Parliamo di Forza

 dnbarman @ DeviantArt

 [English Version]

Scriverò un paio di post sulla forza, cos'è, come si sviluppa e come si mantiene.

Prima di tutto, definiamo la forza in fisica:

F=m·a

Forza = massa*accelerazione

Come possiamo vedere, la forza è il prodotto di due fattori: massa ed accelerazione.

Spostandoci dalla fisica alla fisiologia, la massa (m) corrisponde alla sezione trasversale del muscolo, grezzamente “quanto è grosso il muscolo”, e l'accelerazione (a) corrisponde al sistema nervoso (Kenney, Costill & Wilmore, 2011).

Tutto chiaro fino a qui?

Ok, entriamo un po' più nello specifico.

I nostri muscoli sono fatti di fibre e ne esistono tre tipi:

• Tipo I
• Tipo IIa
• Tipo IIb

Le Tipo I sono le nostre “fibre lente”, chiamate anche “fibre rosse” per via del considerevole numero di mitocondri che si trovano fra di esse. Queste fibre hanno un'elevata capacità di resistenza e sono le più sviluppate negli sport di resistenza.

Le Tipo IIa sono una specie di ibrido fra le Tipo I e le Tipo IIb. Il loro colore è sul rosa e condividono le caratteristiche di entrambe le fibre. A seconda del tipo di allenamento, il corpo è in grado di convertile in fibre di Tipo I o Tipo IIb.

Le tipo IIb sono le nostre “fibre veloci”, dette anche “fibre bianche” data la mancanza di mitocondri. Esse si basano solamente sul sistema anaerobico e si stancano velocemente. Invece, sono in grado di contrarsi rapidamente e sono le fibre maggiormente sviluppate negli sport di forza e potenza.

Mentre mi allenavo in palestra, sentivo spesso gente dire qualcosa del tipo:”Devo allenarmi in questo modo perché i miei bicipiti sono composti da fibre rosse” e così via. A meno che non ci si infili un ago nel braccio e si estragga un pezzo di muscolo, è impossibile sapere la percentuale di fibre che compongono il nostro muscolo. Tuttavia, con il giusto allenamento, è possibile “modellare” le fibre di Tipo IIa; per esempio, un atleta che corre i 10000m sarà più propenso ad avere fibre rosse di un sollevatore di peso olimpico. Al di la di ciò, il numero di fibre lente e veloci è predeterminato dalla nascita.

Quando invece parliamo di accelerazione (a), stiamo considerando le unità motorie e il sistema nervoso centrale.

Le unità motorie sono composte da un neurone e tutte le fibre muscolari che esso innerva. Ogni neurone innerva un solo tipo di fibre sebbene possa innervare più fibre.

Il sistema nervoso centrale è composto dal cervello e la spina dorsale. Il sistema nervoso centrale governa l'attivazione delle unità motorie.

(per tutta questa sezione: Birch, MacLaren & George, 2005)

Ok, per oggi è abbastanza.

Nel prossimo post parlerò in che modo il sistema nervoso centrale può influire sulla forza.

[Parte II]

REFERENZE

Birch,K., MacLaren, D. & George, K. (2005). Sport and Exercise Physiology. Oxford: BIOS Scientific

Kenney, W., Costill, D., & Wilmore, J. (2011). Physiology of Sport and Exercise. Leeds : Human Kinetics

Let's talk about strength

 dnbarman @ DeviantArt

[Versione Italiana]

I am going to write a couple of posts about strength, what is it, how to develop it and how to maintain it.

First of all, let's define what is strength in physic:

F=m·a

Strength = mass*acceleration

As we can see, strength is the product of two factors: mass and acceleration.

Moving from physic to physiologic, the mass (m) corresponds to the muscular cross-sectional area, roughly “how big the muscle is”, and the acceleration (a) corresponds to the nervous system (Kenney, Costill & Wilmore, 2011).

All clear so far?

Let's go a little bit deeper.

Our muscles are made of fibers and there are three kinds of them:

• Type I
• Type IIa
• Type IIb

Type I are our "slow twitch" fibers, aka "red fibers" due to the elevated number of mitochondria that are located within them. This kind of fibers have a great endurance capacity and are the ones most developed in endurance sports.

Type IIa are kind of hybrid of Type I and Type IIb fibers. Their color is pinkish and they share the characteristics of both fibers. According the kind of training, your body is able to convert them in Type I or Type IIb.

Type IIb are our “fast twitch” fibers, aka “white fibers” due to the lack of mitochondria. They rely solely on the anaerobic system and they get fatigued very quickly. Yet, they are able to contract very rapidly and they are the main fiber developed in power and strength sports.

While I was training in the gym, I have been listening to a lot of people say stuffs like: “I gotta training this way 'cause my biceps are made of red fibers” and so on. Unless you put a needle in arm and you take a bit of your muscle to analyze it, it is impossible to know the percent of fibers composing your muscles. On the other hand, with proper training, is possible to “shape” the Type IIa; for instance, a 10000m runner is more likely to have more red fibers than an Olympic weight lifter due to the different kind of training that they follow. By the way, the number of slow and fast fibers it predetermined from the birth.

When we are talking about acceleration (a), we are considering the motor units and the central nervous system.

Motor units are composed of a the neuron and all the muscle fibers that it innervates. Each neuron innervates only one kind of fiber although it can innervated more than one fiber.

The central nervous system (CNS) is composed of the brain and the spine cord. The CNS govern the activation of the motor units.

(for all this session: Birch, MacLaren & George, 2005)

Ok, for today is enough.

In the next post I will cover in which ways the CNS can affect the strength output.

[Part II]

REFERENCES

Birch,K., MacLaren, D. & George, K. (2005). Sport and Exercise Physiology. Oxford: BIOS Scientific

Kenney, W., Costill, D., & Wilmore, J. (2011). Physiology of Sport and Exercise. Leeds : Human Kinetics

Allenamento coi pesi per il climbing? Ma che !!?!?

                                                                                                        JenElizabeth @ DeviantArt

[English Version]

L'allenamento coi pesi in palestra va bene per il climbing?

Dopo un rapido giro su Internet la risposta sembra abbastanza chiara: “no” e “perché mai dovresti farlo?!?!?”

Quindi caso chiuso....

…. forse.

La principale critica mossa contra l'allenamento coi pesi è che ti fa diventare grosso. Come si può ben immaginare, più peso può rendere l'arrampicata più difficile.

Tuttavia, credo che molta gente pensi qualcosa di simile a questo: PALESTRA = GROSSO.

Di sicuro sollevare pesi ti fa diventare “grosso”, poiché si tratta dell'adattamento del tuo corpo all'allenamento; ma non esiste un solo modo di allenarsi coi pesi. E ritengo che la maggior parte dei climbers ne conosca solamente uno: allenamento per la massa (ipertrofia).

Quel tipo di allenamento è certamente controproducente perché si allena più la massa e meno laforza – in altre parole, diventi grosso. Il che è fico quando ti aggiri per la spiaggia a chiedere alle ragazze se vogliono giocare a beach-volley mostrando il tuo petto enorme. True story bro.

Ma...

… se invece seguissimo un programma di forza?

Il concetto si spiega da sé; stiamo parlando di un allenamento mirato ad aumentare la forza. Siccome lavoriamo con pesi sub-massimali, ci sarà un minor guadagno in termini di massa rispetto a quelli di forza e ci sarà un miglioramento a livello del sistema nervoso centrale. Il motivo di ciò?

Lavorando con pesi sub-massimali, per esempio 2 set di 2 rep @ 90% della 1RM, le fibre muscolari non subiranno uno stress tale da favorire lo sviluppo della massa, in relazione ad un allenamento di ipertrofia; invece, la maggior parte dello sforzo sarà concentrato sulle unità motorie – neurone + il muscolo che innerva – e il sistema nervoso centrale, che include:

• Reclutamento delle fibre muscolari
• Fire rating
• Coordinamento intra-muscolare
• Coordinamento inter-muscolare
• Disinibizione del muscolo antagonista
• Crescita e “Potatura” delle connessioni neurali

Inoltre, un climber forte può arrampicare più a lungo e con maggior intensità. E' stato dimostrato che un allenamento con pesi sub-massimali migliora la resistenza muscolare (Hoof, Gran & Helgerud, 2002).

Come il mio amico Joe the Climber scrive qui, perché in quasi tutti gli sport ci sono programmi di resistenza e condizionamento della forza – o più semplicemente preparazione atletica – e non nel climbing?

Abbiamo deciso di provarci.

La seconda parte dell'articolo verrà pubblicata presto; non preoccupatevi.

REFERENCE (like a pro)

Hoff, J., Gran, A., Helgerud, J. (2002).Maximal strength training improves aerobic endurance performance.

Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports, 12(5), 288-295.

Weight training for climbing? WHAT DA?!?!

                                                                                                        JenElizabeth @ DeviantArt

[Versione Italina]

Is weight training good for climbing?

I surfed a little bit on the Internet and the answer seems to be pretty simple: "no" and "why would you do that!?!?!".

Case close...

...maybe.

The first argument moved against weight training it is that it makes you bulk; as you can imagine more weight may make you climb more difficult..

Yet, I think most people assumes something like this: GYM = BIGGER.

Sure lifting weight makes you "bigger", it is the adaptation of the body to the training; but there is not only one way to train with weights. And I do believe that most of the climbers knows only one: gain mass (hypertrophy).

That kind of training will be unproductive for sure because "you train more the mass and less the strength" – in other words you get bigger. Which is cool when you walk around the beach asking girls if they would like to play beach-volley while you are showing off your enormous chest. True story bro.

But...

… what if we follow a strength training?

It is quite self-explanatory; we are talking about a training focused on gaining strength. Because we work with sub-maximal weight, there will be less mass gain than an hypertrophy training and there will be an improvement of the central neural system. Why is that?

Working with sub-maximal weights, i.e. 2 set of 2 rep @ 90% of 1RM, the muscle fibres are not stressed enough to promote mass gain, compared to hypertrophy training; instead, most of the effort is focused on the motor units – neuron + the muscle that it innervates – and the central neural system, which includes:

• Fiber Recruitment
• Firing Rates
• Intra-muscular Coordination
• Inter-muscualr Coordination
• Antagonist Disinhibition
• Growth and Pruning

Moreover, a strong climber can climb longer and harder. It has been proven that sub-maximal training improves the muscle endurance (Hoof, Gran & Helgerud, 2002).

As my friend Joe The Climber writes here, why there are strength and conditioning programs for almost every sport and not for climbing?

We decide to try it out.

Second part coming soon; don't worry about that.

REFERENCE (like a pro)

Hoff, J., Gran, A., Helgerud, J. (2002).Maximal strength training improves aerobic endurance performance.

Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports, 12(5), 288-295.

Killer Upper Arm Workout

Hi Everybody!

Here there is a very effective and challenging workout for your biceps and triceps.

Take a look.

You may ask:"What the hell  does 3NEG mean!?"
No Panic! I will show you.

3NEG means that once you have completed all the ten reps, you will perform three negative (or eccentric) repetitions straight away.
If you are pumping your biceps properly, you will not be able to lift the dumbbell after ten or elven reps; so, in order to perform the 3NEG, use the free arm to pull the weight to the chest.
The eccentric movement should last between three and six seconds.

Instead, SLOW means to perform the Push Down in a slow and controlled fashion. Both the concentric and eccentric movement should take two or three seconds. Moreover, make sure you lock your shoulders and elbows to focus the effort on the triceps; always engage your abs.
If you would like to make this exercise more challenging, after the concentric movement, rotate your wrist 90° out and squeeze your triceps hard for one second. I guarantee that it will burn! 

And finally last, but not the least, the STRIPPING(1). It simply means to drop the weight after completing ten repetitions and do other 10 reps straight away.
Push\pull + Drop + Push\pull = one series

When you are pumping iron, always remember to squeeze the muscles you are working!

The workout should take about one hour with warm-up and cool-down.
Try it and let me know how it went ;)

Enjoy it,
CronosVirus00

Light Traffic [Warm-up Drill]

The warm-up could be the most boring part of the training session.

2 laps of run, back-pedalling on the short sides, sprint the last 20 meters. Then, all on one line and do some dynamic stretching; job done.

Every time the same routine. If people spends a lot of time thinking about new drills to avoid the tedium, why shouldn't we do the same for the warm-up?

Here I will show you a nice warm up drill that I use when I am coaching multisport.

This drill is called “The light-traffic”.

All your players are on the line (again?). When they are ready, you shout red, orange or green.

Green → they sprint forward

Orange → they slowly run forward

Red → they stop

You keep on shouting the colours and you can even change the exercise, e.g. back-pedalling or frog jumps, focusing on the muscles that the players are going to use the most during the training.

To make the drill more competitive and fun, you can introduce a forfeit every time a player doesn't follow your command, for instance you shout red! Then, red again and someone runs forward instead of staying still.

The effectiveness of this drill depends on the “creativity” of the coach and on his ability to make the training “interesting”.

Calculate how long a workout will last

When I was planning the first week of hypertrophy training for my friend I realized that I had no idea how long a workout session would last.
So, I tried to come up with some sort of formula that could roughly predict the total time of the workout.
After various attempts, I have this formula that has a 10 min range of error (between my prediction and the actual time that my friend has been training):

set.tot*1.55+25

set.tot is the total amount of sets in the session.

1.55 is an estimation of the duration of a single set plus the rest between set. 1 min of rest between sets and more or less 30 second to complete one set (1+ 0.55)

25 includes the time for warm-up, cool-down, stretching and some setbacks that may happen in the gym, for istance waiting to use the bench press

This formula helps me a lot when I'm a workout, especially if my friend has to go to the gym between classes.

Hyperthophy (muscle mass) Training: workout structure

INTRO

Last August a friend of mine asked me for an hypertrophy workout. This friend of mine is absolutely in love with the gym, he would literally spend all day pumping iron.
So I accepted his request.

(Before the hypertrophy training, we worked one month on his strength)

I designed a workout based on bodybuilding trainings that will last until February (currently we are at week 3).
I'm not going to discuss the aerobic training and the diet. I will focus on the “weight” part of the program. I would just like to say that my friend takes protein shakes after every training session and he follows an healthy diet.

Here is the plan in details.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
GOALS

• 82kg of muscle mass by February
  
• Get a V shape
  
• Do at least 5 dips and 5 pull-up with 20% of body weight loaded by February
  
• Reduce body fat percentage
  

STRUCTURE
5 days of gym training, from MON to FRI, for 5 weeks + 1 one of deload. Repeat the cycle until Febrary.
I'm using a split training system, divided in even and odd weeks.

EVEN WEEKS

MON	TUE	*WED*	THU	*FRI*
chest........... back............	shoulders........ upper arms..... lower arms.........	legs..... abs.......	chest........... back............	shoulders........ upper arms..... lower arms.........

ODD WEEKS

MON	TUE	*WED*	THU	*FRI*
shoulders........ upper arms..... lower arms.........	chest........... back............	legs..... abs.......	shoulders........ upper arms..... lower arms.........	chest........... back............

*WED* ---> Wednesday is the “test day”. My friend has to pick a body part not trained the day before (that's why the workout is divided in even and odd weeks, otherwise he will always test the same body parts), e.g. chest, and try to beat his 1 RM max. After that, he carries on with legs and abs.
I added this test day to motivated him to go beyond his limits and to set new targets every week.

*FRI* ---> Friday is the high intensity day. I introduced this day to shock the muscle and to avoid its adaptation to the workout. I wanna catch it by surprise with more weight and less reps than usual.


TRAINING METHODOLOGY

Always keep an equal number of pulling and pushing exercises to maintain a balanced body structure.

Train to failure. If you have to do 12 reps of bench press, you have to reach the 12 ^th reps almost dead and try to do a couple more. As Arnold said, are those two last reps that make the muscle grow (and make the difference between champions and normal people)

Lifting weight is a mean, not the goal. We are training to make our muscles grow and not to lift heavier weights. You need to know the right weight for the right exercise and for the number of reps you are going to perform. This is an ability that comes with the experience.


Number of reps and rest. Generally, we will work between the 8 and 12 reps per set with one minute of rest between set.

Warm-up and cool down. Every session begins with a warm-up (rope skipping + dynamic stretching) and it ends with a cool-down (low intensity treadmill run + static stretching)

Feedback. At the end of the session, my friend has to follow a little questionnaire about his pre-and-post workout fatigue, enjoyment, satisfaction, challenging (scale 1 out of 5). Moreover, he writes me his weight after training and the duration of the workout. Finally, he tells me what he liked and what he didn't liked about the training session.

Focus on the muscle that we are training. Targeting the muscle is a matter of technique and right weight. All exercise should be execute with the proper technique. Wrong weight might deviate from hypertrophy training and could even lead to injuries.

Listen to your body. Learn to listen to your body will help you to train better and to avoid injuries. If it hurts (actually pain) then stop!


SHOCK THE MUSCLE
To work the muscle harder, I use this techniques in top of the basic concentric movement.

Squeezing: squeeze the muscle at every contraction! You will work it even harder

Stripping: get to the last rep, push to the limit and go above the limit. Now, drop the current weight, immediately pick up lighter one and repeat from the beginning. You will surprise how much energy you muscles have when lifting a lighter weight.

Negative: get to the last rep and instead of dropping the weight, perform an eccentric movement (negative). Ask to someone to help you to lift the weight again and perform eccentric movements until you can.

Supersets: perform two or more exercises in a row without rest between series.

Isotension: between sets, keep on flex and contract your muscles. This help to feel “the pump”, which is to keep the blood pumping in the muscles. Arnold said that the pump is like an orgasm (or maybe better)...

Body weight exercises: this kind of exercise stimulate the body to produce growth hormones.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is it.

At the beginning I had two main issues:
a) In his gym there is anything to measure body fat (I don't really trust the formula method)
b) V shape?!
Bonus) I'm in UK, he is in Italy.

For the first problem, I will use photos to track his progress. I had a picture of him before begin the workout and I will ask him to send me one at the of the program.

To get a V shape I will make him work on the superior part of the latissimus dorsi (with pull up for instance), expand the thoracic cage (pull-over), shoulders and I will try to get his waist slimmer.


WHERE WE ARE SO FAR?
While I'm writing this article we are in week 3 of training and he is 79kg. At the end of August he was 76Kg. During September we worked to improve his general strength and the workout described above started on October.


CONCLUSION
I will post example of a week planning later on; I need to collect more data first.
If you have any advice, question or critic, please don't be shy and fell free to leave a comment: I will really appreciate it.

CronosVirus00



REFERENCES
I know I know, I am a student and I'm supposed to reference properly (e.g. in text); yet, I have already finished the article so... maybe next time :)

Bompa, Di Pasquale and Cornacchia. Serious Strength Training
Delavier. Strength Training Anatomy                                                                              Freitas de Salles, Simao, Miranda, da Silva Novaes, Lemos and Willardson. Rest Interval between Sets in Strength Training                                                                                    Low. Overcoming Gravity                                                                                      Schwarzenegger. The New Encyclopedia Of Modern Bodybuilding