STRENGTH TRAINING ESSENTIALS

BASIC WEIGHT LIFTING PRINCIPLES Table 1 is a guide to strength training terminology accompanied by descriptions.

TABLE 1: STRENGTH DEFINITIONS Maximum strength

Elastic strength

Strength endurance Concentric strength

Eccentric strength Isometric strength Absolute strength Relative strength

Reps Sets

Gross strength - the greatest force possible in a single maximum contraction that can be moved through a given range.

Plyometric strength, explosive strength – the ability to overcome resistance with a rapid muscle contraction.

The ability to express force multiple times against a continuous or repeated resistance.

The strength that is expressed by the contraction of a muscle, as demonstrated by the curling of a weight during a bicep curl.

This is the opposite of concentric strength and refers to the strength applicable when the muscle is lengthening but still overcoming a resistance (eg the lowering of a weight during a bicep curl).

Where the resistance applied is held in a static position over a set time (holding a bicep curl mid range).

Generally accepted as slightly different from maximum strength as it applies to the amount of maximum strength that can be applied during the course of an event, mostly applicable to throwing events such as the shot put.

Strength relative to maximum available that needs to be applied to overcome a given resistance, as in running and jumping events.

The number of repetitions of the lift. The number of groups of reps.

From this basic information a coach will construct a schedule for any given exercise to acquire the pre-requisite advances, be it strength, power, or muscle bulk. So a subsequent schedule may list an exercise as follows: Power clean – 3 x 8 x 80% 1RM (1-3 minutes)

This is translated as follows:

n Power clean = the exercise n 3 = number of sets n 8 = number of repetitions in each set n 80% 1RM = percentage of YOUR maximum best lift (so if a client can power clean 100kg max 80% of that would be 80kg) n 1-3 minutes refers to the recommended recovery between each set, the recovery is very important to allow sufficient recovery to repeat the exercise correctly.

ACQUISITION OF STRENGTH So how do we gain strength? In very basic terms a muscle will strengthen when it is worked beyond its current capacity, in other words, when it is overloaded, and then allowed to recover. During the recovery phase the muscle will, if stressed correctly, overcompensate and grow stronger. But there are different types of strength and it is important to identify what type

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is trying to be achieved (see table 2). In building a schedule a coach takes into account what the athlete wishes to achieve through the use of weight and resistance training. This may be for a specific event, general health considerations, body image, and of course the one that probably interests us the most, rehabilitation or injury prevention. All of these will influence the resistance training schedules prescribed. As performance improves, repetitions and loads can be increased to improve the levels of strength. An example of a typical schedule can be seen in table 3. Here intensity refers to the percentage of the 1 RM and rest is the amount of

TABLE 2: TYPES OF STRENGTH Pure strength

CV endurance recovery time between each set.

PRINCIPLES OF STRENGTH DEVELOPMENT

In the early stages of strength training there is a rapid increase in strength due to the changes that occur in the nervous system, where there are changes in the magnitude and patterns of the neural signals to the antagonist muscles and the associated improvement in the co-ordination of antagonist and synergist muscles. The subsequent muscular adaptations are attributed to a combination of muscle hypertrophy, the increase in muscle size and fibres providing additional actin

This method will produce some increase in muscle size and is a good foundation on which to build schedule.

To increase the ability of the muscle cope cardio- vascular exercise.

Strength endurance Helps build muscle endurance to exercise, but if carried to an excess is close to the regime used for bulk muscle building.

Power

Sessions build power and helps develop maximum speed, using heavy weights to achieve this and a full recovery to allow muscles sufficient time to recover fully between sets.

Hypertrophy Helps to increase muscle size and bulk. 23