Invictus, this will seem a long, long time but my accumualation phase, or rather that of my coach/group, lasted upto around 10-12 weeks. It now lasts 4 weeks. The gym circuits (reps of 15) where placed in between track days which were typically 6x300 3 minutes rest or similar at intermediate pace and tapered to 3 x 300 full pace with 20 minutes rest or similar after 6 weeks. Now I intend to still place the gym in between intermediate track days (difficult to perform weights after a 6x300 intermediate session) but when we increase the speed I will perform weights after the track session, and ext. tempo the next day. By then on my new programme, weights will be max strength and not accum. The body weight circuits I am going to do for the next 4 weeks (GPP) will be performed twice/week after ext tempo; accum. weights on other days. The intermediate work only starts in October and we don’t class it as GPP, although I know it could be really. If this is unclear let me know.
Richard-you mentioned developing the lactic threshold locally within the muscles but also “systemically”. Is this something which is generally accepted? I had considered this before but the advice I received was
that lactic acid adaptations only occur in the muscles. That may not be correct but I would be interested to know on what you base your view.
On a more general note, I wonder to what extent lactic acid adaptaions are required to any great extent in the muscles of the upper body. I at least experience the debilitating effect of lactic acid almost exclusively in the working muscles i.e the legs and very little in the upper body. Conversely if I were to engage in a wrestling match I would experienece no lactic acid in my legs.
In any event, given that some may wish to condition the lactic acid system away from the track can we say any more about which rep scheme is optimal? Two schemes have been presented so far i.e straight sets to fatigue/depletion and circuits.
Alternatively, should we go heavier with short rests or maybe use some form of Tabata style workout i.e 8 x 20 seconds with 10 seconds rest possibly moderated to 15 seconds on/off? or do we attempt to match reps with the energy system (say 30-60 seconds for the lactic acid sytem) or use reps to match the duration of the event?
Peter, lactic acid adaptions occur both in the muscles and the blood ie. capillarisation for clearance and buffering both in the muscle and in the blood. The buffering in the blood has greater capacity than that in the muscle and may presumably have greater potential for adaption. With lactic accumulation sessions on the track the dizziness etc. starts to diminish with each session. This is the systemic adaption since the H+ are travelling in the blood to get to the CNS where the dizziness occurs. It is also clear that H+ and lactate also effect the muscles less with such training.
In my upper body I feel the burn of H+ during the first couple of 500 sessions and then it hardly appears again. I don’t feel burning (or is it cramp?) in my legs during a run, only after. Whether H+ is responsible here I don’t know, but lactic is obviously present.
Off the track, sets to depletion aid muscular lactic resistance and if performed in circuits, systemic resistance also. However, if not going to depletion, systemic resistance may still adapt greatly. For systemic adaption we are after high H+ efflux from the muscles into the blood; this does not require depletion to occur. Also we can still feel very dizzy if sets are not to depletion.
Heavy sets with less rest can also aid lactic resistance in the muscle and systemically. It may not be necessary to feel great periods of burning in high reps sets to reach our potential muscle buffering capacity and it is obviously not necessary for systemic adaption. The problems are dizziness in the gym when perform heavier sets this way in circuits which could be dangerous with some lifts, and also compromising or neglecting strength training time. It is difficult to fit accumulation weights or max strength in with such weight training circuits. On a side note, some people believe circuits are not needed if accumulation weights along with other training such as tempo are performed. This also depends on the athletes pre conditioning needs and specific track training of course.
Matching the length of the sets up to the energy system time length as in sprinting is not really accurate since the range of movement and rest between reps is likely to be different from sprinting and hence fatigue of each energy system may occur after a different time period. I feel it is best just sticking to reps of 10 and under and also body weight circuits to/near depletion if pre track lactic accumulation conditioning is desirable. A weighted jacket could be worn though.
Richard, thank you for taking the time to explain the significance of both muscular and sytemic adaptations to improve tolerance to excess lactic acid.
I think you are saying that improved muscular lactic resistance will also
improve systemic resistance but not necessarily vice versa. Is this correct?
In practical terms, however, I am not certain from your post precisely what training is proposed for “systemic” adaptation. You refer to sets of 10 reps but the precise exercise/set/rest sequence is not clear to me to differentiate what you are proposing from the usual weight sessions involving 10 reps. Can you clarify?
Peter, for systemic adaption we are looking to increase blood H+ significantly. For this to happen we really need to work many muscles in a short time period to provide a large H+ efflux from the muscles into the blood eg. working just bench press will provide less H+ efflux than performing circuits or supersets of bench press and squats, or sprinting atleast 200-300m. Working many muscles together in a short time period will cause a large H+ efflux whether the sets are to depletion or not too far from depletion. If the sets are near to depletion or actual depletion this will also provide muscular adpation.
The muscles need to be working well into the lactic system. Reps of 10 and above will provide this (reps of 15 plus even moreso), and circuits will allow most of the body to be worked in a short time period, and hence systemic adaption to occur. However, I felt reps of 10 made exercise form too difficult in the gym when performing circuits. Reps of 15 would be more practical in the gym, but I now do body weight circuits out of gym with reps between 30 and 50. This way I am still able to perform my strength and accumulation weights without interference from any other gym session.
Basically reps of 10 plus = muscular adaption; reps of 10 plus in circuits = systemic adaption also. On the track generally 300m plus = muscular and systemic adaption especially if performed in intervals.
Thanks very much for the clarification.
gf_200,
Some of the exercises that I can think of for the posterior chain are:
Bodyweight only:
curtsy lunges (push non working leg back and across body)
wrestler’s walking lunges (stay low while wlking)
supine hip extensions, single or double leg (either raise feet)
With elastic band:
goodmornings
single leg ‘sprints’ (tie the band high, put foot in, and one leg run)