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.

A Matter of Tempo

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!

Tempo in lifting is somewhat of an interesting topic. When I first saw some of the tempo prescriptions that some elite strength coaches were recommending, I was amazed. Whenever I am in the weight room, all I ever want to do is push heavy weight as fast as possible, and tempo is usually the last thing on my mind. It would probably take somebody pointing a loaded gun at me to get me to perform a 4:1:2 tempo set-up. Aside from my personal preference, the literature, both scientific and practical shows several "positive" effects of using tempo in lifting.

1. An increased safety factor, reduces bouncing in lifts.

2. Along with increased safety, tempo makes the muscles do the work rather than tendons, ligaments, or joint capsules.

3. Varying lifting tempos in a yearly plan causes an extension of the trianing effect of lifting, which in turn, should lead to higher levels of strength at the end of the strength phase of training.

4. Tempo allows a greater time under tension, which will change the metabolic effect of the training, as well as increase hypertrophy (if this causes time under tension to rise into the 30-70 second range, which is proven the most effective for hypertrophy)

5. Since lifting will never exactly replicate dynamic sport movement, it should be performed safely and for the purpose of increasing the available, useable muscle tissue for sporting movement (at least the HIT camp would say this).

The college which I coach at makes a good deal of use of tempo for training our sprinters (at least in the pre-season phase). Our sprinters have been very, very successful over the years (national champions and olympians) and apparantly I would say that tempo in lifting certainly is not hurting them. A typical tempo reccomendation in the fall might be a 3:0:2 tempo, or a 5:0:3 tempo for squats.

Now that I have that out of the way, I will state what I personally hate about tempo in training. There are always two sides to the coin of any argument of course!

1. De-emphasis on explosiveness in training. I have never seen the use of tempo in any elite/international track coaches training plan (of course, I haven't come close to looking at all training programs).

2. Submaximal recruitment of motor units in lifting. When was the last time you ever saw a olympic lifter doing squats with any sort of tempo? Olympic lifters are athletes we sometimes or often model our training after, and they demonstrate no appearance of tempo on their squats, they even bounce! (say it ain't so!) It is just about the same story with powerlifters...powerlifters have two primary types of lifting days, dynamic and maximal effort days. You certainly won't see any sort of tempo except for all-out speed on the dynamic day, and the max effort day is full-blast of the concentric portion of the lift as well. If your desire is to increase the maximal amount of available motor units (your CNS pool) the concentric portion of the lift must be performed as fast as possible!

3. Time under tension can also be achieved by increasing the reps of the lift. In the preparatory period of the season, which do you think would be a better way of increasing hypertrophy in the fast twitch muscles: doing 3 reps of an exercise as an extremely slow tempo with 150lb, the set taking 30 seconds or doing 15 reps of the same exercise with 150lb in 30 seconds. I would put my money on the 15rep/30 second set. Think of JoeDeFranco's "50rep rhythm squats" on this one. In addition to the muscle factor, the higher reps in this case may also be a positive factor in explosive tendon development.

4. Some athletes do not need anymore hypertrophy development! In this case, tempo would probably not be a good idea, even if it is superior to higher reps at the same set-time window for hypertrophy (which doub't it would be, at least for functional hypertrophy).

5. Instead of trying to prolong the training effect of lifting, why not just switch to explosive/ballistic methods outside of weights instead of messing around with tempo?

6. Other methods of increasing the time-under-tension in a given set exist, including one of my favorites, the pause-explode method. I will get into this more in just a bit.


The dichotomy:

Here is the problem....research is somewhat mixed on this issue, and perhaps even favors HIT style tempo training. While the idea of HIT (1 set, slower tempo trianing for failure) makes many coaches cringe, it does work for a lot of people. The only thing about HIT that makes me want to cause bodily harm to Arthur Jones is the fact that you don't have to be "smart" to implement it effectively. You can be the dreaded "weight room nazi" style strength coach, who stomps and yells incessantly and appears to have ridden the "short bus" as a kid (Not that these coaches are all bad!) and still get a decent training effect out of your workout (or at least make people feel tired when they are done).

Some studies have shown that lifting at high speed will bring about the same increase in vertical jump as lifting with a slower tempo. The only difference between the two is that the faster lifting will bring about a higher peak torque in loaded conditions. Basically, lift weights fast, and you will become good at lifting weights fast, and not necessarily jumping higher, due to the amount of processes that go on in vertical jumping which bring tendon elasticity and static-spring proficiency into play.

Personally, I don't like a lot of research studies, and most of the subjects are un-trained athletes who will respond well to any kind of training. There are a few studies which make me cry "uncle" though, and these are typically the type of study as listed above. So what is the bottom line then? Well, tempo might be good because it is safe, and can extend the training effect of lifting out if it is varied, BUT, at the very best, it is no better than fast, heavy and explosive lifting. With that in mind, here is my official, mostly anecdotal opinion on lifting tempos.

1. If you are a speed-athlete, don't bother with lifting tempo. I would recommend keeping the eccentric phase of the lift controlled, but besides that, the concentric portion should be fast.

2. For the same set-time, 15 fast reps are better than 5 slow ones with the same weight. Tudor Bompa's classic book, periodization trianing for sports also takes this view.

3. If you want to prolong the training-effect-window of your strength trianing, try the pause-explode method! Lower yourself to parallel in a squat or similar lift for 2-10 seconds and then explode up. Repeat up to desired set-time. Jay Shroeder over at Evo-sport does lifting like this, and it is very effective in improving explosive power. Isometrics as a training method kind of go in and out, but this is a variant that you certainly can't go wrong with. Mel Siff also talks about this as a great training method in his "Supertraining" text.

4. A fast-tempo in lifting is only really dangerous is you are a new lifter, and haven't learned how to keep your core tight and aligned during the lift. I would say the more back-oriented the lift, the more I would use a controlled tempo, but not to the point where you would have to count. As with everything there is a learning curve. Tempo is something which is built to "injury-proof" the lifting process for the inexperienced.


Well, thats all for now, I will say that I am not completely bashing tempo work through this article, I am just saying that there are probably better ways of doing things than tempo work, especially in light of olympic lifters and powerlifters. Good luck, and happy training,

Joel

The Weightlifting Addiction

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!

You know what I am talking about......or maybe not, but I would say that most people reading this know what I am talking about.

Weightlifting Addiction, How to tell if you are a "lifting addict":

1. Your standing vertical has increased over the past few years, but your running jump hasn't, and your running one leg jump DEFINITELY hasn't!

2. You get anxious to get to the gym the day of your lifting workout.....as soon as you wake up, it is the first thing on your mind.

3. You have gained 10+ pounds in the first year you started lifting.

4. You have this inevitable urge to go heavy in the weightroom.......especially when there are a large amount of people watching.....

5. You have dreams about power-cleaning 2x your bodyweight

6. You find yourself watching olympic lifting competitions when you are bored

7. You haven't improved your 30m dash or slam-dunking ability in 2 years, but who cares! You can squat 150lb more!

8. You feel that if you can't squat 2x bodyweight, you are a failure as an athlete


OK, well those are a few signs I guess......and I will say that this post is primarily geared towards you unilaterals out there, aka track and field jumpers and anyone else who wants to get up off 1 leg. I will say that being a "lifting addict" isn't all that bad, but if you are a jumper or sprinter it can eventually hurt you! For the most part, a killer standing vertical requires a HUGE squat, and a good 2 leg running vertical requires a pretty good squat, but more complex movements such as running and jumping off 1 leg take a little more plyometric persuasion.

I am certainly not bashing lifting at all, but in order to be a good unilateral jumper, there comes a point in a yearly training cycle when you have to take a break from lifting. This usually comes in the form of plyometric shock work. Beleive it or not, taking a break from lifting to do a few depth jump cycles might actually increase your squat. After all, you will be dramatically increasing the output of your nervous system through the myotatic reflex, as well as doing some intensive work specific to bi-lateral power production.

Russian science has shown that the training effect of weightlifting regarding the improvement of speed-strength diminishes within 14 weeks. This scenario has happened to many of us......we start lifting again after taking some time off and gain a lot, but then suddenly we stop gaining, and instead of switching over to another stimulus, aka, plyometrics, we just try to keep tweaking out our lifting programs, adding cluster sets, drop sets, isometrics, partial reps and the like. As some famous authors say regarding periodization, "why do most coaches feed their athletes crap for workouts up until the big meets and then finally back off the weights and do what the athlete needed in the first place?". Of course the athlete will feel refreshed, but he/she could be at a much higher state of sport mastry if they had gotten what they needed earlier in the season.

I will say that the training effect of lifting can be extended by adding variation, but all lifting is in essence the same in the fact that it offers a training effect of neurological duration, and is not necessarily specific to jumping or running. I think the fear that many people have is that they will lose their hard-earned weightroom strength when they switch to plyos, or that they haven't hit that "magic number" in the weightroom yet. Alternating cycles will not kill you though, as long as they are planned out with the long term goal in mind! The key is to be patient. Yes, those elite jumpers can clean over 1.5 times their bodyweight, and squat 2.5x, but they didn't get there by spending the majority of their traning time in the weightroom. I will bet you that for the most part, they are naturally explosive, as well as have gained explosiveness through jumping, which contributes to their weight room numbers.

A quick, second to last note.....most Western track coaches develop the different strength qualities in parallel throughout the season....which works, but according to Eastern sport science, not as well as well-planned blocks with specific goals.

I will end on a note from Tudor Bompa's famous text of periodization for sports which says that athletes who have seemed to reach a plateu after a high training age can benefit by altering cycles of plyometrics and maximal strength. Seems to make sense to me. The two methods build on each other, and are powerful stimuli. FINALLY, to those two would say, "well I have great reactive strength, I just need to get stronger now right?". For a standing vertical jump, yes you need to get stonger, for high jumping, yes, but not to the point that you would for standing vertical. The ground contact time must remain low! I will get to this more another day, but for now, the moral of the story is, stick with what works, which is not using a specific training stiumuls for longer than you need to.