Something To Think About As You Get Them Strong.

A muscle biopsy is a procedure used to remove and examine a piece of tissue microscopically.

Athletes all over the nation that play fall sports in high schools and colleges are involved in winter strength and conditioning programs.

If you were to do a muscle biopsy on a single fiber of these athletes prior to training and then did the same biopsy post training you will find something very interesting.

The athletes may be faster when you time them.  They may be quicker on agility tests.  They may be significantly stronger on strength tests.  They may demonstrate greater muscular endurance.  They may be leaner.

Rogers Drive Sled

You would also find this as you examined the newly developed fiber…..the shortening speed of the single muscle fiber that was biopsied did not change.

Something to think about as you design their programs to Get them Strong

 

The Incline On The Pendulum Shoulder/Incline

Go Gators

Go to the Florida Gators Strength and Conditioning Clinic

Strength and Conditioning 2011 Coaches’ Clinic

TIME
Friday
6-9 pm Friday Night Open
House/Round Table
Discussion with Florida
Strength Coaches

TIME SPEAKER/TOPIC
Saturday

8:30-9:30 am Carlos Alvarez

Xavier High School

9:30-10:30 am Tony Rolinski

University of Notre Dame

10:30-11:30 am Ed Ellis

University of Central Florida

11:30-12:30 pm Mike Gittleson

Former University of Michigan
Director of Strength and Conditioning (30 years)

12:30-1:30 pm Scott Holsopple

University of Florida

1:30-2:30 pm Matt Herring

University of Florida

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

T

No Pain, No Gain?

Tear The Muscle Down?

We grew up thinking the purpose of strength training was to tear  muscle tissue so it would respond and grow stronger in recovery. We surmised that the damage to the tissue was in some way tied into the growth process or muscle remodeling.

Hence, their are the statements, when you workout you “tear the muscles down” and then rebuild them. The adage “no pain, no gain” has been associated with muscle tearing and the intensity of the exercise.

It is true that skeletal muscle is a dynamic tissue and will remodel after being “torn down”.  As it turns out muscles can, grow, rebuild, or hypertrophy independent of any detectable damage to the musculature. Muscle damage without training is just that, muscle damage. To much tissue tearing while training is also muscle damage. After a muscle injury repair is necessary. Nothing in the repair process made you stronger, though there is remodeling, you are left weaker.

After a strength training session you may or may not need muscle repair.  Only the training session increases muscular strength. In every scientific model of muscle hypertrophy the first response to strength training is an increase of protein synthesis.

If protein synthesis is more than the increase in muscle breakdown or the needed repair, the muscle will get bigger and stronger. If the synthesis is less, the muscle will not.

It is sensible training and a well constructed program that Gets you Strong.

Pendulum 5 Way Neck Machines

Tags: muscular growth

The Rules Of Manual Resistance

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The Rules Of Manual Resistance

In 1979 Dan Riley introduced Manual Resistance to America at the National Strength Coaches Convention.  More importantly Dan demonstrated to exercise physiology researchers that muscular strength and functional abilities could be enhanced significantly without the use of barbells or machines utilizing manual techniques.
Dan coached at West Point, Penn State, with the Washington Redskins and also with the Houston Texans. He is still an important force in the strength training community and if you ever get a chance to hear him speak take advantage of it.

When you train manually never neglect to pause at the top of each repetition with pressure. After pausing the key is a very slowly application of force by the spotter during the lowering of the movement.

The most important rule is rule number one…Know the Rules!

1). If you use Manual Resistance make sure you and your spotter know and understand the rules.
2). The Lifter begins each exercise with the goal of 6-8 reps. This requires pacing, in other words, the first repetition is not an all out effort. The effort must be increasing for every subsequent repetition.

2a). The Spotter should allow the lifter to perform each repetition at the same pace or speed of movement. This will require different amounts of pressure by the spotter during the rep (because of leverage). The lifter will feel as though the resistance is similar at all joint angles (the resistance will feel smooth).

3). The lowering phase of every repetition should be slower than the raising phase. A guide in learning manual resistance is raise the involved limbs up in 1-2 seconds or at a 1-2 count and lower them in 4-5 seconds or at a 4 or 5 count.

3a). The Spotter must make sure that they feel more force by the lifter during the lowering phase of each repetition.

4). The Lifter should continually contract their target musculature during the raising phase and the lowering phase of every repetition.

4a). The Spotter must give feedback to the lifter to ensure there is always a constant contraction on every repetition performed. The spotter should identify any relaxation or loss of force by the lifter during the movement.

5). The Lifter should pause with pressure against the spotter’s resistance at the top of every movement. Pausing with pressure and no relaxation is extremely difficult.

5a). The Spotter should insure the lifter is applying force at the top of the movement. The spotter must feel if the lifter is relaxing. The spotter must ease slowly into the lowering phase of the exercise. Slowly easing into the lowering phase or decent is extremely important.

6). The exercise is completed when the athlete reaches momentary muscular failure.

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Brace Yourself

Brace yourself to get ready.

Only at a velocity of zero can a muscle produce its maximal force, yet its length does not change.   In training this is called an isometric contraction and techniques such as pushing or pulling on an immovable bar or against a given load on an exercise machine at a particular angle are used to Get Stronger.

If you brace, tensing your musculature as hard as possible to protect yourself from a collision, the velocity of the muscle fibers is  zero as impact occurs.

As the load increases during the brace due to a force applied by another object extrinsic to the muscle, the muscle will not yield appreciably up to about 30% of the change in the load.

In other words, a muscles ability to protect itself is about 30% higher than the force it can produce isometrically. This is natures built in cellular servomechanism. When the muscle is forced to lengthen against a load it is still able to resist the movement without accelerating at a velocity that will cause injury up to a inherit point.

This value or point is about a 2% velocity increase of a muscles V max or 2 % of how a muscle could voluntarily contract as fast as possible when it is unloaded.

In humans the built in servomechanism is important. If you are jumping or walking downstairs it enables a person to withstand a sudden load quite well.  This protects the musculotendon system from being improperly stretched and injured as the initial load is raised above the maximal isometric level.

When the load is above 40-50% of the muscle strength it will elongate the musculature at a fast rate and the forces and velocity begin to rise rapidly and often dangerously. Check out the above chart.

One of the many advantages of neck training is once the head and neck muscles  are strong the ability to slow down the acceleration of the head by bracing during contact is enhanced dramatically. As your strength rises so does the built in cellular mechanism of force protection against sudden loads.

A great reason to Get Strong.

Train those necks and Get them Strong

Still Fast But A Lot Slower

Still Fast But A Lot Slower

If you look at men or women from the ages of 18-80 and examine the shortening velocity of their musculature you may be tremendously surprised to find that age has no effect on how quickly a muscle can change its length or V max.

With aging there is a decrease in maximal force and power due to the loss of muscle mass and not to the unloaded shortening velocity.

A loss of force and power makes it difficult in the ageing process to perform multi-joint movements, which eventually lead to a loss of mobility.

In future blogs we will explore what happens to muscle as a result of training and discuss the implications of a muscle’s ability to shorten at a fast rate which is unaffected over decades. The current information may change many coaches’ and athletes’ view of  strength training.

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Photo Courtesy of Kathy Leistner

The Squat

The Squat

The barbell squat is a great exercise, make no mistake about it. Be aware that even though all the athletes on a particular team are doing the same exercise they are getting variable results based upon their form or body position.

Changing a lever system by only a few degrees not only dictates how much you can lift, but also which muscles you are using to move the load.

One technique to effect body posture is bar placement. Moving the bar from the front of the shoulders to different positions on your back certainly effects results and what musculature is used to raise the body and weight upwards.

In the below leftmost photo the athlete moves the load with little extensor help. As the angle of the back is changed from about 170 degrees up to 110 degrees, the amount of extensors that are being used comes into play. Obviously, in a weight room some athletes are doing more quadricep work then others and some more hamstring work then others, purely based on their body angles.

Coaches spend a great deal of time teaching stance, posture, flexibility, and bar placement to get into a powerful position to move weight.

Look at the powerlifter squatting on the Pendulum Squat Pro below. If he were to bring his feet 4-6 inches forward he would also change the angle of his back about 5 degrees. He would in turn load his extensors. The amount of weight raised would be reduced, but the desired effect would be acquired by increasing the muscular tension on the targeted musculature. He may move less weight, but would Get very Strong.

This can be done on the Squat Pro, with very little coaching as Pendulum’s floating yoke accommodates posture.

The bottom line is that Form Dictates Muscular Growth.

Tags: squat

The No Hands Shrug

The No Hands Shrug

Very seldom in any contact sport do you complete a season without a  hand or lower arm injury.

When playing a collision sport it is extremely important to keep the stiffness and volume of the muscles of the head and neck up, especially during the season. Continuing to train all the cervical musculature means also training the trapezius.

At the University of Toledo heavy rubber bands are used for the traps in an effective no hand shrug movement. This is an important exercise especially when an athlete can not do a barbell or dumbbell shrug.

No hand shrugs are also effective following heavy shrugging movements to promote further fatigue.

For those athletes who’s grip fails before their traps are overloaded, the no hand shrug is a must, while they continue to develop their hand strength. Strength Coach,Mike MacPherson of Toledo, demonstrates the exercise.

To increase the resistance simply spread your feet before beginning and change the resistance accordingly by measuring the width of the stance. Make sure there is a pause at the top of each movement and hold the contraction.

 

 

A great lift to keep your athletes strong or to Get them Strong.

 

Mississippi State University Weight Room

Tags: neck machine, neck training, neck

Every Weight Room Needs A Good Row

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Every Weight Room Needs a Great Row

Row Row Row Your Back Muscles
Every weight room needs a great row machine. Tyler Hobson explains, the function of the upper back is complex, so I decided to make a row machine that could be done with 3 preferred grips, underhand, overhand and neutral.

The primary function of the upper back musculature is to pull the arms from an extended position either down or in. By keeping the 3 handles on the machine in fixed positions, I felt the strength coach could easily dictate which measurable protocol he felt would be key to the athletes development.

Mississippi State University Weight Room

When you use the underhand grip you bring in the biceps to assist the row and also augment the lower trapezius and latissimus. The overhand grip not only targets the upper back, but fires up the rear delts. The neutral grip is a tremendously powerful position, which you need to be in to affect this large group of back muscles.

Northwood University Weight Room

I set the seat height so that in the fully contracted position the hands land just below the pecs. Normally, in a row you sit with your feet forward, which allows you to push with your legs as your arms extend, but there is an ideal place for your feet and that is behind you as you lean forward. With your chest firmly on the pad you have limited leverage and you  stimulate the lats directly with less weight.

West Virginia University Weight Room

On the front of the machine I placed S.E.T. (set extension technology), S.E.T. allows you to change the range of motion for varying limb lengths, and  perform extremely intense ‘drop sets’ by running the rails.

If you are ever in Conroe,Texas or want to stop by the Pendulum factory in Clare, Michigan………..S.E.T. on one of our machines to Get Strong.

Tags: Pendulum

The Ralph Cornwell Files-Train Those Beams

Train Those Beams.

Ralph Cornwell is a Ph.D. candidate in health promotion/human performance at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Prior to pursuing his Doctoral Degree he was a collegiate strength coach.

He is currently developing a protocol for strength training the musculature that protects the cervical spine.

Biopolmer molecules can resist bending forces similar to the bending elasticity of flexible beams. Bent squeezed or pulled molecules try to drift back to their equilibrium distribution. This occurrence represents an opposing effect against external forces and they act as entropy springs and dissipate the energy.

 

Deflection of Beams:

The deformation of a beam is usually expressed in terms of its deflection from its original unloaded position. The deflection is measured from the original neutral surface of the beam to the neutral surface of the deformed beam. The configuration assumed by the deformed neutral surface is known as the elastic curve of the beam.

Deflection of Necks:

The deformation of a neck is usually expressed in terms of its deflection from its original unloaded position. By increasing the number of molecules in the neck which is done by developing muscular tissue you obviously increase its strength and reduce deflection thereby protecting the athlete.

Make sure you train the athletes’ neck this season and reduce deflection.

 

TRAIN THOSE BEAMS-KEEP SHRUGIN’