Archive for the ‘Research’ Category

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Muscle Fiber Adaptations

Monday, January 11th, 2010

This is a follow up to one of my recent posts titled Purely Genetic or Hard Work & Dedication.

In that post, I noted that certain physical characteristics such as muscle fiber composition (type I and type II muscle fibers) is predetermined or genetic.  I made that statement to inform you that you cannot convert all your slow twitch muscle fibers into fast twitch muscle fibers and start winning gold medals.  However, there is actually more to the story.  Type I and type II muscle fibers have different capabilities (type I fibers has a greater aerobic capacity and able to produce less force at slower velocities, while type II fibers have a great anaerobic capacity and are able to produce more force at faster velocities).  Now the theory that many of us have heard is that you are predetermined with the number type II fibers at birth (the fibers all athletes want so they can be fast and explosive during sport).  However, there are hybrid fiber types that have the capacity to change based on the stimulus provided to your muscle.  A well-designed training program (weight, speed, agility, and power training) actually has the ability to change muscle fiber composition in hybrid fibers!  Training can actually alter the ratio and percentage of type II to type I fibers that leads to increased strength and power-generating capacity.  This really strengthens the argument that great athletes become “great” because of hard work, dedication, and a well-structured training program throughout their entire life.

Every athlete has the capacity to improve based on the stimuli provided to the body.

Source:
Bompa, Tudor and Haff, Gregory. Periodization – Theory and Methodology of Training. Illinois: Human Kinetics, 2009

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Purely Genetic or Hard Work & Dedication

Monday, January 4th, 2010

This post was inspired after reading the Talent Code by Daniel Coyle and Talent is Overrated by Geoff Colvin.

Being heavily involved in the athletic community you hear comments all the time like “This kid was born to play baseball.  Her jump shot is smooth and natural.  This guy was born to a professional quarterback.”

First off, I do understand that genetics play a role in athletics (especially at the professional level – you can’t be 5’6 and be an NFL lineman or a 7’2 middle infielder).  Your height, fast twitch muscle fiber composition, limb length (including hand/foot size), some other physical characteristics (tendon attachment, bone articulations, etc.) are genetically predetermined.  However, when it comes to athletic skill it is hard to argue that individuals are born with greater genetic abilities to swing a bat, hit a volleyball, or kick a soccer ball.  When you start to understand that genes give way to certain characteristics and human physical traits, it is also important to understand that does not directly equate to athletic skill.  Humans do not come out of the womb with pre-wired neuromuscular pathways to hit home runs or run the 100-meter dash under 10 seconds.

Athletes become great because of the stimulus provided to them over the course of their life.

Many times what happens is, a child (or usually parent) realizes that they enjoy a sport and are pretty good at it.  Now this child starts to enjoy practice and has the motivation/internal drive to improve their skills even more (improve their neuromuscular pathways).  Now they live and breathe the sport so much that they spend all their free time watching it on TV (obtaining that visual stimulus to the brain).  Maybe the child doesn’t obsess over the sport, but they are given positive verbal stimulus from coaches and parents letting them know how good they are at the sport.  All these stimuli strengthen the child’s athletic skill set.

What about the kids that are “genetically” coordinated and fast/quick.  (Again fast twitch muscle fiber composition aside for this argument)  If you really start to analyze it from an early age, you begin to see that many of those fast kids play multiple sports.  They also spend all their free time outside playing with their friends – even if it’s just hide and seek, riding bikes, kicking the soccer ball around, playing hopscotch, or playing on the playground.  All these events provide a stimulus to the body and this child becomes more coordinated at controlling their body and improves their spatial awareness.

Was Tiger Woods born, I mean actually genetically predetermined to be the best golfer in the world?  My thought is no way!  How about the fact that he started hitting a golf ball when he was 2 years old, or that fact that his dad was an avid golfer (that’s a whole lot of stimulus provided to young Tiger Woods).  He took golf lessons and played in golf tournaments his entire life – he was preparing his body (the neuromuscular pathways) for greatness.

Let’s begin to look at athletic talent as something more than “genetic ability/potential”.  Understand that your body has the ability to adapt and change based on the stimulus you provide it whether it is physical, visual, emotional, or mental.  Hard work and deep/deliberate practice make an athlete great, not their chromosomes.

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Posted in Mindset, Program Design, Research | 2 Comments »

Hitting News Stands

Saturday, January 2nd, 2010

What a great way to start off the new year.  The magazine I write for, World Physique,  just announced that they are hitting news stands at Borders and Barnes & Nobles nationwide.  Make sure to check it out my featured column next time you’re there!

world physique

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Recovery Methods

Thursday, December 17th, 2009

I have posted numerous blogs on how counterproductive low intensity/long duration cardio exercise is for athletes who compete at fast speeds and require explosive movements during competition.  This does not mean I never recommend low to moderate exercise for athletes though.  In fact, after an intense training session, hard competition, or tournament I encourage my athletes to speed up their recovery process.  One of the most effective means to speed up recovery is taking an active approach.  Active recovery includes easy to moderate cardio such as jogging, biking, using the elliptical machine, or swimming.  Lower intensity exercise actually helps with lactate removal (by product of high intensity training), muscle soreness, and cools down the core temperature a slower rate.  Most importantly, many researchers have shown that active recovery improves the next bout of performance more than taking a passive approach (no exercise or activity)  to recovery.

Other forms of recovery are just as important and beneficial.  Proactive recovery methods would also include stretching, massage, myofascial release (self-massage), hot or cold bath, and proper nutrition strategies.  These methods also help with lactate removal, muscle soreness, and improving future performance.

Passive recovery (no exercise) is important and worth discussing.  I am specifically speaking about quality and quantity of sleep.  Athletes require more sleep than the average person who sits around all day and does not push their body to their limits.  All other recovery strategies do not mean anything if an athlete is not getting enough quality sleep.

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Sport Specific Training

Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009

If you are an athlete or coach, analyze your entire training program to make sure it is sport specific.  Check out this key sentence from Tudor Bompa and Gregory Haff’s book Periodization – Theory and Methodology of Training:

“The concept of movement pattern specificity reveals that the type of muscle action, kinematic characteristics (ie. movement patterns), kinetic characteristics (ie. forces, rate of force development, power output), muscle groups activated, and acceleration or velocity characteristics of the movement all contribute to the exercise’s ability to transfer to the sporting activity.”

Your movements in the weight room should never try to replicate sports movements (check out this blog for more on this topic).  However, the exercises you choice should have characteristics similar to your sport.  You want the exercises to carry over to the playing field otherwise why would you waste your time in the weight room to begin with.  Once you begin to understand these scientific principles, it makes sense to incorporate ground-based training (exercises performed in standing positions), Olympic lifts and other high power output exercises, exercises in the full range of motion, and exercises in all planes motion.  At the same time, it should begin to make sense why it is not as beneficial to train on machines that control only one movement and usually control the speed of the movement.  Not to mention that most machines require the athlete to sit or lay on their back/stomach – that doesn’t look anything like sport!

Train Hard-Train Smart –> it’s not just important to train with intensity, it’s important to train with the correct knowledge too!
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Posted in Exercise Demonstrations, Program Design, Research, Strength Training | 2 Comments »

Bioenergetic Specificity

Sunday, November 22nd, 2009

Fancy term, but an easy concept to understand. Athletes should train to develop the appropriate energy systems for their sport. I still see way too many athletes (usually instructed by the coach) do aerobic exercise to “get in shape” for their sport (usually in the form of running laps or riding the stationary bike). The coaches’ philosophy is that this type of training will improve their endurance and help them during the latter stages of their match or competition. However, this is the furthest thing from what really happens. Remember – Your body adapts to the type of training stimulus you provide it. With aerobic training you are teaching your athletes to be really good slow runners. This would make a terrible baseball, football, tennis, volleyball, basketball, soccer or softball athlete (just to name a few sports). In fact, aerobic training has been shown to decrease anaerobic power output. Any high intensity/change of pace sport would suffer from aerobic training (on a regular basis).

Intervals is where it’s at:
High intensity interval training has been show to increase metabolic enzyme activity (both aerobic and anaerobic), improve short-term power output, and increase maximal aerobic power. In other words, you will get all the aerobic benefits you need from high intensity interval training and important benefits needed for quick/high intensity movements.

Until I see this switch in training philosophy from coaches and players, I will continue to write posts on this topic.

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Posted in Conditioning, Program Design, Research, Speed/Agility | 1 Comment »

Ohh Disneyland

Thursday, November 12th, 2009

I managed to find the only gym at Disneyland yesterday (went for my B-Day).  The barbells were extremely heavy though.

CIMG3975 CIMG3978

I am pretty sure diabetes and heart attacks originated at theme parks.  I couldn’t believe how many obese individuals we saw and all the crap everyone was eating all day.  We did manage to find healthier options for lunch.  Check it out – chicken salad and veggie gumbo (minus eating the bread).

CIMG3934 CIMG3935

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So Many Milk Options

Monday, October 26th, 2009

Check out this interesting article in the LA Times about different sources of milk – here it is.

The take home message is that each type of milk has its own pros and cons.  It’s you job to do a little research and understand the differences between each type of milk.  I personally chose to stay away from cows and soy milk.  Instead, I tend to stick more with rice, almond, hemp, and whole grain milk (which was not mentioned in this article – but they have it at Trader Joes).  Check out a previous post explaining the negative effects associated with pasteurized dairy in your diet.

milk

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Interesting Research Articles – Part II

Monday, October 19th, 2009

Researchers at Appalachian State University looked into the possible relationship between maximal leg strength and sprint speed.  Most strength coaches would assume that lower body strength training ( this study investigated back squats) would have a positive affect on sprinting speed.  This study confirms this the relationship between maximal strength and speed.  (It’s always great to see when science supports real world application)

This is important for youth athletes to understand as well.  If you want to get faster there a few things to do on a regular basis:

  1. Work with a sports performance specialist or an individual who understands sprinting mechanics to develop basic technique – leg action, torso position, and arm action.  Then practice this technique over and over again.
  2. Get stronger!  This can start a young age by doing body weight strength training exercises.  By the time an athlete is in 7th/8th grade they should be doing resistance training with weights.  The emphasis is always on the movement patterns though.

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Interesting Research Articles – Part I

Tuesday, October 13th, 2009

Researchers at the University of Idaho looked into the effects of doing two specific activities before performing maximal sprints.  The two preconditioning activities they looked into were power cleans and whole-body vibration.  (Check out this article on Vibration Plates if you are not fimilar with them – overpriced machines that don’t need to be included in an athletic setting if you ask me).  The idea behind performing either of these two activities before sprinting is that they will heighten or excite the neuromuscular system which would positively effect your sprint time.  With a relatively low sample size, the researchers found that neither of these techniques were beneficial for improving your sprint times.  (Of course incorporating Power Cleans and other Olympic Lifts over an entire training period would be extrememly beneficial for improving your lower body and thus sprint time.  However, doing a couple sets right before a sprint doesn’t help your performance).  The best explanation they gave for these results was that the preconditioning activities were not specific enough to the actually activity (sprinting).  Standing on a vibration plate or doing a couple sets of power cleans looks nothing like sprinting.  The researchers suggested that doing a preconditioning activity such as “overspeed training” may be more beneficial for decreasing sprint times.  “Overspeed training is where an athlete is towed behind another runner in an attempt to achieve sprint speeds greater than those obtained via regular sprinting.”  This would obviously be much more specific than vibration training or Olympic Lifting.

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