Muscle blog series: Part 6: Strength:
This is the next blog article in
the series and will discuss muscle strength. This is more relevant than most
people realise. For example a distance runner needs to do strength training due
to running loads on the knee being as great as 7 times body weight. It may not
alter performance directly but it will minimise the risk of injury.
It is also true that runners
worry about muscle building due to the fact that muscle consumes a lot of
energy and this will affect their endurance. However the small amount of
strength training volume and frequency mean that this is insignificant. So you
see even if you think your sport doesn't involve strength it probably does. How
much you do will depend on the demands of your sport.
What is Muscle strength?
Muscle strength is the maximum
force produced in a muscle or group of muscles during a single maximal
contraction.
Strength is influenced by Cross
sectional area of a muscle (Larger the muscle the stronger it is!)
Other Factors affecting muscle
strength are: length tension, recruitment of motor units, contraction type
& speed & motivation
The muscle fibres that you need are
Fast twitch muscle fibres as they produce greater force.
How should I train?
With Resistance or weights!
….but resistance recruits slow
twitch too but if you do faster reps this will inhibit the slow twitch fibres
improving the strengthening effect. The resistance needs to be high too! You
need more than 70% of your 1 Rep max (1RM), which 70% of the maximum weight
that you can lift only once.
So..
Fast reps but you must be under
full control!!!!
It’s all about progressive overload:
Every 10 weeks you need to increase your resistance to maintain your progress
Also your body gets used to the
exercises so you should vary your exercises by changing them every 2- 4 weeks.
Your workouts should be no longer
than 45mins as this will start to break down muscle for fuel (Catabolic).
Sequencing: You should train the larger
muscles first and work same areas together.
How many reps should I do to improve strength?
You need to ideally be fatigued
at 6-10 reps (i.e. you can’t lift the next rep)
You need to do between 3-5 sets
of this also.
What rests do I need?
Basically you need to be fresh at
the start of each set so the only signals your brain receives are all about
force and not about fatigue. So the closer to your maximum resistance that you
are the more rest time you will need. This is very likely to be over 2 minutes
and more.
How often do I train?
Times per week: 2-3 for optimal
recovery (Remember that you can train other types of fitness on other days)
What exercises are best for muscle strength?
In a way there is no such thing
as its how you train not what you train.
You should start generic
exercises first and then progress to a specific range and motion similar to your
sporting actions.
Here is an example of a generic
exercise:
Shoulder press with resistance:
Choose a resistance that you can
do with good technique and you reach fatigue at 1 rep (i.e.: you can’t lift the
2nd rep)
Work out 80% of 1RM
Perform 6-10 reps x 3-5 sets
Sport Specific exercises: (done as above, such as 80% 1RM etc.)
Throwing:
Throwing action with adequate resistance
through either theraband or a cable
pulley.
Swimming:
Reverse flys for butterfly with adequate
resistance with theraband or weights:
Running:
Lunge walks with adequate
resistance with weights.
So Strength training is more in
depth than you may first realise and is relevant for more sports than you may
think. So you better get started!!
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