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Blog - Maximum Strength

Maximum Strength = Performance + Injury Resistance

Posted in Maximum Strength on March 8th, 2011 at 8:04 AM

Despite my consistent intention to convince you that the primary goal of any training program should be injury resistance, and that injuries should be avoided at all costs, last week's post discussed the potential benefits of an athlete suffering a serious injury. I realize this may sound counterintuitive and/or masochistic. If you missed it, you can now check it out at our website via the link below:

>> Why Every Athlete Should Get Injured...Once <<

As I've mentioned in the past, there shouldn't be any difference between a program designed to improve performance and one designed to improve injury resistance. They are one in the same. With that said, there is one component of a training program that may be more important than most athletes and coaches realize.

Maximum Strength Manifestations
I'd venture that when most people think of "maximum strength" they picture the stereotypical meathead grunting in the gym, a powerlifter grinding through an absurdly heavy repetition, or some other seemingly un-athletic display. And they'd be right; these are all potential displays of maximum strength.

Less-acknowledged displays of maximum strength are masked in everyday athletics. As a few examples:

Maximum sprinting speed is dependent upon the amount of force an athlete can put into the ground. In other words, the stronger the athlete is, the more speed potential they have.
The ability for jumping sport athletes (e.g. basketball, certain positions in football, volleyball, divers, etc.) to quickly jump, either from a standstill or off a quick landing, is dependent upon coordinated power. Basic physics teaches us that power is equal to FORCE (read: strength) x Distance/Time. In other words, holding all things equal, increasing strength leads to increases in power, which leads to increases in jump heights and rebound jumping ability.
Similarly, the ability to decelerate and change direction comes down to being able to REDUCE force/momentum as quickly as possible. This is also an expression of strength and power.

At first glance, these seem to be illustrations of how maximum strength improves performance measures. However, similar examples can be given in light of an injury-resistance emphasis.

Being faster often allows athletes to create space between opponents, which can lead to avoiding unnecessary contact.
When force isn't sufficiently reduced in cutting patterns (e.g. deceleration and direction changes), the hips tend to drift outside the feet causing the ankle to roll over (mechanism for ankle sprains).
Training to improve maximal strength increases both the passive and active resistance to undesirable movement. As one example, valgus collapse of the knee (think knee turning/bending inward) is a mechanism for ACL tears, an injury that unnecessarily plagues youth athletes. Improving maximal strength of the hip and thigh musculature, especially when trained in an environment with coaches analyzing the quality of the movement patterns, will substantially decrease the risk of sustaining one of these injuries during practice/competition.

Training Implications
While training for maximum strength is inherently valuable, proper exercise selection is of paramount importance. In this regard, many young athletes default to either using machines or following body-building oriented programs. Other than pulley systems and one chest-supported row, we haven't used a single machine with any of our athletes since I started at Endeavor two years ago. There is nothing about a fixed range of motion that is even remotely applicable to the needs of athletes (or any humans for that matter). Strengthening the muscles without the integrated feedback loops of the body's many sensory systems strikes me as negligent and borderline dangerous. Furthermore, fixed ranges of motion are rarely ideal for multiple athletes from a mechanical stand point. Simply, people come in different shapes and sizes and as a result need to move in different patterns, which a fixed-ROM machine does not allow for.

The aforementioned points provide a glimpse into the rationale for us moving away from doing off-site work with athletes. I increasingly question the value of simply running athletes through "speed and agility" drills, which completely negates the importance of strength training (amongst other things). I understand the appeal of this type of training for teams and for "trainers". For teams, it's a relatively inexpensive way to have your team do some sort of training together. For trainers, it's a way to make a lot of money without a lot of work.

In my mind, this is like taking your team to McDonald's for a pre-game meal because it's cheap and fast, not because it's the best thing for them. Is it better than nothing? It depends on what you get. Is doing "speed and agility" work better than no training at all? It depends on who your coach/trainer is. In my opinion, it's worth spending the extra few bucks for a higher quality product/service, to do the best thing for the kids. Regarding our pre-game meal analogy, this means that the team should go to Subway, instead of McDonalds. At least then they'll have an opportunity to eat the increasingly mystical food call a "vegetable". Regardless of where you're located (I know some of you are joining us from all over the U.S. and internationally), I urge you to seek out coaches/trainers that put an emphasis on COMPREHENSIVE training, which includes not just speed and agility work, but also places a premium on maximum strength development and movement QUALITY. This is the strategy that puts athletes in the best position to succeed. Ultimately, this is the purpose for training in the first place.

To your success,

Kevin Neeld, MS, CSCS
Director of Athletic Development

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Cluster Sets for Improved Strength

Posted in Maximum Strength on June 17th, 2010 at 5:33 PM

A cluster set refers to performing a specified number of reps, pausing for 10-20 seconds, then performing a specified number of reps again.

There are a ton of ways to implement cluster sets, but the ones that most frequent my programs are:

(2x4): 2 sets of 4 reps separated by 10-20 seconds
(4x2): 4 sets of 2 reps separated by 10-20 seconds
(4x1): 4 sets of 1 rep separated by 10-20 seconds

In each of these cases, each cluster (e.g. a cluster of 4 sets of 2 reps) counts as one set. We generally have our athletes perform 3-4 cluster sets for a given exercise.

The concept behind clusters is pretty simple. By giving yourself a brief break (or several brief breaks depending on the design of the cluster) in the middle of the set you can do more repetitions at a given weight than you could without that break. Using cluster sets is a great strategy to improve maximal strength. Use cluster sets sparingly (e.g. 1-2 exercises per week), as they induce a high levels of central fatigue.

-Kevin Neeld

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Recruit More Muscle

Posted in Maximum Strength on March 29th, 2010 at 3:53 PM

When it comes to building strength, it's important to maximize the recruitment of your muscles (more muscle recruitment = more strength).

Every muscle fiber is driven by a unit of your nervous system, called a motor neuron. If the motor neuron isn't recruited, the muscle doesn't actively produce force. One way to recruit more motor neurons, and therefore more muscle mass, is to move the bar through the "up" phase (think pulling yourself up in a chin-up, or pressing a bar off your chest during a bench press) as quickly as possible.

When the weights get heavy, it's not possible to actually move the weight fast, but even the INTENT to move the weight quickly lowers the recruitment threshold of the motor neurons. This helps them become active earlier in the movement and helps you get stronger.

This is not true for the "down" or lowering phase of lifts, so always perform this portion of your lifts under control.

-Kevin Neeld

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Unlocking the Nervous System for Huge Strength Increases

Posted in Maximum Strength on February 15th, 2010 at 2:44 PM

The last week has been crazy with all this snow. Hopefully you're one of the lucky few that doesn't have a shoveling-related back injury. In the future, there's a VERY easy way to prevent these injuries...pay someone else to shovel for you. For $30 or so, you can usually find a spry youngster to do all your shoveling for you ans save yourself the annoyance and week of nagging pain.

The Endeavor Staff got back into our training routine this morning. One of our main exercises for today's lift was a Bench Press. We did two warm-up sets (one of 5 reps, one of 3 reps) before doing 3 sets of 1 rep, followed by 2 sets of 10 reps.

Why do 3 x 1 then 2 x 10?

The goal of this training cycle is two fold: Get Stronger and Get Bigger.

Near 1-rep max repetitions (3x1), are EXTREMELY effective in building strength.

Slightly higher rep sets (usually between 6-8, but in this case up to 10), will help build size.

But that's not the only reason.

Performing high intensity (near 1-rep max weight) reps improves the neural drive to the muscles.

Simply, your muscles move because your nervous system (including your brain) tells them to. The STRONGEST message from your nervous system is sent to your muscles when the loads are near your absolute max ability. By performing a few reps like this (think 2-3 sets of 1-2 reps), you maximize the neural drive to the working muscles WITHOUT causing significant fatigue.

This improved neural drive allows you to use more weight for higher rep sets than you would be able to if you just hopped right into them. More weight for more reps equals more size and more strength.

Another way of capitalizing on this improved neural drive is through what I call "overshooting warm-ups". Let's say your goal is to Bench Press 225 for 8 reps. A standard warm-up might look like:

First warm-up set: 135 x 8
Second warm-up set: 185 x 6
First working set: 225 x Hopefully 8

Depending on your strength, 14 warm-up reps may over-fatigue you going into your first working set. An example of an overshooting warm-up that I'd recommend is:

First warm-up set: 135 x 5
Second warm-up set: 205 x 3
Third warm-up set: 245 x 1
First work set: 225 x AT LEAST 8

Just by adding a rep at a weight significantly ABOVE (245) your working weight (225), you'll improve the neural drive to the working muscles.

Train Hard. Train Smart. Get Results.

-Kevin Neeld
Director of Athletic Development

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