Training with bands on barbell exercises vs. non-banded barbell training for power and strength. Which is Superior? (Study Summary)

Training with bands on barbell exercises vs. non-banded barbell training for power and strength. Which is Superior? (Study Summary)

Six Competitive Female weightlifters (Olympic weightlifters)

3x3 90% 1RM Clean Pull

3 Separate Testing Days

1: No tubing

2: Tubing with 10% of athlete’s 1RM

3: Tubing with 20% of athlete’s 1RM

1 way repeated measure analysis of variance (ANOVA)

Measures: Peak Power, Peak Velocity, and Peak Force

Summary: Adding 10% of athlete’s 90% 1RM in bands appears to be optimal training modality for increasing power, force and velocity throughout the clean pull.

·      We condone the use of bands for power training in athletes; if you have any questions or have a reference request please contact us.

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Video: Example of banded squats

Five reasons why you shouldn’t write your own program

Five reasons why you shouldn’t write your own program

If there is one mistake that amateur athletes make, it is writing their own program. It doesn’t matter how much you know, how many years you have been training, or how many websites and blogs you read, any program you write for yourself will let you down. Why? Because you will write a program that reflects your strongest areas or those you enjoy training. No matter how much you think you have balanced your program, it will reflect your preferences and not your needs.

In addition to this, your program is unlikely to address what it actually needs to – your weaknesses. Good programs are focused on developing your weaknesses as well as your strengths. It’s pretty hard to identify your weaknesses; it’s something a good coach is trained to identify and address.  Failing to adequately address your weaknesses will lead to either a stall in your progress or an injury - guaranteed!

The best solution is to use a well-trained and experienced coach, for the reasons listed below:

1.     Coaches are trained to identify your strengths and weaknesses as well as the needs of your sport. This is a critical foundation for an effective program.

2.     Coaches are objective, their goal is to balance your development and maximise your performance. If a coach thinks you need to focus on an area, there is generally a pretty good reason why.

3.     A good coach will understand how to train you to reduce your injury risks, or how to train you after you have been injured. This is a vital component of maximising performance.

4.     Good coaches understand that you have areas you want to train, and they will structure a program to reflect this. They won’t take your favourites away from you; they will just adjust the volume.

5.     A program written by a coach will be underpinned by short, medium and long-term development and goals.

If you really want to maximise your performance, hand over the programming and monitoring to a coach. They will get you training for balanced development, reduced injury risk and superior performance, and let’s face it, that’s what you’re training for. 

Brett Neasham

S&C Coach

German Volume Training (GVT & Sports Performance) Good/Bad?

German Volume Training (GVT & Sports Performance) Good/Bad?

This could be a massive post, I could write thousands of words on this so id like to keep it reasonably short.

In the game of improving sports/athletic performance we are all about improve functional muscle mass. Yes, at the right time get around it.

This is a big question I get asked regularly, in terms of its efficiency of enhancing muscle hypertrophy (muscle gain) yes it’s a good thing. In terms of when to possibly incorporate this into a performance enhancing training protocol, I would strongly suggest incorporating it into the off-season.

In season GVT will cause substantial neural fatigue, which has a negative effect on rate of force development. This results in power and speed decrements which are two essential performance characteristics that if decreased can have a large negative affect on athletic performance.

General GVT protocols consist of 10x10 of a compound exercise; generally 75-90 second rest intervals are used with the load selected commonly varying depending on a individual’s opinion.  Be wary of the loads selected due to the “bodybuilding” anecdotal evidence put forward by various bro scientists around which generally have no scientific backing. Evidence based practice would suggest that targeting type two muscle fiber hypertrophy loads of 75% 1RM and above should be selected at all times. Anything below this % will cause hypertrophy of type 1 fibers, which have no positive athletic/sporting transferability. Ever wonder why you see that massive guy in the gym who can hardly lift a heavy weight to save his lift? Yep that’s why.

Key Points

·      Periodized GVT programming can be highly effective for hypertrophy.

·      In season athletes avoid GVT due to its negative effects on power/speed/strength.

·      Loads <75% 1RM Should be used at all time.

·      Remember with increased load adequate rest periods need to be employed but also remembering the goal of hypertrophy, for example we’re not resting for 5 minutes like we would on a strength workout.

·      PCr resynthesize rates are important to sustaining 10 sets of 10 reps, know the rates and time your recovery adequately (Fuel source of the ATP-PC energy system- Required for high intensity bouts of exercise).

I have left this open for many questions, post below or email me at tim@ performancesportscience.com

Want consulting advice on GVT or any other training intervention?

Like what we do? Like/Comment/Share

Tim Frey

Head S&C Coach

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Power Development: Olympic Lifting Vs. Vertical Jump Training

Power Development: Olympic Lifting Vs. Vertical Jump Training. Which is Superior (Study Summary)?

30 Male Athletes

·      12x Olympic Lifting

·      12x Vertical Jump Training

·      8x Control

8 Weeks of Training

Olympic Weightlifting Protocol

·      3x6RM High Pull

·      4x4RM Power Clean

·      3x4RM Clean & Jerk

·      4x6RM Half Squat

Vertical Jump Training

·      6x4 Double Leg Hurdle Hops

·      4x4 40cm Drop Jumps

·      4x6RM Half Squat

****Training Volume was increased after 4 weeks****

Pre/Post : Squat 1RM, Countermovement Jump (CMJ), Sprint and Agility were tested.

Results

·      Olympic Lifting group Increased CMJ to a great extent than the Vertical Jump group.

·      Vertical Jump Group marginally Improved 1RM Squat to a great extent than the Olympic lifting group.

·      Olympic Lifting group increased squat jump to a great extent than Vertical Jump Training group.

Summary

·      As a whole both training protocols produced superior results than the control group, although the Olympic weightlifting training produced broader athletic performance improvements than the Vertical Jump Group.

Oly lifting wins again. And again, and again.

Reference on req.

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Repeat Sprint Ability

Repeated Sprint Ability

What is Repeated Sprint Ability?
RSA is the ability to repeatedly perform maximal high intensity sprints of short duration combined with a short intermittent rest period.

Why is RSA Important for Sport Performance?

Time-motion analysis studies, have shown repeated sprints to be involved in many influential aspects of game play, constituting to about 1-10% of total play.  These include scoring opportunities, quick defensive turnovers and attacking set-ups.

So how do we Improve RSA?

The ability to perform consecutive sprints within a game with limited rest is fuelled by the integration of the aerobic and anaerobic pathways. The anaerobic pathway is the most immediate source for fuel during high-intensity bouts (PCr degradation and anaerobic glycolysis) however, when sprints are repeated the level of contribution by the aerobic system is progressively increased.

Unfortunately, both metabolic systems are affected by a number of fatigue parameters (neural and muscular factors) and this becomes an issue for RSA performance.

To maintain a high level of RSA performance, ideally it would be to delay the onset of fatigue and speed up recovery (i.e. improve an athletes efficiency of energy production and removing waste products). How do we do that? Training.
Literature to date is still yet to find a ‘gold standard’ of training for RSA, yet a concurrent implementation of different forms of training (resistance training, power training and sprint-speed training) has been suggested.

Tamara Jakubson
S&C Coach
info @ performancesportscience . com

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Is there a place for perturbation training in a strength program for a healthy athletes?

Is there a place for perturbation training in a strength program for a healthy athletes?

Perturbation training involves the completion of movements on a surface that is moving, such as balance boards and sliding platforms. The effect of this is the introduction of an element of instability for the athlete to cope with. The main applications of this type of training are in relation to the rehabilitation of injured athletes, with a focus on pre- and post-operative anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries, or in older populations, where there is an elevated risk of loss of balance and associated falls. The evidence in support of the benefits in these instances are positive.

There is also some evidence that perturbation training can be used to elicit alterations in patterns in neuromuscular co-ordination in healthy athletes. The basic theory underpinning this is that the perturbations invoke an adaptive response, resulting in better muscle co-activation patterns. This assists with maintaining balance and control in response to sudden changes in anterior-posterior or medio-lateral forces and displacement. This has the potential to reduce injury risk.

One of the key objectives of a strength and conditioning coach is to minimise the injury risk for athletes. This exists for athletes who have never been injured and those who are recovering from injury. The conventional training wisdom is to get athletes stronger, which is an arguably logical approach - there is ample evidence that increasing strength can reduce the incidence or severity of chronic and acute injuries. 

There is limited research into applying perturbation training within strength-based interventions, so training guidelines in relation to volume, loading and frequency are not established. In addition to this, the effects of perturbation training on peak strength and rate of force development are unclear. In effect, coaches will have to experiment with this to get the right balance for their athletes, but all good strength and conditioning coaches should already be conducting their own tests with their athletes.

The best times for perturbation training are likely to be as part of the warm-up, where it is likely to have an activation effect, or after heavy squatting, where there might be a potentiation effect.  Start off with one exercise, such as bodyweight squats on a balance board, and build from there. Keep monitoring the usual performance and injury variables, and make amendments as necessary in response to this feedback. At the minimum, you’ll introduce some fun and variety into the training session…

Brett Neasham

Strength & Conditioning Coach

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