Unit 8 Strength (Week 4) Flashcards
Strength is
the ability to contract the muscles with maximum force, given constraints
Major factors that affect strength
Structural/anatomical factors
Physiological/biochemical factors
Psychoneural/psychosocial factors
External/environmental factors
Limit strength is
the amount of musculoskeletal force you can generate for one all-out effort. It is your athletic “foundation.”
There are three kinds of limit strength:
Eccentric strength
Static strength
Concentric strength
Eccentric strength is
how much weight you can lower without losing control.
Static strength is
how much weight you can hold stationary without losing control.
Concentric strength is
how much weight you can lift one time with an all-out muscle contraction.
absolute strength:
The amount of musculoskeletal force you can generate for one all-out effort. Developed through heavy weight training, typically involving above the 80-85% of maximum effort for each lift.
There are two types of strength under the general heading of speed strength:
starting strength and explosive strength
speed strength:
The ability of the neuromuscular system to produce the greatest possible impulse in the shortest possible time.
It is defined in work divided by time, where work is defined as force × distance.
starting strength:
The ability to recruit as many motor units (MU’s) as possible instantaneously at the start of a movement.
explosive strength:
The ability to exert strength or force as rapidly as possible in a given action.
anaerobic strength:
Musculoskeletal force and energy production that does not require oxygen.
linear strength endurance:
Sustained all-out maximum effort over an extended period of time.
nonlinear strength endurance:
The ability to perform an activity with exceeding explosiveness over and over for an extended period of time.
ie Basketball or Soccer
Measures of your cardiovascular efficiency are:
1) a low HR (heart beats/min),
2) a high stroke volume (how much blood you pump out of your heart with each beat),
3) a high ejection fraction of the left ventricle (the % of blood in the left ventricle of your heart muscle that is pushed out with each beat), and
4) a high max O2 uptake ability (how much oxygen your muscles use during exercise).
general strength:
The quality of being physically strong.
Specific Strength:
Limit strength obtained specific to the particular muscle groups that will be most involved in the performance of the events/ activities in which are to be performed.
Special Strength:
A specialized type of strength gained that is specific to a particular sport or activity skill/ event.
Eg. Explosive Strength and Starting Strength for a Shot Putter.
strength curve:
A graphical representation of how the human body generates and applies force in a specific direction.
Angle Q is the definition of
starting strength.
The steeper the line,
the greater the number of muscle fibers you will have simultaneously recruited in the movement.
Angle A: If the angle of each successive tangent becomes greater and greater,
you are going faster and faster in your application of greater force.
Angle A: If each angle stays the same,
this means that your speed is increasing linearly as you apply greater force.
Angle A: If the angles diminish from one angle to the next,
your rate of speed is diminishing as you approach your maximum force output.
this technique is to attempt to make each subsequent angle bigger (to gain muscles mass and strength)
compensatory technique
force:
The interaction that creates work, action, or physical change. Such as a push or a pull or lift.
Fmax:
An aspect of the strength curve that stands for force max. Fmax divided by Tmax is the definition of explosive strength.
Tmax:
Aspect of the strength curve that stands for time max. Measurement of how long it takes from the beginning of upwards (concentric) movement to exert maximum force (Fmax).
P=fd/t
power equals force times distance per unit of time
Explosive strength =
Fmax / Tmax
only (exercise) tests limit strength because
Powerlifting, because if fits into the time constraints
functional strength:
A category of strength that can improve the ability to perform everyday tasks or sports skills, builds overall strength and balance, and augments resistance to injury.
amortization phase:
Also known as the Transition Phase. One of three parts of a standard resistance training exercise, and represents the brief time between the concentric and eccentric phase of a movement.
ballistic stress:
Commonly used by individuals to help them to develop and improve explosiveness and power in the body. This is achieved by accelerating and releasing weight into free space.
Acceleration is best achieved by
improving explosive strength (ability to turn on as many muscle fibers as possible and leave them on).
How to increase starting strength.
CAT, plyometric training, various Olympic lifts, and running drills involving quick starts. Concentric-only “dead movements” are an underutilized effective strategy
compensatory acceleration training (CAT):
A weight lifting technique used to develop explosive strength whereby you accelerate the bar as leverage improves through the movement.
Speed strength is comprised of
starting and explosive strength
Improving Angles A and Q, obeying the principle of overload and the SAID principle will
improve speed strength.
Skills that involve a short amortization phase are purely
ballistic in nature.
Ballistic movements involve two primary components:
starting strength and a stretch reflex.
starting strength and a stretch reflex are improved with
plyometric training (especially depth jumps) as well as skill training.
The principle of specificity ultimately states that training techniques should go from
general to specific in nature.
weight training:
Physical training that involves lifting weights.
seven granddaddy laws of training (these are discussed further in Unit 14):
(1) principle of individual differences,
(2) overcompensation principle,
(3) overload principle,
(4) SAID principle,
(5) use/disuse principle,
(6) GAS principle and
(7) the principle of specificity.
periodization:
How one’s training is broken down into discreet time periods called “macrocycles, mesocycles, and microcycles.” Also known as “periodized training”.
general adaptation syndrome (GAS) principle:
A syndrome in which non-specific reactions of organisms to stress can be grouped into three stages: Alarm, Resistance, and Exhaustion.
supercompensation:
The post training period during which the trained function/parameter has a higher performance capacity than it did prior to the training period.
fitness fatigue is a two-factor model of training
factoring in both the work and the intensity level
fitness fatigue model:
At any time, preparedness is the difference between the positive effects of fitness and the negative affects of fatigue.
delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS):
The pain and stiffness experienced in muscles several hours to days after unaccustomed or strenuous exercise.
flushing workout:
Cleansing a muscle of metabolic toxins by increasing the blood supply to it through exertion
overreaching:
An accumulation of training and/ or non-training stress resulting in a short-term decrement in performance capacity with or without related physiological and psychological signs and symptoms of overtraining
constant resistance:
the weight you are lifting always remains the same
ex lifting a dumbbell or a barbell.
weight training (or resistance training) has two limiting features:
(1) It does not correct for changes in musculoskeletal leverage that occur during an exercise movement, and
(2) it does not correct for reduced force output stemming from fatigue.
Remember the most important law of conditioning:
Your muscles need sufficient stress in order to grow bigger, stronger, or more enduring.
variable resistance:
Strength training equipment which can, through the use of elliptical cams and other such technology, vary the amount of weight being lifted to match the strength curve for a particular exercise.
One major disadvantage of variable resistance training is:
the movement is not natural, therefore it causes confusion in the brain centers that interpret the force and movement pattern. The result is that muscular gains in strength and size are slower and are limited in their final potential.
Major disadvantage of all exercise machines regardless of their underlying technology—is that:
because the movement pattern is directed for you, surrounding muscles that act as stabilizers and assistants are not stressed and therefore never have the chance to grow or strengthen.
overload principle states that you can maximize the level of stress you place on your muscles by
making them work as hard as possible throughout the full range of motion in any given exercise
Four Technologies of Training Equipment
- Constant Resistance Devices
- Variable Resistance Devices
- Accommodating Resistance Devices
- Static Resistance Devices
Accommodating resistance machinery is designed to
allow you to exert maximum resistance throughout the full ROM in each of your exercises
accommodating resistance:
machinery controlling the speed with which you are able to move. By controlling speed, the exertion you are able to deliver is always at maximum throughout the entire range of motion of an exercise.
This technology is very useful during rehabilitation, when injuries are present, and also in sports training for speed-strength.
advantage of controlled speed exercise is
it eliminates ballistic movement.
improves the quality of overload throughout the exercise movement and eliminates the danger of overextended joints, uncontrolled movements, and pulled muscles.
Contracting the muscles without movement is called
static contraction
Isometric exercise is not recommended for those with heart problems or high blood pressure due to
the extreme stress imposed through training.
resistance bands:
An elastic band used for strength training. They are also commonly used in physical therapy, specifically by convalescents of muscular injuries.
overspeed training is a training method that
recruits new muscle tissue to enhance performance when an athlete accelerates their body, or parts of their body, at speeds greater than regular competitive speeds
calisthenics:
exercise movements, without equipment, for the building of the strength, flexibility, and physical grace. The Greeks formed the word from “kalos” (beautiful) and “sthenos” (strength).
power rods:
Resistance technology using rods that bend or twist.
Advantages of Free Weights
effective in developing the smaller synergistic (helping) muscles and stabilizer muscles.
exercises closely match the neurological patterns of associated sports skills from a biomechanical point of view because of joint kinesthesis, leverage similarities, and bodily involvement.
Barbells and dumbbells are more versatile, less expensive, and take up less space.
Disadvantages of Free Weights
adjustable free weights can come apart if care is not taken to tightly secure the collars.
Adjustments in weight from set to set requires affixing or removing plates and replacing and removing collars—often a time-consuming and tedious ordeal.
In certain exercises, it is difficult, if not impossible, to derive maximum isolation of a muscle or muscle group.
Advantages of Machines
Some machines are more efficient in isolating a muscle or muscle group for overload.
For group use, some machines are more efficient in terms of space utilization (especially Universal machines).
Machines are easier to use, and therefore faster workouts are possible. Less time is usually wasted changing plates and waiting for spotters.
Alan Calvert,
one of the important forefathers of modern weight training, recommended thick handles in his 1924 book, Super-Strength.
More recently, in his book, Dinosaur Training: Lost Secrets of Strength and Development, Brooks Kubik also
talks about the advantages of using dumbbells with 2- to 3-inch-circumference handles.
Olympic dumbbell bar offer the distinct advantage of being far more easily managed when the lifter is
pulling the dumbbell(s) to the shoulders or overhead. This is because the inertia of the moving ends of solid dumbbells is eliminated.
unstable surface training:
A training method in which unstable surfaces are used to enhance general balance and contraction potential throughout the body.
Weight training uses three basic grips.
supinated (palm-up) grip,
the pronated (palm-down) grip, and
neutral grip, which is mid-position between the supinated and pronated grips and looks like a handshake
alternated grip,
one hand is pronated and the other is supinated.
In a hook grip, which is similar to the pronated grip,
the thumb is positioned under the index and middle finger on the same side of the bar.
when the thumb does not wrap around the bar, it is called
an open grip.
when the thumb is wrapped around the bar, it is known as
a closed grip.
Trainees new to the fitness lifestyle should exhale through
the sticking point and inhale during the less strenuous portion of the lift.
The sticking point can be referred to as the
transition from the eccentric to the concentric contraction. This is also known as the amortization phase.
To execute a powerful lift or takeoff in sports, you must hold
your breath during execution.
the key is to be sure that you exhale
after passing the sticking point, not before
The warm-up comprises two types:
general and specific.
The purpose of the general warm-up is to
increase the functional potential of the body as a whole,
the purpose of the specific warm-up is to
establish the optimal relationship between the forthcoming movements.
The benefits of a proper warm-up include the following:
Increases the rate at which muscles contract
Increases electrical activity of a muscle
Increases the limit strength of the muscle
Increases the amount of time that a muscle is able to maintain a contraction or contractions (to a certain point)
Improvement in connective tissue’s ability to accept force
Reduction in injury potential
theoretical purposes of warm-up exercises include the following:
Increased muscle temperature assoc with enhanced dissociation of oxygen from red blood cells
Improved metabolic adjustment to heavy work
Increased velocity of nerve conduction
Greater numbers of capillaries opened in the muscles
latissimus dorsi has two main actions on the arm:
adduction (pulling the arms to the sides of the body from an out-to-the-side position) and
extension (pulling the arms down from a horizontal position straight out in front of the body)
commonly referred to as the “lats’ little helper” because the two have the exact same action on the arm.
teres major
triceps muscle has three heads:
the long head (originates at the lower edge of the scapula), the lateral head (originates on the posterior humerus), and the medial head (originates on the distal two thirds of the posterior humerus).
biceps brachii is comprised of two heads:
the long (outer head) and the short (inner head). The biceps brachii is involved in flexion of the elbow as well as supination of the forearm.
The supraspinatus is the rotator cuff muscle that is
injured most often.
Injury often occurs from repetitious overhead movements.
The infraspinatus, which is the most powerful of the three external rotators, is vital to maintaining the posterior stability of the glenohumeral joint. It is also the second most commonly injured rotator cuff muscle.
TRUE
The teres minor works alongside with the infraspinatus.
TRUE
The subscapularis acts with the latissimus dorsi and teres major muscles in extension of the glenohumeral joint, but due to its proximity to the joint is less powerful.
TRUE
