Biomotor Ability Series - Strength
Paul McCambridge
Next instalment in the biomotor series...how to get strong! Paul brings us a description of key principles and a program to get you started.
Strength
So this is the Biomotor Ability most of you have probably been waiting for… how do I get stronger? If strength really is one of the essential Biomotor abilities that you need to improve (see initial article for subjective test) then we have some work to do!
I’ll let you decide whether you need more leg strength, upper body strength, rotator cuff strength etc! For me the body is all one entity and you should consider training the whole system for total body strength, athleticism, and function before focusing on your particular sport specific goal – If you are just mixing up your training and going for maximum strength for the hell of it then total body strength and function should be the aim and the programme at the end of the article is a decent start!
There are some basic principles you need to know in order to optimise your quest for great strength…
Frequency
The master in Strength Training, Charles Poliquin explains “Frequency is key”. I know that Charles is a big promoter in training people twice a day but I suspect many of you will not have the time for this. But the principle remains – if you want to be strong, you need to apply stimulus often. Once a week per move isn’t often enough.
Ideally, if you do have time to train twice a day then periodising your programme correctly would allow for massive strength gains as long as sufficient rest and excellent nutrition are taken. This is often essential to progress with strength gains if you are a high level athlete or have considerable training experience. A simple example would be a heavy squatting session in the morning and a heavy pressing session in the evening. Obviously, stay away form the recovering muscle groups done first, and follow the rule that if the muscles are still sore from the previous workout, they haven't fully recovered yet.
As for rest, ideally we should be asleep by 10.30pm and sleeping for 8 hours to get full muscular recovery and training adaptations. Any less and the gains will be less than optimal as the body needs time to repair. Research suggests that the body is in a Physical Recovery stage between the hours of 10.30pm and 2.30am before going into Mental and Psychological recovery 2.30am-6.00am. If you got to bed after some hard training sessions at 2.30am every night, your body won't prioritise your physical recovery but tends to always go for mental and psychological repair. The bottom line is you get bigger and stronger when you sleep between 10.30pm and 2.30am and this can be as vital as your actual training. It may take time to adjust to this sleep pattern, some natural herbs like Passion Flower can help but bear with it.
Sets and Reps
As a beginner almost any training programme will get you stronger initially, as your neuromuscular system will make quick improvements in efficiency, but if you have been slogging away for a while things get a little trickier.
For anyone who doesn’t already know, a general rule is that when striving for hypertrophy (muscle growth) sets are normally between 8-15 reps. When training for strength, 1-7 reps with heavier weights is the guideline. But to get stronger should we only work within lower range reps? A programme is only as good as your results, and if you are not getting results it’s time to change the programme. One simple way to work with hypertrophy and strength training is to cycle them every 4-6 weeks.
As the saying goes...Everything works, but only for a limited period of time. Therefore one must make use of a carefully planned periodisation spanning both strength and hypertrophy. This will allow the individual to access those all important fast twitch fibres through the various methods of max effort training. And then increase the size of those muscle fibres through the use of repeated effort training. By switching back and forth between these modalities, that goal of both increased strength and muscle mass will be achieved and you are less likely to wander into the gym and get stuck doing the same damn thing all the time!
Rest Period
When you train hard you must chill hard. The more intense the set, the more rest is needed between sets to allow for neural recuperation. If you don't rest long enough between intense sets, it's a safe bet that your lactate levels will still be high and that they'll interfere with your performance on the next set.
Typically, if you're working heavy, you should rest between two and three minutes in-between sets. On less intense sets, you can rest anywhere from 45 seconds to 90 seconds.
Time Under Tension
Muscle growing isn't just about reps and rest periods. It all comes down to something called "time under tension". It also refers to the time your muscles are actually working, and weight, sets, and reps all play a part in the equation. For instance, if you do a set of 10 reps, but you pistoned them up and down like it was a race; your total time under tension was about two seconds. Muscle is not going to grow when your time under tension is inordinately low.
Typically, and depending largely on your muscle fiber ratio (some people have more fast-twitch fibers than slow or vice versa), your time under tension should be anywhere from 30 seconds to about 70. Any more or any less is counterproductive over the long run. (Determining your exact muscle fiber make-up is probably a little more complicated than we want to get into here in this article). So again if you are doing 5 sets of 5 reps, to get at least 30 seconds every rep would need to last about 6 seconds. For a preacher curl you could try 4 seconds on the negative eccentric contraction and 2 seconds up with no pause. There are so many variations and changing the stimulus is crucial but this is one example than can work for a while.
Length of Session
Don’t be one of those guys who spends all day chatting in the gym and four hours doing nothing. Get in, train hard and get out. 45-60 mins is more than enough and this is optimal for strength training and muscle growth. After this time your muscle building hormones tend to get depleted. As Poliquin always chuckles away in his lectures, if you are training for longer than 60 minutes you aren't making gains but making friends!
Plateaus
What if it’s not working? The human body is lazy as hell and strives for efficiency, it will only go to the trouble of adapting and actually becoming stronger, if you insist with the demands you place upon it.
For those of you hitting a strength plateau, make sure you have tried several different stimuli. Try accommodating the resistance using chains (with help from a coach), use a partner and work with heavy negatives 105-120% of your concentric 1RM. Try the Rest pause which technique takes advantage of the body’s immediate rapid energy recovery system. Muscle has the ability during high intensity action to regenerate a chemical compound known as phosphocreatine. It can do this via a brief pause in activity which causes the replenishment of some of this compound along with some flushing of lactic acid, in response the muscle can generate a greater force and thus the lifter can push out that all important extra rep. It is generally used during low rep set systems such as cluster training, but can also be used in hypertrophy phases as a means of taking that muscle beyond failure. Rest/Pause can be used either by actually racking weight and taking an intra set rest as long as 15sec or in a briefer system at the end of the set for 3-5 seconds.
Or why not try functional isometrics which utilizes strength benefits of isometrics at a particular joint angle. The angle chosen will mirror the particular range of movement a lifter is struggling with, also known more commonly as the “sticking point”. Through the use of a power rack, pins are set at the bottom of the range of movement and at the particular point the lifter begins to fail. The lifter will then perform the concentric (raising) component in a dynamic (quick and forceful) manner until contact is made with the upper pin. At this point the lifter continues to press as hard as possible against the pin resulting in an isometric (or static) contraction for 5 -7 seconds.
Another often missed cause for strength training plateaus could be dodgy posture and imbalance in your muscles. There is no substitute for professional assessment and coaching here, but often weakness in the external rotators and the Vastus Medialis Oblqiue limit performance of the young warriors and gym rats out there. Focusing on strength of these common weak points by incorporating Peterson Step Ups and External rotation exercises into your training will most likely allow for great strength improvements in your bench, dead lifts and squats.
Wanna try and see for yourself? Ok for the next 4-6 weeks try this protocol. It's key to up the weights as you get stronger and after this 4-6 week programme I suggest a lighter week of adaptation then 4 weeks of higher rep hypertrophy work. Good Luck!
The Program
As promised, want me to shut up and just tell you how to get started? Here is, as described above, a full body strength program, that if followed with proper tempo will make you stronger, and encourage muscle growth...
Workout is based on a 5 Sets of 5 Rep format.
Your rest period will occur during the superseded exercise. i.e. your bench press rest period is during your suppinate chin ups.
Tempo 4-1-2-0, thats 4 seconds on the eccentric contraction, 1 second pause, 2 seconds up and straight back in.
If, by the third set, you cannot do 5 reps at the tempo then lower the weight, but keep challenging the weight over the next few weeks.
Workout A (Mondays and Thurdays)
Perform these as a Superset, thus no rest between the grouped exercises
A – Bench Press Supersetted with Pull Ups (find the correct weight to match the tempo, sets and rep mentioned above)
Military Press supersetted with High Pulls
Preacher Curls Supersetted with Full range tricep Dips (weighted if need to match the tempo)
External Cable Rotations Supersetted Single Arm DB Rows
Workout B – (Tuesdays and Fridays)
Deadlifts Supersetted with Peterson Step Ups
Barbell Squats Supersetted with Hamstring Curl Machine Single leg with toe pointed in
Split Squat (with front foot elevated on small step and cable pull with opposite hand) Supersetted with ham curl machine toe pointed out.
The author has taken these ideas mainly from Charles Poliquins teaching throughout his superb “Poliquin Principles” book. Several components also come from articles written by Nick Mitchell (Polquin’s highest level UK strength and conditioning coach) and Michael Porter, strength and conditioning coach as well as UK competitive bodybuilder. Programme design ideas are accumulated from works from Poliquin, Jerry Telle, Paul Chek, Mel Siff and Tudor Bompa.
More about the Author
Paul is no average personal trainer. Find an article, an idea, a course or any other fitness concept and Paul has done it, read it and can tell you all about it. From a degree in Sport Science to studying from the worlds best coaches, Paul is on a constant mission to find out everything he can about how to get stronger, fitter, leaner and healthier. He is also a food detective! If you can't digest, or can't get lean, he wants your blood!.. He will send it to the lab and sort you out. However, he is rumoured to be both a bad loser and a bad guitar player. You can hunt him down on his Facebook page.
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