- initial accelerations – speed developed very quickly, aim being to achieve maximum speed in shortest time
- determined by body’s maximum anaerobic power
- high correlation between maximum anaerobic power and maximum muscle strength
- high anaerobic power allows organism to repeat initial accelerations efficiently (during training and competition)
- maximum anaerobic power (MAP) best developed through specific strength training, organized according to particiular competition requirements.
- bobsled tries to recruit throwers, jumpers, and sprinters
- distance work – speed endurance, in which high speed must be maintained for longer time
- alternate work, includes all above regimens
cyclic locomotion:
- intensity determined by intensity of impulse of motor cortex of brain
- three distances
- sprints (impulse current = maximum), activates fast twitch and intermediate fibers
- increase in anaerobic ATP re-synthsis, phosphocreatine, and glycogenolysis, which produce lactic acid in muscles involved and in blood
- main sources of energy : PCr and muscle glycogen
- speed limit set by capacity of motor cortex to maintain maximum impulse intensity, speed and potential of metabolic reactions, amount of PCr and glycogen reserves in muscle, and the level of lactate concentration in muscles.
- middle (sub max)
- intensity of impulse current to the spinal cord motor neurons and motor apparatus work is lower
- mainly slow twitch and intermediate muscle fibers, small percentage of fast
- energy substrates = glycogen and free fatty acids
- work capacity determined by oxygen transport, determined by pulmonary ventilation & by flow rate of blood (related to HR and to systolic blood flow).
- oxidative capacity of the slow twitch fibers is extremely important.
- long distance (medium)
cyclic sport speed:
- determined by movement rhythm (stride rate) and intensity of effort (stride length).
- average velocity of a cyclic movement (Vm) : Vm = L x R: L = stride length, R = stride rate.
- final result determined by energy expenditure
- specificity of movement depends on “forward impulse” and on vertical oscilation of the athlete’s centre of gravity, which greatly influences energy consumption.
- stride rate/length can be automatically found in well trained athletes, allows for minimum oxygen consumption.
- longer stride more efficient in terms of energy consumption, due to optimal rate of movement.
- runner must have a high level of explosive strength, in order to have a long, elastic running stride. must also have considerable local strength/endurance, in order to maintain stride length over the entire distance and in the final spurt.
- speed tends to increase at first because of stride length
- during final burst of sprint, athletes tend to decrease stride length, stride rate and movement velocity. length decreases before decrease in speed, rate is increased. when rate cannot compensate, the sprint then suffers.
- well trained athlete will use less energy to move the same load, as lesser trained athlete
- high level runners have shorter contraction times, and higher relaxation times.o
“high psychological tension causes a deterioration of the physiological, biochemical, and psychological functions, with a resulting negative influence on movement velocity and technique (co-ordination).
“athletes with a high work capacity, therefore, have an exceptional economy in oxygen consumption and blood flow rate, this provides stable respiratory parameters and thus influences the efficiency of the energy supply and recovery”
requirements of particular locomotion velocity depend on:
- total duration of game
- duration of specific phases of game
- duration of breaks
- size of playing field
- characteristics of body’s work regimen
- relationship between active and passive actions and possibilities of recovering during game
Capacity by Sport
sport capacity
volleyball strength endurance (particularly for jumps)
tennis explosive strength, maximum anaerobic power
wrestling maximum strength, explosive strength, strength & speed endurance
games on large fields strength endurance, explosive strength, max anaerobic power,
fencing reaction time, static endurance, dynamic endurance
boxing rate endurance, speed endurance, explosive strength endurance
training should be improved for cardiovascular system and adaptation of muscular system to oxygen consumption and to aerobic metabolism.
methodology:
- velocity & quick show significant correlation when their is slight external resistance, when the movement is simple, and when intensity and duration are low… otherwise correlation is not significant
- determining the limiting factors of speed and of quickness are different. require different means and methods.
- no limit to development of movement velocity (locomotion), as opposed to quickness. limit to development of quickness set by individual characteristics. development of velocity is practically limitless, because the development of strength and of endurance, as well as improvement of co-ordination, is unlimited.
DEVELOPING SPECIAL STRENGTH IN SPEED ATHLETES
improving in jumping/throwing determined by athlete’s speed strength levels
shortcomings
- the more the better is not always true, optimal load volume should be used
- parallel use of special strength training & technique training employing a great amount of corresponding methods, which reduces the effectiveness & quality of technique training
- nonspecific methods which have lost their training effect & demand alot of time/energy
- over-saturation with strength workouts during periods of the year in which there is no acute need for them
- an unoriginal approach to speed-strength training, using the same means & methods year after year
correlation between absolute muscle strength, the ways to develop it, and qualitative movement characteristics.
- has a negative effect on movement speed and on the ability of a muscle to display explosive efforts
- amount needed determined by sport (by amount of resistance to overcome and/or the speed with which it must be overcome)
- needed if athlete must overcome great external resistance and if there is even the briefest isometric contraction along with a significant external load (hammer throw/triple jump/high jump/shot put)
- less absolute strength needed to overcome light external resistance (long jump/javeline throw)
- if external resistance is insignificant (sprinting/hurdling), even lower absolute strength required
“any excessive amount of strength work, executed over a prolonged period of time, reduces movement speed and a muscle’s ability to display explosive efforts. A cyclic, wave-like increase and decrease in the amount of strength work provides the same wave-like but steady increase in movement speed and explosive muscle strength”.
“a reduction in the amount of strength work, providing a chance for the body to recover and advance to a higher functional level, is quite important at this stage. A brief period of active rest provides good recovery after intensive high-volume strength work, and speed-strength may rise by 10-15%.”
“the need to isolate the magnitude (of total work) and the duration (distribution over time) of strength training volume. specifically, the concentrated or distributeed variants should be distinguished.
concentrated : involves a concentration of strength work over a limited span of time
distributed = involves a distribution of the same or slightly greater volume of strength work over a prolonged period of time
”
distributed: speed strength indicators increase at first, then they drop, and after a stoppage of high volume work they have a tendency to increase slightly.
- variant of high volume loads does not provide a substantial increase in special strength fitness level
concentrated variant: more effective
- characterized by a drop and then a significant rise in speed strength
- this is a manifestation of the so called “delayed training effect” of strength work
- magnitude greater if concentrated strength work is followed by specialized work of moderate volume, but with a higher power output of the muscular contractions (technique work, competitions, controlled starts)
- concentrated work depends on it’s content and structure
- methods with a greater training effect are introduced, successively, into training (jumping exercises, barbell exercises, jumps (leaps) after depth jumps
technique work
- throwing w/ maximal and submax efforts
- jumps with full approach etc
- executed in high volume
- this is maximally specialized speed-strength work
- “actual data show that a 2 month concentrated volume of strength work (with subsequent specialized work) provides an increase in speed-strength for 2-3 months”
strength work ………………. technique work
preparatory period …………. competitive period
RESISTANCE EXERCISE AS A SPECIALIZED MEANS
resistance exercise:
- improve muscular strength
- improve speed of movement
- local muscular endurance
- velocity & frequency of movement without resistance
- reaction time
- rate of muscle relaxation
main criteria of the work effectiveness of sport movement:
- speed of muscular contraction
speed depends on: - magnitude of muscular tension
- velocity at which the tension increases
the higher the external resistance, the higher the magnitude of tension that must be reached in order to obtain the necessary speed of contraction.
the increase of the speed of muscle contraction, as a result of training, is obtained through the increase of the following:
- moto neuron impulse
- muscular hypertrophy
- power & capacity of energy providing mechanisms
- functional supporting physiological systems of the organism
- more effective utilization of the motor potential of athlete assured by the appropriation of more expediant biomechanics of movement.
the higher the level of sport mastery and physical preparedness of the athlete, the more specific the base mechanism is that assures the speed of muscle contraction during the competition activity.
aim of SPP;
- intensify the regimen of muscular work
- activate all physiological systems that functionally support the concrete muscular activity
- should be very close or even exceed the level required for competition
- intensification of the regimen of muscle work can be obtained by resistance exerciss
when using resistance, important to consider;
- exercises have a constant vector of external opposition force (Vertically down), careful choice of initial position/position at which max effort is produced
- two criteria for selecting exercises for competition:
- form of movement (muscle groups involved, direction, and amplitude of movement
- regiment of muscle’s work (velocity of force produced, energy systems involved)
- important that maximum effort is developed at the same joint angle as it is during competition
- choosing weight and method of training resistance exercises should be oriented towards:
a = max strenth, b = explosive strength, c = speed strength, d = strength endurance, e = local muscular endurance
a. maximum strength: when a sporting event requires overcoming great external resistance, and the increase of speed of movement by creating max effort
b. explosive strength: when a sport requires fast acceleration or change in direction of movement with significant external resistance
c. speed strength: when speed of movement is achieved by overcoming relatively small resistance
d. strength endurance: when force production should be sustained for a period of time
e. local muscular endurance: when a sport requires continuous speed at submaximal intensity
resistance training conducted through
- max effort
- series repetitive
- interval
- complex
“elite athletes have very high levels of SPP; however, it is possible to further raise this level through very intense methods of training. Therefore resistance training should not be used as a complimentary training but rather as part of the main training regimen.”
“during extensive resistance training, the speed of movement temporarily decreases, which is normal. Later, speed not only recovers to the previous level, but significantly increases. Therefore, mastery of skills and speed training should be started after the cycle of resistance training”.
resistance exercise can be effective only if:
- incorporated into a methodical system as a part of a yearly cycle
increase strength by increasing load, speed or tempo of movement in the interval method
what to evaluate
- main training direction of selected exercises and methods and classify them
- evaluate amplitude of training adaptation imposed by exercises and methods and rank them based on it
- divide exercises and methods within certain time frames, define their volumes and relationships to other training protocols
MUSCLE RELAXATION FACILITATES ATP RE-SYNTHESIS VIA THE CP SYSTEM & CREATES CONDITIONS FOR IMPROVING ENERGY SUPPLY.
REST INTERVALS BETWEEN SETS AND SERIES ARE REQUIRED FOR AEROBIC ATP SYNTHESIS AND MUSCLE RECOVERY, AND FACILITATE THE CREATION OF FUNCTIONAL INTERACTION BETWEEN MOTOR AND AUTONOMIC SYSTEMS DURING A GIVEN REGIMEN OF MUSCULAR WORK
IGNORING REST INTERVALS MOVES THE TRAINING EFFECT TOWARD INCREASING PROTEIN SYNTHESIS, MUSCULAR HYPERTROPHY, AND ENDURANCE, WHILE DIMINISHING DEVELOPMENT OF SPEED.
BETWEEN SETS AND SERIES (ESPECIALLY IN MAX EFFORT), MUSCLE SHOULD BE STRETCHED BY PERFORMING FULL RANGE OF MOTION SWINGING EXERCISES. THIS PRESERVES THE ELASTICITY AND HELPS MUSCLE TO RELAX. WITH THE INTERVAL METHOD BETWEEN SERIES, SUB MAX WORK SHOULD BE PERFORMED WHICH FACILITATES LACTATE REMOVAL AND IMPROVES MUSCLE OXIDATIVE PROPERTIES.
some more stuff from verk:
“any excessive amount of strength work, executed over a prolonged period of time, reduces movement speed and a muscle’s ability to display explosive efforts. A cyclic, wave-like increase and decrease in the amount of strength work provides the same wave-like but steady increase in movement speed and explosive muscle strength”.
“a reduction in the amount of strength work, providing a chance for the body to recover and advance to a higher functional level, is quite important at this stage. A brief period of active rest provides good recovery after intensive high-volume strength work, and speed-strength may rise by 10-15%.”
concentrated variant: more effective
- characterized by a drop and then a significant rise in speed strength
- this is a manifestation of the so called “delayed training effect” of strength work
- magnitude greater if concentrated strength work is followed by specialized work of moderate volume, but with a higher power output of the muscular contractions (technique work, competitions, controlled starts)
- concentrated work depends on it’s content and structure
- methods with a greater training effect are introduced, successively, into training (jumping exercises, barbell exercises, jumps (leaps) after depth jumps
adaptive changes induced by strength training & speed training are very similar
- increase in muscle myoglobin, indicates an adaptation to oxygen deficit
- increase in myosin ATPase and Ca2 consumption in the sarcoplasmic reticulum (favors fast contraction & tensile strength)
- strength training induces significant increase in elastic myostromin, allows better, faster muscle relaxation.
the increase of the speed of muscle contraction, as a result of training, is obtained through the increase of the following:
- moto neuron impulse
- muscular hypertrophy
- power & capacity of energy providing mechanisms
- functional supporting physiological systems of the organism
- more effective utilization of the motor potential of athlete assured by the appropriation of more expediant biomechanics of movement.
FORUM POSTS
These were taken from Verkhoshansky’s forum a few years ago, he has plenty more on his forum so check it out: http://www.verkhoshansky.com . Unfortunately the forum got broken a few times and posts are all mangled.
Shock Method Volume & Low Intensity Depth Jumps
I suggest to perform not more than 389 – 400 Shock Method Depth Jumps (4 series of 10 Depth Jumps three times a week) at the end of the preparation period, after the maxi
mal strength stage.
The use of Shock method, as no other training means, need to be” periodizated”.
The “low intensity plyometrics between shock phases” is not a good solution: the execution of Depth jump with not maximal effort could destroy the execution technique of this exercise. It’s better to use another exercises: the long bounces or the serial jumps.
Base Principle of Concentrate Blocks.
“You can use every duration of strength concentrated loads (from one week to one month) it depends by the time that you have for preparation to the competition. The base principle is: if you have at your disposal a longer preparation period, you have more time for the concentrated strength stage and you could obtain more high level of final sport result.”
Improving 20m Sprint Speed
To improve 20 meters speed the special physical preparation should include three type of training means:
-
overload exercises for maximal strength increasing, -
jumping and bouncing exercises for explosive strength increasing; -
specific bouncing and running exercises for starting strength increasing.
The best explosive strength bouncing exercise for the starting acceleration improvement is 3 – 5 bounces from leg to leg.
The best running exercise for the starting strength improvement is the speed running with large steps. The technique is similar to the bouncing but the landing phases are much more quickly and elastic (by page 35 of “Manual for coaches”):
“The jumps from leg to leg are done for a distance of 50 m and the time is recorded. The athlete starts by pushing off from both legs as in the standing long jump, and then lands on one and then alternates the legs consecutively. In one series there are 3-5 sets with a rest of 4-6 minutes between sets. In all, there are 2-4 series with a rest break of 8-10 minutes between series. This is a very good means for developing the power of starting acceleration.”.
For starting strength increasing could be used also the serial two legs jumps execution. The consecutive two legs bounces throw 8 -10 low track&field hurdles should be performed with the all exercise execution time registration (as soon as possible). To avoid an injuries in this danger exercise is better use every kind of “soft hurdles”.
With my best wishes for your work,
Yuri Verkhoshansky
How To Perform Depth Jumps
Dear Matt Barr,
-
How important is it to minimize the landing/amortization time during drop jumps? Is it more important, equally important or less important than the height reached during the subsequent jump?
The aim of Shock Method Depth (Drop) Jump is to increase the explosive strength and reactive capacity. The increasing of explosive strength and reactive capacity depend on the increasing of the height reached during the subsequent jump. The landing/ amortisation time is a parameter of the Deth Jump execution.
In one of my experiments I tried to understand how could be changed the Depth Jump height and the lending time in the relation with the formulating of the aim of the exercise:
-
“to drop in low and to jump in aloft”. Result: h – 69 cm t – 0.24 s.
-
“to drop in low and to jump in aloft as high as possible with more fast “lending – amortization”
Result: h – 58 cm t – 0.20 s
- “to drop in low and to jump in aloft as high as possible with more slow “lending – amortization”. Result: h – 73 cm, t – 0.31 s
So, when the athlete try to minimize the lending/amortization time in Depth Jump execution, he cannot realize the maximal explosive strength effort.
The best Depth Jump result was obtained when I asked only “to lend softly and to jump in aloft as high as possible”.
From the results of experiment we can observe that the execution technique and the result of Depth Jump depend on the formulating of the aim of the exercise. If the athlete try to obtain the maximal jump height he performs the Depth jump with the maximal height and with the optimal landing time. If the athlete tries to obtain the minimal lending time he performs the Depth jump with minimal lending time, but the jump height could not be maximal.
- Is there a relationship between the maximal barbell squat strength of an athlete and the drop heights that they can execute the shock method from? For example would an athlete who can squat twice their body weight be able to execute drop jumps more effectively from a higher drop height than an athlete who can only squat their own body weight.
In another experiment I studied the relationship between the drop height of Depth Jump and the parameters of its execution.
Thirty-six Track&Field athletes (jumpers, throwers and sprinters) performed series of Depth Jump with different drop heights (from 0.15 to 1.55 m): in each series of Depth Jumps the drop height was 20 cm different one from another. It was evaluated: the reactivity coefficient (R = jump height – drop height), the maximal explosive strength effort (F max), the maximal power output (N) and the landing time (T).
Athletes with different level of leg flexor muscles maximal strength performed this experiment: sprinters, jumpers and throwers, all these athletes performed the Depth jump with the bests R (circa 15.5 ), N (circa 375 kgm/s) and T ( circa 0. 235 s) when the drop height was of 0.75 m. The Depth jump with the best Fmax (circa 300 kg) was executed when the drop height was of 0.95 – 1.15 m.
So, the Shock Method could be used for the reactive capacity increasing (Dept jump from 0.75 height) or for the maximal explosive strength effort increasing (Dept jump from 0.95 – 1.15 m height).
Unluckily I didn’t study the relationship between the leg flexor muscles maximal strength of the athletes and the drop height of the Depth Jump in which they performed the best R and Fmax.
Nevertheless the results of my experiment indicated that, when the Depth jump has been used for the reactive capacity increasing, the drop height should have 0.75 m, and it doesn’t depend on the legs strength of athletes.
When the Depth Jump has been used for maximal explosive effort increasing, the optimal drop height, probably, could be different for the athletes with different level of maximal leg flexor strength and it should be found for every athlete through measuring the results of Depth Jumps with different drop height (from 0.95 to 1.15 m).
Yuri Verkhoshansky
General Model of an Olympic Lifter Block System
thanks for your question, by chance in these weeks I’m working on this issue for the new edition of “SST: Practical Manual for coach”.
After your first post I tried to answer you in a synthetic way that is more appropriate for a forum but I didn’t finished because there is a lot of important details in the Olympic Lifters block system program that is difficult to synthesize.
At the moment I can only give you indication about the general model of Olympic lifter block system, it could be represented in three blocks dedicated to improve:
Block A – the maximal strength
Block B – the explosive strength and the power output
Block C – the maximal power output in the specific competition exercises.
The Shock method should be used starting from the end of block A until block C with gradual increasing of its intensity (the fall height), but it‘s important to know how to link this method with the others in the training sessions and in the different micro-cycles of Block A and Block B.
I know that this is a non exhaustive answer but I think you can understand that all the aspects of this issue need to be treated in an article or in a book.
Yuri Verkhoshansky
Peaking Too Early
Dear Ronald Madison,
I understand very well your problem, but I cannot answer exactly to your question without the possibility to see you during your training process, because all depend by the reactions of your organism to the volume and the intensity of preceding work loads. This reactions are very different from one athlete to another and I can give you only some general advices.
If you have consistently peaked too early for competitions this could happen for different reasons:
-
the total volume of the sub maximal range ancillary lifts training was not enough: try to increase it, but don’t use it in high volume during the maximal lifts training stage; -
you reduced your ancillary training and begin to introduce maximal lifts in the bench press and deadlift too early: try to do it a little bit later than 4 – 6 weeks;
Regards the use of explosive exercises during the training with maximal loads, I think that it’s possible, but you should be very careful to not increase too much the total work loads volume.
Yuri Verkhoshansky
Training Losing Its Effectiveness
Dear Paul Evans,
I think that this problem could be related more with the general law of physical training: every kind of training method has a temporal limit of his effectiveness. For HIT method this limit is probably 6 – 9 months.
The effectiveness of any training methods decreases during its use.
It happens because of the organism adaptation (decreasing of response efficiency) to the long time influence of the same kind of stimulus. For this reason “to achieve greater strength and hypertrophy you need to apply greater stimulus, set” or simply to change training method.
In your case, the reason of the HIT method effectiveness decreasing could be related also with too short intervals between training sessions (three times a week). If you remember, in the HIT method the duration between training session should be not constant and sometimes much longer than 48 hours.
Yuri Verkhoshansky