Our next block of Team Sustain for the competative sport of functional fitness is going to be an accumulation block of strength mixed with some lactic endurance, active recovery, and aerobic base building.
Here is breakdown of what “The Basics of Sheiko & Post Tetanic Facilitation Block” will include.
“Athletic performance isn’t about who is stronger, although most coaches incorrecly belive this to be the case. The key to improvd sport performance is producing more force in less time. The results when an athlete can absorb more force eccentrically, allowing him, in turn, to apply higher levels of force concentrically in less time. In other words, the athlete who can narrow the “V” (see graph below) wins every time.”
Team Sustains last strength training block was more of an accumulation phase with some solid volume in the wave loading sets. As the weeks unfolded we gradually lowered the volume and increase the intensity (load). This was in preparation for the maximal and repeatable strength sets in this new block, say hello to Cluster Training.
The Cluster training method is probably one of the best methods to build strength without putting on too much size. This method of training was popularised by Carl Miller in The Sport of Olympic-Style Weightlifting, Training for Connoisseur.
Who doesn’t want to be stronger? As a coach, we are always looking for ways to improve the strength and performance of ourselves and our athletes. We hunt for training principles that elicit greater muscular development, neuromuscular responses and improve athletic performance. The Wave Loading Method is a system often seen in advanced strength and power cycles to prepare an athlete for maximal attempts.
The concept of wave loading is based on the principle of Post-Titanic Potentiation (PTP), where one goes and primes the motor unit recruitment to facilitates the recruitment of higher threshold motor unties. Put simply this means we trick the mind and body into lifting heavier loads, or being able to perform more reps at a given load, or being able to lift faster at an given load. The mind-body connection has numerous automatic protective mechanisms intended to prevent us from hurting ourselves, which can put the breaks on high-intensity strength training. Wave loading, used correctly, helps the athlete to push back the inhibitions and open the door to a whole new world of opportunities.
In the 5/3/2/1 method, we start with loads just under 5RM and attempt to add 2-3% more weight every set, performing 1 fewer repetitions every set until you achieve a new 1RM. This progression has the advantage of teaching the skill of expressing your true maximum in a 4-week block. We cannot go from a block of performing 3-5reps per set (MAX Weight PART 3) and expect to perform well in a 1RM until we have allowed the body to recruit higher-threshold fibres. Therefore, we will slowly increase the percentages of each set from week-to-week with the aim of increasing your 1RMs by 2-3% in 5 weeks from now.
The Functional Strength Method - with this system in the first two weeks we are going to perform four sets of [4-6] tempo repetitions. In the first two sets, we want to be hitting 6reps. In the final two sets, we expect to be hitting 4-5reps as the load reaches maximal. Always use your quality of movement to set the limits of yours.
The Patient Lifter 6 x [2-4] Method - with this training system, we start off with a weight that we can handle comfortably for six sets of just two repetitions. Depending on your neurological efficiency, that will translate into about 80 to 87% of your 1RM. The goal is to increase your strength SLOWLY over time so that you can handle that same wight for six sets of 4 repetitions.
The reason The Patient Lifter's Method works is that the load increases only when the trainee can complete all sets of 4 repetitions with the starting weight of 6 sets of 2 repetitions. The system works using what is called the law of repeated efforts because the nervous system is forced to accept the loads as being normal.
The Advanced 5x5 Method: This is one of the more classic and most effective methods of strength and muscle development. It was popularised in the 50s and 60s by British bodybuilder Reg Park. Park won the Mr Britan in 1949. In the 70s the Advanced 5x5 Method was heavily promoted by former elite weightlifter and strength coach Bill Starr in the book Strongest Shall Survive. Here is an example of how your workouts should go.
Testing week is coming to an end, and we should all now have some solid numbers to work from. Our next block, starting 16th September 2017, is going to be heavy, with the aim of making you all as "strong as fuck.” Yes, that is a real measurement. We will also start to focus a lot more attention towards the Clean and Jerk, and the Snatch over the next 12 weeks.
