| Introduction to Strength Training |
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Principles & Programming By Keith Robinson & Matt DiStefano Demands of Alpine Ski Racing Skiing requires an athlete to have strength, power, quick reactions, wide-ranging mobility, and above all, balance. Different events in ski racing (slalom, giant slalom, super-g, downhill, combined) place an emphasis not only on various turn shapes and speeds, but on the ratio of energy systems utilized. Nonetheless, alpine skiing is a predominantly anaerobic sport requiring specific training for strength and power to maximize on-hill performance. Performance Factors T – Technique T – Tactics P – Physical P – Psychological E – Equipment E – Environment Physical capacity is required to enable optimal performance of technique, to increase confidence, to allow execution of difficult tactics, and to deal with an open environment. Power buys freedom. Strength is the basic factor in executing a forceful explosive turn and resisting the extreme forces that work to pull a skier off a carving edge. Strength training: ? Provides for greater consistency of motion ? Increases the ability to ski with relative relaxation since the skier is seldom exposed to situations requiring the use of maximum muscular force. Relaxation promotes balance and rhythm which decreases errors, and increases speed ? Increases the ability to handle the shock of uneven/changing terrain ? Increases the skier’s ability to ski aggressively but with control from gate to gate ? Increases stability of joints, which can minimize injuries ? Delays fatigue during training and racing Physical Factors A – Agility B – Balance C – Coordination D – Dance & Diversity E – Explosiveness F – Fun Training, even in the context of traditional weightlifting programs, should attempt to include and maximize all these factors. Training Overview The period immediately following the competitive season is usually termed ‘active rest’, or the transition period. Athletes should be encouraged to participate in a broad range of physical activities that they enjoy, while resting tired, injured, or overused areas of the body. This promotes participation in a variety of lower intensity activities to encourage maintenance of a base fitness level, but decreases the risk of repetitive strain injuries. The next phase in the training cycle is the pre-competition (general) period. The goal during this part of the annual cycle is to re-establish, and improve, a base strength level. This consists of a ‘fundamentals’ strength and conditioning program to establish a foundation that can later be fine-tuned to provide sport specific functional or skill-based strength. This stage should focus on core and compound exercises with special attention to precision and proper technique. Later in the pre-competitive (specific) phase, the program should include power oriented training that adds a component of sport specific velocity and movements to the basic strength regimen. Coach and athlete creativity play a large role in designing movements that replicate the demands of skiing. Maintenance phase training takes place during the on-snow competitive season. The goal is threefold: Injury prevention, flexibility, and maintenance of gains made during the pre-competitive cycles. Maintenance of strength and power is done largely through participation in sport specific activities (skiing). Strength Training Without a complete base strength cycle, an athlete may be prone to over-development of certain sport-specific muscles that can result in injuries through muscle imbalances. Increasing mobility (range of motion) and flexibility (ease of ROM) in all joints should naturally accompany all phases of strength training. It is necessary to have full range of motion without pain in all major joints prior to beginning a strength training program. Otherwise, pain will inhibit full recruitment and contraction of working muscles. This can result in further injury and/or muscle imbalances. Muscles only get strong in the range of motion in which they are trained. If a skier trains the legs by doing squats to a knee angle of 90˚, what happens when that athlete is caught back of center, needing to resist large forces, with a knee angle less than 90˚? Full range of motion training is crucial in preparation for sport-specific movements, both for performance and injury prevention. ‘Experts’ may espouse that joint stress can occur with full range of motion strength training (especially around joints with poor bony stability like the knee and shoulder), but proper warm-up, technique, and weight selection can stabilize and strengthen joints, not damage them. If sport movements load a joint through a broad range of motion, muscles around it should be trained to resist them. FlexibilityStretching reduces muscle tension, increases pain-free range of motion, reduces sprain/strain injuries, promotes circulation, and develops kinesthetic awareness. Proper stretching never includes quick and jerky, or ballistic, movements. Rhythmic, smooth, full ROM light stretches like leg and arm swings are often referred to as dynamic stretching and should be done in the warm-up phase prior to training activities. Slow, held, and progressively increasing static stretches should be done after training activities, when the most gains, and least damage, will be done. Muscles have to be warm for intense stretching; at least 104 degrees F. Rarely do athletes reach that temperature prior to a workout, so the majority of stretching should be done after. Dynamic stretching can be done between weightlifting sets to aid recovery and decrease injury. A static stretch should be initiated slowly then held when resistance is felt. Stretch for at least 15 seconds to allow the sensory organs in the muscle to communicate with the spinal cord & brain, convincing the muscle to relax. This will allow the muscle to adapt to a new endpoint in its range of motion. Repeat the stretch several times with rests in between. Functional Strength A large component of functional strength in sports performance is stability. Certain muscles are designed to provide a stabilization role in the body. These muscles provide support for joints while other phasic or dynamic muscles move the joints. The stabilizers are important muscles to address for the prevention of injuries, proper joint mechanics, and biomechanical efficiency. Phasic muscle efficiency can be enhanced by well trained stabilizers - this has implications for reducing fatigue, improving technique, and increasing performance. When stabilizers are weak or inefficient, other muscle groups must be partially recruited (compensation). This can result in changes to alignment and movement patterns, producing abnormal joint forces that predispose the body to trauma, overuse, or degeneration injuries. Contrary to what one might think, it is not necessarily the absolute strength of the stabilization muscles that is important, but their ability to sense and react quickly to changes in joint forces and velocities. If stabilizers are sensitive to changes in joint position and can react quickly, they can make subtle changes to keep the joint optimally aligned. This has both protective and performance implications. These subtle changes usually don’t take a strong contraction, but if the muscle is slow at reacting to a change in joint angle, it will take a strong contraction to get the joint aligned again. This is the basis of the swiss ball, bongo board, and wobble board group of exercises. These and other tools train the stabilizers to react more quickly and promote proprioreception and balance. For the novice, this type of training is best done after base strength and basic balance training have been done, because it requires proprioreceptive skills and well-developed stabilizing muscles. Weight Training Principles Most functional exercises for sport consist mainly of compound multi-joint exercises with a few single joint isolation exercises (that focus on classic sport-specific deficits). Multi-joint exercises are arguably more relevant since it is rare in sport that muscles work in pure isolation. Compound multi-joint exercises should be done first in a workout sequence to maximize coordination and reduce the potential for injury. Outline:
The traditional matching of reps to training effect is as follows:
Some exercise physiologists debate the validity of this scheme, stating that muscles only know how to contract, and don’t seem to be aware of all our specific strategies! Some studies suggest that equivalent strength & power gains can be made with very diverse resistance programs. Although this flies in the face of convention, it is worth noting that if nothing else, these results strongly support versatility in the design of training programs. Rest intervals vary from ½ to 5 or more minutes depending on the size of muscle and training intent. Compound, multi-joint/muscle exercises will require the most recovery. Rest enough so that you don’t have too much of a ‘burn’ during the sets, because then energy production and waste removal, not muscular strength, become the limiting factors in completing the exercise. Cardiovascular Training Although technical ski racing events (i.e. giant slalom) are predominantly anaerobic an efficient cardiovascular system is important. Aerobic fitness improves muscle efficiency and performance (there is some aerobic energy contribution, especially in longer alpine events like super-g and downhill), delays fatigue, and improves recovery during both training and racing. Recovery is critical for an athlete to sustain and maintain training loads and decrease injury. Activities such as cycling, running, and swimming are all effective, but inline skating has the added benefit of using similar movements and enhancing balance (i.e. training neuromuscular patterns as well as aerobic fitness). A cardiovascular program should be incorporated into all phases of the annual plan, with particular emphasis in the transition and pre-competition stages. A comprehensive discussion of aerobic training is not part of this document, but some basic guidelines include: A minimum of 3 aerobic training sessions per week (minimum 2/week in maintenance phase) for a minimum duration of 30 minutes each. High performance athletes may benefit from far greater durations. Target heart rate can be from 60-65% of max for LSD (long steady distance) type to a range of 75-85% for increasing aerobic capacity and power. Pure recovery work may have target heart rates of less than 60% of max. Interval training can also be incorporated to do some work around the anaerobic threshold. There are several schemes for calculating maximum heart rate (and subsequent aerobic training ranges); most are ‘best guestimates’, but will suffice for the non-endurance athlete. Many coaches and athletes recommend the use of HR monitors and HR training logs (including a daily record of waking HR) to help track response to training, recovery, fatigue, and illness. SupplementsThe weight training culture and supplements often go hand in hand, but without substantiated evidence that supplements provide long-term performance enhancement. Supplements include vitamins, minerals, protein preparations, and various stimulants. There are very few supplements on the market that have a rational scientific explanation for their purported effects. Even fewer have well designed studies to validate such claims. There are many nutritional supplements on the market, but they should not be incorporated before an appropriate analysis of, and modifications to, diet are made. Invest in a good diet, and good food, first! More significant ‘supplements’ include steroids and steroid precursors, growth hormones, blood products, and red blood cell stimulating hormones. This group of performance enhancing drugs and products don’t simply supplement, but in many cases significantly alter key physiologic and anatomical features. In many cases they can negatively impact the health and lifespan of an athlete. They are nationally regulated, difficult to obtain, and restricted medical products. In most sports they are illegal, but at the elite level are likely prevalent. DietOne cannot stress enough the impact that diet can have on body composition and athletic performance. Combined with exercise, diet is a key contributor to altering and maintaining target body weight and composition. In sports such as bodybuilding, diet is a main factor in the equation for success (along with genetics and training program). Most athletes think that they eat properly, but are unaware of what it takes to maximize athletic performance through nutrition. Human nutrition is a continuum from bad to good, and most athletes probably fall somewhere between the two. Please refer to the CSCF sport nutrition document for more background on nutrition for athletes, and consider hiring a sport nutritionist to assist in diet analysis and design. WaterDrink more water, especially during weight-lifting sessions. Make it a habit to drink small amounts between each set. Even very slight dehydration (1% or less) can cause profound losses in strength and performance. InjuriesInjuries from weight training are common and often result from improper technique, excessive weight, insufficient flexibility, or overtraining. By far the most common cause for injury is overtraining. Weight lifting causes microscopic trauma in the muscles, which means that muscle is damaged. The repair and rebuilding that follows this micro-injury generally overcompensates, resulting in strength and size (hypertrophy) gains. Working a particular muscle group or movement too frequently or intensely interferes with the repair and rebuilding process, causing chronic damage. This can result in tendonitis and bursitis syndromes that drive athletes and sports medicine practitioners alike crazy. Once an athlete develops a chronic soft tissue injury, it can take a long time to resolve. Correct form, proper rest intervals, exercise selection, and program diversity & variation will help to avoid these conditions. Program Designs A simple strength program is a 4 day split, using a ‘push’ and ‘pull’ split - this means that the exercises in which you pull the weight, and ones in which you push the weight, are grouped respectively in separate days. Possible routines include:
Or (etc):
The ‘split’ approach is a simple way to both collect and separate a potentially diverse group of exercises, and allows sufficient recovery time between sessions for functionally similar muscle groups. Core work should be varied and integrated daily. Free weights have considerable functional advantages over various resistance machines, although machines may be safer for novices. Free weights allow a full range of potential movements in three planes, ‘fit’ all individuals, but require good technique to use to full advantage. Proper technique provides isolation of working muscles and recruitment of appropriate stabilizing muscles. Using dumbbells (rather than a bar) encourages symmetrical development, allows rotational movement, improves kinesthetic awareness, and recruits more core involvement for stability. Variety is the key to progression: Alter the order of lifts, width and type (pronated, neutral, supinated) of grips, and selection of exercises. Routine creates adaptation, plateauing, injury, and boredom. Motivation is arguably the key success factor for weight lifting and continual program modification can keep things fresh and challenging. Consider safety at all times:
ExercisesChange selected exercises, or modify current ones, at least every 6 weeks to avoid adaptation. Upper body ‘push’ (select 4)· Dumbbell bench press o Incline o Flat o Decline · Dumbbell shoulder press, i.e. military press · Chest fly - free weights or ‘pecdeck’ type machine · Triceps extension o Pulley – rope, bar o Dumbbell with shoulder elevation (emphasizes long head) · Dips · Push-ups Upper body ‘pull’ (select 4) · Cable ‘lat’ pull down (in front of head only) · Row o Cable o One-arm dumbbell o Bent over with Olympic bar o T-bar o Upright (use light weight) · Curl – concentration, bar, preacher, hammer · Shoulder shrugs · Back fly (free weights or sit backward on ‘pecdeck’) · Chin-ups Shoulder program (usually integrate on lower body ‘pull’ day) · Front raise · Side/lateral raise · Back raise · Rotator cuff exercise – multidirectional using theraband or pulley Lower body ‘Push’ (select 4 including one calf variant) · Squats o Back (traditional) o Front (use lighter weight) · Hack squat · Incline leg extension · Lunge o Forward o Lateral · Leg extension machine; open kinetic chain - terminal extension only (vmo) · Calf raise o Seated o Standing Lower body ‘Pull’ (select 3 + shoulder program) · Stiff legged dead lift · Good mornings (use light weight) · Hamstring curl · Hanging leg raise · Hip ab/adduction – use machine for specific focus Shoulder program (integrate on lower body ‘pull’ day, or lower volume upper day) · Front raise · Side/lateral raise · Back raise · Rotator cuff exercise – multidirectional using ‘theraband’ or pulley Core (integrate 1-2 exercises daily) · Abdominal crunch · Cable crunch · Oblique crunch · Side/QL crunch · Torso twist - bar, weights, medicine ball catch · Back extension (superman) · Lateral bends – weights, cable · Rolling wheel · Incline leg raise Balance & Proprioreceptive Drills (integrate 1-2 daily before lifting) · Wobble board (try with eyes closed) · Bongo board (try with eyes closed) · Swiss ball (be creative) · Single leg hops (flat surface) · Single leg box hops (small box) · Curb/balance beam walking |