Should we train movements or muscles?
providing useful and insightful science based training material
The “power-velocity curve” is one of the most useful visuals (IMO). It gives you a clear understanding of what you are emphasizing when developing a specific strength quality.
Power = force * velocity, which means the same power can be produced in one of two fashions (unless you’re talking about max power, this is the peak of the graph and can only be produced when force and velocity are at optimal levels, see above graph).
Motor Unit Recruitment Deficit and Accessible Strength (PDF HERE)
Attached to this post is a pdf. of one of my first attempts at writing anything related to this field of sport science/ S & C. I remembering pouring in hours to it and not getting anywhere (It had remained on my computer for years). Anyway, I tried to leave it as untouched as I possibly could. Yes, there are some typos and it need edits, but I felt by touching it up I would ruin its original content. I cannot say that it is scientifically prefect, but I hope it gets you thinking
As you will see, there are some undertones of westside barbell and Science and Practice of Strength Training, which are two of the main sources that sparked my interest in this area.
I always think it is good to share this kind of stuff. Plus, I would be doing my younger self a disservice to never follow through and actually share this content.
Human’s love immediate feedback, especially numerical feedback. We have all read the studies on how performance feedback on bar speeds and jump height have been shown to increase the performance of an athlete. It is human nature to be competitive and its human nature to try and improve. However, I am going to make a short little argument as to why I think technologically driven feedback regarding performance scores (not technique or skill) is more effective than human feedback. This is not based on any research I have come across, it is merely based on opinion. so feel free to disagree.
The funny thing about technology is that we don’t humanize it. People don’t think computers have feelings like one might think an animal, plant or person has. For the most part, we see them as a bunch of circuits and wires made to unbiasedly provide a service. For example, when a computer gives you feedback on your search engine, you don’t get mad if its right or wrong, you just use it as a means to obtain the information. However, if your friend were to give you the wrong directions to a store, you might think they are “out to get you”. Long story short, computers don’t have emotions and technology doesn’t care about you, so naturally you don’t care about it.
Exercise is about stress and stress causes adaptation (only when recovery is met). However, the way an exercise stresses the body doesn’t just depend on how heavy the weight is. Think about it, when are you the most sore after a workout? Probably when you did an exercise for the first time in a long time. The opposite is true when you do the same exercise over and over again (not sore).
As coaches, we are always seeking betters ways to help our athletes achieve their goals. With that being said, we are always on the lookout for new methods that we can integrated into our programs to get that competitive advantage. This is all part of the learning process! You never know if a food tastes good until you try it!
In my opinion, I think there are a couple steps a coach/sport scientist should take when applying a new concept into an already existing program and below, I will share my two cents.
Understanding how the muscle and tendon work together in movement is an integral part of program design. Depending on how you move, what you are doing and the speed at which you are doing it, the tendon/muscle may play a different role.
In short, the muscle and tendon act to compliment each other. When one is taught, the other is compliant (compliant meaning changes in length). These roles can flip when depending on the movement being performed. For example, during repeat pogo hops, the tendon becomes compliant and deforms upon ground contact, while the muscle becomes stiff and the fascicles do not go through much of a change. However, the opposite is true for lifting. When lifting weights, the tendon is taught and the muscle fascicle lengths go through large changes in length. Thus, depending on the type of exercise, the role of the tendon and the muscle may change.
Strength matters. There is no way around it. Force makes us move and moving is what we do in sport. There is more than enough research to highlight the fact that strength training improves the force producing abilities of the muscle. However, sport is highly dynamic and clearly does not only rely on raw strength/force producing abilities. Aside from that, strength training puts a strain on the body that reduces the body’s immediate functional abilities. Thus, strength training during the season or for an athlete who constantly at work may not seem too enticing. A reduction in functional capacity is not the greatest thing to deal with in season. However, there are two sides to the coin and any reduction in strength also reduces the functional capacity of the athlete (fatigue causes weakness and weakness causes fatigue).
When we buy a product I think it important we understand why it exists. This understanding is what can unify the company and the customer. Remember, the company exists for the customer and without the customer’s wants and needs being at the core of the company, a strong disconnect can manifest itself in a poor relationship. For this reason, I think it is extremely important for the company to highlight why they believe a product was made and then go out into the world and hear how the customer actually uses it!
What is the G-Flight
The G-Flight is portable contact grid used to measure jump height, ground contact time and reactive strength index. The why from my end (the company side) may appear quite obvious at first “we want to help coaches measure these variables”, but that is only part of the picture. To get a better understanding of our goals, I sat down and asked my self “five whys” and then trekked into the real world to see what I was missing.
Auto-regulatory training is a pretty straightforward concept. It hinges on the idea of not just showing up and doing something on a lift-card just because it was written on the lift-card. Instead, you might have a workout on the lift card, but you use some sort of test to determine whether or not you think what is written on the card is actually what you should be doing that day. Now, instead of using auto-regulation to completely change your entire training day, you can use it in many other different facets. Fore example, you can use auto-regulation to assign what load you should be lifting today, how many reps you should lift a load for, or how long you should rest between loads.
Personally, I see value in all types of auto-regulatory training. However, not all types of auto-regulatory training are useful in all situations. For example, the more complex the auto-regulation gets, the more supervision and trust is required. This is the exact reason why it may not always be best to do the most invasive form of auto-regulation… you just don’t have the time to do it for 30 athletes. So, what can we do?
First off, we need to define what we are training for and how we are going to train for it. Use training for power as an example…Typically, we train for power with maximal intent and high quality repetitions. If we want to build power, we need quality and well, for the most part, quality suffers at hands of fatigue. Either athletes do too much or rest too little to keep velocity and therefore, power high enough. We can’t always control effort, but we can somewhat control recovery via rest times. This is where auto-regulating rest intervals comes in to play. If we make sure athletes are rested for the next set, we know we have the full capacity to develop power (effort is another story)
A simple pen and paper can do the trick. Continue reading “Auto-Regulatory Training and Jump Heights”
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