 Much is
written about strength. But, save for all too few research documents,
little of it goes beyond musings about how to acquire more than the norm.
While this utilitarian approach to understanding strength is laudable, too
few athletes, bodybuilders and coaches have ever taken the time to pull
the concept of strength apart to a thoroughly finite level in order to
discern its essence.
I submit that it is there that you will gain
understanding of strength far beyond your current level. I submit that
once having done so you will be able to take your level of strength far
beyond its current level. And I further submit that its simplicity will
startle you. Let’s have a look.
WHAT STRENGTH LOOKS LIKE
Breathe in and out.
Your heart beats. Rear back and throw. Squat down and stand back up. Your
foot hits the ground and your knee bends in preparation for the next
push-off in running or walking. This is movement, and we define it by the
amount of force produced. Producing force requires strength. When you put
movement -- any movement -- on a piece of paper, it’ll look something like
this:
STRENGTH CURVE (ILLUSTRATION #1)
Limit Strength
(6)
______________________________________________________________
I<----------------------->
Fmax (5)
F I Tmax *
*
O I (4) *
*
R I *
*
C I *
E I
*
I I
*
I I *
I
I *
* I
I *
(3)
(1) * I (2)
I *
*
I I *
* *
*
________________________________________________________________
T I
M E (in milliseconds)
This, fellow iron freaks, is what life is all about on
earth. We do nothing else with our musculoskeletal selves. We can DO
nothing else. It’s called the strength curve, and it is virtually
ubiquitous. So it seems reasonable that we should know it. To a thoroughly
finite level.
1. This is the beginning of your movement. Rear back to
throw, foot hits the ground and your knee bends, or squat down to jump.
All involve "eccentric" strength.
2. You make the transition from
backward to forward, from down to up. "Static" strength is required. This
is called the “amortization phase” of a movement.
3. Force is applied
in hitting, throwing, jumping or the push-off in each running step. This
is called "concentric" strength.
4. It takes a fraction of a second
usually to exert any given amount of force in any given movement. In
sports, the only exception is powerlifting, where a movement may take a
full second or longer to complete. This is your Tmax (maximum time).
5.
This is the maximum amount of force you impart in your movement
(Fmax).
6. This line represents your limit strength -- your 1- rep max.
You never quite equal your "limit" or "absolute" strength levels in sports
movements (except powerlifting) because the movements are over with so
quickly.
Let’s pull this strength curve apart bit by bit. You’re
gonna be amazed at what you learn from this little exercise. For me, doing
so proved to be the ultimate KEY to getting strong enough to break world
records. It allowed me to systematically focus on each of the finite
variables involved in producing force.
FACTOR ONE: The Angle of “Q”Draw a straight line tangent to
the upward curve (concentric strength). Measure the angle. This is called
the “Q” angle, and it is the definition of starting strength. The steeper
the line the greater the number of muscle fibers you’ve simultaneously
recruited in the movement.
ANGLE Q (ILLUSTRATION #2)
F I /
O I I / *
R I I / *
C I / *
E * I / *
* I / *
* / *
* * / *
______________/_________________________________
T I M E (in milliseconds)
FACTOR TWO: The Angle of “A”Now
draw several tangent lines along the length of the upward curve. Measure
the angle of each tangent, and compare each angle to the preceding one.
There are three possibilities:
1. Each subsequent angle gets
smaller
2. Each subsequent angle stays the same
3. Each subsequent
angle gets bigger
Clearly, in the example below, each subsequent
angle becomes more and more acute.
ANGLE A (ILLUSTRATION #3)
I<-----------------------------> Fmax
F I * *
O I -----------*---------An
R I -------*-----------A5
C I -------*----------A4
E I ------*---------- A3
I I -----*-----------A2
I I ----*---------- Angle A1
I I *
* I I *
* I I *
* I I *
* * *
________________________________________________________________
T I M E (in milliseconds)
If
the angle of each successive tangent becomes greater and greater, you’re
going faster and faster in your application of greater and greater force.
If each angle stays the same, this means that your speed is increasing
linearly as you apply greater and greater force. If the angles diminish
from one angle to the next, your rate of speed is diminishing as you
approach your maximum force output.
In sport, the only acceptable
technique is to attempt to make each subsequent angle bigger. I call this
technique “compensatory acceleration. This sort of positive acceleration
while increasing force output is functionally impossible to attain in the
final third of the movement while lifting weights in a traditional
fashion. This is because you must slow the weight down in anticipation of
lockout. But you nonetheless try in the interest of 1) improving the
quality of your overload stress, and 2) increasing the time under maximum
tension (TTI -- Time/Tension Index). Notice I said MAXIMUM tension. Moving
the weight slowly means you’re not MAXIMIZING the tension developed by
your muscles, and therefore the quality of overload it receives is
commensurably lessened.
FACTOR THREE: ForceWhat’s the maximum amount of
force output you produced during any given movement. This is called Fmax.
I think it’s fairly obvious that in most sports endeavors you’d like your
force output to be as high as possible. Of course, this doesn’t hold true
when you’re trying to do a delicate movement like a jump shot or a
putt.
TIME AND FORCE (ILLUSTRATION #4)
Limit Strength
______________________________________________________________
I<-----------------------> MAXIMUM FORCE
F I Tmax * *
O I * *
R I * *
C I *
E I *
I I *
I I *
I I *
* I I *
* I I *
* I I *
* * *
________________________________________________________________
T I M E (in milliseconds)
FACTOR FOUR: Time
Measure how long it takes from the beginning of upwards
(concentric) movement to exert maximum force (Fmax). This is called Tmax,
and usually it’s appropriate to make Tmax as short as possible. Again,
jump shots and putts withstanding.
FACTOR FIVE: The Relationship Between Time and Force
Now, remember back to high school science
class when your teacher told you that p = fd / t (Power is equal to force
times distance per unit of time).
In similar fashion, Fmax divided by
Tmax is the definition of explosive strength. If starting strength (the
“Q” angle) is your ability to turn on as many motor units a possible
instantaneously, then explosive strength is your ability to LEAVE then
turned on! The two are NOT the same! And the training required to maximize
each is not the same either. Collectively they’re referred to as
“speed-strength.”
FACTOR SIX: The Relationship Between Limit Strength and Fmax
In any sports movement, Tmax is
so short that it’s not possible to get all of your motor units turned on.
Not even close! Only powerlifting tests one’s limit strength. NO other
sport does because of the time constraint.
Former Soviet scientists
worshipped the relationship between limit strength and Fmax. And for good
cause. They believed that NOTHING should EVER be done to cause an increase
in the distance between Fmax and limit strength. They believed that the
DEFINITION of a great athlete was one whose Fmax came close to his/her
limit strength. They believed that, in all the world of sport, SPEED is
king!
LIMIT STRENGTH AND F-MAX RELATIONSHIP (ILLUSTRATION #5)
Limit Strength
______________________________________________________________
This area (between your Fmax and Limit Strength level is called the “gap.”
KEEP IT SMALL! If you don’t you are NOT training correctly!
I<---------------------> Fmax
F I Tmax * *
O I * *
R I * *
C I *
E I *
I I *
I I *
I I *
* I I *
* I I *
* I I *
* * *
________________________________________________________________
T I M E (in milliseconds)
This is a
phenomenal concept, folks! Understand that simply working limit strength
is NOT the way for an athlete to become great! In fact it’d slow you down
if carried to the extreme. The coaches of yesteryear were right when they
wouldn’t allow their players to lift for fear that doing so would foul up
their “touch” (skill), make ‘em muscle-bound or slow them down. They were
right. The reason is that continually hammering limit strength -- your
1-RM (which was pretty much all that the early ironheads knew how to do)
-- will eventually result in muscle being synthesized beyond the point
where one’s strength-to-weight ratio is greatest. Added strength, when
carried to this extreme, almost invariably means added weight, slower
movement speed, inability to achieve positive acceleration or a steep “Q”
angle, let alone greater explosive strength.
So, this being the case,
we must give consideration to the concept of “functional strength,” or the
amount of limit strength necessary to maximize Fmax without causing an
increase in the difference between Fmax and limit strength. Simply put,
one’s strength-to-weight ratio is very similar to one’s functional
strength requirements, and it is generally different from sport-to-sport
because the demands of each sport are different.
Before you jump all
over me for making such a brash statement, let me modify it a bit and
acknowledge that in sports such as archery, bowling, curling and other
similar activities, the concept of strength-to-weight ratio has far less
relevance than it does for (say) shot putters or high jumpers. Or
bodybuilders, for that matter, whose chief competition objective is to get
massive muscle irrespective of movement efficiency.
FACTOR SEVEN: The Amortization Phase
Picture
this: A pitcher throwing a 100 mph fast ball by rearing back with his arm,
holding the position until all of his inner forces are summoned, and with
great Herculean effort hurls the ball. Will it go 100 mph? Not a chance!
The total body movement that’s involved in pitching that fast requires
heavy reliance on stretch reflex and tissue viscoelasticity in one’s
shoulder muscles adding to the speed of the push off the rubber and the
violent twisting of the body all sequentially performed such that the
force imparted to the ball comes from a “summation of
forces.”
AMORTIZATION (ILLUSTRATION #6)
I<-----------------------> Fmax
F I Tmax * *
O I * *
R I * *
C I *
E I * *
I I * *
I I * It should look like THIS!
I I * *
* I I * *
(1) * I I * * *
* I I * * *
* * * *
Amortization
(Transition Phase)
So, it is critical in most sports that you work hard to 1) make
it possible to maximize the sum of all forces involved in producing
maximum force output, while 2) keeping yourself uninjured! The very
thought of turning the amortization into a checkmark-sharp direction
change is enough to make one cringe! It is the culprit that’s responsible
for many a sports career being ended. It’s called (shudder) “ballistic”
stress!
Doesn’t scare me! Not me! I sometimes feel like sneering in the
faces of the folk who warn against producing ballistic stresses in
training. All LIFE is ballistic! Sport is VERY ballistic, and if you’re to
sum the forces successfully without getting injured, you’d better learn
how to TRAIN ballistically! It’ll prepare you to sum the forces and it’ll
prepare you to accept them as well! There are many safe and productive
techniques to accomplish this, not the least of which are plyometric
training of various sorts.
THE SEVEN
FACTORS
There you have it folks. The seven ways of improving
your strength. THERE ARE NO OTHER WAYS! There are no other ways of
augmenting the strength curve. This is all there IS to the strength curve.
As I told you in the beginning of this article, THERE IS NOTHING ELSE
POSSIBLE. If you do things right, your strength curve will go from
this:
I I *
I I *
* I I *
* I I *
* I I *
* * *
...to this *
I I *
* I I *
* I I *
* I I *
* *
*
...to this. *
*
* *
* *
* *
*
This is
the DEFINITION of a great athlete. It is the SIGNATURE of a great athlete.
And this is the point toward which anyone aspiring to athletic greatness
MUST train. On the other hand, I acknowledge that a highly conditioned
non-athlete can indeed do likewise. But not to the extent of an elite
athlete, and certainly not while operating under the metabolic
circumstances inherent in elite-level sport, whether it's ATP/CP,
glycolytic or oxidatively driven.
A word of Further
Explanation:
There are many other components to being an elite
athlete, such as passion, skill, strategy, genetics, etc. Nonetheless, one
can become an elite athlete WITHOUT burning passion, WITHOUT super-high
skill levels, and WITHOUT genetics one may regard as a "gift from God."
While the many other components must be present to varying degrees, the
one ubiquitous characteristic of an elite athlete in a marathon run or a
shot put -- and all the sports in between -- is that person's ability to
quickly generate great force while operating within the metabolic
environment inherent in his/her sport context. Of course, one's limit
strength must be within the parameters allowing for such force development
during the conduct of a sports movement too. So, for endurance athletes
(Type I fiber), they must STILL must generate a high Fmax footfall-
per-footfall in their endurance event in order to win. Even though you
cannot sprint a marathon, you must still try to come as close to a sprint
as humanly possible (that's Fmax footfall-per-footfall).
Let me put
it into a simple formula for you. It’s easy. When you walk into a gym,
have a PLAN well established long beforehand, but keep it flexible (stuff
happens). This PLAN is called your WORKOUT CYCLE. Since you must build a
foundation of functional strength in all your muscles before you try to
make them work ballistically, or before you punish them against the
anaerobic threshold, it should be a PERIODIZED program. One which
PRIORITIZES your training objectives from the ones of immediate concern to
the ones that’ll win you championhsips -- and everything in between.
Overall, you’ll discern that you must progress from high volume/lower
intensity toward low volume/higher intensity to make it all work. You’ll
find that you will progress from general movements for greater limit
strength toward more refined, specific movements for sports excellence.
You’ll note too that the seven laws of training are automatically factored
into your training periodicity.
· The Law of Individual Differences: We
all have different abilities, bodies and weaknesses, and we all respond
differently (to a degree) to any given system of training. These
differences should be taken into consideration when designing your
training program.
· The Overcompensation Principle: Mother Nature
overcompensates for training stress by giving you bigger and stronger
muscles.
· The Overload Principle: To make Mother Nature
overcompensate, you must stress your muscles beyond what they’re already
used to.
· The SAID Principle: The acronym for "Specific Adaptation to
Imposed Demands.” Each organ and organelle responds to a different form of
stress.
· The Use/Disuse Principle: “Use it or lose it” means that your
muscles hypertrophy with use and atrophy with disuse.
· The GAS
Principle: The acronym for General Adaptation Syndrome, this law states
that there must be a period of low intensity training or complete rest
following periods of high intensity training.
· The Specificity
Principle: You’ll get stronger at squats by doing squats as opposed to leg
presses, and you’ll get greater endurance for the marathon by running long
distances than you will by (say) cycling long distances.
(See
“Systems of Training article on my home page for an elaboration of these
principles.) And you will note that there’s nothing new under the
sun...this is all old hat and it was explained years ago, in myriad ways,
in most of what’s been written about training.
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