Science Of Lifting Flashcards
What are 3 features of a good model
- Captures enough complexity
- Accounts for enough factors to still be user friendly
- Actually works
How do models help us?
Models help us work with a lot of information while making useful predictions
What is the power law distribution?
Majority of your results come from a small number of inputs, with further inputs producing less improvements
How does the power law distribution apply to meal, training, and sleep?
Meals: 1 meal/week < 1 meal/day < 3 meals/day
Training: 1 workout/month < 1 workout/week
Sleep: 2 hours/day < 6 hours/day < 8 hours/day
Does your body differentiate between different types of stress?
No, it has a single pool of adaptive reserves.
What training intensity do you need to get robust hypertrophy gains?
You must lift at least 60% of your 1RM.
What should be your #1 priority in training?
Volume
What is the problem with lifting 90-100% of your 1RM?
It reduces the volume you are capable of lifting
Can you build cardiovascular fitness and strength simultaneously?
No, it’s best to structure your workouts to improve one or the other.
What is the effect of training on the response curve?
It shifts the curve so the y-intercept is farther from 0. Implications are that a reduction of stress will result in losses.
What is the effect of life stresses on the response curve?
- Shift the curve down
- More training is required for gains
- Possible magnitude of adaptations decreases
- Risk of overtraining increases
What is the effect of recovery modalities (i.e., sleep and meditation)?
Shifts the response curve up
What is the effect of calorie deficits on the response curve?
Shifts the curve down
What happens when you have a calorie surplus?
Stress is reduced, the response curve shifts up, and more muscle can be built
Why doesn’t 1+1=2 when executing your training plans?
- There are billions of reactions in your body
- You can only influence your body
Due to the complexity of your biology, what is the best you can do when planning training?
Get a sense of how your body response via trial and error
What is general adaptation syndrome?
The response of your body to stressors of all kinds and how it dips into a pool of adaptation reserves
What is the compensation phase?
The initial drop in performance after a stressor presents itself.
What is the resistance phase?
Adaptive mechanisms adapt and overshoot their response so you are better equipped to deal with a threat next time.
What is the exhaustion (or decompensation) phase?
Occurs when cumulative stress is too much for your body to deal with
What does the Impulse-Response Model track?
2 factors: fatigue and fitness
What is the effect of too much fatigue?
Prevents you from maintaining volume and intensity in your training
Why are deloads important?
Under the I-R Model, fatigue diminishes faster than fitness, so deloads return you to baseline while fitness is preserved
Why can equivalent levels of training not have equivalent fatigue effects?
Higher relative intensity is more fatiguing. You can lift more volume at 60 than 90%
Why is it beneficial to train close to failure?
Helps you learn how to grind out loads with good technique
What is work capacity?
Total amount of training stress you can handle and response to
What factors are involved in work capacity?
- Structural factors (muscles & tendons)
- Metabolic factors
- Nervous system factors
How are structural factors improved?
Muscles and tendons improve with increased training volume.
How do you improve metabolic and nervous system factors?
Through cardiovascular conditioning, which increases speed of energy production and shifts the autonomic nervous system towards more parasympathetic dominance
What are 2 purposes for deloading?
- Decreased injury risk
- Increased responsiveness
What are two ways you can deload?
- Take a week or two off of hard training
- Decrease volume for a few weeks/months
Why do muscles have a memory?
They retain the nuclei build from larger mass. Protein synthesis is faster than nucleation, so muscles bounce back faster.
Why does strength improve faster initially?
You muscles already can move more than your nervous system factors can. After learning how to lift, you can then use your muscles to their full potential
What are the six factors that affect lift capacity?
- Muscle size
- Muscle fiber types
- Segment lengths
- Motor learning factors
- Motivation/arousal/fatigue
- Muscle origins and insertions
What are features of the muscle fiber types?
Type I: less fatiguable, take longer to reach maximal force
Type II: more fatiguable, reach maximal force much faster
Does fiber-type distribution influence how much you can lift?
Not really. Both have approximately the same maximal force production in a given area
What is the impact on muscle origins, insertions, and limb length on force?
Smaller origins and insertions and long limb length produce less torque
What is the only factor you can really change?
Muscle size: big is strong and predicts powerlifting success
How do powerlifters usually structure their workouts?
Main lifts are focused on strength and technical proficiency (i.e., 80-100% 1RM). Accessory lifts are used to build mass (i.e., 60-75% 1RM)
What is the pyramid of nutrition priorities?
Supplement
Timing/frequency
Micros/fiber/water
Macros
Calories
What creates slow body recomposition?
Good training, solid diet, and a small deficit/surplus
What is the effect of being near maintenance?
Not many weight changes occur; your body automatically adapts to the small deficits and surpluses.
What is the effect of body composition on the building/preservation/loss of fat/muscle?
Lean: harder to lose fat & preserve muscle in a deficit. Easier to gain muscle with little fat gain
Fat: easier to lose fat w/o losing muscle. Harder to gain muscle in a surplus
What is the best way to gain muscle?
With a caloric surplus
What is the minimum effective dose?
The minimum input necessary to attain a desired result.
What is the maximum tolerable dose?
Max input a system can handle before negative consequences occur
How does MTD effect differ between training and drugs?
- Benefits accrue up to the MTD in training
- Not the case with drugs
How should you work to get the minimum effective dose?
- Identify direction to move in and find least amount of work necessary
- Increase effort only when necessary
- Focus on high ROI movements
- 6-7 hours of sleep/night
- Good diet 80% of the time
How should you work to get the maximum tolerable dose?
- Everything matters
- Near the edge of overreach
- Maximal sleep
- Additional recovery (i.e., massage)
- Diet dialed in
