Basic principles of strength training combines a manipulation of sets, reps, time under tension and exercises to cause changes in strength, endurance and size. The goal will dictate the purpose. Here is an infographic explaining the very basics of strength training.
(version française au bas de l’article)
Careful attention needs to be given to collect the most information about the sport and all requirements, in order to shape the athlete around the foundations and all the complex interactions between the different elements.
This simple principle is what separates the greatness from mediocrity. Training for sports requires more than buying the program of a jacked up someone looking for a pump.
Why do we choose certain exercises more than others? To give you the most bang for your bucks. You can’t obviously replicate a given movement and add it in the gym (ex: please don’t shadow box with 10 pounds) but you can improve « specific » movement strength curves and functional strength with specific exercise selection and planification.
Let’s take a closer look at MMA fighters.
As soon as the foot is planted on the floor, a chain of movement is initiated to give maximum power and speed. The kicking leg is extending, in preparation for the hip flexors and knee extensors to load or eccentrically stretch for the forward movement in order for the kicking leg to strike. Then, the planting leg and foot (left) points out, opening up the hip, planting the foot and firing up the posterior chain for a fraction of a second, while both arms arm pull down and back as a contro-lateral force to increase the power of the hip flexors to lift the kicking leg.
The final stage is the impact, extending the knee a few degrees, at its most powerful angle, just at the right moment, the last 15 degrees. In this case, think working with bands and chains, telemark squats/split squats, etc.
Additionally, the kick is preceded by a long jab, which has a specific purpose/combination. The jab extends the left arm, which increases the range between the left shoulder and the right kicking hip and leg. See anything in particular? What type of exercise could come close to it?
A coach should see some posterior chain, hip flexors and core work. As for upper body, pulling strength will have a huge impact on kicking strength, which is what coaches often disregard. Pull ups, front barbell split squats and lunges are some of the best tools you can add to your programs to name just a few.
This is the why of predictor lifts. They are not the only thing to focus on, in fact, they are just a small piece of the equation. However, an increase of strength, power or explosiveness in some of the predictor lifts will bring on an almost immediate increase in sport performances.
Coach Eric
Les deux erreurs les plus communes en entrainement.
Ces deux erreurs sont les plus communes et heureusement, les plus faciles à corrigées.
Dans tout ce que vous devez faire pour améliorer les performances, il existe la loi du rendement décroissant, qui stipule que si l’investissement dans un objectif augmente, alors que d’autres variables restent identiques, le retour sur l’investissement finira par diminuer.
La plupart des gens réalisent les gains les plus importants au cours de leur première année d’entraînement. Inévitablement, les gains ralentissent lorsque vous atteignez un point où votre corps s’est adapté au stress que vous lui avez imposé, vous utilisez moins d’énergie, vous commencez à vous sentir comme si vous ne pouvez pas progresser, bienvenue dans le redoutable plateau. Lorsque vous y êtes bien installé, il est très tentant d’augmenter le volume et de faire plus, d’investir plus de temps dans l’entrainement.
La loi des rendements décroissants dit le contraire, alors cette stratégie est à chier. L’augmentation du volume d’entraînement est en fait une façon d’appliquer le principe de surcharge progressive, mais elle nécessite un soutien et une planification appropriée.
Vous ne pouvez augmentez la résistance indéfiniment, tout comme garder vos entrainement Ad vitam æternam.
Comme je le dis régulièrement, vous êtes le reflet des derniers trois mois d’entrainement et de nutrition. Alors, comment s’assurer d’avoir un retour sur notre investissement?
En plus d’avoir un but précis, plusieurs variantes peuvent être manipulées dans un programme d’entrainement tel que le nombre de séries, les répétitions, le tempo et le temps de repos. Vous pouvez garder le même entrainement, changer une de ces variantes et vous obtenez un entrainement bien différent de ce que vous faisiez.
Prenez un programme avec comme but ultime l’hypertrophie. Si nous coupions les temps de repos de 30 secondes, ce programme, quoiqu’encore pour l’hypertrophie, se rangerais un peu plus vers le gain d’endurance musculaire dû au manque de repos adéquat entre chaque série.
Par contre, pour que ce programme se range du coté de la force musculaire, il faut augmenter le nombre de série, réduire le nombre de répétitions entre 3 et 5, et augmenter le temps de repos entre les séries de 60 à 90 secondes.
En règle générale;
Force – faible volume – haute intensité
Hypertrophie – volume élevé – basse intensité
Cependant, les répétitions ne sont pas tous créées égales. La vitesse est un facteur majeur. Vous pouvez faire 12 répétitions en moins de 20 secondes ou en plus de 1 minute. C’est pourquoi le tempo, est un facteur extrêmement important.
La qualité musculaire à entrainer détermine le temps de travail de chaque série et les temps de repos. Le tempo, ou temps sous tension, est la vitesse de chaque répétition. Le temps sous tension dicte le temps de travail de chaque répétition.
Dans mes prochains articles, j’aborderai le sujet de la périodisation et les plusieurs type de principes à appliquer dans vos prochaines sessions d’entrainements.
Il existe un nombre interminable de permutation et d’école de pensée sur le sujet. Recherchez, lisez, prenez ce qui s’applique pour vous et appliquez à vos entrainements.
Bon workout!
Coach Eric
These are the two most common mistakes in training.
These two mistakes are the most common and luckily the easiest to fix.
In everything you need to do to improve performance, there is the law of diminishing returns, which states that if an investment in a goal increases, while the other variables stay the same, the return on investment will eventually decrease.
Most people make the biggest gains in their first year of training. Inevitably, the gains slow down when you reach a point where your body has adapted to the stress you imposed on it, you use less energy, you start to feel as if you cannot progress, welcome to the dreaded plateau . When you are well settled in, it is very tempting to increase the volume and do more, to invest more time in training…the same training.
The law of diminishing returns says the opposite, so this strategy is shit. Increasing the training volume is actually one way of applying the principle of progressive overload, but it requires proper planning and support.
You cannot increase the resistance indefinitely, just like keeping your training Ad vitam æternam.
As I say regularly, you are the reflection of the last three months of training and nutrition. How can we make sure we get a return on our investment?
In addition to having a specific goal, several elements can be manipulated in a training program such as the number of sets, the repetitions, the tempo and the rest periods. You can keep the same training, change one of these elements and you get a different workout from what you were doing.
Take a program with the ultimate goal of hypertrophy. If we cut the rest times by 30 seconds, this program, although still for hypertrophy, would rank a little more towards muscular endurance due to the lack of adequate rest between each sets.
On the other hand, for this program to be on the strength side, it is necessary to increase the number of sets, reduce the number of repetitions between 3 and 5, and increase the rest time between series from 60 to 120-180 seconds.
Generally;
Strength – low volume – high intensity
Hypertrophy – high volume – low intensity
However, not all repetitions are created equal. Speed is a major factor. You can do 12 reps in less than 20 seconds or in more than 1 minute. This is why the tempo is an extremely important factor.
The muscular quality to train determines the working time of each series and the rest times. The tempo, or time under tension, is the speed of each repetition. Time under tension dictates the working time of each repetition.
In my next articles, I will dig in the subject of periodization and the several types of principles to apply in your next training sessions.
There are endless swaps and schools of thought on the subject. Research, read, take what applies to you and apply it to your workouts.
Have a good workout!
Coach Eric
Pour les yeux inexpérimentés, les levés olympiques semblent faciles, jusqu’à ce qu’ils l’essaient. Ils pensent que soulever la barre au-dessus de la tête est aussi simple que de la saisir et de la lancer au plafond. J’ai eu la chance de m’entraîner et de regarder enseigner L’entraîneur Pierre Roy, l’un des meilleurs entraîneurs olympiques de ce côté du globe. Bien qu’il semble le décomposer si simplement, cela pourrait prendre jusqu’à quelques mois avant que vous maîtrisiez le bases… des bases. (more…)
To the untrained eye, Olympic lifts look easy, until they try it. They think that lifting the bar over head is as simple as grabbing it and throwing it to the ceiling. I’ve had the chance of training and watching Pierre Roy coach, one of the best Olympic coach on this side of the globe, and although he seems to break it down so simply, it could take up to a few months until you master the basics… of the basics. (more…)
Most people go to the gym to workout, but is it really effective? Is it really doing anything? Are you progressing or are you going just to go to the gym? I like numbers, I like to see numbers go up or at least, have some sense of progress, and not just working out for the sake of it.
When looking at cardio, the law of diminishing returns needs to always be in the back of your head. For example, for those who like to train with bodyweight exercises, the more you do, the better you become at it. As your weight drops and as you get stronger and gain more stamina, the exercises becomes easier, which in turn, doesn’t make you ”burn” as much as when you started or just doesn’t give you results anymore. Same goes for cardio. Keeping the same intensity will literally get you nowhere.
If you are a recreational gym goer, playing with different kinds of machines and intensity can keep the results coming. However, in sports, we need more. We have to break down the needs of the sport and this will in turn sets the goal to achieve. We have also been tricked into the old age thinking that for those trying to gain lean muscle mass or strength, cardio might and will most probably burn those gains or just impair strength. There might be a trick to it, where proper planning and programming can maximize results on both sides of the strength training continuum.
For example, in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, rounds are usually 5 minutes, which puts it into the Aerobic category of the energy system continuum. However, those 5 minutes are filled with bursts of Anaerobic Lactic and Alactic bouts of efforts such as throws, take downs, holding, pulling and controlling an opponent that is trying to do the exact same as you, which makes it a lot more interesting as the trainers point of view.
Looking at this, how can we design a conditioning program that will fit the needs of an athlete? The goal would be to replicate at best what can happen during a live sparring session, training or roll as we call it. In any sports, the demands of the sport dictates the goals and the design of the program and phases. Unfortunately, if you want results, the thought process is a little more complicated than just trying to add cardio in the mix and wish for unicorns.
High intensity interval training ( alternating intense bouts of activity and periods of less intense activity, or total rest.) might be what most will be tempted to do. However, there is a little more to it than just try to push your heart rate to the max followed by rest intervals. The actual strength training program and phase might also determine the intensity of the intervals.
Basically, the intensity you are using in your strength training program should match the intensity of your intervals. For example, the work to rest ration in hypertrophy is often near similar. Time of work/tension is around 45 to 75 seconds for hypertrophy so the text book rest in between sets should be at about the same, give and take 10-20 seconds. Low intensity interval training is the less intense version of interval training, which is best paired with hypertrophy protocols.
On the other end, for strength, the intensity, as in percentage of max effort is higher, so the rest period is often twice or three times the time of work/tension. So for best results, matching HIIT with strength phases vs LIIT with hypertrophy phases is just what can bring you the best results since they dig into the same kind of energy systems.
In this case, and with my athletes, going by feel is not enough. I use a Polar Heart rate monitor to at least get some numbers and make sure the right intensity is respected. Maximum heart rate calculations are not an exact science since no one is the same, but at least, I know if they are dying or not training in the right intensity zone or not. Especially in this type of settings and workout.
The better conditioned athlete will rest faster, so if I want to push them to 90% of their max but don’t want their heart rate to go down lower than 75% (incomplete rest), which is the actual demands of a BJJ/MMA fight, the only way to do it is with the Polar monitor. Some might need 60 seconds, the elite athletes might only need 45 seconds, with the polar, I can individualize each workout, with the athlete I am working with, no cookie cutting protocols given.
Coach Eric
We all have a tendency to make things complicated when it comes time to get ready for the summer. We also easily forget the simplest things to help us achieve our goals. Sometimes, it is only necessary to launch it and not think too much because analyzing the details often leads to paralysis through analysis, which leads to more excuses than actions. Have fun and apply what you think is most important for your situation and needs.
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