Category: Training

Ok, continuing from Categories of Weight Training: Part 10, I want to continue to talk about power training methods.  I should probably mention that a big part of the adaptations from power training methods have to do with the nervous system (of course the muscles are always involved), primarily in “teaching” it to generate force quickly through various mechanisms that I won’t bore you with. It will probably also turn out that there are long term adaptations in the muscle (to connective tissue, or titin or whatever) that also occur but for now, it’s easiest to just think of it as a primary neural effect.

So last time I looked at some basic definitions of Rate of Force Development (RFD), talked about what power means and where it is maximally expressed (somewhere in the middle of the two extremes of high force/slow speed and low force/high speed).

Intensity Revisited

I finished by touching on the first loading parameter for power training, intensity, discussing that studies had found a range of roughly 30-70% of maximum for being the place where maximal power is produced/required.… Keep Reading

Having finished the discussion of maximal strength training methods in Categories of Weight Training: Part 9, I want to move into a topic that may not have much relevance to many of my readers.  That topic is power training, exercises meant to increase muscular power.

To discuss power training methods, I’m going to first need to bore you with a few concepts that you may or may not be familiar with (depending on your background and what kinds of things you generally read) including Rate of Force Development and the physics definition of power. I’ll wind up today by looking at the first loading parameter for power training which is intensity as that will set me up to (hopefully) finish up in the next piece.

What is Power?

So let’s move on to actual power training methods, what types of training actually improves power, RFD, etc.  To deal with that I need to bore you with a return to high school physics since I first need to define power in at least general terms (if for no other reason than to distinguish it from Real Ultimate Power). … Keep Reading

Continuing from Categories of Weight Training: Part 8, let me finish talking about maximum strength training by looking at the other loading parameters: volume, rest periods and exercise selection.

Loading Parameter 3: Volume Part 1

As I discussed in Categories of Weight Training: Part 4, training volume has been defined in different ways ranging from volume to total sets to total reps to variations on that theme.  The same basic idea holds for strength training where volume can be defined a whole bunch of different ways (total sets, total reps, tonnage, total lifts above some percentage cutoff, etc.).  The question then becomes what is the optimal volume of training for strength gains.

Once again we run into a problem that empirically, some of the strongest men to walk the planet have reached high levels of strength with volumes ranging from extremely low to extremely high.  At the low end we might look at one of the greatest powerlifters of all time Ed Coan who, at the end of his career  did 1-2 heavy sets (5 reps or lower cycling from higher to lower repetitions and adding gear over time) on the competition movements followed by higher rep assistance work for associated muscles.… Keep Reading

Continuing from Categories of Weight Training: Part 7 I want to continue discussing maximal strength training.  Mainly I’ll be looking at the loading parameters, just as I did for muscle hypertrophy in the earlier parts of this series.

Loading Parameter 1: Intensity

.From the discussion on hypertrophy training, you may recall that loads of anywhere from 60-85% are thought to be optimal for triggering growth and if you had guessed that maximal strength training is usually defined as 85% and up, you’re on the right track.

In most systems, maximal strength training is defined as anything from 85-100% of 1 repetition maximum (1RM, recall from last time that your 1 repetition maximum represents the heaviest weight you can lift exactly once) which yields a repetition range of 1-5 on average.

In fact, if you include the use of supramaximal eccentrics (weights that are heavier than you can lift but which you can lower under some semblance of control), it’s actually possible to include intensities greater than 100% of your maximum. … Keep Reading

cOk, having wrapped up hypertrophy training in Categories of Weight Training Part 6, I want to forget ahead and talk about maximal strength training.  Shockingly, after the endless verbiage I expended on hypertrophy training, maximal strength training is actually in many ways simpler.

Now depending on what kind of things you read, maximal strength training goes under a variety of different names including maximum effort (ME) work, maximum weights methods, maximum strength training or even neural training.   While there are probably minor differences in the definitions of all of these terms, for all practical purposes they refer to the same basic concept.

I should expand on the term “neural training”, however.  That comes from the idea that this type of training is thought to generate primarily  neurological adaptations that increase strength output.  But for that statement to make sense,  I need to look at two of the primary factors that determine how much strength/force can be developed.… Keep Reading