STRENGTH EXERCISES

A General Overview

With so many exercises to choose from in designing a program, it is important to know the factors behind each exercise.

The MOST IMPORTANT exercise In any sport, the most important

exercise is the actual sport movement. If my sport is sprinting, I need to practice

sprinting the most. If my sport is volleyball, I need to

actually play volleyball the most. If my sport is arm-curling, then I need to

practice arm curls the most. If my sport is underwater basket

weaving, well….

Strength Exercise Classification

Isometric (same length) Joint angle specific!

Isokinetic (same speed) Research and Sports Medicine

Isotonic? (same tone…not really) Tension in a muscle changes as the moment

arm changes during the exercise Dynamic

Concentric Eccentric Reversible

The most popular

Dynamic exercises with concentric muscle action Typical up/down weightlifting

Further Classification

Non-specific Squats for a javelin thrower Bench press for a basketball player

Specific Barbell pullover for a javelin thrower Push jerk for basketball player

Primary Sporting Movement w/ resistance Throwing overweight javelins Rebounding drill with a weighted vest for

b-ball

Strength Topography

Strength topography is the comparative strength of different muscle groups in the body. An athlete can be extremely strong in

one movement, say bench press, but extremely weak in another, such as a barbell row.

Estimated ratios exist between the different muscle groups in the body. For example, the hamstrings should be 2/3 as strong as the quadricep muscle group.

Strength Topography

Ankle: Plantar Flexion/Dorsiflexion 3:1

Knee: Extension/Flexion 3:2

Strength Topography

Hip Extension/Flexion 1:1

Elbow Flexion/Extension 1:1

Strength Topography

Lumbar Spine Flexion/Extension 1:1

Exercise Selection for Beginning Athletes

Strengthen muscle groups, that, if weak can cause potential injuries. Neck in wrestling/football Rotator cuff in throwing sports Hamstrings in running sports

Exercise Selection for Beginning Athletes Train the large muscles in the

core/trunk of the athlete. Specifically, the abdominal wall and spinal erectors should be trained.

Lifts should be performed through the full range of motion.

Use only submaximal efforts, do not “max-out”

3 year rule….

Selecting Exercises for Advanced Athletes Specificity becomes more important

the more advanced an athlete is. Training drills that are not relevant

are often discarded for the regime of an elite athlete.

How are exercises specific? The working muscles The type of resistance The rate of force development (RFD) The velocity of movement

Working Muscles

The same working muscles used in the given sport movement should be emphasized in the training regimen

Examples: Rock Climbers do not want to spend a lot

of time doing barbell squats Basketball/Football players do want to

spend a lot of time doing barbell squats

Type of Resistance

Barbell (Most Typical) Compound

Bands/Chains+Barbell Lighter bands are usually better for

sports Bands/Cords Bodyweight

Pushups, Situps, Pistol Squats

Rate of Force Development

The goal of training can lean towards: Increasing Fmm (low velocity/high force

movements) This strategy is only useful is ESD is less

than 50% (no modern coach in the west actually

calculates ESD) Decreasing ESD (high velocity/low force

movements)

A practical question:

2 athletes of similar dimensions have equal standing vertical jumps. They have different Fmm abilities though. Athlete A squats 1x their bodyweight, while athlete B squats 1.5x bodyweight.

For which of these athletes will improving Fmm in the barbell squat be more beneficial? Why?

Velocity of Movement

Performance will tend to improve relative to the velocity of the performed movement

The book recommends training movement velocities in the same velocity range as the given sport This is very impractical, hard to emulate

Velocity of Movement

Strength exercises should not be performed with TOO light weight and high velocity, if this is done, Fmm will not improve.

Research shows that strength gains were much higher in bench press when the reps were done at 1 rep every 4 seconds or slower. Trying to move as fast as possible limited strength gains. (seems to contradict Waterbury)

Velocity of Movement

Training Tempo Tempo is not really discussed in this

chapter Lifting tempos are broken down into

eccentric phase, isometric phase, and concentric phase of the lift.

An example of tempo would be 3-0-1. This would mean the “down” part of the lift would take 3 seconds, the isometric part would be disregarded, and the concentric part should take one second

Tempo Recommendations

Athletes tend not to like tempo and will often disregard it if you don’t enforce it

Tempo doesn’t make much sense when you think about motor recruitment, but the purpose of lifting is not always motor recruitment; that can be left up to sport specific exercises in some/many situations

Tempo Recommendations

It is OK to use tempo in static lifts if you are also using explosive exercises in your program.

It can be a good idea to use tempo only for the eccentric part of the lift, such as a 5-0-1 tempo. This way you can still have the athlete perform the concentric part somewhat explosively.

Velocity of Movement

During static lifts (bench, squat, presses, pulls, etc.) it can be a good idea to prescribe a lifting tempo. The main reason for this is that it is a variable that can be manipulated throughout the year to prevent accommodation

Peak Contraction Principle

The peak contraction principle is based on adding more resistance to the parts of the lifts that are more difficult

This is effective in increasing strengthbut might have a limited value in transfer to sport abilities

Another Method of Peak Contraction In this exercise, resistance is

manually applied in the most difficult part of the movement.

Accommodating Resistance

Cam Based Machines

Chains/Bands

Attempting to maximize tension through the whole range of motion rather than onepoint

So What?

I am in favor of the ‘general’ theory of strength.

Basically, no matter how you lift weights, you will not be able to emulate the muscle-tendon interaction present in most sporting movements

Therefore it is usually pointless to get carried away with strange weightlifting exercises, although it is good to switch things up for the sake of variety

More General Theory

Increase your muscle mass and power with power lifts (squats/bench) and olympic variants. Do your lifts slow and controlled to increase strength. Don’t worry about the weight room to increase speed, worry about the weight room to increase force.

Use sport specific exercises and plyometrics to address rate of force development and velocity, but remember straight velocity cannot be improved.