Strength Concepts

What is Strength? Classically, strength is defined as the ability of a given muscle or group of muscles to generate muscular force under specific conditions (Siff, 1999).

Fundamental Principle of Strength Training All strength increase is initiated by neuromuscular stimulation (Fleck & Kramer, 1997).

More Definitions……. Functional Muscular Action (functional effect) Muscle Hypertrophy (structural effect) Functional Resistance Training Structural Resistance Training

Types of Strength Training Fundamental Strength Movements Isometrics, Isotonics, Variable Resistance, Isokinetics, Eccentric Specific Strength Training Hypertrophy, Strength, Speed-strength, Strength-endurance, endurance

Basic Periodization Principles (Bompa, 2001) Anatomical Adaptation: Foundation on which the other phases of training are based. Progressive adaptation of an athlete’s body. Higher volume of training with low to medium loads to aid integrity not only muscle tissue, but ligaments, tendons, bone, and joint capsules

Basic Periodization Principles Hypertrophy Enlargement in muscle size, through increasing the cross-sectional area of muscle. Unlike bodybuilding, hypertrophy training for selected sports focuses mainly on increasing the size of prime movers.

Basic Periodization Principles Maximum Strength Develop highest level of force possible to aid in creating sport specific strength

Basic Periodization Principles Power Ability of neuromuscular system to produce the greatest possible force in the shortest period of time Fast, ballistic application of force. Load – standard weight of the implements Repetitions discontinue as movement speed declines

Physiology of Movement Connective Tissue Nervous System Muscle

Connective Tissue Role: passively stabilize the joints, facilitating contact between parts and absorbing shock Tendons, ligaments, joint capsules only display significant adaptation and hypertrophy after several weeks or months of progressive loading (McDonagh & Davies, 1984)

Nervous System Neuromuscular system is fundamental to all training (Siff, 2000) Major adaptation is developing the ability to recruit all motor units needed to perform a task Neural adaptations make up for most of strength gains in first 2-8 weeks of strength training

Muscle Highly innervated and very well nourished Muscle tissue adapts much quicker to resistance training than does connective tissue, thus an overemphasis on muscle strengthening can compromise connective tissue, and produce a complex that is more prone to injury

Program Characteristics for Basic Goals in Resistance Training 1 Rep Max (RM)Strength *Choice of exercise,the specific movement patterns, and types of muscle action *Exercises to be emphasized are performed early in training session *HEAVY resistances (<6RM) *Mod to Long Rests (>2m) *Mod to High # of sets (4-10) for primary specific exercises (the squat), low to mod # of sets (1-3) for assistance exercises

Power Multi-joint structural movements (Oly type exercises) Eccentric actions not emphasized Performed early in Training Session High-Intensity (<10RM) Rarely more than 5 reps Moderate to long rest periods (>2m) Mod to High # of sets (4-10)

Hypertrophy Large variety of exercises Large variety of exercise order Concentric and eccentric actions Moderate to High intensity (6-12RM) Higher number of reps Short rest periods (<1.5m) High total # of sets/ muscle or group (>3)

Muscular Endurance Choice of exercise needed for specific sport Low intensity (12-20RM) Moderate rest periods (2-3m) for long rep sets (>20) and short rest periods (45sec) for lower rep sets (12-19) Moderate # of sets (2-3)

Variable Power Endurance Strength Power Hyper-trophy Endurance Load (% of 1 RM) 80 - 100 70 - 100 60 - 80 40 - 60 Repetitions per set 1 - 5 8 - 15 25 - 60 Sets per exercise 3 - 5 4 - 8 2 - 4 Rest between sets (mins) 2 - 6 2 - 5 1 -2 Duration (secs per set) 5 - 10 20 - 60 80 - 150 Speed per rep (% of max) 60 - 100 90 - 100 60 - 90 6 - 80 Training sessions per week 3 - 6 5 - 7 8 -14

Designing a Program Needs Analysis What phase of training is the athlete in? What muscles need to be trained? What energy sources will be utilized? What movements are related to performance?

Other Considerations Trainability Neuromuscular Efficiency Biomechanical Efficiency Psychological Factors Injury and Fear of Injury Fatigue

Conjugated vs. Complex & Rehabilitation Periodization Models Conjugated vs. Complex & Rehabilitation

Complex Training The concurrent and parallel training of several motor abilities with the intention of producing multi-faceted development of physical fitness. May be appropriate for lower level athletes, but may have negative influence on highly trained individuals

Conjugated Training Extension of Complex Training focusing on the elite athlete. Overlapping of several different training variables (hypertrophy,strength,etc.), each of which has a different training objective. At any time, a different proportion of each type of training is provided, but at no stage is there only one type of training.

Advantages of Complex Simple design Effective for beginning clients or athletes Useful for athletes training 1 or 2 days/ week

Advantages of Conjugated Produces a specific training effect Preserves magnitude of training effect More effective for highly trained

Points to Remember! The long term use of the same training variable, even if volume is increased, will not increase one’s level of special fitness and will decrease the existing level of maximum strength…

Rehabilitative/Corrective Exercise Imperative to strengthen integrity of connective tissue 4 Phases of Rehabilitation Quality of Movement Biomechanical limitations Transfer to sport specific

Concepts for Athletic Trainers Understanding of Fundamentals Creating a Continuum in Rehabilitation Increased knowledge base = increased marketability