Merry Christmas

Editors Note: My new site is now at www.just-fly-sports.com Check it out for a wealth of information on jumping higher and running faster, all backed by research and practical experience!

Merry Christmas!

I am currently relaxing at my parents home in Milwaukee, and everything has died down quite a bit around here lately, so I have decided to write down a program template that I have found incredibly effective.

This program is designed pretty strictly for improving single leg jumping ability, although two leg jumping ability could also be improved a lot as well, it would just depend on what exercises you wanted to plug in, and what your needs are as an athlete.

So here it is. The KEY here is partly the cycle format. It is 2 weeks on and 1 week very easy, and this cycle continues until training effects (improvement are no longer noted). After this, it may be wise to move to a fatigue based cycle incorporating fewer workouts in a longer period of time. This program is a frequency based program, and has the potential to increase your single leg jump several inches in a 3-6 week time period, even if you have been training for a long time.

ON Week 1:

Monday: Weights,

Dynamic Warmup
Clean 5,4,3,3 moderate weight
10-12" Barbell Box Step-Up, 3x6, moderate weight
Barbell Calf Raise, 3x10, moderate weight
Jump Squats with minimal knee bend and ground time , 2x15, 45lb
Stretching
Recovery Methods


Tuesday: Plyometrics

Dynamic Warmup
Bounding: Full Recovery Between Sets
LRLRLR x 30m
LLRR x 30m
LLLRRR x 30m
LLLL x 30m
RRRR x 30m
LRLRLR x 50m x 2

Hurdle Hops: 6x4 over higher hurdles

3x50 Jumproping

Wednesday: slow jog/stretch/recover

Thursday: Weights

Dynamic Warmup
Snatch or Jerk/Push Press. 5,4,3,3 moderate weight (75-80% 1RM)
1/2 Squat. 3x6 moderate weight
Single Leg Calf Raise. 2x10 with weight
Jump Squats like Monday. 2x15, 45lb

Friday: Plyometrics

Bounding with 8-16lb weight vest
LRLRLR x 25m
LLRR x 25m
LLLRRR x 25m
LLLL x 25m
RRRR x 25m
LRLRLR x 40m x 2

Hurdle Hops 5x5 (lower hurdles) make sure minimal ground contact time is attained.
Jump Roping 3x50.



ON Week 2: slightly higher intensity, lower volume

Monday: Weights,

Dynamic Warmup
Clean 5,3,2 moderate/heavy weight
10-12" Barbell Box Step-Up, 2x6, moderate/heavy weight
Barbell Calf Raise, 2x10, heavy weight
Jump Squats with minimal knee bend and ground time , 2x12, 55-65lb
Stretching
Recovery Methods


Tuesday: Plyometrics

Dynamic Warmup
Bounding: Full Recovery Between Sets
LRLRLR x 30m
LLRR x 30m
LLLRRR x 30m
LLLL x 30m
RRRR x 30m
LRLRLR x 50m x 2

Hurdle Hops: 5x4 over higher hurdles

3x50 Jumproping

Wednesday: slow jog/stretch/recover

Thursday: Weights

Dynamic Warmup
Snatch or Jerk/Push Press. 4,3,2 moderate.heavy weight (80-85% 1RM)
1/2 Squat. 2x6 heavy weight
Single Leg Calf Raise. 2x10 with weight
Jump Squats like Monday. 2x15, 55-65lb

Friday: Plyometrics

Bounding with 8-16lb weight vest
LRLRLR x 25m
LLRR x 25m
LLLRRR x 25m
LLLL x 25m
RRRR x 25m
LRLRLR x 40m x 1

Hurdle Hops 5x5 (lower hurdles) make sure minimal ground contact time is attained.
Jump Roping 3x50.


Week 3: Off/Easy

Monday: dynamic warmup
3x30m low skips
3x30m high skips
3x30m skip for distance

Tuesday: play game/light training

Wednesday: weights
2x4 cleans light
2x4 snatch light
2x10 squat very light

Thursday: play game/jog/light train

Friday:
3x100m accelerations
test single and double leg jumping
4x50 jumprope


Repeat this cycle until you don't gain anymore. You can switch exercises, sets and reps, but try and keep the general scheme the same. Week 1: volume, Week 2: intensity, Week 3 rest! Repeat. Realize, there is a ton of volume in this program, and you ARE going to be pretty tired during the two weeks, but you will gain a lot in the off weeks.

Merry Christmas!

Joel Smith, MS, CSCS
Assistant Track and Field Coach
Wilmington College

Something a little different

Editors Note: My new site is now at www.just-fly-sports.com Check it out for a wealth of information on jumping higher and running faster, all backed by research and practical experience!

Normally I just tend to post regarding either strength training, jumping, or jumping events in track and field, but I decided to use this post to discuss something that I noticed at the 2008 olympics, particularly in the men's decathlon javelin throw. What I am about to post is something I actually discovered my first year throwing the javelin, and have confirmed through the years of watching athletes throw the javelin.

Now what I saw in the olympic javelin throw.......is that two of the farthest throwers in the competition were the Cuban athletes. The farthest throw of the competition was produced by Leonel Suarez at 73.98 meters, which is over 240 feet. At just around 5'10 and 170 pounds, this is a big throw.

The future of the decathlon

So what is the big deal about this? Well, if you watched the decathlon javelin throw on nbcolympics, you might realize that the majority of the decathletes would take relatively long run-ups in their throws, probably around 12-14 steps. The two Cubans however took relatively short run-ups, probably around 7-8 steps, yet they produced the number 1 and 6 throws of the 26 man competition.

What I am trying to say through all of this, is that any field event in track and field is about maximal controllable speed. Javelin seems to be the one event in particular where this philosophy gets thrown out the window, and I am not sure why. In Javelin, an effective block with the lead leg followed by the "reverse C" is one of the most difficult, if not the most difficult position to get into in track and field. As with anything, the more speed that is added, the more difficult it is to get an effective block and then subsequently get into the "reverse C". Why does it seem like every athlete then thinks that they need a huge run-up that they can't control? Is it from watching the olympic athletes and think that we need to do what they do right off the bat? Do hammer throwers do a 4-turn in their first practice? Do vaulters jump off of a 16' 200lb pole their first month of practice? So why do we think that we can take such a technical event and teach our throwers to keep blowing through their block with way too much speed in the throw?

Correct Javelin Positioning

Here is a quick story from my first year of throwing javelin: It was my junior year of college, and I had always had a good arm, but never really thought of throwing the javelin. Anyways, I learned pretty quickly and went through the first part of the season with a 10 step or so run-up and was throwing somewhere in the 50 meter range for the first part of the season. Usually in warmups, I would throw a standing throw or two, and then a few 4-step throws. Anyways, one meet, the NCCAA championships, I took a 4 step warmup throw and managed 170 feet off of it....which was only a foot or two under my PR at the time. I decided to stick with the 4 step thing and just throw that for the competition. Anyways, it turned out I threw 58 meters in the competition, which is 188'9" to be exact, a 15 foot+ PR off the last few meets. After the meet I was looking at the pictures of me throwing, and my positions and block were great! They were much better than my throwing position when I would go off of the full run-up.

So what I am I trying to say.......don't do big run-ups for beginning/intermediate javelin throwers? Well, I do believe in a holistic philosophy of track and field, i.e., I don't believe in a lot of drills, and I believe the full or shortened movement of any event should be emphasized above a bunch of drills. With javelin, however, the event needs to be built from the block outwards, rather than the throw inwards (funny how almost all guides on javelin throw start with the preliminary steps in the run-up). As far as the run-up for individual throwers, it should be as long as the thrower can still utilize an effective block, which for most high-school and college throwers will be less than 10 steps. Just ask the Cubans.

On a closing note, next time you watch an olympic level javelin thrower come in at 7.5 meters per second and launch a monster throw, please realize that they have been throwing javelin from a very young age and are from a country that has a much better physical education system than ours. Thus they have mastered the right throwing positions and can handle the extra speed.

A Balanced Training Plan

Editors Note: My new site is now at www.just-fly-sports.com Check it out for a wealth of information on jumping higher and running faster, all backed by research and practical experience!

It has been a while since I have updated this blog, as life has been busy for me lately, but perhaps another reason has just been a short psychological break of mine from reading and writing about athletics and human performance related activities (when you live and breathe this material for months and even years on end, sometimes you just need a little break). Anyways, I am back at it, and hope to string together a few good articles, as well as some high quality videos on my youtube site.

Don't tell anyone, but I think Bolt is going to take the 100m in Beijing....

For some time I have wanted to relay the idea of a balanced training program in athletics. In recent years, several authors who specialize in sport performance, and perhaps more notably, vertical jumping, have stressed heavily the importance of tackling your weaknesses as an athlete as the first priority in any training program. For example.....if you are 6' and 160lbs, and have standing jump of 30", while your running jump is in the high 30's, but you only can squat around 200, most coaches with this philosophy will make bringing your squat up the number one priority. Now if your game is a standing vertical jump or a electronic 10 yard dash, then go right ahead, but if your sport requires any higher motor functions than this, you need to always remember balance in your program.

Not what I mean by balance (or masculinity for that matter)

So what do I mean by balance? Well, there are several qualities which make up the necessary requirements to succeed in each sport. Let's look at a couple of examples. The first is that of an olympic weightlifter. Here are the foundational qualities of olympic weightlifting and the ways that they can be improved specifically to lifting weights:


Absolute Strength: Improved by maximal or near maximal lifts, and possibly a base of hypertrophy, or auxilliary sessions designed for hypertrophy.


Explosive Strength: Improved by olympic lifts (the sport specific exercise) as well as a variety of jumps and similar plyometric/shock work


Quickness: Improved by practicing olympic lifts; important for dropping under the bar quickly.


Work Capacity: Improved by gradually increasing the volume of lifts done year to year in the range of 5-10% Supplementary lifting sessions with reps of 8-10 in single joint or other simple lifts can also be useful.


Flexibility: Improved by the olympic lifts done with full catch variations as well as stretching exercises.

So there we have balance in weightlifting, now let's move on to something a little more complex, say the triple jump in track and field.

Here are the important qualities for this demanding event.

Maximal Speed: Improved by speed work on the track, particularly flying sprints and bounding in excess of 20 meters.

Reactive Power: Improved by plyometrics, such as bounding and depth jumps.

Coordination: Improved by the sport specific exercise, triple jumping and other bounding variants.

Explosive Strength: Improved by olympic weightlifting and plyometrics.

Absolute Strength: Improved by heavy squats, step-ups and similar exercises.

Elasticity: Improved by jumping, running, and any other sort of dynamic exercise which relies on the elastic power of the tendons to provide human locomotion.

Work Capacity: Improved by gradually increasing the number of jumps/bounds taken in practice per year, as well as general capacity means such as long sprints, and circuit training.

Now in something such as triple jump, one could say, well I am pretty good in everything, but my strength needs work! So I had better spend most of my time in the weightroom this coming season, and then I will be in good shape for jumping farther in the spring. Although this is not a bad idea, one really needs to look at the framework of an entire season to understand well, what will happen if one would seek to improve one area of their event at the expense of others.

Firstly, it should be considered that it is unwise to dramatically increase the training load from cycle to cycle. The load should only be increased about 5% from week to week, in order to optimize the bodies adaptive resources. Now if an athlete decides that they are really going to start getting after it in the weight room, then there is going to have to be a sacrifice somewhere else in the program, unless the 5% rule is planning on being broken. Of course, this is NOT to say that we shouldn't go around combating weaknesses in training, as we certainly should. The goal, however, is not to go overboard, and focus the training program around one weakness. I would say that if there are weak points in an athlete, say for example our triple jumper (weak in absolute and somewhat explosive strength) we could change their yearly training program from this:

Maximal Speed: 25%

Reactive Power: 25%

Coordination: we will take this variable out for this example:

Explosive Strength: 25%

Absolute Strength: 15%

Elasticity: 10%

Work Capacity: This is always trying to be improved....so this is out for this example

to this:

Maximal Speed: 20%

Reactive Power: 25%

Explosive Strength: 30%

Absolute Strength: 20%

Elasticity: 10%

I suppose this is fairly common knowledge for most coaches and a lot of athletes, but I felt it may be good to reiterate it in a way that might be from a new or unique perspective. It is also extremely important to realize that although sometimes the only way to improve is to get stronger, it is important to remember the ways that we want to get stronger. In the majority of cases, explosive athletes can make good improvements in the weight room when lifting is used secondary to sprints, plyometrics and the like. Even lifting in volumes as low as 2-3 sets of 8-10 in one or two exercises done twice a week will yield good results in strength improvement (when plyometrics, throws, sprints and jumps are composing the primary portion of your program). I did not lift much in high school, probably around once or twice a week doing one exercise for basketball in season, but yet I gained a good amount of strength and was almost as strong relative to bodyweight as I have ever been. I also combined this with very good leaping ability (able to get my head up to the rim at 6' tall). As I went to college, I probably doubled or even tripled the time I spent in the weight room, but I found that those periods where I did not balance weight room activity with elastic, speed and plyometric work, my jumping ability really took a dive, especially my leaping ability from a longer run-up (my speed got very bad as well). It was not until my junior year of college that I had a truly balanced program which allowed me to achieve record leaping ability.

So as far as this story goes, here are some practical reccommendations for balance in training.

1. Always keep the primary sport exercise as the top priority, whatever that might be (high jumping, discus throwing, playing basketball, etc...)


2. Take a look at your weaknesses and where you want to be regarding those weaknesses by the start of your season. What do you need to do to get there without sacrificing the other important elements of your training?


3. Always work on improving work capacity. Once you get to a certain point in your training, work capacity is everything, because you can get to the point where you are squatting double your bodyweight and start hitting big PR's in different jumps and suddenly crash for 2 weeks if you haven't been watching your volumes and rest/recovery ratios. A powerful CNS demands great responsibility! (If you have come a long way to get there, some of the elite athletes in the world have always had high-powered CNS and fast twitch muscles and can just take more training, period.)

As always, hope this is helpful to you, and feel free to shoot any questions my way,

Joel, CSCS, USATF level 1 (boooooo, level 1!)

joel.smith.7@gmail.com

Desire to Train

Editors Note: My new site is now at www.just-fly-sports.com Check it out for a wealth of information on jumping higher and running faster, all backed by research and practical experience!

This year's track season will soon be over, and a new season of training will soon begin. I always enjoyed the prospect of "starting over" in training, just because you no longer had to worry about what you felt like on meet day, you can just go train and that is the end of it. After nationals/state meets, most athletes take between 2 weeks and a month off before they get back to training again. This a pretty good idea, and the rule of thumb that I typically use in a transition period is just to go until I can't stand not training.

When you think about it though, the desire to train is often a great gauge regarding overtraining and fatigue. Aren't your best workouts typically on those days when you just wake up and all you can think about it getting to the weightroom or track? This is your body's system which is telling you that, yes, you are really ready for today's workout. Desire to train is definitely a good thing to keep track of when you are working out through the training year, and ESPECIALLY in the competitive season. If you go into a heavy jumping or plyometric session without really feeling enthusiastic about the workout, I GUARANTEE you are going to pay for it in a good week or two of dead legs. I have seen this in myself and also the jumpers which I coach. Now in coaching frameworks where a structured and unwavering microcycle is king, this can be a hard thing to deal with, but this is the "art" portion of the art and science of coaching. You need to know when to back off and let your athletes (or yourself) regain a strong desire to train.

A general rule of thumb with this, is that the more CNS intensive the activity, such as plyometrics, the more not being physically and mentally fresh into the workout is going to hurt you. (by plyometrics I am talking about depth jumps and heavy plyos) You can get away with being a little dull in activities such as 3 week blocks of lifting around 60-75% 1RM, because this is a little easier on the CNS and will allow fast recovery once you back off, while the training effect of depth jumps and heavy plyos can be monstrous if you dont allow enough recovery.



Joel

A short/medium length rant

Editors Note: My new site is now at www.just-fly-sports.com Check it out for a wealth of information on jumping higher and running faster, all backed by research and practical experience!

If you have been following my youtube videos lately, you might have noticed that I have had a fairly decent depth jumping and two footed jumping session recently. Based on this, I figured that I would at least have a DECENT high jumping performance at my latest meet, which was yesterday at the University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh. As much as I would have liked to do well, I did not, and I no-heighted at 6'4.25". The cause of this was only partly technical, but was mostly due to just a lack of single leg jumping ability (couldn't even scissor 5'8 in warmups).

Now my training has been excellent up to this point, I have been having fairly good high jump practices.......almost as good as I ever have had, but it seems like every time I get to a meet, I am just flat. Now compare this to my record season where I had good practices, but then GREAT competitions. The big difference between these two seasons is really just one thing.

Volume.

I don't train as much as I used to, partly because of work, and other factors, but I feel that when I hit the gym or the track, I really take care of business. Regardless, my adaptation rate and work capacity are down (over 2 weeks for the same depth jumping session that took me only 3-4 days to recover from), and this really hurts when you have competitions to take care of. I do, however, have a running 2 leg vertical that is just as good or better than ever. So what is the point of all this................


Research has shown that in order to improve from year to year, training volume must increase. I know there are special situations where this is not true, such as Jonathan Edwards WR triple jump, but as far as my personal experience goes, this is definitely the case. Every time I look back at my training log from my record breaking season.......I am surprised by how much volume I had, and how in the world I was able to tolerate it. Here is a typical fall training week from my PR year back in 2004-2005.

Monday:

Warmup
Forward Overhead Med Ball Throws x50 total
4 step high-jumps: x8 reps, work up to 6'2
standing triple jumps x6, around 28' (note: not the greatest distance!)
1x30m alternate leg bounding
Hang Snatch, 4x95lb, 4x115lb, 4x125lb
Cleans from Floor, 4x135lb, 4x175lb, 3x195lb, 3x195lb
Jerks, 3x6, 115lb
Overhead Lunge, 2x6, 95lb

Tuesday:

8x200m sprints: around 30-32s each, 3 minute recovery

Wednesday:

Hurdle Drills
Forward Overhead Med-ball throws x50
3 Step-Javelin Throws
17" squat (about 3/4 squat) 225x6, 275x4, 300x3, 300x3
Incline Bench Press, 125x6, 135x4, 145x3
Deadlift: 225x6, 275x4, 295x3
Reverse Hypers 2x10, 25lb+band
Abs

Thursday:

5x300m at 48-50sec with 3min recovery

Friday:

2x33" double leg hurdle hops w/30m acceleration
1x30" single leg hurdle hops
1x33" single leg hurdle hops
2x36" single leg hurdle hops
Incline pullovers 5x40,50,60lb
Hurdle stretch goodmornings: 65x2
abs

Saturday or Sunday: 1-2 mile easy jog and stretch

(Note: I never really felt great on any of these training days, and I worked on a 3:1 cycle or hard weeks to easy weeks. I think I just kept pushing through the volume and adapted.......something that is hard to do when you are training by yourself.)

Well, there you have it, nothing special, and certainly not anything to write home about regarding the weights or distances, although the hurdle hops weren't bad. I feel that part of what may have made that specific season successful was just the large volume of training in the fall, and then the largely reduced training in the winter/spring. Regardless, it is annoying when you know way more about training than you did 4 years ago and still cannot produce jumps in the region that you used to be able to.

My advice to you would be this..........if you are a track athlete, it is hard to sacrafice volume, because every year I have had a low volume season, I have failed! My work capacity and adaptability rates were just too low. Of course, not everyone is like this, but I feel that the majority of athletes will fall into this category.

Niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice!

Post Workout Recovery

Editors Note: My new site is now at www.just-fly-sports.com Check it out for a wealth of information on jumping higher and running faster, all backed by research and practical experience!

Let face it folks, nutrition is extremely important to your success as an athlete and your recovery between workout sessions. Almost as important though, as what you put into your body, is how you time your nutrition. The most important time to facilitate nutrition, and particularly supplements is directly before and after your workout. This window has been referred to by some as the anabolic window, and demonstrates the amount of time your body has to switch itself from catabolic (breakdown) mode into anabolic (buildup) mode.

So how do you optimize your anabolic window? First of all, try a liquid solution which is fairly high in carbohyrates/or creatine right before and during your workout. Secondly, and most importantly, within 45 minutes of finishing your workout, you need to give your body what it needs in order to begin the important rebuilding process. In order to do this, you can buy an overpriced (4$ a serving on average) post-workout recovery drink..............OR, you can make this cheap and effective alternative yourself.

Post Workout Recovery Drink:

16fl oz chocolate milk
5g creatine powder
vitamins A,C and E. (take with drink)

Thats it!

Features: 3:1 ratio of carbs to protein, you will notice this ratio on other recovery drinks. Creatine helps faciliate rebuilding of ATP stores, and the ACE vitamins are anti-oxidants which help combat free-radicals and other muscle deterioration activities. You will find this as a cheap and effective post workout recovery. Try it!

Joel

The Fastest Way to Improve!!!! New Secret Training!!!

Editors Note: My new site is now at www.just-fly-sports.com Check it out for a wealth of information on jumping higher and running faster, all backed by research and practical experience!

Do I have your attention now? Ok, so here goes........and lets just use running vertical jump and dunking ability as an example today. So you want to jump higher and dunk better right? What is the FASTEST way to get better. Here are two options:

Option A:

Get your backsquat up to 1.5-2x bodyweight
then
Do plyometrics: bounding, depth jumps and the like
also
Stretch daily, do functional analysis on posture and gait, determine posterior chain vs. anterior chain strength and design a program combating these weaknesses.


Option B:

Get in a competitive environment and practice your jumping and dunking until your legs are sore. Repeat every few days.


Guess which option the 'top level' dunkers you see on youtube, etc.. use?

here's a hint.......it's not 'A'.


Ok, ok, ok.......so I understand your potential backlash and perhaps misunderstanding. I also realize that the youtube jumpers such as teamflightbrothers are genetic freaks and will be awesome no matter what type of training they do (which for them is just playing basketball and dunking). I am not saying here, that if you want to realize your ultimate athletic potential that you can get away with just practicing say, dunking, if throwing down nasty dunks is your goal. I am saying though, that you will never become the dunker/jumper you can potentially be if you get so caught up in weights/plyos/etc... that you forget the raw art form of the primary sport movement. This holds true more, the more dynamic the movement. Here is a continuum of sport movements which have increasing importance of practicing the actual sport movement.

Least Important:
Squat Jump
Standing Vertical Jump
Acceleration<10 meters
Running Vertical Jump (2 legs)
Running Vertical Jump (1 leg)
Top End Speed (flying 10 meter)
Top End Speed Endurance (300yd shuttle or 400m dash)
Most Important:

Take a look at some of the greatest athletes in sport: sprinters, jumpers, dunkers, even distance runners. What do they all have in common? They make their activity look fluid....effortless. Yet what do we do when we neglect our primary sport movement in favor of other movements. We get back to our sport specific movement and "muscle it" or "force it". Because we neglect it, it is less natural. We no longer use the SPECIFIC muscular and neural firing patterns for that activity and substitute it with other firing patterns.

Ok, so the number one way to improve any activity is what? To practice that activity, simple enough. What is the number 2 way to improve then? Depth jumps? Squats? Turkish Get-ups?
Not really, the second best way to improve is just doing a weighted version of the original. Practice dunking with a weight vest on, or sprint with a light resistance such as a parachute.

The third thing to do to max out your neural pathways is to overload the eccentric portion of whatever movement your sport is based on. This is accomplished by an exercise known as depth jumps. Research has shown that the more energy which is stored in the eccentric phase of a movement, the more energy will be released in the concentric phase. The final key to maximizing your efficiency in a specific event is by doing depth jumps and similar plyometrics.

In simple words, what do these three things do, practicing the original sport movement, weighted versions and then plyometrics? They max out your efficiency in that given activity. Once your efficiency is maxed out, or close to maxed out, only then will weightlifting really be the only way to improve. Of course weightlifting is handy before you max out your efficiency, but the closer you get to 100% efficiency, the more it will help you. Basically, practicing your movement and plyometrics will allow you to recruit the majority of your available motor units (except emergency motor units only recruitable by life/death situations), while lifting weights will increase the total motor pool available. It is as simple as that.

Here is a sample program which could help an intermediate athlete (1.25-1.5xbw squat, 26-30" VJ) get better based on the things I have just outlined.

2 Day per Week System:

Day 1:
PRIMARY
Practice Dunking/Jumping until noticable decrease in height jumped.
SECONDARY
3x8 Deadlift, with weight that you could do 10x with moderate/difficult effort

Day 2:
Practice Dunking/Jumping with weighted vest about 5-8% of bodyweight until noticable decrease in height jumped.
OR (if no weight vest)
Practice Dunking/Jumping off 18" box (depth jumps) until noticable decrease in height jumped occurs.

It really can be that simple folks.....this type of program will yield excellent short term results.

For good results over a long term, you might want to use a cycle like this alternated with weightlifting oriented cycles.

Joel

Go Getta Syndrome

Editors Note: My new site is now at www.just-fly-sports.com Check it out for a wealth of information on jumping higher and running faster, all backed by research and practical experience!
For some reason, I can't stop naming my posts by rap songs......

There are some athletes, including myself that are great to coach. They are the hard workers, the highly motivated, "go-getter" type of athletes. Most of them are intrinsically motivated by nature, i.e., they don't do what they do for the external rewards. They don't do it for the roar of the crowd, the medals or trophies, or the swoon of the ladies. No, they train and compete because of the deep inner drive that is within themselves to become the best that they can be. This type of athlete is not only well motivated, but also fiercely competitive. This type of athlete can be great to coach, except for one thing, which is the possibility of overtraining. The following is a list of good ways to overtrain in a speed-power related event, and are ways in my opinion, that hard working athletes fall more prone to.

References in Parenthesis:

Do plyometrics for more than a 3-4 week time period without a "rest week".
(Bompa, Myself)

Lift weights at greater than 90% of ones 1RM for an extended period of time (4-5 weeks).
(Siff, Verkhoshansky)

Do "partial" lifts at over 90% of 1RM for a short period of time (2-3 weeks)
(Myself)

Don't do enough light work between heavy workouts, and only do CNS intensive work when one does work out. (Vern Gambetta)

Lose their fitness level at the expense of CNS intensive work early in the training year. (Verkhoshanski)

Not take rest or transition periods when appropriate, which is often after 3-4 month blocks of training. (Kraemer)


Now there are a few helpful solutions to making your training program a little more nervous system friendly. The main one is just to make a plan and stick to it. Don't do more than you gave for yourself or your athletes to do on that given day, either in the weightroom or out on the track. Some of my best workouts I have had, my body crashed the days after, because I wore my nervous system out too much. A maximal competitive effort can wear the nervous system out for days to weeks, depending on the event. A prime example of this is olympic weightlifting, where after a peak competition, 6 meet lifts can keep an athlete from competition shape for up to a month.

Another helpful solution is to not get over-psyched in the weight room. This is a serious problem for a lot of athletes. We all love to watch the powerlifting and olympic weightlifting videos of lifters getting psyched and hitting a huge lift. This may be an effective strategy if the ultimate outcome of our sport was to lift X-amount of weight. As it stands, it is not, and thus we must take care in the weight room not to over-extend ourselves. It can be a valuable practice to check your heart rate immediately before performing sets in the weight room. If your heart rate is noticable higher for a big set, then you are likely over-exerting yourself, and the training effect of your set is going to be fairly large (it will take a long time to recover from). If you think about it, isn't this what we tend to do though.......we go through a period of weight training which starts fairly easy, and we don't have to exert ourselves too much, and then comes a day where we really start having to psyche ourselves up to get after it and hit the set we wanted, and then we find ourselves lacking progress from that point on. Now some people can get away with this, but all too often, it leads to CNS fatigue, especially in highly motivated athletes who don't have the resiliant, high work capacity systems that some elite athletes do. We can also get away with this once in a while, as the human body does go through various rhythms. It is not a good idea to always push through though. As the textbooks say, 75-80% is the magic bracket that most olympic lifters work in during the majority of their training sets over the training year. When you do decide to push it, you might want to stick to a 3 or 5 rep max lift, rather than a 1 or 2 rep max.


Finally, in order to keep from overtraining, rest and recovery periods should be woven into each aspect of the training cycle. Recovery sessions are often tacked into the nano-cycle (training day) of each athlete in a world-class training system. These recovery sessions are often in the form of aerobic work, stretching, massage, hydrotherapy, EMS and other methods. Recovery periods should also be integrated regularly into the meso and macrocycle format of training.

On a final note, don't rush your training program. We all want 6 inches of vertical or .2 seconds on our 40 right away, but the best athletes are built over a long period of time. It is a good idea to shoot for a gradual increase in weight room strength from year to year, instead of giant leaps. Research has shown that gradual year to year increase in volume is the best way to maintain progress.

Joel

Bar Clearance in High Jumping

Editors Note: My new site is now at www.just-fly-sports.com Check it out for a wealth of information on jumping higher and running faster, all backed by research and practical experience!

I have decided that it is about time for me to get back to a technical article of some sort. Most of what I have written recently has been about training theory in general, and not so much about the great sport of high-jumping. In my "technical high jump manifesto" I conclude that in most cases, the body will automatically respond to the bar in order to clear it. In most cases this is true, at least after a certain amount of hours spent in practice. I have realized, however, that there are some people that really have a gift to contort their body over the bar, while others struggle to control their body in the air at all. I would consider myself a holistic coach. I don't mess around with a lot of drills (I will write more on this later) because I feel that actually high jumping with accurate cues and feedback is much better than the sum of its parts.

One drill that I do like to use, however, is the standing backover. I often see many mistakes in the performance of this drill, which lead to bad habits. Before I get to those, here is a video of a standing backover in high-jump.




Now this is a great standing high jump, and the bar clearance is excellent. Notice the timing of the arch through the hips and the drawing in off the feet towards the buttocks. There are times, however, when this drill can lead to bad habits. One variation of this drill that leads to bad habits is standing too close to the bar when it is performed. When this happens, the dynamic chain which leads to successful bar clearance is compromised. This happens because the parabolic curve which the bodies center of mass is much more straight up-and-down then a typical high jump where there is far more horizontal displacement. Standing too close when performing this drill will lead to improper timing in throwing the head back, and bringing the hips and knees up. Here is a video of a good jumper with tremendous leaping ability who stands just a little too close to the bar when performing this drill:




My recommendation for a standing back-over would be to have your feet a distance from the bar that is simliar to where you actually take off from in high jump. Athletes who take off from very far away can move this mark in a few inches or even a foot if they take off from over a meter away. I would also advise those athletes whose best standing jump is less than 1.60m to use a booster box (6-12 inches) when doing this drill. This will help create more similarity between the backover and the bar clearance encountered in the actual jump.

The second aspect I would like to cover when addressing bar clearance is that of rotation. Rotation over the bar is primarily determined by the forces at take-off but can also be influenced by the shortening of the bodies levers over the bar. Proper rotation can be determined by a simple analysis. When the jumper is at their apex over the bar, their total body alignment (if they were to straighten their body) would be around parallel to the ground. Many jumpers who jump with inadequate lean at takeoff, or long levers will be at an angle to the ground, here is a helpful illustration.

This jumper is demonstrating proper bar clearance, and is in a good setup for the hips to clear easiler. This position comes from proper rotation and not just throwing the head back and arching. The next picture demonstrates an improper bar clearance/rotation.


Now here is a very common clearance position for a lot of jumpers who either have not developed their curve and takeoff properly, or just don't have coaches who know better. In this jump, the hips have not reached the high point that the upper back has, because of a lack of rotation. Now rotation can be achieved in two ways. The first is to learn the proper way to run a curve, and not come out of it on the last two steps. It is a common fault to see a jumper come "straight up" on the last two steps of their curve. Once a jumper has effectively learned a curve, they must learn to have short and effective levers in the air. Here is a picture of a jumper who has very short and effective levers in bar clearance.


Linus Thornblad

Here is another picture of a jumper who demonstrates good rotation and bar clearance.



Blanca Vlasic


Notice how she is actually rotated past parallel when she is clearing the bar. I have noticed that in jumpers with longer limbs, sometimes, more rotation is necessary than those with shorter limbs. This makes is possible for jumpers with longer legs to clear the bar more effectively. In closing, here are some tips for helping you or your jumpers clear the bar more effectively.

1. Backovers are an effective drill, but do not focus the marjority of your practice on them
2. The transition from a standing backover to a full high jump can be made easier by doing "running" 2-footed high jumps following standing backover work.
3. Cues such as bringing the feet tighter to the buttocks, spreading the knees apart, throwing the head back, and getting the hips up can all be used in standing and running 2 foot backover drills.
4. A drill that I like is a short approach high jump off of one leg where the coach stands behind the pit and holds up 1-5 fingers with his/her hand. The jumper must then look backwards during the jump and tell the coach how many fingers they held up. This is an advanced variation of the standing drill with holding fingers up.
5. Standing and running high jumps are different motor skills, always keep that in mind. Just because someone can do standing backovers well, does not automatically mean they will be good at the full jump, and don't let a jumper focus on standing backovers just because they are good at them and their standing backover jump makes them feel good about themselves. Focus on their weaknesses.
6. Perfect form in a full-high jump will be clearing the bar by simliar amounts with the shoulders, back, and hips, keep this in mind when a jumper comments on how far their back was over the bar in a given jump.


Finally, on a closing note, realize that sometimes when a jumper rotates too fast, or is not used to their speed of rotation, they may start kicking the bar off with their feet. This happens more often in taller, longer jumpers who need to compensate for the increased rotation with a more powerful foot kick. Work on a good extension of the legs as well as the other factors with these jumpers.

Good luck,

Joel

Rubber-Band Man Retraction

Well, I went and did it. I have thrown some ideas out in my last post that were not entirely correct. You see most of my last post was based off of research that I had looked at in a comprehensive review of around 50 scholarly-articles. A large amount of what I wrote was correct, but what is still up in the air, so to speak in the scholarly realm is if increasing tendon compliance is truly effective for increasing sport movement. Research by Keitaro Kubo shows that, yes, compliant tendons are more effective for stretch-shortening cycle movement, but, compliant tendons can also cause problems with force transmission from muscle to bone. After an email exchange with Dr. Kubo, he has concluded that it is still unknown if increased compliance or (increased stiffness) in tendon is truly useful for improving sport effectiveness. So basically, don't worry about specifics on improving your tendons. My advice is simply to put an emphasis on your primary sport movement, and the optimal tendon configuration should take care of itself.

I still do think my last article has some value in the relation of slow and fast twitch dominant athletes and sport performance. If nothing else, it is a valuable analytical tool. Finally, I would like to thank Roger "RJ" Nelson for his notes on my original article which led to this retraction. Sport science is something that is dynamic and evolving, and I try my best to stay on top of it. If anything is wrong, I will always let you know, and it is my utmost intention to keep everyone on the right track in the sport science world.

Joel

The Rubber-Band Man

Editors Note: My new site is now at www.just-fly-sports.com Check it out for a wealth of information on jumping higher and running faster, all backed by research and practical experience!

So how many of you out there are rap fans? (If you aren't, please keep reading anyway) I am for sure, well I was...... A lot of what they play on the radio these days just doesn't cut it for me you know? Anyways, there is one rapper that is still active to my knowledge who I do like very much. His name is T.I. and he came out with a pretty dope rhyme back a few years ago called "The Rubber-Band Man".

So what does rubber bands have to do with anything? Well here is why they are so great........they are very effective modulators (or altering agents) of force applied to them. Think about it, say you want to shoot a folded paper bullet across the room at a classmate, co-worker, or even your boss. You can't throw the paper wad, because you will never be able to impart enough force mechanically to get it to fly fast or straight enough to do any sort of damage. So what do you do? You whip out your rubber band that was holding your notecards together and use that to shoot the paper projectile. But how does that work? It works because a rubber band is a SPEED amplifier. The rubber band cannot produce force on its own, correct? But once you put force into it, it will give you a massive return in terms of speed.

The human body is the same way! Your muscles are simply not capable of producing the speed required for the incredible dynamic movement that the human body is capable of on their own. They need a little help from their friends so to speak.

Now let me give you a quick evolution of my thoughts on the importance of tendons over the years. My senior year in college was my first year that I began to realize the importance of tendons through reading some of the works of inno-sport. The majority of their preaching was on "stiffness" (yes, I know, "That's what she said"). Anyways, their basic tenant was that muscles that could produce large amounts of force without stiff tendons were not functioning well, because the slack would weaken the movement significantly. I maintained this view until my first year of graduate school a year later. In my first research class, I wrote a lengthy paper on human elastic structures. Once I really began to dig into the research I found several interesting findings. Perhaps the most important was that in many cases, it is not how stiff a tendon is that is important, but how "compliant". Compliance is basically the ability of a tendon to stretch under stress and then return to its original position. Studies have proven that the fastest 100m sprinters have vastus lateralus (quadricep) tendons which are more compliant than slower runners. Although these specific studies seemed to suggest that compliance is the most important facet of tendons, common sense would say that the optimal compliance of a tendon is based on its use. Anthony Blazevich, PhD, has stated that joints that have small ranges of motion (ankle) will benefit from tendons that are stiffer, while joints that go through larger ranges of motion (hip) will benefit more from tendons which are more compliant. I think that this makes good sense.

Now before you go and start working on your ability to do the splits, here are a few quick definitions and ideas.

PEC: Parallel Elastic Component of Muscle. This refers to the section of connective tissue which surrounds muscle. This includes the fascial sheath of the muscle, as well as the sarcolemma surrounding the muscle fibers. This component is brought into play when the muscle is stretched beyond its normal length, aka, static or dynamic stretching.

SEC: Series Elastic Component of Muscle: This refers to the tendons, and elastic elements within the muscle, such as titin. This component is brought into play when the muscle is producing force, aka. sprinting or jumping.

Idea: Fast twitch muscle is by nature, more flexible than the collagen-heavy slow twitch muscle.

Idea: Slow twitch muscle is able to hold its cross-bridge attachments for a longer period of time than fast twitch muscles, which can still allow for explosive movement by use of tendons, it just takes longer.

Idea: Research has shown that sustained amounts of heavy weightlifting can result in increased tendon stiffness.

Idea: Research has also shown that although heavy weightlifting can stiffen up tendons, extended time under tension in weightlifting can lead to more compliant tendons, particularly the SEC (the important part of the tendon).

Now here is what it all comes down to: Tendons are extremely important in human movement. They are very specific when it comes to their job description. This is why it is vital in any sport to make the Primary Sporting Movement the main object of affection. This is also probably why anyone who has lifted weights for an extended period of time without doing adequate elastic work (sprints, bounds, depth jumps, multi-jumps) will notice a severe strain on their running vertical ability, particularly in the single leg category. I am not bashing weightlifting though! It is very important to reach the ultimate genetic potential of any athlete, but whenever weightlifting becomes the #1 training means of an athlete for too long of a period (I would say 2-3 months, it starts to bring with it some negative effects on dynamic movement). Also, the more "fast twitch" the movement, the more "weightlifting only" may have a detrimental effect on the movement. In other words, sprinting will take a bigger hit than a standing vertical off two feet.

Secondly, people who are "slow twitch" dominant can still "get up". Anyone can make big increases in vertical by getting stronger and gaining jumping efficiency. However, slow-twitch dominant individuals are going to spend more time on the ground when jumping, and thus won't be quite as good shot blockers or high jumpers than the more fast twitch dominant individuals. As the "idea" above stated, slow twitch muscles can still produce large force output, but they need the tendons to do it, and they take longer to get it done. I beleive a study done on volleyball national team whose average standing vertical jump was in the high 30's demonstrated a fast twitch ratio of 55%. This is only slightly above average. Volleyball players have been proven, however, to spend significantly longer times on the ground when preparing to jump compared to say, track and field athletes.

My third point is based on the fact that extended time periods of weightlifting sets can lead to more compliant tendons. New and exiting research has been coming out which show that sets of around 10 can be better than sets of 3-5 regarding the development of sprint speed. (Obviously you would not use one set-rep scheme exclusively) Perhaps this has something to do with the tendons? Also, if you have ever wondered about the principle of Joe DeFranco's 50-rep rhythm squats, this might be a good answer.

Finally, another direct and applicable message of this post is to spend some time training in the stretch range of movement. An exercise that I really like for sprinting is the osciallatory isometric hip flexion movement as perscribed by inno-sport. Here is a link

http://www.inno-sport.net/Strength-Endurance.htm

The exercise is OI HF squat. Let me confirm here, that just stretching alone will not significantly increase the power output of the tendons. You need to be specific in their training, and that means loaded training in the stretch range.

Good luck!

Joel Smith, CSCS (at least until my CEU's are due)

THE ORIGINAL RUBBER BAND MAN! Dick Hartzell

Work Capacity: The Final Frontier

Editors Note: My new site is now at www.just-fly-sports.com Check it out for a wealth of information on jumping higher and running faster, all backed by research and practical experience!

Here is an older article I noticed I never posted, so going through my old articles, here goes!

As long as I am on this space kick with my titles, I would like to briefly discuss probably the number one key to becoming an elite athlete and fulfilling your genetic potential. This key factor is work capacity, and in particular, specific work capacity. It seems like the focus of so many programs out today, and especially beginner programs really focus on regulating fatigue in order to achieve the optimal results, at least in the short term. Now restoration is an extremely important facet of training, and in some cases, more important than the training itself, after all, any idiot can beat the crap out of themselves with plyometrics and heavy weightlifting.

Let me start with saying, there is a time to rest, and then there is a time to concentrate the heck out of your program. I used to look at some track coaches reccommendations of doing lifting three days a week and plyos on the other two days of a 5-day week and laugh. "They are going to drive their athletes into the ground", I thought. And of course, if you did a program like this with a beginner, yeah, you certainly would annihilate them. The point of a high-volume program like this, however, is to create a high work capacity in the athlete. High-level track coaches would probably not prescribe programs like this if they didn't work, or pay off later in the season. The best way to look at this would be to understand the concept of what is referred to by Dr. Yuri Verkhoshanski as "concentrated" strength loading. Here is a chart with an example of what happens in concentrated loading.
The easiest way to think of this type of unit is as a week in a standard program, but extended. Here is why. In your average "program", what is the goal? To fatigue yourself enough to be sore for a day or two, but then come back and be stonger the next time you lift or jump. This setup is like that..........but instead of three days, it is three weeks you are sore, or three months. Numerous studies have confirmed the effectiveness of this type of set-up, and it is especially useful for sports which have a demanding competitive season either physically, or technically.

Now, I will say that I am afraid of this system, because of the patience that it requires, as well as the trust in the program. That is why I typically like to work in 2-3 week variations of this system. There are a few key ingredients that are needed to make concentrated loading work.

(Above: The Glory Days for me)

1. Pump up the volume! OK, that was a really lame title, but yeah, you want to really increase the volume of your loading during this time period. This could mean 3-4 strength training days per week, or 2-3 repetitive jump days.
2. Keep the training means CNS friendly, don't do depth jumps or 100% effort repeated sprints or anything like that. With the high volume, you want to really keep an eye on the intensity.
3. The decrement in performance should be linear. You don't want to have a spike in your performance drop. It should be smooth from week to week. You should have pre-set indicators such as vertical jump, standing 3-hops, or another type of explosive indicator to measure your condition.
4. During the "Recovery" period, your body will not tolerate volume well, but will respond wonderfully to intense training means. Think of the frequency and fatigue types of cycles for those of you familiar with inno-sport.
5. During the recovery period, you don't just stop training (obviously), you just turn the volume way down and start to gradually implement more intense means.


I will end with the statement that different coaches will tolerate different levels of drop-off in their jumpers. Some coaches will only allow 3% decrement at the maximum, which means their concentrated blocks are extremely short, while others will allow up to 20%, which is massive. I typically hover around 5-10% in my blocks, and losses further than this make me slightly uncomfortable, although maybe someday, I will trust myself with higher loads.

Any questions: email me at smith.joel@students.uwlax.edu

or

read articles about it here: www.athleticscoaching.ca
or here: www.verkhoshansky.com


On a final note with work capacity, a quick reminder from "Science and Practice of Strength Training". Elite athletes have work capacities that are up to 10x what a beginner can tolerate, pretty amazing huh?

Living Inside of a Parallel Universe

Editors Note: My new site is now at www.just-fly-sports.com Check it out for a wealth of information on jumping higher and running faster, all backed by research and practical experience!

I recently purchased a book written in 1985 by Dr. Yuri Verkhoshanski on periodization and training organization. So far it has been pretty good, a lot of concepts in it were touched on in "Supertraining", but some things have stuck out to me enough to start thinking about them again. One of the studies which the book notes is that of Khodykin (couldn't find the date). Basically this study compares periodized training against parallel training with intermediate athletes in one study.

A quick definition of terms.

Periodized or "conjugate" training: The gradual, month-by-month replacement of weaker training methods with stronger ones through the course of a macrocycle (training year). An example would be to start out doing an "air alert" style training scheme for a few months, and then replace it with weightlifting as the primary exercise for a few months, then replace the weightlifting with depth jumping. Here is a helpful visual:As you can see, the training program starts out using repeated jumps (air alert style work) and after that training modality begins to plateau, a new, stronger training modality begins to replace it, in this case weightlifting. The program is finalized by the introduction of the most powerful stimulus of all, depth jumping.


Parallel Training: This is the type of training which is the most common amongst many internet trainees and internet training programs. Several "jump" programs are periodized for the 12-16 weeks for which the user is instructed to complete them, but rarely longer. In essence, parallel training involves combining many training modalities and using them in the same micro and meso-cycles throughout the yearly training plan. Basically this means that someone on a parallel training plan will use plyometrics, weights, and submaximal jumps/sprints all in the same training week for the majority of the year. It has been suggested that this type of training is effective for relative beginners but advanced athletes require periodization. I will later explain why this may be a faulty suggestion.

The study by Khodykin investigated the effects of two, three month training blocks on intermediate level high jumpers. The first group did a 3-month block of barbell exercises, followed by a 3-month block of plyometrics. The second group completed a 3-month block of plyometrics and then did a 3-month block of weightlifting, basically, group 1 in reverse. The third group did one 6 month program with both weightlifting and plyometrics in parallel. At the end of the study, the only group which improved their explosive strength was the first group. A negative training effect was found in groups 2 and 3 (they actually decreased in explosiveness). Reasoning for this is that in group 2, the ordering of periodization is faulty (too high of training effect too early) and in group 3, since the program extended so long, the training effect of each modality wore off and plateued, producing staleness. The moral of this study is that, in advanced athletes, it is important not to use a single modality for too great of a period of time.

Personally, I beleive that this is true to an extent, but in the practical world, I would make a few changes. I feel that weightlifting certainly does reach a point of plateu, and as I have stated in my earlier blogs, this is around 3-4 months time. From my own experience, however, I feel that one can lift weights as an exclusive modality longer than they can do plyometrics. Plyometrics are just very demanding on the nervous system, and it is easy to hit a roadblock with them. That said, I feel that one can lift weights for the majority of the training year, I just think that there are definite points in the year when the volume should be high, and then there are points when it should be miniscule or nonexistant. In my own experience a few concentrated blocks of 3 lower body days per week in the fall and early winter are helpful, but in-season, one to two days a week is best. As far as points in the year when weightlifting should be eliminated, I would say that after a 3 month period of weightlifting, most coaches would do well to have a 2 week "washout" of the barbell training effect. Of course, in a periodized program when the focus is, say, depth jumping, weight lifting should still be done, just in small amounts, enough to maintain previous strength and hypertrophy in the primary muscle groups. In periods of peaking, it depends on the athlete whether or not weights should be eliminated. I have known high-jumpers who have set lifetime records after not lifting for 3-4 months, and I know other high-jumpers who just plain lose it after stopping weights for too long.

I am in the latter group for sure. The best track meet of my life was at an interesting point in my training schedule. I had done a good concentrated strength block right before indoor started, and then shaved down to 2 lifting days a week for the first three meets. I had also lifted weights regularly for the preceding 6 months, although the percentages and focuses were very different in each phase. I also took various weeks off of heavy lifting to delay the plateau of the lifting effect. My fourth meet of the season I did depth jumps, bounding and no weights and set a high jump PR at 2.09 meters. The following week, I did not lift weights except for 3 sets of 3 "2/3" squats with very heavy weight. I did a lot of plyometrics, however, and I ended up high jumping 2.08m easily and almost making 2.14m (the height was there, the form was not). I also went on to set an incredible 1.1 meter PR in the triple jump that day. This is where it is important to know your athletes.....I do lean towards thinking that the taller, leaner, and lankier high jumpers who have more of a natural build for the event can do better without weights for a longer period of time than their "power" counterparts. This is just an opinion though based on my jumpers ,acquaintances, and competitors.....and may not entirely reflect reality.


Anti-Periodization Commentary:

Like any good sport scientist, it is important to look at both sides of the issue from people who actually know what they are talking about....

Now for a quick counter-point on periodization from the man who supported it all these years, Dr. V: In 1998, Verkhoshanksy published a short article on the reasons why traditional periodization was an outdated method.

This article can be found here:
http://www.athleticscoaching.ca/UserFiles/File/Sport%20Science/Planning%20&%20Periodization/General%20Concepts/Verhoshansky%20The%20End%20of%20Periodization.pdf

A large complaint of Verkhoshansky is that traditional periodization is not a realistic form of training because the fact that it creates several problems. A big problem that he had with it (and that I have with it, and many other coaches) is that an extensive and exhaustive amount of preparation work is done, and then the competitive period is just used to work on form, and the specific strength conditioning level of the athlete is neglected. This can be even more harmful with international athletes where the competitive periods are very, very long. Obviously, most modern coaches have adapted a form of periodization which brings heavier training loads into early competitions and "peaks" at the end, but this style of work still may be able to be improved upon.

Another problem that Verkhoshansky had with traditional periodization, and most likely the main one, is that the yearly process of periodization is somewhat unsubstantiated by long term research. There are the shorter-term studies of a preparation period type setup such as the one I listed at the beginning, but apparantly, there is little to no research saying that periodization is the ultimate method of adaptation. Here I am not just talking about doing training in blocks (which is still a good method) but the idea of doing a "familiarization phase" and then a "general strength phase" and so on. Perhaps that absolute anti-thesis of this type of training is Brad Nuttal's "modern" setup at the now "dead" inno-sport, in which only the training modalities which directly aid the athlete in their specific strength requirement are emphasized. Verkhoshanski does also say that a large problem of periodization was that the specific exercises which are needed to provoke adaptation were often, not involved. Of course one might say that those exercises are indeed important for building a "base", but on the grounds of how effective that base truly is, is not substantiated. I am certainly a strong beleiver in a large work-capacity for high-level athletes, but I think that there is a better way to accomplish this than a 2 month "junk-volume" session in the early part of the season.

With that out of the way, here is an example of a more modern Soviet adaptation of periodization, keeping the good peices (conjugation of exercises) while dropping some of the un-needed peices. (un-necessary phases and volumes)

Cyclic Blocks System for Jumping Events: Taranov, Mironenko and Sergejev, 1994.
(I apologize for the poor copy!)

The scribbled section after "restoration" is "limited load" in case you were curious. Some interesting points about this setup is that is works in 3 week blocks, with the tail end of each block being a rehabilitation week with a decreased training load. Only 2 weeks are spent in what you would really call "basework" and functional adaptation is started right away. An interesting point here though, is that the preparation period before competitions begin is only around four months, where in a college system, it is around 7 months! I think that quite often, we don't realize that some of these big-time international level programs don't have to deal with staleness in the prep-period as much as us college guys do, simply because we have a much larger period between our competitive seasons. This cyclic blocks system also is unique in the fact that it starts with specific adaptation work early in the year (it is still important to be sensitive to the intensity this early).

So what is the moral of this story? I would say that if you are not already doing so, be willing to try organizing your training in a manner that weightlifting is not always the primary focus. Even if you are "weak" you still may want to install phases of training which focus on repetitive jumps or sprints. This doesn't mean that you can't lift, just don't focus on it. This will allow you not to plataeu as soon and hopefully have a better and more explosive season. These periods don't have to be long, but they should be in there. Simply put, vary your training emphasis from time to time. You can work training qualities in parallel, just don't do it for more than 3 months! Finally, there are 1,000,000 ways to skin a cat, especially in this profession. I am certainly not trying to tell you exactly how to do things, just some principles which you should always be aware of. Stay tuned for more on this exiting subject.......

GOOD LUCK! Sport scientists have been debating these issues from the beginning of sport-sciencedom.