Linear Periodization (Yawn...?)
Grab a cup of coffee and get comfortable. I'm about to talk programming and, more specifically, my personal experiences with linear periodization: My go-to programming style is, and always will be, the conjugate sequence system. The reasons are many, but to simplify, I just plain consider it the most effective and safest way to improve strength, power, and athletic performance in most advanced athletes while ensuring that serious CNS fatigue stays at bay.
Plus, because the BULK of my programming experience has been for sports where the goal, from a S&C perspective, is to allow the athlete to perform close to their best for upwards of 2-months in many competitions that are all equally important. The constant cycling of compound lift variations and set/rep schemes lends itself quite well to these types of sport.
So, when I began working with track and field, who are only interested in peaking twice a year, the seeming simplicity was almost too much to bear. I found myself working with coaches who implemented their own linear periodization on the track and wanted the weight room sessions to mirror in terms of both volume and intensity.
This meant *gasp* that I would have to resort to programming bench pressing and squatting at repetitions that sometimes exceeded sets of 10. I know that sounds kind of silly, but for women who squat in the 300's and men who hover around 450, a 4x8 back squat session can get pretty out of control.
My first year with track and field I spent many painful hours trying to unravel the mysteries of linear periodization (mountain out of a mole-hill? I'd say so). I even went so far as to get a USATF Level 1 coaching certification in an effort to find some solid footing.
Well, fast forward a couple years, and we've won our conference the last three years and had numerous successes on the road to nationals each season.
Despite this success, I still had a problem. I couldn't accurately identify with the athletes as they trudged through what I believed to be an extremely intense training program.
I've always prided myself on personally experiencing virtually components of every program I've ever implemented. This is critically important because it helps me communicate and relate to the athletes better than if I have no experience with what they're going through.
Why had I never done this with the track program? I've actually got a couple good reasons: Baby #1 followed by Baby #2. But, no longer being in the pregnancy cycle, I figured I could probably manage my way through the sprinters and jumpers weight training program. That or I'd hurt myself trying.
In my next post I will dive into the details of this training plan and how I've been progressing.
Here are a couple teasers: 1. I haven't experienced this much muscle soreness in at least 5 years. 2. I'm amazed the team hasn't attempted a full blown mutiny given what they do on the track is followed immediately by my program. Remember, the programs mirror each other in volume and intensity. 3. My lift today really almost made me throw up. Happily, my iron stomach once again proved to have the upper hand. 4. I'm getting much stronger very quickly.
Until next time...
Cold Water Immersion for Immediate Recovery
Through a recent conversation with a coworker I was reminded of a technique my JV Volleyball coach once told our team: when you're feeling overheated and/or exhausted run the inside of your wrists under cold water as it will help you cool off. At the time it seemed like it would fall into the too-good-to-be-true category, but you know what? I tried it at a match at Danville High School in VA when we were playing inside their un-airconditioned gym for a match early in the season. Side note: The fact that I remember the exact moment I used this technique is significant and gives you a little context to the effectiveness.
So, getting back to the conversation, after she jogged my memory in talking about the technique she's trying with an athlete, I was prompted to dig up actual research to see if there is anything besides my own anecdotal evidence to support my experience.
Here's what I found from the British Journal of Sports Medicine article "Effect of a 5-min cold-water immersion recovery on exercise performance in the heat.":
Background: This study examined the effect of a 5-min cold-water immersion (14 degrees C) recovery intervention on repeated cycling performance in the heat. Methods 10 male cyclists performed two bouts of a 25-min constant-paced (254 (22) W) cycling session followed by a 4-km time trial in hot conditions (35 degrees C, 40% relative humidity). The two bouts were separated by either 15 min of seated recovery in the heat (control) or the same condition with 5-min cold-water immersion(5th-10th minute), using a counterbalanced cross-over design (CP(1)TT(1) --> CWI or CON --> CP(2)TT(2)). Rectal temperature was measured immediately before and after both the constant-paced sessions and 4-km timed trials. Cycling economy and Vo(2) were measured during the constant-paced sessions, and the average power output and completion times were recorded for each time trial. Results Compared with control, rectal temperature was significantly lower (0.5 (0.4) degrees C) in cold-water immersion before CP(2) until the end of the second 4-km timed trial. However, the increase in rectal temperature (0.5 (0.2) degrees C) during CP(2) was not significantly different between conditions. During the second 4-km timed trial, power output was significantly greater in cold-water immersion (327.9 (55.7) W) compared with control (288.0 (58.8) W), leading to a faster completion time in cold-water immersion (6.1 (0.3) min) compared with control (6.4 (0.5) min).Economy and Vo(2) were not influenced by the cold-water immersion recovery intervention. Conclusion 5-min cold-water immersion recovery significantly lowered rectal temperature and maintained endurance performance during subsequent high-intensity exercise. These data indicate that repeated exercise performance in heat may be improved when a short period of cold-water immersion is applied during the recovery period.
As you can see there is good evidence to support the use of cold-water immersion to improve recovery between intense bouts of exercise.
Application:
Consider the full 5-minute immersion of your forearms (not hands) for applications like recovery periods between maximum effort lift attempts, large breaks in a competitive match (soccer, basketball, lax, etc).
If you're short on time, experiment with even just :30 of cold running water on the wrists (like from a water fountain). Personally, I've found this effective.
Regardless, of which variation you choose, you will notice your entire body seems to be operating at a cooler temperature and you actually feel refreshed despite the intense workload you are trying to recover from.
Lessons the Shirt Taught Me
Things got real weird on Friday night training with Ryan. What was scheduled to be a regular heavy bench session turned into my first time putting on a bench shirt. I have helped Ryan with his powerlifting gear many times before, but I've never really experienced first-hand how it feels to be in a squat suit or a bench shirt. Lesson #1: It's Not Comfortable
I learned very quickly that it doesn't feel too awesome being in the shirt. Getting it on was a pain, but I knew that was coming. I was used to being the guy on the other side of the shirt trying to force the shirt onto another human being, so I expected some discomfort. Luckily however, it was Ryan's old single-ply shirt and his enormous gunzzz stretched out the sleeves pretty nicely, making it a relatively smooth process to put it on. By the time we got the shirt on and got the sleeves and seams exactly where we wanted them I already wanted to take it off. It's super tight and forces you into a weird mummy-like position with your arms dangling out in front of you. You can't really do much about this situation until the shirt comes off.
I found myself rushing the rest periods between sets because I was more focused on getting the final set over with so I could take the evil thing off.
Lesson #2 I Couldn't Keep My Arch
The arched back seen in bench pressing is often demonized as being a flaw in technique or disadvantageous when trying to target the pecs. Whatever. I use an arch when benching because it helps to keep me tight on the bench, allows for better leg drive and provides better leverage overall to perform the lift. When benching "raw", I feel pretty confident about my arch, and I can keep it tight during the entirety of the lift. When benching in the shirt, however, I found myself losing my arch midway through the descending portion of the lift. This leads me to lesson #3...
Lesson #3 My Upper Back Is WEAK!
The shirt exposed my deep dark secret that my upper back is not up to par. When bench pressing in gear, the bar will not come down to your chest without a fight. You literally have to PULL the bar down while forcing yourself to maintain a proper arch. This takes some serious upper and mid back strength that I just didn't have. I could feel my arch collapsing and my once tightly packed shoulders becoming... not so tightly packed. Even when benching raw I always remember the cues to "row the bar down with the lats" and "keep the upper back tight," and I felt that I understood. The shirt let me know that what I originally thought was "tight enough" was an epic fail waiting to happen.
Although the shirt made me feel like a total n00b I walked away from the session with a lot to think about and a lot learned about my bench technique. I probably got some pretty good "overload" stimulation from the heavier weights that the shirt enabled me to use as well. Until next time, I'll just keep hammering away at heavy rows and pull-ups.
For your entertainment, here are a couple videos from the Friday night bench party.
Description vs. Evaluation
Last week I was in Atlanta at the 2012 AASP (Association for Applied Sport Psychology) Conference. At the conference a presenter talked about the difference between description and evaluation. In sport, we often confuse descriptions with evaluations, which can impact where we direct our attention. Let me explain.
A basketball hoop can be described as being 10 feet tall, with a white net, and an orange rim. That’s what it is. It’s a clear description. Factual. When we describe we speak with certainty of what we see, but not necessarily how we feel.
An evaluation is based more on feelings. We evaluate and create opinions of how we think things will go in the future, or how they went in the past. Evaluations are opinions that lead to rankings, predictions, and analysis, but those aren’t facts. For example, I used to have an NBA draft website where I evaluated how prospects would transition to the NBA. Those evaluations were solely based on opinions, and trust me, I was wrong plenty with my evaluations.
Sports have become extremely evaluation based. Everyone wants to know which team is the favorite, who is the #1 seed, and who is the next great athlete. But, those aren’t facts, they’re simply how people evaluate the current situation. If sports were played simply based on evaluation they wouldn’t need to be played at all.
It’s important to be able to describe who you are. Be you and be that well. Even more importantly, as a team, make sure to direct attention to descriptions and leave the evaluations to the pundits.
SAPT Exercise of the Week: Over Hurdle Jump to Falling Start
Note: I leave for a backpacking trip to Europe in a few days (returning October 29th) so this will unfortunately be my last post for a couple weeks. Hang tight, and see you all when I get back!
The falling start is a fairly ubiquitous drill in the strength and conditioning sphere, and for good reason. It creates a fantastic way to train the acceleration phase of the sprint, helping the athlete create momentum via forward lean, and can be employed with very short distances (15 yards or less) to reduce the risk of injury in the early phases of sport preparation.
I won't belabor the point any further, however, as I wrote an entire post on the falling start HERE.
We can progress the falling start through a variety of modalities, either utilizing offshoots of the specific drill itself, or moving on to a different drill entirely (ex. a Rollover to Sprint or a Side Shuffle to Sprint).
One of my favorite ways to progress the falling start is to preface the "fall" portion of the drill with eccentric muscle contraction and subsequent force absorption. This, provided the athlete does it correctly, will lay the groundwork for better-stored elastic energy and augment the individual's concentric strength.
How does one do such things, you ask?
Utilize an altitude drop or hurdle jump variation immediately before the falling start. These will force the athlete to demonstrate dynamic stability, on top of "priming" the muscle spindles prior to the sprint.
Hurdle Jump and Stick to Falling Start
As you can see, you'll simply jump over an object (short or tall), stick the landing, stand up, and then immediately move into a falling start.
A regression to this drill would be to have the athlete perform a Level 1 or 2 altitude drop (less eccentric control required here), stick the landing, then sprint. Either that, or you could simply stand on the ground and perform a "hop-back" into a falling start.
A progression could be applied a few ways:
A) Instead of pausing after the jump (as I did in the video), immediately transition into the falling start.
B) Vary the jump prior to the sprint. This could be accomplished through assorted tumbling drills before the jump, or varying the landing stances of the athlete. No need to get super wild with these, however; simple will be best.
C) Wear a superhero costume, pretending you're leaping over tall buildings and chasing down evil villains.
How To Incorporate It Into Your Program
Four primary ways I like to do this:
- Perform all the sets in a row on an "upper body" focused day, resting a few minutes between every two to three sprints.
- Do them on a lower body day, but complete only HALF of your total number of sets (say, two of four, or three of six), prior to your resistance training, and then finish the remainder of the sets toward the end of the session.
- Utilize a "throughout the session" method. Choose a number of sets x reps (e.g. 5x2) and intersperse them throughout the day as you see fit. For example: do two sprints after your warm-up, two more sprints during your warm-up sets of squats, two sprints in between sets of accessory work, etc. etc. etc.
- Do them on a day completely separated from the resistance training.
I recommend erring on the side of 2-3 "reps" of 10-15 yards per set, ensuring that you're taking your time walking back to the starting line.
SMR: Self-Myofacial Release, Magic Without a Wand
For us Muggles, a foam roller is more effective than a wand.
Yes, SMR is more important than a wand is to Harry Potter. Why? The short answer is we have a lot of gunky junk in our muscles that are impeding movements and causing aches and pains. And who wants to feel like a bag of junk?
Those in the fitness-know-how have probably heard of self-myofacial release (SMR) or at least have seen foam rollers lying around a lot of gyms (or, if you're us, lying around the house). A little rolling here and there does magical things for the body! One can instantly feel the difference even after only one time on that foam roller. What is this witchcraft? Let us delve into the magical world of SMR.
What SMR does NOT do:
- Lengthen tissue/muscle- you'll hear this occasionally and SMR does NOT lengthen the tissues because a) the joint position doesn't change b) the SMR modality (aka foam roller) applies compression at a 90 degree angle to the muscle. Unless force is applied more along the length of the muscle, no lengthening will occur.
- Allow more fluid to the muscle- what? SMR is not open a flood gate of fluid to rush into the muscle.
SMR does not equal flood of Isengard
What SMR DOES do:
- Releases tension in the muscles. How does it do that? Let's say there is a knot in the muscle (ball of fail, junk, gunk... pick you favorite term) and you sit on a foam roller or lacrosse ball and apply pressure to the knot.This provokes the ball-of-fail enough to cause it to release the tension. Kinda like a pesky little brother, he pokes you in the shoulder (SMR modality) until you finally explode out of annoyance (release tension).
How does that happen?
Our muscles are encapsulated in a tissued called fascia (there are SO many trails and tangents I could go on regarding fascia, but we'll stick with this for now). The fascia has little receptors (rufini corpuscles and pacini receptors for those who want to know stuff like that, they sound like Italian food.) that generate and relieve tension in a slow, deliberate pace.
*Side note* Our muscles also have similar receptors, the golgi tendon apparatus and muscle spindles, that react much more quickly to changes in length and tension in the muscle. For example, when the doc tests your reflexes by tapping on your knee, what he's doing is stretching the tendon quickly, which causes the muscle spindles in the quad to react, a signal is sent to the brain and the quad contracts (thus extending the knee a bit). It's actually really cool.
Anyway, these slower receptors also have neural components that govern them. What foam rolling does is short-circuit the neural components and the fascia-imbedded receptors (usually) freak out, shut down and take the tension with them.
Since they're slow-acting receptors then we need to foam roll/use a lax ball s-l-o-w-l-y. Hang out on those junky spots and you should feel them release a bit, then you can move one. Check back on Friday for Part 2 and I'll have some videos of how to roll the various body parts.
Until then, just sit on a lacrosse ball. Your glutes will thank me.
