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.