Exercise Specificity Flashcards
Exercise Specificity
- Resistance training often aims to increase muscle size and strength
- Skill performance may not improve proportionally to strength gains
Specificity Principle
Training should closely mimic the target skill to maximize benefits
- specific adaptation to imposed demands
- use the same muscles
- match range or motion, joint movements, posture, and velocity
- Consider direction and power/acceleration patterns
Joint angle specificity
- Strength gains from isometric training occur primarily at the trained joint angle and two adjacent angles only
- Electrically stimulated muscles showed no significant strength increases, highlighting neural effect
- Train to multiple joint angles during isometric exercises to maximize strength transfer across a full range of motion
Velocity specificity
- Training at slow velocities increases strength at low speeds but has minimal effect at high speeds
- High-velocity training improves strength at high speeds but less so at low speeds
FORCE-VELOCITY CURVE - Low-velocity training improves isometric strength and the ability to lift heavy weights
- High-speed training increases movement speed with light weights and may improve maximum shortening velocity
What are some practical considerations for velocity specificity
- Isokinetic dynamometers have a max speed of 300 degrees/second, which is slower than many sports movements
- Sport movements are rarely at constant velocity, limiting specificity of isokinetic training
Acceleration Specificity
- Difference acceleration patterns can achieve either the highest final velocity (gradual acceleration) or the shortest movement time over a given range of motion (early peak acceleration)
- Higher instantaneous power is needed for gradual acceleration patterns because the peak force must be exerted at a higher velocity
- Specific acceleration patterns should be trained depending on whether the goal is a short movement time or a high final velocity
Neural aspects of resistance training
- Early strength gains are primarily attributed to neural adaptations, such as increased firing rates or motor units, enhanced recruitment of motor units, and improved synchronization of motor unit firing
- If the strength gain were due to hypertrophy, it would typically take several weeks for sufficient muscle growth through protein synthesis
- If the EMG increases by the same percentage as strength, strength gain can be attributed to neural factors
- If EMG does not increase the strength gains are due to physiological changes
Bilateral Deficit
In weightlifting and isometric contractions, the combined force of two unilateral lifts is often greater than the force that can be produced bilaterally
Unilateral vs bilateral training specificity
unilateral exercise are more effective for improving unilateral skills
Dominant Limb and stabilization in bilateral training
Bilateral exercises place equal load on both limbs, which may reduce the overload on the dominant limb, while unilateral training demands more from stabilizing muscles, potentially offering greater benefits for unilateral skills
Neural power - EMG activation and velocity
- ## Studies looked at EMG model of dynamic contractions to investigate why stronger individuals are not always faster, focusing on differences in neural drive (muscle activation) and muscle mechanics (force-length and force-velocity relationships) which were found to be the primary contributors
Training implications of neural power
The role of specific training methods in modifying neural drive and muscle mechanics remains unclear, but exercise specificity is strongly recommended for improving performance
