvanced Trainee
The advanced trainee is one for whom aweekly training organization is no longerworking. At this level of advancement, anoverload event and subsequent recoveryfrom it may take a month or more. Further-more, each overload event may be designedto produce a different type of overload, suchthat several of these longer periods taken to-gether produce cumulative effects that theywould not produce separately.
Arguably the most important step in thestress/adaptation cycle is the recovery –without it, adaptation does not occur. For thenovice, a simple day off between workouts issufficient. For the intermediate, several daysare required, during which a couple of low-impact workouts are performed to preserve
skill and conditioning and to demonstrateincreased performance. For the advancedtrainee, the rest phase can be one or twoweeks of decreased training load, comprisingseveral workouts that are low enough involume to allow fatigue to dissipate but highenough in intensity to maintain the skillsneeded to demonstrate peak performance.Because of the interplay between stress andadaptation of different physical skills at dif-ferent times, the advanced trainee is almostalways in the process of trying to rest someparticular physical quality while working todevelop a different one. This makes for acomplex training milieu, and care must betaken when setting the stage.
Periodization is the term most fre-quently used when referring to the organiza-tion of weight training programming intoperiods of time longer than the intervalbetween two workouts. Its central organizingprinciple is the variation of volume and
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intensity in order to obtain a training object-ive. One of the most commonly referencedmodels of periodization is attributed toLeonid Matveyev and is so entrenched in theliterature that it is often referred to as “clas-sical” periodization. Conventional wisdomholds that Matveyev’s model is the only wayto program resistance training for everyone,regardless of their level of trainingadvancement.
The concept of periodic variation intraining volume and intensity has beenaround for quite some time. It is quite prob-able that the training of ancient Greek ath-letes involved the use of periods of heavierand lighter training, especially consideringthe fact that the scheduling of games was de-pendent on the cycles of war and agriculture.At the turn of the last century, the term“photoperiod” was used to describe the phe-nomenon observed among athletes perform-ing better in late summer and early fall. It
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was assumed that the amount of sunlight ex-posure contributed to the improved perform-ance, and so the most stressful training wasdone in spring and summer.
As early as 1933, Mark Berry was usingweekly variations in programming for hisbodybuilders and weightlifters, and wroteabout it in several publications. In the 1950s,Lazlo Nadori, a sports scientist and coach inHungary, developed a model of periodizationfor his athletes. The development of this par-ticular model was unique to Hungary andwas separate from the evolution of Sovietblock periodization, since no translations ofhis work into Russian were done. In the1960s, Russian weightlifting coach LeonidMatveyev developed his concepts of periodiz-ation, and his 1971 book provides several dif-ferent models for a diversity of sports. Theone of these that is now known as “classical”periodization was intended for beginners.Later in 1981, Matveyev’s book,
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“Fundamentals of Sport Training” wastranslated into German and English (manythanks to Dr. Bernard Burton for procuring acopy of this rare book for the authors). Hav-ing written the first periodization book avail-able in the West, he became known as thefather of periodization by default.
Also in the 1960s Matveyev’s hated rivalYuri Verkhoshansky developed his system ofconjugated loading, openly stating that peri-odization was crap. But since his conjugatedloading system was also periodized, it mustbe assumed that he really just thoughtMatveyev’s approach to periodization wascrap. In 1982, East German sports scientistDr. Dietrich Harre edited Principles of SportTraining, which is essentially a fusion of theworks of Nadori and Matveyev. A couple ofyears later, Frank Dick, the head of Britishtrack and field, “liberally recreated” Harre’sbook in English. Tudor Bompa, the Romani-an author of the famous text Periodization,
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was trained in the East German system, andhis first and subsequent texts are essentiallyreiterations and adaptations of Harre’s ad-aptation of Nadori and Matveyev. And herewe are today with no new thoughts, no newsystems, and no real explanations of period-ization since the last century. What we dohave is a large misunderstanding about whatperiodization is and how to use it.
The fact is that, from Mark Berry’s ob-servations in the 1930s forward, the basicfeatures of training for advanced athletespreparing for a competition have alwaysbeen these two things:
Thing 1 – The closer an athlete is to in-dividual genetic potential, the more im-portant the cumulative effects of a seriesof workouts become (fig. 8-1).Thing 2 – Training for more advancedathletes must be organized into longerperiods of time, and those periods pro-gress from higher volume and lower
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intensity toward lower volume and high-er intensity (fig. 8-2).
Figure 8-1. Thing 1. The advanced trainee responds
to periodized programming over a longer period of
time than either the beginner or intermediate trainee.
Gray bars indicate training days, white bars are days
off.
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Figure 8-2. Thing 2. There is generally an inverse
relationship between volume and intensity during a
single training cycle for the advanced trainee.
Figure 8-3. The generalized relationship between
performance improvement and training complexity
relative to time.
As simple linear progression directs thenovice’s workout-to-workout training, and assimple weekly variation directs the
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intermediate’s training, Thing 1 applies toathletes whose response to training has ad-vanced to the point that several weeks at atime must be considered in their program-ming. Thing 2 is a function of the fact thatadvanced athletes compete, they do so atspecific times, and their training has to allowall aspects of performance to peak at thoseparticular times. A novice is not a competit-ive athlete, at least not in any serious sense.An intermediate may compete, but perform-ance at the intermediate level is still pro-gressing quickly enough that each weekendrepresents a peak anyway. Advanced athletesproduce a peak by appointment only, andthat peak must be scheduled in advance andtrained for precisely and accurately.
There are many ways to set up programsthat fit within these parameters. Advancedprograms are by their very nature highly in-dividual matters, since no two athletes at thislevel are the same. They must be carefully
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developed according to the athlete’s traininghistory, personal tolerances and abilities,and the schedule of both the athlete and thesport.
With this in mind, four basic versionswill be presented here. First, a very simplepyramid model that illustrates the generalprinciples involved in longer programmingmodels. Second, one that works well for bar-bell sports in particular, the Two Steps For-ward, One Step Back model. Next, the Build-ing Blocks model, which uses four-week peri-ods, each devoted to a different aspect ofphysical preparedness, to accumulate all ofthe necessary elements at meet time. Andlast, the Hormonal Fluctuation model, whichuses a 5- to 8-week period of very intensetraining to force an adaptation through spe-cific manipulation of the endocrine system.
The Pyramid Model
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The best way to jump into longer train-ing cycles is with a very simple model, with astructure that consists of nothing more thana pyramid that lasts for a two-month period.This example uses the squat, and a lifterwhose 1RM is 400 pounds, 5RM is 365, and5 sets of 5 max is 340.
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These first four weeks make up the “loading”portion of the cycle. The total weekly trainingvolume is much higher than the trainee haspreviously done, with five sets of five acrossfor two heavy days per week rather than justone, and one offloading day. This volume issuch that the trainee should experience someresidual fatigue and may not make a PR for 5sets of 5 by the end of week four. In fact, byFriday of week three the trainee might havetrouble completing the prescribed sets andreps. But if fatigue has not accumulated, ifrecovery is occurring well, and all the reps ofthe fourth week’s sets are finished, it wouldbe useful to milk this process for anotherweek, establishing significant new PRs for 5× 5, before entering a peaking phase.
The four weeks that follow – the peakingphase – are dramatically different:
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As in the loading phase, another week can beadded if warranted by recovery and progressin order to get the most out of the cycle.
Reducing the volume and total trainingstress in this second phase allows gradual re-covery from the previous high-trainingvolume. During weeks five through eight, the
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trainee is actually “resting” from theprevious high-volume work, and as fatiguedissipates and adaptation occurs, improvedperformance is attained. Weeks one throughfour are, in essence, doing the same job asthe Monday high-volume workout in theTexas Method intermediate program, placingenough stress on the body to force adapta-tion, and weeks five through eight functionlike the Texas Wednesday and Fridayworkouts, allowing for rest and adaptationand the demonstration of increased perform-ance. But for the advanced trainee the pro-cess is stretched out over a much longertimeframe.
It is possible to successfully repeat asimple pyramid cycle like this several times,with virtually no changes other than an in-creased load. A trainee who completes thiscycle might start the next cycle on week one,with Monday’s workout weight set at 315 × 5× 5, and end up with 415 × 3 at the end of
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week eight. This process could carry forwardfor many months, possibly longer.
Usually, a week or two of “active rest” orless-frequent training with moderate weightsis a good idea between cycles to assure thatthe trainee is rested and ready to undergoanother period of stressful training. Afterfinishing the above cycle, squatting twice perweek for two weeks with 2 or 3 sets of 5 at300 pounds would be appropriate.
The effectiveness of the pyramid cycle isnot limited to sets of 5 and 3. Loading couldbe 3 sets of 10. Peaking could be one set of 5.The important thing is to do sufficientvolume during the loading phase so that fa-tigue is accumulated, enough to make per-formance at or near PR levels difficult butnot impossible. A good rule of thumb is thatif levels of 90% or more of 5RM cannot beperformed during week three before any re-duction in training volume occurs, the work-load is probably too high. If the trainee is at
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or above PR levels at the end of the loadingperiod, an increase in loading for the nextcycle will probably work.
This simple example of the basics oflonger programming can obviously be ap-plied to all the lifts, not just the squat. Thereare also more complicated plans, each usefulin its own particular set of circumstances.
The Two Steps Forward, OneStep Back Model
A second model, a variation on one usedby USA Weightlifting’s former nationalcoach Lyn Jones with some of his athletes,manipulates the workload in four-weekblocks, with progress made by connecting aseries of these blocks using progressivelyhigher loads. Each block starts with a weekat a baseline load of moderate intensity. Thesecond week moves average intensity up10%. The third week is an offload or recovery
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week where average intensity is reduced 5%.This lighter week enables a 10% increase inload in the fourth week. The next four-weekcycle begins at an intensity 10% greater thanthe previous cycle’s starting point. Each ofthe series of four-week blocks prepares thetrainee for the next, progressively heavier,block. Although each block may have aslightly different goal in terms of a particularnarrow range of sets and reps, this modellacks the large magnitude in goal variationthat is the primary feature of the BuildingBlocks model that we will discuss in detaillater in this chapter. Each four-week cycle isslightly different, but they flow seamlesslytoward the contest date with the object ofimproving the specific aspects of perform-ance required that day.
The TSFOSB model is not expected toachieve a measurable improvement in 1RMevery four weeks. An advanced trainee willexperience an improvement in performance
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with each four-week cycle, but the slow rateof improvement in the advanced trainee maybe imperceptible over a period as short asfour weeks (note the shallow slope of theperformance improvement curve in figure8-3). Each block functions as an overloadevent, but the adaptation to the overloadmay produce an improvement small enoughthat it can be easily measured only in the cu-mulative. Research suggests that a trainee atthis level may improve only 10 to 20 poundson the basic exercises in up to a year’s time –less than two pounds per month – depend-ing on the individual and the exercise, aquantity small enough to be buried in dailyvariation.
As a result, 1RM is not tested at the endof each cycle; the 1RM that the trainee wascapable of in the very first week is used as areference point throughout several connec-ted cycles. And loads beyond 100% are notincluded. For example, if the previous cycle
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was programmed for 90%-85%-95%-90%, itwould be tempting to follow the pattern andassign 100%-95%-105%-100% for the nextfour weeks. However, the cycle is too short toproduce a successful 105% effort. This im-provement in four weeks would be 20pounds on a 400-pound squat, an unreason-able expectation. Such progress is possiblefor a novice or an intermediate trainee, butthese adaptive capacities have already beenexhausted by this point or advanced pro-gramming manipulation would not be neces-sary. What actually should happen is that thefour-week block starting with 100% tapersfor the remainder of the cycle toward finaltesting or a competition done at the end ofweek four. The new 1RM performed at themeet or test would serve as the benchmarkfor the next series of four-week cycles.
Setting up a four-week block of trainingin this format is fairly simple. Four-weekblocks will usually be strung together into a
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longer period during which volume de-creases and intensity increases, so it is neces-sary to identify the target date in advanceand count back from there (this is a commonfeature of all contest-oriented program-ming). The number of weeks between thestarting date and the target date determinesthe number of four-week segments and gov-erns the selection of volumes and intensities.The example below is for 12 weeks usingthree four-week blocks. In a perfect world,four such series with one week’s active restafter each would fill out a year’s trainingschedule. But things usually do not work outthis way, and shorter or longer programs canbe designed using the same principles.
For the following example, the pro-gram’s overall goal is power and strength.Each cycle throughout the training year canand should have a different goal. Simple re-petition of the same program over and over
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will produce staleness and leave many as-pects of performance undeveloped.
Exercises for the cycle are chosen basedon the focus of the cycle, and the focus ofeach workout. The following three-day-perweek example incorporates power develop-ment exercises (power snatch, power clean)and strength exercises (squats, presses,deadlifts). There are four exercises on two ofthe days, and three on the other, allowing forsome daily variation. The whole body shouldbe trained every workout, since large-scalestress on the whole system is more effectiveat driving adaptation than exercising a smallamount of muscle.
The goal in this cycle is to develop powerand strength for a weightlifter, so a repeti-tion range from singles to sets of five is ap-propriate. The exercises used should be ap-propriate for this rep range. One way to ma-nipulate the volume is to vary the numbersof reps and sets. Since the trainee is well
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adapted to volumes of up to 5 sets of 5, wecan use 5 work sets as an initial target, andthen vary the number of sets to produce on-load/offload. Volume starts high and pro-gressively goes down through the four-weekblocks. This means that the sets of five willbe done first in the program. The triples,doubles, and singles will come toward theend of the cycle.
In this model, loads are determined ac-cording to specific percentages of the train-ee’s 1RM. For example:
Using percentages of 1RM for advanced ath-letes is no problem, since all advanced ath-letes have sufficient experience with the ex-ercises to know their current 1RM valueswithin a few pounds, even if a 1RM has notbeen performed recently. The percent of
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1RM used can vary within a workout orworkouts but should average out to the pro-grammed percentage over the week. And amore advanced athlete might need to usemore than the 5% offload in week three.Small alterations are acceptable as long asthey remain within the general guidelines.
When calculating intensity, consideronly the heaviest sets in the workout. Do notuse warm-up sets in programming calcula-tions, because the sometimes-necessaryextra warm-up will skew the calculationdown and give an inaccurate picture of theactual intensity of the workout.
Using week three as an example, theTSFOSB model uses work sets at 75% of 1RMfor sets of 5 across. To calculate the worksets, we multiply each of our hypothetical190 lb. athlete’s best lifts by 0.75, as follows:
Power snatch: 198 × 0.75 = 148 lbs.Power clean: 264 × 0.75 = 198 lbs.Press: 175 × 0.75 = 131 lbs. (use 130)
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Bench press: 275 × 0.75 = 206 lbs. (use205)Back squat: 405 × 0.75 = 303 lbs. (use305)Deadlift: 450 × 0.75 = 337 lbs. (use 340)
Now, we make a few changes to tailor theworkout to the lifts and the lifter. Due to thenature of the quick lifts, power snatchesshould be done for doubles and power cleansfor triples, instead of fives. The main pullingassistance movements, the snatch and cleanhigh pulls – essentially the same form as thefull movement, especially the shrug, butwithout the rack at the top – will use weightsthat are 20% heavier than the full version ofthe lift. This is because partial movementscan be done heavier, and must be done heav-ier if the benefit of position-holding strengthoff the floor is to be obtained. Straps are nor-mally used for these movements as well, tosave the hands for the main lifts. Deadliftsare very hard to recover from if used for sets
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across, so only one work set will be done, atabout 80%, since the volume is reduced. Thework sets for the week will then be asfollows:
To introduce some daily variation withinthe week, it is useful to alter the squat loads.The day 1 back squat weight is increased by5% and the day 3 load is decreased by 5%.This does not affect average intensity, and itproduces a more balanced, less monotonousweek. The day 1 back squat will be 320 × 5 ×4 and the day 3 back squat will be 290 × 5 ×4. Such minor changes should be made as
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needed, along with any others that seem ne-cessary to the execution of the program, aslong as they remain within the guidelinesand intent.
There are a few details that remain to beaddressed, two of which are assistance exer-cises and stretching. Assistance exercisesare not directly related to the movement pat-terns of sport performance, but support oth-er exercises that are. Examples of thesewould be all types of abdominal work, low-back exercises such as back extensions, andchins and pull-ups. These types of exercisesare important, as they contribute to trunkstability during sports performance and tothe execution of basic barbell exercises.Strengthening these areas will also reducethe chance for injury. The programming ofassistance exercises is done separately, andthey are not included in the volume and in-tensity calculations for the overall workout.Generally, these exercises involve smaller
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muscle groups, and are done with fewer setsand higher reps than the core movements.When done appropriately, they are notstressful enough systemically that they addenough work to perturb the rest of the train-ing program.
By this point in an athlete’s career thereshould be no need to do any special flexibil-ity work prior to training. Issues of correctexercise performance and range of motionshould be long resolved. But if a need forflexibility maintenance still exists, stretchingshould be done at the end of the workout forbest results and the least interference withthe power movements.
Once all these calculations have beenperformed for all the weeks in the program,the whole cycle is laid out. The final programwith assistance exercises and warm-up setsincluded for the 75% week looks like thefollowing:
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The volume and intensity variation withinthe four-week block follows the intracycle re-lationship that has volume decreasing andintensity increasing between blocks. The fulltwelve-week cycle is detailed below. The finalblock of the twelve-week series maintains the
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increased intensity and decreased volume re-lationship for the first two weeks, and thenboth volume and intensity are reduced by 10to 20% in the final two weeks. This allows forcumulative recovery and supercompensationprior to the event or test.
If an athlete stops making progress us-ing this model after a year or so, there are anumber of possible reasons. The offloadweeks may not be sufficient for recuperation.Increase the magnitude of offload to 10 or
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15% while maintaining the programmed in-creases: instead of 70%-80%-75%-85%, forexample, try 65%-80%-60%-85%. Or breakup longer workouts into two workouts separ-ated by at least four hours. This allows thebody additional recovery during the trainingday and, depending on other daily activities,may be what some athletes need to cope withan intense training program.
If these simple fixes do not work, theathlete may be experiencing the con-sequences of increased performance abilityand work capacity, a need for longer recov-ery periods following longer periods of moreintense training closer to genetic potentialthat other programs can provide.
This type of cycle, where the degree ofvariability is low and the main parameterthat is manipulated is intensity, has much incommon with intermediate level program-ming, in that it is very simple in terms of thevariables manipulated and the degree of
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manipulation. It works well for athletes at acertain level of advancement in a sport likeweightlifting with very narrow performancecharacteristics. More metabolically complic-ated sports require more elaborateprogramming.
The Building Blocks Model
The building blocks model provides thatelaboration. It is common to see referencesto “phases” of training, defined as a period oftime spent developing a specific componentof the training necessary for the sport.Phases might typically be assigned to devel-op hypertrophy, strength, muscular endur-ance, power, and technique, with a competi-tion scheduled at the end of these phaseswhen all components are brought to bear onthe contest. This particular order is designedspecifically to develop these five importantperformance characteristics in the order in
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which they persist most effectively over thetime (fig. 8-4), hypertrophy being most per-sistent and least relevant to performance(unless the contest is physique) and tech-nique being the most relevant and mostsensitive to the temporal proximity of thecontest.
The concept of adaptation persist-ence plays an important role in contest pre-paration for some sports. Beyond the well-recognized fact that strength is more persist-ent than cardiovascular endurance, fewtraining references have observed whichparameter is more persistent once de-veloped. This hierarchy can be logically de-rived from an analysis of the mechanisms in-volved in the adaptation, as well as fromcoaching observations of athletes over time(fig. 8-4).
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Figure 8-4. The continuum of adaptation persist-
ence. Cardiovascular endurance is the least persistent,
hypertrophy the most persistent. Significant loss of
VO2max (cardiovascular endurance) can occur in a
matter of days, whereas the significant decay of added
muscle mass (hypertrophy) may take many weeks or
months following cessation of training. Weight train-
ing using any range of reps maintains muscle mass. It
is suggested here that structural changes that contrib-
ute to performance are more persistent than metabol-
ic changes contributing to performance.
That the most persistent parametershould be included first, farthest away fromthe planned event, makes good sense whenlaying out the training cycle. And it is logicalthat the least persistent parameter should beincluded in close proximity to the planned
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event wherever possible. In this way a sum-mation effect is achieved, with all trainingparameters included as phases in a sequencethat leads to the most effective performanceenhancement at the correct time.
The phases may differ according to thesport the program is designed for. An excep-tion to the general concept of adaptation per-sistence might occur if the performanceparameter most pertinent to the contest isnot technique, as might be the case in astrongman competition. Powerlifting pro-grams will differ markedly from weightliftingprograms, which will be different from pro-grams designed for throwers, strongmancompetitors, or Highland games athletes.For example, a sequence of phases may bedesigned without a hypertrophy componentif it has little to do with performance or if theathlete is already carrying enough musclemass; this is typically the case with advancedathletes, having developed most of their
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muscle mass during the novice and interme-diate phases of training. Depending on thecontested events, a strongman programmight not include a lot of work heavily de-pendent on technique, since a five-event con-test does not allow for a tremendous amountof specialization, and might instead focus onstrength as a common component of severalof the events. And to the extent that muscu-lar endurance – especially grip strength andendurance – is developed using exercisesthat are typically found as contested events,sufficient technique training may be accom-plished at the same time.
Several groups of four-week blocks maybe assembled into a training cycle of manymonths’ duration (fig. 8-5). The primaryfactor affecting the organization of such acycle would be, of course, the competitiveschedule. Remember, any athlete who needsprogramming at this degree of complexity isa competitor in a sport, and the
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requirements of the sport dictate the pro-gramming. Another important factor is theathlete’s personal competitive history, whichallows for the analysis of individual strengthsand weaknesses that require focused atten-tion in the programming. Form and tech-nique problems are addressed in eachworkout, but an inadequate strength basewould be addressed over a period of months,which requires that multiple training blocksbe devoted to it.
We will use preparation for a strongmancontest as an example for the building blocksmodel. Unlike the smooth transitions char-acteristic of TSFOSB programming, thebuilding blocks method utilizes phases thatmay have relatively little in common, result-ing in what may seem like abrupt transitions.The only requirement is that enough time beallotted in each block to allow for a completeoverload event to occur before moving to thenext block. The blocks are organized in a way
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that takes advantage of adaptation persist-ence so that each training parameter receivesenough attention at the most useful point inthe cycle, and the suddenness of transitionsis irrelevant. Illustrated below are selectedweeks from each of the blocks.
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Figure 8-5. Three examples of sequencing the com-
ponents of a longer-term training plan. A) A sample
program for a weightlifter. B) A sample program for a
strongman competitor. C) A sample program for a
Highland games athlete. Each individual program
should be arranged with the most persistent compon-
ent block first and the least persistent last, with re-
spect to the limitations and needs of the particular
sport.
As the name suggests, the strength blockis critical to strongman competition.Strength makes size more useful (there arelots of big weak men). Strength is the wholepurpose of the sport, since all other aspectsof it derive from strength: heavy implementsmust be carried a long way and handledthrough turns; heavy odd objects must be lif-ted; trucks must be pulled; heavy yokes mustbe carried. The strength blocks produce, ulti-mately, the most important training effect ofthe whole cycle, the one that directly contrib-utes the most to success at the contest.
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Because some strongman events requirethe execution of multiple repetitions, or theuse of a prolonged muscular effort, localmuscle endurance is nearly as important asstrength and is very dependent on it. Train-ing for local muscular endurance involves
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higher numbers of reps with lighter weightsand shorter rest intervals. Prolonged isomet-ric holds and gripping and carrying exercisesare an important component, since manystrongmen events are of precisely thisnature. Glycolytic metabolism dominatesthis type of activity, which typically lasts for60 to 90 seconds of work with heavy weights.
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The final segment of training is a peak-ing block. Following the general contest pre-paration model, the peaking block will havethe highest intensity training and the lowestvolume of all four blocks, done with a highdegree of contest specificity. Non-contest-
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specific work is limited to one day per week,and contest events are trained in a way thatallows for maximum recovery while exposingthe athlete to all the events scheduled for theshow.
The week before the contest completesthe taper period. Light non-specific work isdone twice this week for the express purposeof preventing staleness before the event. The
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loads should be no heavier than 80% of 1RM,and for low reps, light enough that recoveryfrom the previous weeks is not interruptedbut the ranges of motion used in the contestare fresh and open.
The duration of the blocks used can varybut, in general, each block for a newly ad-vanced trainee is four weeks in duration.Shorter blocks are not used since the ad-vanced trainee cannot significantly improvea training parameter in less time. An excep-tion might be a technique block for an exper-ienced weightlifter whose form is very solid.
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There is no technique block allocated for astrongman cycle.
Technique is an interesting componentof training. By this point in an athlete’s ca-reer, many thousands of repetitions havebeen done. This athlete is a virtuoso ofmovement, having mastered the techniquesof his sport. The motor pathways of goodtechnique are firmly entrenched, and this al-lows short focused periods of neuromuscularrefreshment to refine performance for com-petition. Riding a bike is analogous. The firstfew minutes back on the saddle are a littlewobbly. But in short order all the synapsesthat form the cycling motor pathways havereconnected, and balance, steering, and ped-aling stroke are back in excellent form afterjust a few minutes. Re-educating the body ona previously mastered technical task doesnot require long periods of focused repeti-tion of the skill. It is regained with shortperiods of focused technical work or by
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including technical practice within otherblocks of training.
Yet for sports extremely dependent onvery precise technique, it must be refinedand focused right before the competition.Technical mastery is more critical for sportsthat involve aimed implement throws andthe Olympic lifts, where very small errors areamplified by the distance thrown or the diffi-culty of making a correction during a move-ment that takes less than a second to per-form. Technical execution at this level decaysrapidly, but for an advanced athlete it is re-covered just as quickly.
For the strongman competitor, tech-nique training is a problem because of boththe huge number of possible events that maybe contested (only five of which are usuallyincluded in a given competition), and thespecificity of the competition apparatus tothe event site. For this reason, strongmantraining emphasizes physical readiness for
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competition with no specific block of traininggeared toward technical refinement beyondpractice on the actual events. Although thereare technical issues to deal with, they are notof the magnitude experienced in the snatchor the javelin, and can be addressed duringthe strength and muscular endurance blocksas skills are practiced and equipmentmastered. Strongman competition is de-signed to test the general capabilities of thecontestant, and is not something for which agreat deal of specific technique preparationis intended or necessary.
Because of the nature of strongmancompetition, some general exercises can beused very effectively to prepare for the morespecific versions that might be encounteredat the contest. Muscular endurance and gly-colytic capacity for several events can be de-veloped by using the farmer’s walk at variousdistances and loads in the muscular endur-ance block. Various forms of sled dragging,
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stone lifting, tire flipping, and grip-depend-ent exercises such as fat bar deadlifts can beused to develop strength for many of the dif-ferent events usually encountered at strong-man contests. At the same time physical ca-pacity is being trained, technical abilitiesthat can be applied to competition events arebeing practiced. In this way, every block oftraining can be used to develop “technical”ability in the strongman athlete.
A key element in avoiding overtrainingfor advanced athletes in every sport is the re-covery phase, which allows the body to fullyrecuperate, both physically and psychologic-ally, after a long training cycle. This periodincorporates activities collectively referred toas active rest. During this phase, bothvolume and the intensity levels are greatlyreduced, and activities with an athleticmovement component are pursued. Fairlystrenuous recreational activities that do notinvolve the athlete’s primary sports are
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suitable for the active rest phase, providedthat the athlete is capable of participating inthem without a high risk of injury. The pur-pose of an active rest phase is to allow forcomplete recovery and supercompensation,but in a way that does not cause detraining.If the athlete is responding well to training,the duration of this resting phase betweentraining cycles should be no longer than twoweeks.
Not infrequently, an athlete can performa new PR following a week off. This occursdespite the fact that the meet performancewas also a PR the previous week. If this oc-curs, the athlete has mistimed or misloadedtraining, the taper, or both, since additionalsupercompensation took place after it wasanticipated. This indicates that the perform-ance PR was not what it could have been hadprogramming been more precise. These mis-takes will happen to every athlete and coach,and they are opportunities to learn.
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The Hormonal FluctuationModel
The hormonal fluctuation model is an-other way to organize advanced training. It isdesigned specifically to manipulate the ana-bolic/catabolic hormone axis that controlsmuch of the stage 2 response to heavy train-ing, and to do so in a predictable,schedulable way. It utilizes longer blocks oftraining, up to eight weeks, during which in-tensity, volume, and technique are manipu-lated to culminate in peak performance onthe date of a scheduled event.
HFM is different from the previouslydiscussed models, which are derived fromolder versions of periodization. RememberThing 2: It becomes productive for more ad-vanced athletes to organize periods of train-ing into longer segments of time, theprimary feature of which is a progressionfrom higher volume and lower intensity
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toward lower volume and higher intensity.However, here is Thing 3: Thing 2 does notalways apply.
The hormone fluctuation model relieson a response to stress brought on by an in-crease in both volume and intensity. Thisruns contrary to the conventional wisdomgoverning advanced programs, but the fact isthat both models work. HFM works as wellas “Thing 2” models and in some cases maywork much better, in that the homeostaticdisruption it is capable of producing is muchgreater.
It is normal for coaches to divide train-ing cycles into multiple shorter blocks con-taining variations in intensity and volume –periods of high-intensity or high-volumetraining followed by periods of lower-intens-ity or lower-volume training. The periods oflower workload are intended for regenera-tion and recuperation in order to prepare forthe next period of increased workload, or for
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a competition. Several researchers havedemonstrated that the testosterone-to-cortisol ratio decreases – that is, the level oftestosterone drops relative to the cortisollevel – during very high workloads and thenincreases during subsequent reduced work-loads. In elite rowers, a few weeks of very in-tense rowing training caused the T/C ratio todrop significantly. After two weeks of dra-matically reduced training load, T/C ratiosrecovered to normal levels or higher, whileperformance levels increased. A study of eliteweightlifters demonstrated similar findingsduring a six-week training period immedi-ately before a major competition. This studywas designed to test the T/C ratio responseto a high workload. T/C ratios dropped dur-ing weeks one and two, the period of mostintense training. Recovery or supercompens-ation of T/C ratios occurred over the nextfour weeks, which consisted of two weeks of“normal” training – about 80% of maximal
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work tolerance – followed by two weeks ofsignificantly reduced training. Again, per-formance improved and correlated well withtestosterone-to-cortisol ratios. These studiesdemonstrate that, when an advanced athleteworks very hard at maximal or near maximallevels for about two weeks, and then dramat-ically offloads for two to four weeks, the T/Cratio depresses with the highly elevatedworkload and then recovers to baseline orbeyond upon offloading, and a performanceincrease correlates with this recovery. Peakperformance should coincide with peak T/Cratio, and this performance peak probablyoccurs as a result of the recovery of the ratiosto baseline or beyond.
Laboratory measures of the testoster-one/cortisol ratio have been used to guidethe training of advanced and elite athletes inthe sport of weightlifting. Results from thesisresearch by Glenn Pendlay and MichaelHartman (2000, 2002) have demonstrated
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that adjusting training load to optimize T/Cratios leads to improved training and per-formance results. The intense work done inmaximal effort weeks depresses testosteronelevels and elevates cortisol. The ratio of thetwo should be depressed between 10% and30% if the training is to be an effective ad-aptive stimulus. Depression of less than 10%does not produce a homeostatic disruptionlarge enough to drive adaptation, and morethan 30% is excessive for timely recoveryand may well mark the beginning of the des-cent into overtraining. Maximal loading ofgreater than two weeks’ duration generallyproduces excessive T/C ratio depression andis counterproductive. The end result of thislaboratory experimentation is a series oftraining models that have consistently pro-duced strength improvements in a group forwhom gains are hard to produce: advancedand elite trainees.
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This training organization deviates fromthe concept that intensity should increase asvolume decreases. Here, as intensity in-creases or decreases, so does volume. It isthe parallel manipulation of both volumeand intensity that produces the overloadevent, providing both the stress and the op-portunity for recovery. The model consists ofa period of escalating workload over twoweeks, a period of maximal workload foreither one or two weeks, then a tapering ofworkload for two to four weeks. There arethree basic variations, with cycles of differentdurations: 1) five weeks, 2) six weeks, and 3)eight weeks. Each of these cycles is intendedto be used for different purposes or popula-tions. The five-week cycle is appropriate forathletes just entering the advanced stage, orfor connecting a series of longer HFM cycles.The six-week cycle can be used for popula-tions with a high anabolic capacity (trainedteens and young adults) to lead into a
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competition or as a connected series. Theeight-week cycle is appropriate for very ad-vanced or elite trainees as a lead-up to acompetition or testing period.
At this point in the athlete’s career, theselection of exercises has narrowed to thosethat are specific to competitive goals, and tothose exercises that specifically address whatshould be the well-defined weaknesses of theathlete.
The example we’ll use for this model isthat of a young advanced male weightlifterfollowing a 6-week version of the model.
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You can use the repetition continuum il-lustrated in figure 4-4 to select the appropri-ate repetition range needed to attain yourprogram’s specific goal. But as mentionedabove, certain exercises preclude specific re-petition schemes – competitive weightliftersdo not use skill-dependent explosive exer-cises like the snatch and the clean and jerkfor high reps; assistance exercises are notdone for singles. Since strength is as import-ant as appropriate technique for our hypo-thetical young weightlifter, the example hereuses doubles and singles, with a heavy em-phasis on the competitive lifts and theirvariants.
Since reps are low – singles and doubles– the volume is defined by the number ofsets. Weeks one and two are low and moder-ate volume, intended to be build-up that pre-pares the trainee to tolerate the tremendousworkloads to be encountered in the followingtwo weeks. These weeks are also used as
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technical refinement periods. During weeksthree and four, the intent is to stress thetrainee maximally to disrupt homeostasisand drive adaptation. An average of 8 setsper exercise is used, although 10 to 12 setscould be used depending on the trainee’s ca-pacity. Finally, the last two weeks taper to anaverage of 4 sets. This limited volume oftraining allows recovery and supercompens-ation to occur by the end of week six, thescheduled meet or test period.
As volume increases, so does intensity.As with volume above, weeks one and twoare light and moderate in intensity, andweeks three and four are very intense, withthe trainee reaching a daily 1RM or 2RM forevery exercise. Basically, the athlete is goingas heavy as possible every session, and is en-couraged to do so. This is a most critical timein the cycle, the application of a homeostatic-ally disruptive stress that will significantlydepress T/C ratio. Research has
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demonstrated that trainees will averageabout 94% of their 1RM during these twoweeks. Hitting an absolute all-time best 1RMis not expected, just the best effort possibleon that day – a “relative maximum” in theold Soviet parlance. As fatigue accumulatesand bar speed drops due to decreasing neur-omuscular efficiency, technical movementslike the snatch will suffer more than absolutestrength movements like the squat. Weeksfive and six are taper weeks, with severe re-ductions in intensity as well as volume, in-tended to bring about hormonal recoveryand supercompensation (and improved per-formance) on competition day. Load vari-ation is especially important in weeks fiveand six. These weeks require lower averageintensities, but very limited heavy work isnecessary in order to ensure that the athletestays sharp for the planned competition ortesting. So the last day of week five includes
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a very limited amount of 90% work, as doesthe first day of week six.
This type of program is very stressful.Late in week three, during week four, andwell into week five, the athlete will exhibitmood changes, unusual soreness, lack of“good sleep,” and will exhibit numerous oth-er symptoms that are often associated withovertraining. A certain amount of vicious-ness and irritability should be expected.While the athlete’s psychological well-beingis important, it is not the primary concern atthis point in the cycle. For the competitiveathlete, the performance goal must be theprimary focus, not the enjoyment of a warmand fuzzy training experience. At this point,testosterone levels should be depressed andcortisol levels elevated, and the trainee isnow ready to recover and supercompensate.This recovery of hormone ratios to normallevels – the increase in testosterone levels re-lative to cortisol – enables
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supercompensation, and the goal of the cycleis to set up precisely this situation so that re-covery can and will proceed.
During week five, even though the work-load is greatly reduced, the athlete will stillbe sore, moody, and “flat” (i.e., exercises willstill seem tough, heavy, and slow). As weeksix approaches, things get much better. Theathlete’s perception may even be “I’m notdoing any work” relative to the high work-load of the previous weeks. Accompanyingthis feeling is usually the desire to do moresets and reps with more weight than pro-grammed. Yielding to this temptation willflatten the recovery curve and blunt the now-climbing supercompensation response, andit will radically decrease the effects of thecycle as it comes to an end in week six. Therewill be a strong temptation in week six forthe trainee to test the water a few days beforethe competition. Patience here will reward
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the hard work of weeks three and four; a lackof patience will waste it.
Within this training organization thereis tremendous capacity for variability. Anygoal can be achieved – mass, power, orstrength. Rep schemes, exercise choice andvariation, intensities, and even exercise mod-alities can be varied to provide the appropri-ate level of stress to reach an athlete’s goals.As long as the workload follows the samegeneral pattern (build-up followed by max-imal work followed by taper) and allows suf-ficient time for both overload and recovery/supercompensation, any exercise modalitycould be programmed using this model.Every coach and athlete should experiment.
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Peaking. Regardless of the type of cycleused to prepare for competition, the finaltwo to four weeks prior to the event must in-clude a reduction in both volume and intens-ity. Intensity is reduced by decreasing thepercent of maximum load used in training. A
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limited number of near maximal attemptsare retained in the program during this peri-od but are carefully distributed and separ-ated by one or two workouts (only one tothree heavy lifts once or twice per week intaper weeks). These heavier attempts main-tain neuromuscular readiness and preventdetraining. Volume is reduced by limitingthe number of reps performed, using singlesand doubles only, and by decreasing both thenumber of sets and number of exercises in-cluded in a workout. The intent of these lastweeks of training is to allow the body to re-cuperate so that it can respond with maxim-um effort and efficiency when challenged todo so. While there is no conclusive data re-garding the timing of the last workout priorto competition, and different sports have dif-fering conventional wisdom on such things, agood rule of thumb is two days between thelast workout and competition, with the lastheavy workout occurring five to seven days
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previous. Individual differences play a hugepart in this decision, and personal experi-ence will ultimately be the deciding factor forthe advanced athlete.
It is likely that the most advanced ath-letes in the world will not require program-ming beyond the complexity presented here.If they do, their experiences in havingreached that point will have equipped themfor this adventure. Athletics at the elite levelis a highly individual thing, and all who havethe ability to perform at this level have alsoacquired the ability to exercise judgmentcommensurate with the physical capacitiesthey possess. Experiment, learn, and, aboveall, teach those of us who want to know.
“Today it is almost heresy to suggest that scientific know-ledge is not the sum of all knowledge. But a little reflectionwill show that there is beyond question a body of very im-portant but unorganized knowledge which cannot possibly
be called scientific in the sense of knowledge of generalrules: the knowledge of the particular circumstances of time
and place.”
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—F.A. Hayek490/550
Chapter 9: SpecialPopulations
We have argued that highly individual-ized training is necessary to reach close tofull genetic potential, and that the closer thetrainee gets to his or her genetic potential,the more important this specificity becomes.But this raises a question: Do the trainingmodels presented here, when applied at theappropriate level – novice, intermediate, andadvanced – work for all populations? Dothey work for women, children, older people,and injured people? And the answer is: Yes,they pretty much do.
Women
It is very important to understand thefollowing true thing: women are not a specialpopulation. They are half (more, actually) ofthe population. With very, very few excep-tions, they are trained in exactly the sameway as men of the same age and level. By vir-tue of a different hormonal profile, the rateand the magnitude of change in strength andmass will differ, but the biological processesthat bring about those changes are otherwisethe same as those in men. Since the pro-cesses are the same, the methods used to af-fect progress are also the same. And the re-sponse to the method depends on the effect-iveness of the method, not the sex of the in-dividual using it. Many excuses have beenmade over the centuries that exercise hasbeen practiced, sometimes by women, butusually for them. The bottom line is thateveryone, regardless of sex, gets out of a cor-rectly designed training program exactlywhat they put into it. Ineffective “firming
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and toning” routines have no basis inphysiology, and the results obtained fromthem demonstrate this rather conclusively.
That said, there are several importantdifferences between the performances ofmen and women, both in the weight roomand on the field. As a general rule, women donot have the same level of neuromuscular ef-ficiency as men. This is probably due to thedifferences in hormonal profile and themuch lower levels of testosterone, and it isevident across the spectrum of performance.Women can use a higher percentage of their1RM for more reps than men can, probablybecause their 1RM performance is not as effi-cient in demonstrating their true absolutestrength. Their performances at max verticaljumps, throws, snatches, cleans, jerks, andother explosive movements that involve highlevels of motor unit recruitment are per-formed at lower levels than those by men ofthe same size and level. And, while levels of
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absolute strength relative to muscle mass areessentially the same in the two sexes, wo-men’s upper-body movements suffer fromthe large relative difference in local musclemass distribution.
As a practical matter, if daily, weekly, ormonthly programming models are used toincrease strength or power, some modifica-tions are required for women since the in-tensities used are based on the individual1RM, and women can work with a higherpercentage of this 1RM for reps. For ex-ample, table 7-2 indicates that 70% for 10reps would constitute a heavy set with a highadaptive stimulus, when, for women, this isonly a medium set with a moderate adaptivestimulus. By the same token, if increasedmass is the goal, a relatively larger amount ofhigh-volume work over a longer time at aslightly higher intensity would be needed.Table 9-1 adapts the data in table 7-2 for fe-male populations.
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Table 9-1. The women’s version of Table 7-2, illus-
trating the difficulty of a rep scheme as it varies with
volume and intensity. The numbers in the table rep-
resent reps.
But if the hormonal fluctuation model(HFM; see chapter 8) is used, no modifica-tions are absolutely required. Even thoughfemale testosterone levels are lower, a de-pression of the ratio of testosterone tocortisol is the important factor, and the hor-monal fluctuation model has been effectivein accomplishing this in both sexes. Themenstrual cycle, however, may introduce an-other scheduling factor: there is a testoster-one peak at 12 days before ovulation that
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may affect the way the HFM works for wo-men. Scheduling maximal workloads tonearly coincide with this peak could possiblyaccelerate recovery and supercompensation.However, no data has yet to demonstratethat such timing would significantly improveperformance. The variability of discomfortand associated effects of menses requiresclose cooperation between trainee and coach.For simplicity and comfort, for some womenit may be appropriate to program an offloadweek during menses.
One other consideration: the averageAmerican female is both iron and calciumdeficient. Both of these deficiencies may af-fect health and performance. Low iron storescan affect metabolism and oxygen transport,leading to a perception of chronic low energyor fatigue. Altering the diet to include moreiron-rich foods, cooking with cast iron cook-ware, and considering iron supplementationis a good idea. Low calcium intakes
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predispose every age group to lower bonedensity and degeneration (osteopenia). Vir-tually every study examining weight trainingwith osteoporotic women shows dramaticimprovement in bone density. Calcium sup-plementation improves on that effect.
So, there are differences in the physicalcharacteristics of the two sexes, but they stillare trained the same way. The mechanismsof progress and development, while con-strained at different levels by the hormonalmilieu, operate the same way. Mammalianphysiology is much older than the humanspecies; with very few exceptions, the rulesare the same for all of us. Tissues adapt tostress by getting stronger, and the responseto the stress is a function of the stress, notthe sex of the organism to which the tissuebelongs.
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Figure 9-1. Women are more likely to believe that
weight training is unimportant to health and sports
performance than men. There is also a social and
media-driven misconception that all weight training
produces big, masculine, muscle-bound physiques.
This generally does not occur in women without ana-
bolic steroids. The strongest women in the United
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States perform at their best and look healthy and ath-
letic through the use of correctly designed weight
training programs.
Youth
The long history of the human racedemonstrates conclusively that the childrenand youth of our species are quite capable ofhandling loads while remaining uninjured,and indeed reach their physical potentialdespite (or perhaps because of) work that isoften regarded as heavy by modern society.Every big, strong, healthy farm kid who grewup hauling hay attests to this obvious fact.The population-wide paucity of adults stun-ted or otherwise irreparably damaged by thehandling of heavy loads – barbell or other-wise – attests to the ability of humans of allages to successfully adapt to the stresses ofwork and growing up with vigorous physicalinteraction with their environments.
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Although the most recent revision of theACSM’s standards of care and resourcemanual now considers youth weight trainingto be safe and healthy, there remains in themedical community a strong bias against us-ing physically taxing methods of strengthtraining on teenage and younger popula-tions. One professional association of pediat-ricians recommends that only moderateweights with moderate repetitions be used.They strongly discourage high-volume work(enough sets and reps to increase musclemass) and high-intensity work, the kind ne-cessary to develop strength and power. Theyprovide a variety of reasons for trainingyouth using only machines with predeter-mined movement pathways, thus limitingthe development of balance and coordina-tion. This group of medical professionals ac-tually recommends that all high-intensityand high-volume training be postponed untilfull sexual maturity. This would effectively
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remove the vast majority of high school ath-letes from weight rooms and compromise anathlete’s safety and performance during full-contact sporting events (which, interestinglyenough, are not discouraged).
When the scientific and medical literat-ure is evaluated objectively, a different pic-ture emerges. Training loads (relative to1RM), frequencies, and durations similar tothose commonly used in the training of com-petitive weightlifters are effective in increas-ing strength in children, and a significantbody of scientific evidence and practical ex-perience supports this fact. Strength in-creases in youth are closely related to the in-tensity of training; higher-intensity pro-grams can and do increase strength in pread-olescents in six weeks or less. This is becausethe mechanisms of adaptation are function-ing the same way they do in adults, albeitwithout the benefit of the adult hormonalmilieu.
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The safety of this type of training forkids is well documented. Programs super-vised by qualified coaches, and in whichtraining loads are prescribed and monitoredby professionals, have proven to be saferthan typical physical education classes.Several studies since the 1970s have reportedextremely low to zero rates of injury duringtraining programs of from several weeks to ayear in duration and have suggested thatweight training prevents injury rather thancauses it. Even the handling of maximalweights by children has been scrutinized forsafety. Dr. Avery Faigenbaum showed thatproperly supervised maximal lifting in 6- to12-year-olds resulted in no injuries, provid-ing further evidence that even high-intensitytraining, properly supervised, can be a safeand healthy undertaking for children.
Properly conducted weight training pro-grams are safe for children for the same reas-on they are safe for everyone else: they are
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normal human movements that are scalable.The loads used can be precisely adjusted tothe ability of the child to use them with cor-rect technique. Correct technical executionprevents injury, since by definition “correct”means controlled, even for explosive move-ments. The load on a 5-kg bar can be in-creased one kilogram at a time, allowing veryfine control over the stress that a child ex-periences in the weight room. Contrast thiswith team sports that involve ballistic skills,a speeding ball, and other kids moving rap-idly under varying degrees of control. Un-controlled impact and rapid deceleration areinherent in such sports and the forces theyapply to a child’s body are unpredictable,completely unscalable, and therefore unsafe,as injury rates conclusively demonstrate. Ifyou add pads to this scenario, which bluntthe perception of the effects of impactbetween the players, you are bound to get theleverage-type injuries that occur when kids
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run into each other knowing it won’t hurtvery badly.
If a young athlete has a well establishedhistory of weight training and has access to acoach, simple progression, weekly program-ming, and even advanced periodization canbe extremely effective training models. Thehormonal fluctuation model would be mostappropriate and effective for advanced, olderyouth athletes who have previously pro-gressed through weekly or monthly periodiz-ation, due to its difficult nature and the lackof mature “hardness” in most youngerathletes.Recommendations. Based on the avail-able medical and scientific data and the dec-ades of experience of the authors, westrongly recommend the following guidelinesfor youth weight training:
1. Weight training programs for youthshould be conducted by well-trainedadults. In the current absence of
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educational opportunities at the col-legiate level, adults become well-trained through personal experience,coaching experience, study, and asso-ciation with other competent profes-sionals. It is incumbent upon parentsto evaluate the qualifications of thosepotentially charged with coachingtheir children.
2. To effectively and safely coach youthweight training in a group setting, acoach/trainee ratio of 1:12 or better isrecommended. Every weight room isa teaching environment, not just afitness facility where kids exercise.Any facility – private, commercial, oreducational – that allows childrenand adolescents to train without in-struction and active supervision at anadequate coach/kid ratio is invitingproblems.
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3. Weight training should take place infacilities properly equipped to sup-port safe training practices.
4. Properly supervised skill-basedweightlifting programs (and gym-nastics, dance, soccer, martial arts,and all other physical programs) areappropriate for children and cancommence as early as 6 years of age.
5. Total exercise training time from allsources should be counted when con-sidering the cumulative effect of all ofthe child’s physical activities.
6. The use of maximal training loadshas been proposed to place the youngathlete at risk of injury. No data cur-rently exists that substantiates thisclaim. The use of maximal and near-maximal loads is encouraged, underthe proper supervision using properwarm-up and proper technique.These loads should be used
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cautiously and applied only as part ofa regimented training program fortechnically proficient trainees.
7. Training should be fun. Kids are mo-tivated by fun. When training is nolonger fun, kids will no longer train.
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Figure 9-2. A huge amount of data shows that
weight training does not diminish growth in children.
In contrast, there is no data to show that it does. Mil-
lions of people who grew up hauling hay on farms dis-
prove this preposterous nonsense. Carla and her
daughter Samantha Nichols are pictured here, with
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Samantha at 13, 14, and 17 years old, 5' 5.5", 5' 8", and
5' 9" respectively. Samantha was a national junior
champion weightlifter at age 9 and has been compet-
itive in the sport since then. Weight training has ap-
parently failed to stunt her growth.
Masters
Masters athletes, usually defined as in-dividuals 35-40 years of age and over, de-pending on the sport, are a growing popula-tion. As the U.S. population ages, masterscompetitions are increasing in popularityacross the spectrum of sports. Depending onthe sport, it is not uncommon to see youngermasters-age-group athletes do quite well innational and international events competingagainst much younger athletes. Powerliftinghas a long tradition of masters athletes win-ning in open competition. Absolutely noth-ing prevents a middle-aged trainee from
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getting stronger, bigger, and more powerfulbut his own attitude about training and age.
As humans advance beyond middle-age,some significant changes generally occur.Sarcopenia (loss of muscle cells), increasedbody fat, performance loss, and reduced flex-ibility are common effects of aging. This islargely because the average adult has agreatly reduced activity level and becomesincreasingly sedentary, which leads to a lossin muscle mass (atrophy); in the totally in-active older adult, this loss is compoundedby sarcopenia. The loss of functional musclecauses a loss of performance. It has beendemonstrated that about 15% of perform-ance capacity can be lost per decade with in-activity, and even when activity is main-tained at a relatively high level the loss ofperformance proceeds with age. The logicalextension of this accumulating loss in per-formance is ultimately the loss of functionalmobility.
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The loss of muscle also means the loss ofmetabolic machinery; muscles account formost of the calories a healthy person burnsdaily, and smaller muscles burn fewer calor-ies. Most people don’t reduce the amount offood they consume as activity diminishes,and the result is an average increase in bodyfat of 2.5 to 3% per decade.
The loss of muscle mass has another in-sidious effect that becomes more perceptibleat an advanced age: a loss of proprioceptionand balance. The ability to process informa-tion the body receives about its position inspace is important to performance for anathlete, and in an older adult it is crucial forsafety. It is developed and maintained withexercise that requires balance and coordina-tion, and barbell training fits this descriptionperfectly.
In fact, barbell training is the best pre-scription for the prevention of all of theseage-related problems. Staying in (or getting
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into) the gym slows the decay in musclemass and pushes the onset of atrophy backfor decades. Even in the 60- to 90-year-oldrange, training reduces the loss of musclemass to less than 5% per decade. Severalstudies have shown that 80-year-olds whowere inactive but began training withweights actually gained muscle mass and im-proved their strength, proprioception, andbalance. This effect was directly related tothe amount of leg work included in the pro-gram and the resulting improvements in legstrength. Leg strength was also responsiblefor improving the ability to walk faster inolder people. In one study, twelve weeks ofstrength training was shown to increasewalking endurance by 38%, something walk-ing by itself fails to do.
Less obvious to those unfamiliar withweight training is the fact that lifting weightsalone will improve flexibility. Movingthrough a complete range of motion serves
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as a very effective dynamic stretch while atthe same time serving as a strength stimulus.This is most useful for older trainees withmarked loss of range of motion. Osteoarth-ritis is a clinical condition caused by degen-erative changes in joints and a loss of jointfunction. Patients with arthritis typically re-duce their activity level to eliminate discom-fort, which actually exacerbates the condi-tion. Several studies have shown that in-creasing the strength of the musculaturearound an affected joint decreases pain andimproves function significantly. A number ofthese studies used squats to reduce kneepain.
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Figure 9-3. Older adults are not necessarily weak
adults. Regular training can lead to a lifetime of
strength. This 402-pound deadlift by 72-year-old Dar-
rell Gallenberger is the result of perseverance and
good training habits.
A significant consideration for the mas-ters athlete is the reduction in recovery
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capacity over the years. For serious masterscompetitors, periodization of training is par-ticularly important, and periods of offloadingshould be longer and more pronounced thanfor younger athletes. When using monthlyprogramming models, the week of recoveryshould have a larger percentage of intensityreduction than for younger age groups—asmuch as 10 to 15% rather than the 5% fre-quently used in TSFOSB (two steps forward,one step back) models. If using the hormonalfluctuation model with the older athlete, itshould follow the 8-week cycle, with a smal-ler volume of training during the two weeksof maximal work. A volume reduction of 5%per decade past 30 years of age isrecommended.
When novice masters trainees are star-ted on a program, the process is the same forthat of a younger novice; all the same rulesapply, within the framework of reduced re-covery ability and the initial physical
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condition of the trainee. Masters athletesmay find that intermediate-level program-ming such as the Texas method works betterwhen adopted sooner than a younger novicewould need to; for a person with age-com-promised recovery ability, a weekly increasein load is easier to adapt to than theworkout-to workout progress required bylinear progression and will provide for longercontinued improvement. The principles ofstress and adaptation still apply, and they al-ways will as long as basic health remainsintact.
The bottom line is that unless a personhas significant pathology (is terribly sick) oris post-geriatric (no longer living), that per-son can benefit from a weight training pro-gram similar to those used with youngerpopulations at the same level of trainingadvancement.
Post-Rehabilitation Trainees
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All athletes who train hard enough tocompete will get injured. This is the sorrytruth of the matter, and anyone dissuadedfrom competition by this fact would not havemade a good competitor anyway. Progressinvolves hard training, and hard trainingeventually involves pushing past previousbarriers to new levels of performance. To theextent that this can cause injury, successfulcompetitive athletics is dangerous. It is adanger that can and must be managed, but itis important to recognize the fact that ath-letes get hurt. If they want to continue to beathletes afterwards, it is equally important tounderstand how to manage and rehabilitateinjuries successfully so that they don’t end acareer. Also, accidents happen, both relatedand unrelated to training.
Severely damaged tissue cannot be re-paired through rehabilitation. Rather, thesurrounding healthy tissue is strengthenedin order to take over the load once carried by
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the now non-functional tissue. If someonehas a survivable heart attack, such as amyocardial infarction, part of the heartmuscle dies (fig. 9-4). The dead tissue nolonger contributes to the contraction of theheart, but the heart continues to beat and de-liver blood. Immediately after the infarction,the efficiency with which the heart deliversblood is low, but without missing a beat, theremaining healthy, functional heart musclebegins to adapt because it continues to beloaded while you do not die. In order to ad-apt to the missing force generation capacityof the damaged tissue, the remaining musclecontracts more forcefully and rapidly in-creases in mass. The end result is the recov-ery of the heart’s ability to generate contract-ile force even having lost some of its originalmuscle irrecoverably. The change in con-tractile geometry of the ventricle will not ac-tually allow the return to 100% of normalfunction; instead of the geometry of a normal
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heart, the post-infarction heart is shaped likea Chinese teacup on its side, with the necrot-ic tissue forming a lid. This altered geometry,even with thicker walls after hypertrophy, isinherently less efficient than the originalventricle, but it functions well enough thatnormal activities can eventually be resumed.
Figure 9-4. If a coronary artery is blocked through
atherosclerosis or, as in the case above, experiment-
ally blocked by tying off the left main coronary artery
in the rat (left panel), the muscle tissue that loses its
circulatory supply (right panel, 1) will be irreversibly
damaged. The tissue immediately surrounding the in-
jured tissue (right panel, 2) and any other undamaged
tissue will immediately become overloaded and
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assume the pressure generation load once uniformly
distributed over the entire ventricular mass (Selye’s
stage 1). Although the heart’s function is reduced and
a period of recovery is needed, the surviving healthy
tissues continue to carry an overload during convales-
cence that results in an increase in the strength and
mass of the surviving muscle (Selye’s stage 2). LV =
Left ventricle.
Severe muscle damage in other parts ofthe body constitutes a similar but less diresituation. If a muscle is severely damaged tothe point of necrosis, not only will the re-maining tissue adapt to the loss of functionof the damaged tissue by increasing its func-tional capacity, but the surrounding musclesthat normally aid the damaged muscle in itsbiomechanical role will assume part of theworkload. This is classically illustrated in thescientific and medical literature in “ablation”experiments, where the gastrocnemiusmuscle (major calf muscle) is removed andthe underlying soleus and plantaris muscles
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rapidly adapt and assume the load once car-ried by the gastrocnemius (fig. 9-5). It is welldocumented that these newly stressedmuscles change dramatically, both chemic-ally and structurally, after ablation in orderto return the whole mechanical system to“normal” function. The recovered structuresare not as good as the original equipment,but they function at a high percentage of theoriginal capacity.
Figure 9-5. In ablation experiments, a muscle is sur-
gically removed (A, B, and C). In most hypertrophy
experiments, the ablated muscle of choice is the gast-
rocnemius (C, both heads), leaving the underlying
plantaris and soleus to carry the walking load once
carried by the gastrocnemius. In this case, the surgical
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removal of the gastrocnemius places the rat, and spe-
cifically the rat’s leg, in Selye’s stage 1. Rats undergo-
ing this procedure begin walking on the operated leg
within 24 hours, and within one to two weeks their
activity level and gait are the same as those of normal
rats. The overloaded soleus and plantaris have adap-
ted (Selye’s stage 2). It is normal to see about a 75%
increase in soleus and plantaris mass with this type of
overload.
In both the previous scenarios, recoveryof function occurred after only a short periodof reduced loading, essentially the durationof time needed for the resolution of inflam-mation and any other blatant pathology. Arapid return to an increasing functional loadis required to induce adaptation and recov-ery. Even in the infarcted heart, a return tonormal load represents a functional overloadof the remaining tissue: the same amount offorce must initially be generated by a smallermuscle mass, so it is a higher relative load.The adaptation that facilitates the return to
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normal function is a response to the stress tothe system produced by the injured area’sdecrease in function. The injury that neces-sitates the compensation is the source of thestress to the surrounding tissues, and theyrespond by adapting to the new demandsplaced on them. Without the injury, the ad-aptation would not occur, just as no adapta-tion ever occurs in the absence of stress.While caution is necessary to avoid furtherinjury, the belief that rehabilitation can oc-cur in the absence of overload represents afailure to comprehend the basic tenets of thephysiology and mechanics of the living hu-man body.
Most injuries experienced in the weightroom, on the field, and in daily life do notrise to the severity of necrosis of any tissue.They are inconvenient, painful, aggravating,and potentially expensive to deal with, butthey do not alter the quality of life for a signi-ficant period of time. But the same principles
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apply to healing them that apply to moresevere injuries, because the mechanisms thatcause them to heal are the same. The conceptof “letting” an injury heal beyond an initialfew days reflects a lack of understanding ofthe actual processes that cause the return tofunction. A less severe injury that does notinvolve tissue necrosis nonetheless involvesan overload of the immediate ability of thecompromised tissue, thus stimulating theprocesses that cause repair. In this particularinstance, care must be taken to ensure thatthe structure that is healing receives its nor-mal proportion of the load, because the ob-ject is to return this particular structure tofull function, not to allow the adjacent struc-tures to assume the load and thus preventingthe injury from healing fully. This is accom-plished by the enforcement of very stricttechnique during exercise of the injuredarea. It hurts more this way, but the long-
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term return to full function depends on thecorrect amount of stress to the injured area.
During supervised rehabilitation, theworkloads used should be light enough to al-low recovery of function locally, within theinjured tissue, but this load will not bestressful enough systemically to maintain ad-vanced fitness levels. When the athlete is re-leased to unrestricted activity, enough de-training has occurred that a change in pro-gramming will be required. Six to eightweeks in rehabilitation can result in the lossof enough overall performance to warrant re-turn to a program of simple progression,even for an elite athlete. Once pre-injury orpre-disease performance levels have been re-gained, a return to normal training at thatlevel can follow. As discussed earlier,strength is a resilient quality, and strengthlost through detraining can be recoveredmuch more rapidly than it was initiallygained.
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“It has become almost a cliché to remark that nobody boastsof ignorance of literature, but it is socially acceptable to
boast ignorance of science.”—Richard Dawkins
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Novice ExampleProgram
“We are the recipients of scientific method. We can each bea creative and active part of it if we so desire.”
—Kary Mullis
Intermediate ExamplePrograms
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“And above all things, never think that you’re not goodenough yourself. A man should never think that. My belief is
that in life people will take you at your own reckoning.”—Isaac Asimov
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Credits
We would like to acknowledge the followingindividuals for their contribution of imagesto this book:
• Photograph of Bud Charniga by JimKilgore
• Photographs of Carrie Klumpar byTorin Halsey
• Micrography courtesy of Dr. DavidSaunders, Northern Iowa University
• EMG and force tracing courtesy ofDr. Alexander Ng and JacquelineLimberg, Marquette University
• Photograph of Darrell Gallenbergercourtesy of Darrell Gallenberger
• All other graphics revised from theprint version or created by StefBradford
We would like to acknowledge the contribu-tions of the following individuals for their in-put to various sections of this text:
• Dr. Michael Stone for providing someof the elusive details on the history ofperiodization.
• Dr. Michael Hartman for his thesisperspective on HormonalFluctuation.
• Dr. Becky Kudrna for her sectioncomments on exercise variation, hor-monal responses to exercise, and wo-men’s training.
• Glenn Pendlay for our many discus-sions regarding Two-Factor Models,Hormonal Fluctuation, and practicalapplications.
• Dr. Chad Touchberry for his readingand commentary on ClassicalPeriodization.
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• Dr. Scott Mazzetti for his sharing ofdata regarding energy costs of slowvs. fast repetition speeds.
• Tom Mitchell, NASA Florida StateChairman for his perspectives onStrongman training.
“Human beings, who are almost unique in having the abilityto learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable
for their apparent disinclination to do so.”—Douglas Adams
“ Hard, intense work of the body … is the most conclusive
evidence of our own being that we could possibly have.”
—James Dickey
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Author Information
Mark Rippetoe is the author of Start-ing Strength: Basic Barbell Training,Strong Enough?, numerous magazine andjournal articles, and the co-author ofPractical Programming for Strength Train-ing. He has worked in the fitness industrysince 1978, and has owned the Wichita FallsAthletic Club since 1984. He graduated fromMidwestern State University in 1983 with aBachelor of Science in geology and a minorin anthropology. He was in the first groupcertified by the National Strength and Condi-tioning Association as CSCS in 1985, and is aUSA Weightlifting Senior Coach, CrossFitCoach, and USA Track and Field Level ICoach. He was a competitive powerlifter forten years, and has coached many lifters andathletes, and thousands of people interested
in improving their strength andperformance.
Lon Kilgore is a professor at Midwest-ern State University where he teaches ap-plied physiology and anatomy. He has alsoheld faculty appointments at Kansas StateUniversity and Warnborough University(IE). He graduated from Lincoln Universitywith a Bachelor of Science in biology andearned a Ph.D. in anatomy and physiologyfrom Kansas State University. He has com-peted in weightlifting to the national levelsince 1972 and coached his first athletes tonational championship event medals in 1974.He has worked in the trenches, as a coach orscientific consultant, with athletes from ranknovices to professionals and the Olympicelite, and as a collegiate strength coach. Hehas been a certifying instructor for USAWeightlifting for more than a decade and afrequent lecturer at events at the US OlympicTraining Center. His illustration and
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authorship efforts include books, magazinecolumns, and research journal publications.
Stef Bradford, Ph.D. is the operationsmanager of The Aasgaard Company. She re-ceived her doctorate in pharmacology fromDuke University in 2004. She has beenstrength training for most of her life and acompetitive Olympic weightlifter for severalyears. She teaches barbell training in sem-inars throughout the country.
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Read more articles,watch interviews anddemonstrations, andinteract with theauthors directly ontheir websitewww.startingstrength.com
“It matters if you just don't give up.”
—Stephen Hawking
Contents
1. Introduction
• Educating Practitioners• Periodization in Print• Cooking up Training Programs in the Gym• A Theoretical Approach
• Training and Overtraining
• General Adaptation Syndrome• The Single-Factor Model of Training• The Two-Factor Model of Training• Understanding Overtraining• Factors Affecting Recovery• How Hard and How Much
• Understanding Training Goals
• Starting at Square One• Power and Its Components• The Next Step
• The Physiology of Adaptation
• Muscular Contraction: The Foundation ofMovement
• Energy Metabolism: Powering the Muscle• Training-Induced Muscle Adaptations• Neural Integration: Stimulating the Muscle to
Move• Hormones: Mediators of Physiologic Adaptation• Cardiovascular Considerations• Genetic Potential• Going Backward: Detraining
• Training Program Basics
• Repetitions• Sets• Rest Between Sets• Workout Frequency• Exercise Selection• Exercise Variation• Exercise Order• Speed of Movement• Warm-up
• The Novice
• The Basics of Novice Programming• Basic Program Variables
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• The Starting Strength Model
• The Intermediate
• General Considerations• The Texas Method• The Split Routine Model• The Starr Model
• The Advanced Trainee
• The Pyramid Model• The Two Steps Forward, One Step Back Model• The Building Blocks Model• The Hormonal Fluctuation Model
• Special Populations
• Women• Youth• Masters• Post-Rehabilitation Trainees
• Example Program: Novice• Example Programs: Intermediate• Credits• Authors
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