When you squat heavy, there is a well-documented crossover effect whereby the upper body can increase in size and strength without directly being worked. Obviously a great deal of this spillover effect is hormonal.
My question is: Can working lighter upper body weights with an explosive speed of movement [extremely short ‘ramp-up’ time] condition not just the upper body’s nervous system firing ability but the lower body’s as well?
Is there a potential for a nervous system crossover effect in this case?
Interesting question. I believe that the firing ability of the cns is general for the whole body. So, that any firing ability increases in one area are transferred everywhere. But, there are numerous stimuli to develop this firing ability so which stimulus is optimal/beneficial is difficult to determine.
Yes and no. I wouldn’t use explosive upper body weights because it is doubtful you could generate the forces safely that you could with traditional heavy lifts. That said, there certainly is a crossover effect.
Yes, I can see how injuries could a problem with this idea…
In theory though, it’s nice to know that an athlete who can’t run due to lower leg injuries could keep his CNS ‘conditioned’ to massively fire those legs again with some explosive upper body movements for a while.
OK, so here’s my thought. My max bench has not increased since I took up sprinting. But my ability to explode on a set of, say, 10 push-ups with raw speed has increased noticeably.
My conclusion has been that even though I do the same old 3-5 rep slower-moving heavy stuff on bench most of the time, and this cannot be responsible for the speed at which I can now reel off push-ups, perhaps the sprinting has re-wired my ENTIRE central nervous system more efficiently to produce more explosiveness with my push-ups.
If legs can do it for upper body, why not the reverse?
That’s likely true. But have you considered that maybe your sprinting and lower body weights leaves you with a lack of available CNS reserves in which to increase your max bench.
You should have a look at Westside periodizations. They do exactly what you are suggesting. They’ll use 60% of there max bench and lift it as quick as possible(called dynamic bench). They’ll also have a max effort bench where they’ll lift there 3 rep max with heavy weights.
I recently started doing push-ups on a consistent basis and I am definitely able to do alot more than when I first started. I would attribute this to the fact that I just began the exercise, therefore the gains would be maximal. Maybe this is the same as your case.
Good point. I am very careful about proper recovery. But to explore the thought, a lacklustre CNS would impact the speed and explosiveness of the push-ups to a similiar degree as my max bench, no?
I forgot to mention that push-ups with some zip on them have been a constant part of my regimen-even prior to starting sprinting-but your point is valid.
I remain intrigued by this notion of firing rate spillover from one area of the body to another. Or maybe the whole damn thing is in my head!
Everything depends on the number of modalities you employ and the range of each one- for example, you restrict the numbers in the bench to 6 and down (if I’m reading right). Perhaps you need more variability in the lifting numbers. Also you might employ depletion push-ups, as have been mentioned in previous discussions- max number possible- wait 90sec- repeat- wait 90sec- repeat (total 3 sets up to once per week).
I’m not sure an upper-to-lower firing rate spill over is possible because the recruitment rate with the legs on ground contact is so high already. (If there were to be a direct carry-over, it would imply plyo push-ups). My opinion would be that there is a general transferrance of all qualities, so work spread across all places on the F/T curve would be best, with the upper body being a better choice for the more endurance-related side of the equation, such as the depletion push-ups mentioned above.
If one side of the F/T curve is max velocity, and the other side is max force(strength), then where does muscular endurance fit into the overall scheme?
endurance is essentially low load, low speed, and it supports the other two by increasing an athletes ability to recover from and extend volume of high intensity work.
Thanks. I agree this is the argument for general fitness work - low intensity (tempo) training. However depletion pushups go beyond general fitness - they enhance general strength and muscular endurance.
Is there any other reason depletion pushups are utilized besides general fitness?