the question i have is when does increasing muscle size get in the way of having a high strength/weigth ratio. I know the more muscle fibers a mucle contains, teh greater its strength, but isn’t the problem that only around 60% of the neuro-motor units are included in maximal excitement? what i’m getting at is that if you can keep the same strength/weight ratio in your body but do it at a little higher weight wouldn’t that be something you would want, especially someone like a thrower. the other day a olympic weightlifter from Belerus c&j 197kg in the 69kg class. a tremendous strength/weight ratio. if there was no weight class like in most other sports, wouldn’t the goal be to try to keep his strength/weight ration as close to the same as possible and keep increasing his muscle fiber?
Why would it be desireable to keep the S/W ratio the same if there was no weight class restriction? Are you thinking this would prevent increases in CNS demand even as strength went up? Would this be possible, given the effects of training anyway?
Increases in muscle density through progressions in training will affect heat dissipation during exercise, which, in turn, will increase the temp around the MM Neurons, lowering electrical resistance, thus improving contractile force per given amt of muscle fibre. For this reason, increases in strength will always raise the CNS demand and the CNS demand will grow exponentially, and sometimes unpredictably near the limits of human performance, requiring close observation and modification of the training program if intensification is to continue unabated.
Great post ,great post.
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Ok,maybe i didn’t get it properly.
Special Endurance,looking only fo a F/t point of view isn’t much far from max speed,or at least,very far from weights.So,i don’t get the “Special Endurance vs. Plyo”.
well, take the shot put for example. we all know of how strong Udo Beyer was. Amazingly strong. On the other hand, Ulf Timmerman was not as strong when it comes to max strength, but at a weight of only 265 or so he was able to throw as far. I always thought technique aside, this was because he had such hi strength/weight ratio that his explosiveness was unbelievable. So my point was to say that increasing your muscle size will not always increase your power? When I throw the discus i need to get myself and the impliment in my hand to accelerate as much as possible so that my speed of release can be it’s greatest. If i have the same strength levels but am 20 pounds heavier, i don’t think i will throw as far. Me being already 250 pounds. Same goes with my running. I have felt at times that i have increased in size but not power. I don’t know any science behind it, just how i feel.
Can’t say with any authority, but, the ability to adapt to high intensity training demands beyond that which would be predicted by a pre-set ratio of fibre types, makes it likely that hyperplasia plays a role at the upper extremes of performance.
Difficult question to answer beyond the old addage of playing to your strength. It is likely that neither Timmerman nor Beyer wiould have been as successful using the other’s approach.
If you get a chance, find a copy of “Positive” by Werner Reiterer. He has a very interesting description on how gaining strength and size enhanced his ability to throw the discus. He had no problem throwing a lighter disc out to 70m because of his good technique. But he described how he was not able to throw the heavier disc out to 70m until he increased his strength.
Below, I assume, due to increased neurological efficiency.
From Dave Tate:
For example, if both athletes performed a set of 10 reps in the barbell squat with 80%, the novice would walk away like it was no big deal while the advanced athlete wouldn’t be walking anywhere because he’d be on the floor!
The 10 days peaking refers to the 10 day taper that would occur before a maximum performance. No need to give specific workouts although perhaps an intensity scale would work well here. In fact it would be no different than what you have done.
on the 2nd, 4th, 6th and 8th days the intensity is 95% and the 10th is a maximum scale workout with 100% intensity. On the days inbetween you’d have around 60-65% intensity.
I think that this would come down to simply absolute power. Whether you’re 100kg or 120kg isn’t going to matter. Relative stregth/power isn’t going to matter either. It’s going to come down to how much power you have. That’s because the individual is going against an implement whatever that implement is going to be.
An example if I may. Say I’m going to have contest between myself and Udo Beyer in pushing a Mercedes S600 (it’s a car) that weighs 2220kg. I weigh 85kg and he weighs 150kg. My clean is 200kg and his is 250kg (maybe Charlie really knows this stat). Well, my strength/power to weight ratio is considerably greater (2.35 for me and 1.66 for him) but I won’t be pushing the Benz as fast as Mr. Beyer.
Depending on the sport/objectives, yes. Probably the easiest way to increase absolute strength is to increase bodyweight. Bill Starr has said this for a long time.
