Compound vs. Isolation Movements

If you’ve been working out for a while, or even just starting, you may have heard the terms “compound movements” and “isolation movements.” They can get confusing as to which should be used in certain workouts. Let’s break it down.

Compound Movements:

The Bench Press

As the name suggests, compound movements are typically exercises that engage more than one muscle group and also use various joints. These movements often comprise most of one’s workout, for reasons we’ll discuss later. 

An example of a popular exercise that requires compound movements is the bench press. The bench press requires the activation of your pectoral muscles, shoulders, and triceps, as well as the elbows and shoulder joints. Since compound movements work out more than one muscle group, it is important that you maintain proper form, as the risk of injury is higher for compound movements.

Compound exercises, like the squat and bench press, are considered harder to perform due to how physically demanding they are in contrast to isolation exercises; however, that does mean you get more out of compound exercises overall. 

Another benefit to hitting more muscle groups at once is the fact that you can complete workouts faster, instead of spending more time on exercises that isolate one muscle group at a time. Targeting multiple groups also causes a greater release of hormones—namely testosterone and growth hormones—which are essential for muscle growth. 

List of common exercises with compound movements:

1. Deadlift

2. Squats

3. Bench Press 

4. Lunges 

5. Shoulder press 

6. Pullups

7. Muscle-ups

8. Pushup (& all variations)

1. Standard pushups

2. Wide pushups

3. Diamond pushups

4. Archer pushups 

5. Planche pushups 

Isolation Movements: 

Tricep Kickbacks 

Unlike compound exercises, isolation exercises only work one muscle group at a time, as well as only use one joint. An example of this is the bicep curl, which targets your biceps and uses your elbow. Because this exercise targets one muscle group, its growth benefits are usually localized and concentrated in that group. There is a lower risk of injury when performing isolation movements.

List of common exercises with isolation movements: 

1. Leg extensions

2. Overhead tricep extensions

3. Tricep extensions

4. Tricep kickbacks 

5. Barbell curl

6. Bicep curl

7. Calf raise

8. Leg curls

9. Lateral raises 

Which one should you incorporate?

Some people recommend skipping out on isolation movements, but the truth is that both types of movements are essential and should be part of any workout. Both types of movements have their advantages and disadvantages. 

That being said, exercises with compound movements should still take up the bulk of your workouts, as they engage more muscle groups at a time, save time, and burn more calories at the same time. By making sure the majority of your workouts consists of compound movements, it ensures you get the most out of your efforts.

Exercises with isolation movements should only be included when a muscle group is underused or weak compared to other muscle groups. Consistently only incorporating isolation exercises will result in a higher risk of overtraining one group and neglect on other muscle groups.

Conclusion:

Although some people might say to “only do compound exercises” or “avoid isolation exercises,” at the end of the day, it is important to do both.  The correct balance of both types will lead to better results and growth overall!

Sources:

Laker, Isabelle. “Compound vs. Isolation Exercises.” True Protein, True Protein, 23 Aug. 2017, www.trueprotein.com.au/blogs/exercise/compound-vs-isolation-exercises#:~:text=As%20its%20name%20suggests%2C%20a,one%20specific%20group%20of%20muscles. 

MyMed. “What Are the Pros and Cons of Compound Exercises?” MyMed, www.mymed.com/health-wellness/isolation-exercises-vs-compound-exercises/what-are-the-pros-and-cons-of-compound-exercises. Accessed 31 Aug. 2024. 

ShannonClarkFitness. “Compound vs. Isolated Exercises: Making an Effective Training Program.” Bodybuilding.Com, 23 Jan. 2019, www.bodybuilding.com/fun/sclark55.htm. 

Dunn, Paul. “Muscles Used in the Bench Press - Pt Skills.” PT Skills - INDUSTRY LEADING PERSONAL TRAINING COURSES, 9 Aug. 2023, ptskills.co.uk/muscles-used-in-the-bench-press/#:~:text=Muscles%20of%20the%20Bench%20Press&text=The%204%20main%20joint%20actions,the%20hands%20with%20arms%20extended). 

Training for the 800 M

Introduction:

A middle ground between the sprint events and long distances, the 800 is one of the hardest track events to run. It’s also one of the most unique events to train for, requiring a delicate combination of long-distance endurance and explosive speed. Here we explore some insights into how high-level athletes train.

Types of 800m runners

The type of 800m runner depicted above usually does the 800 as their shortest event and runs the 1600/3200 in addition. Despite lacking in speed, they have greater endurance than sprinters. What’s more, Dartmouth track coach Steve Gardiner quotes the 800m as “approximately 67% anaerobic to 33% aerobic”. Any athlete can run an all-out sprint decently fast, but the aerobic portion sets the difference between the 400m and 800m; not everyone can hold that speed for too long. The opposite is true for sprinters, as most of their training is low repetitions with high intensity, except the repetitions are slightly longer than when training for 400m and under. Lastly, a much rarer type of runner is the jack-of-all-trades who does not excel at any particular event and trains like distance runners or sprinters depending on the coach’s goals.

The training

Beginning with sprinters, anaerobic training focuses on 2-3 minutes max repetitions and has lots of recovery. Longer repetitions train the aerobic system (but still short enough to be productive for the 800m). As for the time period, training cycles are usually about a month with more focus on intense, anaerobic training near the end of the season. Some examples of aerobic and anaerobic workouts are 20-30 minutes at up to 70% effort and up to 12x200s with 3 minutes of rest respectively.

Distance runners usually emphasize anaerobic training more during the second half of the training cycle. For example, the first two months in a six-month cycle would only have 2-3 easy speed sessions a week. The middle could have some 20-30 minute tempo runs and repeats up to 5 minutes. Lastly, interval training results should come from the natural increase in fitness rather than increased intensity. On the other hand, sprinters would focus on 100-120m repeats often up hills to get used to longer repeats and top-end speed. Acceleration is not as important in an 800m as a 100m/200m, so most of the work is getting them used to sustaining top-end speed and lactic acid buildup for the last lap.

Strength training

Another important component in 800m runners is lifting, as they need the explosiveness of sprinters in addition to the endurance requirements. Similar to running, strength work generally uses lighter weights and more reps in the early season, and heavy weights with fewer reps towards the end. Another core component is muscle mobility, especially for the hips. Runners also benefit from plyometrics, as they help train the fast-twitch muscles needed for an 800m. 

Conclusion

Being in between sprints and endurance, training for the 800-meter race is quite unique and combines the challenges of speed and endurance. As a result, it’s one of the hardest races to run and extremely physically demanding to train for.

Sources

“800 Meter Training Plans.” Colorado Track Club, www.coloradotrackclub.com/800-meter-training-plans. Accessed 24 Aug. 2024.

“The 800 Meters – Training Approaches.” Everything Track and Field, www.everythingtrackandfield.com/the-800-meters?srsltid=AfmBOorlxQYR_EXZUVjpgUg9WBmXdX2gWdFeeY7MnYxUrG2F_u75h515. Accessed 24 Aug. 2024.

“800m Training. How to Train for the 800m.” 800m Training. How to Train for the 800m, 12 Mar. 2015, 800mtraining.wordpress.com/.

“800m Workouts.” Track Star USA, 18 Mar. 2024, trackstarusa.com/800m-workouts/.

williab83. “Middle Distance Strength Workouts.” Track and Field Toolbox, 30 June 2020, trackandfieldtoolbox.net/strength-workouts/middle-distance-strength-workouts.

Strength vs. Hypertrophy Training

Introduction:

Everyone who goes to the gym has a goal. Whether that's competing with your friends to see who can lift the most weight, or to impress your crush with defined muscles, you should adjust your training to fit your goals. Training with weights can be split into three groups: muscular strength, muscular hypertrophy, and muscular endurance. We will be looking into the differences between training for strength versus hypertrophy

What is Muscular Strength?:

Muscular strength refers to the maximum force your muscles can exert in a single movement. Muscular strength is more about the quality of your muscles rather than quantity. A person's muscular strength isn't exactly something you can tell just by looking at them. Muscular strength will allow you to move more weight and can be measured with doing certain lifts, such as the bench press, squat, and deadlift. 

What is Muscular Hypertrophy?

Muscular hypertrophy refers to the overall physical increase in the mass of your muscles. The more hypertrophy you get, the bigger your muscles will grow. This will give you the large stature that bodybuilders and other fitness enthusiasts work towards. You may notice muscle hypertrophy when you compare yourself now to a picture of when you first started lifting weights. It can be measured by different body composition tests that provide your skeletal muscle mass.

Strength vs Hypertrophy in People:

When thinking about strength, think of powerlifters. Powerlifting is all about getting as much weight up as possible for a single repetition. Athletes will work to increase their maximum force output to lift the most. They will also practice these movements repeatedly until they can do it with clean, perfect form. 

When thinking about hypertrophy, think of bodybuilders. Bodybuilders often try to pack on as much muscle mass as possible while maintaining the correct muscle proportions. They also aim to have as little body fat as possible to appear more aesthetic.

Strength Training Protocols:

Strength is best trained when you move heavy weights close to your maximum abilities for fewer reps. For example, when performing an exercise to train for strength, you can do as little as one to six reps. You should pick a weight where after you do your desired reps, you feel like you either can’t do another rep, or if you do attempt another rep it would be dangerous (i.e. training to or close to failure). 

In between sets, you should be fully rested, taking between two to four minutes to rest. Additionally, when training strength, make sure to perfect your form to ensure that you can exercise safely.

Hypertrophy Training Protocols:

For hypertrophy training, you should choose a lighter weight that you can do more reps with. You should perform eight to twelve controlled reps, after which you should feel a burning sensation in your muscles that won’t allow any more exertion. When doing the reps, you should really focus on feeling the appropriate muscle(s) contract. It would be best if you took shorter rests in between sets: anywhere from thirty to ninety seconds.

Can You Increase Strength Without Increasing Hypertrophy and Vice Versa?:

There are many reasons that someone would want to increase strength without wishing to increase muscle mass. It is, for the most part, personal preference of appearance, or because they are in a sport (e.g. wrestling) with weight classes, in which they would want to get stronger without gaining weight. When training exclusively for strength, it is very much possible to gain strength without gaining too much muscle mass. 

On the flip side, when training hypertrophy, you will see an increase in strength. There isn’t much you can do about this increase because your muscles are growing stronger.

Conclusion:

While often put together as one, strength and hypertrophy are two different training styles that yield varying results. Strength training focuses on an increase in physical strength by doing fewer reps of heavy weight. Hypertrophy training focuses on helping you gain muscle mass by exercising with lighter weight for more reps. Both strength and hypertrophy training are essential to becoming a high level athlete.

Sources:

Cronkleton, Emily. “What Is Muscular Strength, and What Are Some Exercises You Can Do?” Healthline, Healthline Media, 31 Oct. 2019, www.healthline.com/health/exercise-fitness/muscular-strength. Accessed 24 Aug. 2024.

Frothingham, Scott. “Hypertrophy Training vs. Strength Training: Pros and Cons of Each.” Healthline, 24 Jan. 2020, www.healthline.com/health/exercise-fitness/hypertrophy-vs-strength. Accessed 24 Aug. 2024.

Grate, Christopher. “The Ultimate Guide to Reps and Sets in the Gym.” Onelifefitness.com, Onelife Fitness, 9 Oct. 2023, www.onelifefitness.com/news/gym-reps-sets-ultimate-guide#:~:text=How%20many%20sets%20and%20reps. Accessed 24 Aug. 2024.

Huberman, Andrew. “Foundational Fitness Protocol - Huberman Lab.” Www.hubermanlab.com, 2 Nov. 2022, www.hubermanlab.com/newsletter/foundational-fitness-protocol. Accessed 24 Aug. 2024.

Huberman Lab Clips. “Building Strength vs Building Muscle Size (Hypertrophy) | Dr. Andy Galpin & Dr. Andrew Huberman.” YouTube, 7 Mar. 2023, www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7xiFOxmTzI. Accessed 24 Aug. 2024.

Rep Ranges

Whether you’ve heard this in P.E. class or from your coach, the terms reps and sets might sound familiar. Or perhaps you stumbled across a muscle-building video with numbers displayed on the side like “4-8” or “4 sets of 8 reps”. For example, a video about toning and strengthening arms mentions an exercise plan. One of the exercises is a tricep pulldown for “3 * 10-12” or “3 sets of 10-12 reps”. These patterns of sets and reps are fundamental to all types of strength training, whether resistance, CrossFit, or pilates. This article will cover rep schemes, their importance, their impact on athletes, and examples of rep schemes that best suit your fitness goals!

Background:

Understanding what reps and sets are is essential to comprehend rep schemes fully. A rep or “repetition” is the number of times an exercise is executed. Let’s say a workout requires 20 pushups in a row. That would make it 20 reps of pushups. In addition, a set is a collection of reps, with breaks often between each. Back to the pushup example, one set has 20 pushups. Then, with a 10-15 second break, another 20 pushups. That would be 2 sets of 20 pushups, or “2-20”. 

With a good idea of reps and sets, what is a rep scheme? Rep schemes are specific patterns of reps and sets made to target a designated fitness goal. Some fitness goals include weight loss, fat loss, strength, and endurance. For example, 4-8 (4 sets of 8 reps) or 5-5 (5 sets of 5 reps). Common rep schemes or “The Standard Set” are best suited for new gym goers or athletes. Examples include 4 sets and 8 reps or 5 sets and 5-6 reps. 

Rep Schemes with Loading 

Constant loading is most suited for beginners because it’s simple yet consistent since it requires linear load/ weight for every set. 

For example:

• 5-5 (5 sets of 5 reps) in benching with 100 lbs

• Set 1: 100 lbs * 5 reps

• Set 2: 100 lbs * 5 reps

• Set 3: 100 lbs * 5 reps

• Set 4: 100 lbs * 5 reps

• Set 5: 100 lbs * 5 reps

*Rep schemes best for benching usually fall between 1-5 rep range for 4-6 sets to maximize strength. 

Simple as it may look, sometimes finishing a set is challenging due to accumulated muscle fatigue. When this happens, take a rep down and continue. 

For example:

• 5-5 (5 sets of 5 reps) in benching with 100 lbs

• Set 1: 100 lbs * 5 reps

• Set 2: 100 lbs * 5 reps

• Set 3: 100 lbs * 5 reps – Fail (decrease the amount of reps in the next set) 

• Set 4: 100 lbs * 4 reps

• Set 5: 100 lbs * 4 reps

But if the sets are too simple and can be completely entirely, increase the weight by 2-3% in your next workout with a consistent rep scheme. 

Another type of loading can help build more capacity and focus on hypertrophy (muscle growth). Also known as “Progressive Loading,” step loading focuses more on a dynamic approach to increasing strength and intensity. Weight is added on with a consistent rep scheme until failure. 

Back to the bench example:

• 5-5 (5 sets of 5 reps) in benching with 100 lbs to start

• Set 1: 100 lbs * 5 reps (success)

• Set 2: 102 lbs * 5 reps (success)

• Set 3: 104 lbs * 5 reps (fail/ dropoff)

Options: 

• Set 4: 102 lbs * 5 reps

• Set 5: 102 lbs * 5 reps

Or 

• Set 4: 104 lbs * 3 reps

• Set 5: 104 lbs * 3 reps

If there is a drop-off (i.e., you can only do 3 reps), either lower the weight and finish the reps or keep the weight/load but do fewer reps. On the next workout, start with the weight of your previous successful set. For example, instead of a load of 104 lbs, start with 102 lbs. Be flexible with what best suits your body.

Graph of various rep schemes’ effect on performance recovery

Importance:

Should rep schemes always be used in a workout? It depends on what fits best, but doing continuous reps can lead to early fatigue, reduced work capacity, and increased risk of injury. It can also reduce the capacity to complete reps in the next set or exercise. If you have an intent to do reps until failure, it is best to do them at the last set. However, beginners in weight training or strength training exercises should use rep schemes to maintain consistency and simplicity. Rep schemes are also proven beneficial as they allow the body to recover between sets. 

Shorter rest times increase:

• Production of lactic acid slightly temporarily accelerates metabolism

• Concentrations of anabolic hormones (ex. Growth hormone)

Longer rest times increases:

• Likelihood to complete all sets; provides efficiency in workout

• Replenishes ATP/energy

• Provides strength

• Replenishes energy ( which is needed for weight training)

Effect on Athletes: 

Athletic performance depends not only on how athletes train but rather the reps they use in their exercise. Olympic weightlifters require heavy amounts of strength to lift their load during the competition. Their rep scheme is from a range of 3-5 reps followed by 6-8 sets to achieve volume, maintain intensity, and maximize strength. Step loading is also incorporated into their training. 

However, every athlete is different in sport and physical strength. What fits a specific athlete will depend on the trainers or coaches, but in general, here are the best rep ranges:

• 3-6 reps: Increase the weight to a load where you can do 3-6 reps with, which is around 85-90% of the heaviest weight you can lift (powerlifting).

• 4-6 reps: Increase the weight around 40-60% of the heaviest weight you can lift with high velocity for active recovery and athletic ability (power training).

• 8-12 reps: Increase the weight around 70-80% of the heaviest weight you can lift for hypertrophy (bodybuilding).

• 15-20 reps: Increase the weight around 50-60% of the heaviest weight you can lift for muscular endurance (best for runners). 

Graph depicting muscle growth of biceps and quadriceps trained at different rep ranges.

Other Examples:

Weight lifting/ resistance training aren’t the only ways rep schemes are incorporated. Let’s look at some other training and fitness goals that rep schemes can be maximized in:  

Rep Schemes for CrossFit 

• CrossFit is a type of strength training that uses constantly varied workouts of high intensity. 

• The standard rep scheme is the 21-15-9. 

• This system uses descending reps to allow an athlete to push equally hard in each round with less fatigue. 

• If doing a consistent amount each round like constant loading, the “decay rate” of muscle fatigue would tire the athlete in the earlier set and make them unable to finish the next round. 

Rep Schemes for Strength 

• 1-6 sets of 1-6 reps. 

• This helps produce as much force as possible in heavy loads for fewer reps. 

Rep Schemes for Fat Loss/ Muscle Definition 

• 2-4 sets of 10-15 reps

• Longer reps can cause changes to muscle and connective tissues, making the body more toned.

Chart depicting the best rep/set schemes for different fitness goals. 

Conclusion: 

Exercise is vital to every one of our lives, especially when it comes to training for a sport or competition. From beginner to advanced athletes, rep schemes serve as a foundation for all types of strength training. Rep schemes also prevent a higher risk of injury and can create consistency and organization, making workouts more efficient. Understanding rep schemes also plays an important role with weights/ loads, such as constant loading and step loading. In addition, utilizing various ranges of rep schemes can help you achieve your fitness goals, whether for a toned body, bodybuilding, or strength. These patterns of reps and sets don't always have to be incorporated into your training, but understanding what they are leads to a better knowledge of what is suitable for your body and your fitness goals. 

Sources:

CrossFit. 2019. “What Is CrossFit?” @CrossFit. 2019. https://www.crossfit.com/what-is-crossfit.

Johnson, Matthew . 2017. “GymCloud.” GymCloud. April 3, 2017. https://gymcloud.com/articles/fit-pro/best-set-rep-schemes-getting-lean/#:~:text=If%20you%20want%20to%20build.

Kelly , Amanda Weiss. 2024. “The Benefits of Strength Training for Young Athletes.” Www.uhhospitals.org. January 23, 2024. https://www.uhhospitals.org/blog/articles/2024/01/the-benefits-of-strength-training-for-young-athletes#:~:text=Research%20has%20demonstrated%20that%20supervised.

KILO Personal Trainer & Strength Coach Education. 2024. “Rep Schemes Demystified: Maximizing Strength Gains (Proven Strategies) between 2 Racks | Episode 7.” YouTube. June 17, 2024. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFpZiJUdf8I.

Leyland, Matt. 2022. “How Many Sets and Reps for Weight Loss? | Fitness Lab.” Fitness Lab. September 15, 2022. https://fitnesslab.fit/how-many-sets-and-reps-for-weight-loss/.

Mahaffey, Kinsey. 2022. “How to Increase Your Bench Press Max in 2022: The Best Ways to Bench More.” Nasm.org. 2022. https://blog.nasm.org/how-to-increase-bench-press-max#:~:text=To%20increase%20maximum%20strength%2C%20you.

Mills, Peter. 2019. “If I Can’t Finish My Set, Should I Lower the Weight and Complete the Remaining Reps, or Leave It as Is (Trying to Build Muscle)?” Quora. 2019. https://www.quora.com/If-I-can-t-finish-my-set-should-I-lower-the-weight-and-complete-the-remaining-reps-or-leave-it-as-is-trying-to-build-muscle.

Silva, David. 2017. “Reps, Sets and Rest Time: Are They Important?” Zumub Blog. December 17, 2017. https://www.zumub.com/blog/en/reps-sets-rest-time-important/.

SOS Athletic Excellence. 2023. “Constant Loading Explained.” YouTube. March 21, 2023. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uwD-gMLyng.

Suchomel, Timothy J., Sophia Nimphius, and Michael H. Stone. 2016. “The Importance of Muscular Strength in Athletic Performance.” Sports Medicine 46 (10): 1419–49. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-016-0486-0.

Tan, Sharlene. n.d. “What Are Exercise Reps?” WebMD. https://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/what-are-exercise-reps.

“Understanding Prescribed Rep Ranges.” 2023. Springfieldstrengthandconditioning.com. 2023. https://www.springfieldstrengthandconditioning.com/blog/understanding-prescribed-rep-ranges#:~:text=Rep%20schemes%20are%20specific%20reps.

Wynn, Kelsey. 2022. “The Most Important Rep-Range Training Study You’ve Never Heard Of.” Spartan Race. March 25, 2022. https://www.spartan.com/blogs/unbreakable-training/optimal-rep-range.

Different Types of Push-ups

A push-up is one of the most basic/well-known ways a person can exercise their upper body and core. It’s also a type of workout that can help improve cardiac health and metabolism. However, this simple exercise has many different variations far beyond just the standard push-up - the one where a person starts in a high plank, lowers their chest to the floor, and back up in one rep. 

Types of Push-ups:

Standard Push-up/Strict Push-up

This is the most well-known push-up type. To do this variation, a person starts in a plank position and looks at the floor. Next, the person bends their elbows until their chest is close to the floor, but not resting on the floor. After that, they straighten their elbows until they return to their original position. A person should keep their hips and shoulders straight, neither rising before or after the other.

This type exercises the chest, deltoids, triceps, upper back, and core. 

Incline Push-up

For beginners who struggle to do a standard push-up, they can start with the incline push-up. This type does not require the person to start at a plank position, but instead, they place their hands on some form of elevated surface - a bit more than shoulder-width apart. Then, proceed as a normal standard push-up. People can adjust the difficulty of the push-up, a higher angle means an easier workout, and vice versa.

This type exercises the chest, triceps, upper back, and core - although to a lesser extent than the standard push-up.

Knee Push-up

This is another version of the standard push-up that has been modified for beginners. A person starts with their knees resting on the ground instead of the plank position. Then, they do a pushup like normal, keeping their knees on the floor. However, this type of push-up has some downsides, as keeping the knees on the floor can reduce the engagement of the glutes and core, which may cause lower back pain. If a person does not distribute weight well enough, problems affecting their kneecaps could develop.

This type exercises the chest, triceps, and upper back with less emphasis on the core.

Wide Push-up

This type of push-up is a variation of push-ups that exercises muscles a bit differently, as it targets the chest and shoulder more than the standard. A person starts in a plank position, except their hands are placed wider than their shoulders. Then, it’s the same as the standard push-up. It’s also noted that a person’s chest at the lowest point during the rep is just below the elbows.

This type mostly exercises the chest but does also target the other muscles commonly targeted by the standard variation, although to a lesser degree.

Negative Push-up

This push-up is a bit more advanced than the standard push-ups, as instead of going down and up at the same pace, the person goes down slowly and back up quickly. This introduces endurance and is a greater challenge as a person needs to keep their muscles tense for a longer period. 

This type exercises the chest, deltoids, triceps, upper back, and core. 

Conclusion:

While this list is by no means exhaustive of all the different types of push-ups, it includes some of the more common types and exactly which muscle groups are exercised. Push-ups have many different types, and the same variation of a push-up may also have different names from different sources. These five types are the more simple variations, all starting from some version of the plank. Other, more creative variations include the bear push-up, handstand push-up, and T Push-up.

Sources:

Preiato, Daniel. “What Muscles Do Push-Ups Work?” Healthline, Healthline Media, 10 July 2023, www.healthline.com/health/fitness-exercise/muscles-worked-push-ups. 

Thomason, Kristine. “15 Push-up Variations to Master at Every Level of Your Fitness Journey.” 15 Push-Up Variations for Every Fitness Level | The Output by Peloton, Peloton Interactive, www.onepeloton.com/blog/push-up-variations/. Accessed 17 Aug. 2024. 

Carpenter, Hayden. “The Complete Guide to Every Single Kind of Push-Up.” Outside Online, 16 July 2024, www.outsideonline.com/health/training-performance/types-of-pushups/. 

Pardee, Lauren. “When It Comes to Push-up Modifications, Elevated Push-Ups Reign Supreme.” Popsugar, 14 Aug. 2020, www.popsugar.com/fitness/if-knee-push-ups-hurt-give-elevated-push-ups-try-instead-47693120. 

“Negative Push-up Guide: How to Master Negative Push-Ups - 2024.” MasterClass, www.masterclass.com/articles/negative-push-up-guide. Accessed 17 Aug. 2024. 

Training in the Heat

Due to the effects of global warming, the world has been gradually heating up, resulting in many places around the world reaching record-high temperatures well above 90+ degrees Fahrenheit. This trend of rising temperatures poses a question to athletes: how will they continue training in these unbearable conditions?

Dangers of training in the Heat:

While heat can just seem like a dreadful factor to push through while training, neglecting the impact of it on the body can lead to potentially harmful consequences. Some athletes may not have the best heat perception and can easily push their bodies too far, leading to heat exhaustion and even heatstroke. Heat exhaustion is caused by dehydration while overexerting the body in a hot environment. This results in a failure to regulate body temperature which will lead to diminished physical performance due to nausea, muscle weakness/cramping, and rapid heart rate which can negatively impact endurance. A more severe form of heat exhaustion is heatstroke: the condition where the body stops sweating and loses the ability to regulate its temperature. When a person has heatstroke, their body temperature will rapidly increase to dangerously high levels and can potentially incapacitate them, leading to the damage of various internal organs such as the brain, and possibly death. Such effects of over-exertion in heat can be unnoticeable and easy to ignore until it’s too late.

Homeostasis:

Homeostasis in the human body as a result of temperature changes.

While training in the heat it is important to recognize one of the most important functions of the human body: homeostasis. In biology, homeostasis is defined as the regulation of a system that helps to maintain a stable internal environment. The many systems and metabolic pathways in the body require a stable environment to work efficiently. Enzymes, proteins that help speed and facilitate biological reactions, require a specific pH and temperature to function. In temperatures and pH levels outside of the perfect range, proteins (enzymes in this case) will start to lose their shape, causing them to work less efficiently or stop functioning altogether. When this happens, reactions inside the body that makeup systems like the cardiovascular system will start to fail.

Homeostasis is like a cycle as described in the above picture. For example, when the body is too hot, your blood vessels will dilate, resulting in greater sweating. Sweating results in evaporative cooling: sweat evaporates off the skin, cooling down the body. When you reach a normal temperature, the sweating stops.

Heat Acclimatization:

In order to train safely and be able to compete in hotter environments, athletes need to become acclimated to the heat. As the body is gradually exposed to natural heat, it will develop adaptations to systems that help regulate homeostasis. To acclimatize to the heat, it takes about 2 weeks of daily exposure to heat. When first starting out on this regimen, an athlete should not spend too much time training in the sun. It is good to start with 30 to 60 minutes of exercise in heat daily and gradually build up to 60 to 90 minutes of heat exposure per day over the span of a few weeks. Athletes should be especially wary of how their body feels as they train in the heat. Overexertion and heat-induced illnesses can come out of nowhere to unsuspecting athletes. It is also important to drink lots of water before, during, and after training as the goal is to encourage the body to sweat more to regulate body temperature. Sweating is one of the most important mechanisms in regulating body temperature and requires a ready supply of fluid in the body in order to function. The body can lose weight from just sweating during exercise so it is important to replenish the fluids in your body.

The effect of heat acclimatization is that athletes will be able to exercise more comfortably in the heat. Bodily systems will function more efficiently in hot environments due to the body developing adaptations in homeostasis (e.i. Runners having a lower heart rate and perceived exertion at the same pace and temperature compared to before acclimatization). The blood vessels dilate quickly in heat, resulting in more sweat production. It is important to realize that heat acclimatization helps you train more effectively in the heat but at the cost of having to drink a greater amount of water. Water and electrolytes are what fuel the process of sweating and they cannot be neglected. Heat acclimatization doesn’t mean you can drink less water; it is quite the opposite.

It takes 2 to 3 weeks for someone to adapt to the heat, but it only takes about a week without consistent heat exposure for an athlete to start losing the heat acclimation adaptations. After three weeks of minimal heat exposure, the body will return to baseline levels of heat acclimation.

Conclusion:

Training in the heat is a dreadful idea to many athletes, but when it becomes necessary, it is important to remember not to do too much too soon. Heat acclimation takes time and doing excess amounts of heat training to begin will have adverse effects.

Sources:

Gatorade Sports Science Institute. “Heat Acclimatization to Improve Athletic Performance in Warm-Hot Environments.” Gatorade Sports Science Institute, 2016, www.gssiweb.org/sports-science-exchange/article/sse-153-heat-acclimatization-to-improve-athletic-performance-in-warm-hot-environments. ‌Accessed 17 Aug. 2024. ‌

Hutchinson, Alex. “How to Run in the Heat like the Pros.” Outside Online, Outside Online, 19 June 2024, www.outsideonline.com/health/training-performance/running-in-the-heat/. Accessed 17 Aug. 2024. ‌

Mosley, Philip. “Why Heat Training Works.” TrainingPeaks, 24 July 2020, www.trainingpeaks.com/blog/why-heat-training-works/. ‌Accessed 17 Aug. 2024. ‌

Nandi, Jathan. “Heat-Related Injuries.” The Mending Playbook, 2 Jan. 2024, www.themendingplaybook.org/physical-injuries/heat-injuries?rq=dehydration. Accessed 17 Aug. 2024. ‌

“Heat Acclimatization.” Heat Acclimatization - an Overview | ScienceDirect Topics, Science Direct, www.sciencedirect.com/topics/medicine-and-dentistry/heat-acclimatization#:~:text=Heat%20adaptation%2C%20often%20referred%20to,and%20skin%20temperatures%20from%20either. Accessed 17 Aug. 2024.

“Heat Stress: Acclimatization.” DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, 2017.

https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/mining/userfiles/works/pdfs/2017-124.pdf

“Homeostasis.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, inc., 29 July 2024, www.britannica.com/science/homeostasis.

Core and Abs

Having a strong core and abs is crucial both to overall physical strength and aesthetics. Whether you're training to be a varsity athlete or to look like Arnold Schwarzenegger, you're going to need to build up your core. In this article, we'll delve into the various muscles in the abdominal region, how to train them, and how a strong core can help you get closer to your fitness goals.

What muscles make up the core?

A common misconception is that the core is only the abs; however, there are many other muscles that make up the abdominal region, some of which are listed below:

The main abdominal muscles.

• Rectus Abdominis: These muscles are commonly known as the "six-pack." They are located at the front of the abdomen between the transversus abdominis and help with core stability and movement.

• Transversus (Transverse) Abdominis: This muscle lies behind the rectus abdominis, deep in the abdomen. They wrap around the spine and are the main stabilizing muscle for the core.  The transversus abdominus supports your pelvis and spine and protects your internal organs in the core. 

• External Oblique: The external obliques are located on the sides and front of your abdomen and are used for twisting and turning motions. 

• Internal Oblique:  These are located underneath the external obliques, which also help with twisting movements.

Together with other smaller muscles, these tissues work to stabilize your core and protect your midsection from injury. When your core is weak or injured, your upper and lower body may not work as effectively.

Why train your core?

Having a strong core is essential for all athletes, regardless of the sport you play. Training the core can be key for athletes looking to push their fitness and performance to the next level. Here are some ways a strong core can benefit you:

• Balance/stability: Your core muscles are necessary for steadiness, which most sports rely on. Having better stability can make it easier to maneuver around the field and is additionally useful in everyday life.

• Overall physical strength: Core muscles support the rest of the muscles in your body. This allows you to utilize your upper and lower body more efficiently. One of the core’s main functions is to allow you to transfer energy between your upper and lower body, leading to more power in your movements. For athletes, this translates to a stronger swing, throw, or kick.

• Endurance: A strong core helps reduce fatigue and improve endurance. For runners, core work can help them run faster for longer periods of time. Boxers as well need a strong core to persist through strong hits to the abdomen.

• Injury prevention/improved posture: Another important function of the core is to protect your back and spine and improve your posture. When your core is weak, your body won’t be as capable of handling excessive pressure coming from lifting something heavy. Thus, a strong core will make you more injury-resistant.

The Six-pack

Many seek the aesthetic goal of having a “six-pack” though are often disappointed after they go through numerous rounds of planks with no signs of progress. Although tons of websites online claim to show you how to get a six-pack in one week, three days, or even five minutes, it’s just not that simple.

There are two main components to getting a six-pack. First, you have to train your core muscles, so that they will grow and become more visible. This takes time and cannot happen within a short period. However, the larger component to visibility is body fat. If your abs are not showing, that does not necessarily mean you have a weak core, but may instead be because you have too much subcutaneous belly fat. Burning that fat is a key factor to helping you attain a six-pack.

Having low body fat can be dangerous, however. You need to make sure that you aren’t sacrificing your nutrition and health in attaining this goal.

Core exercises

Here are some exercises you can use to strengthen your core:

• Bicycle crunch

• Bridge

• Plank 

• Jackknife sit-ups

• Leg raises

There are a plethora of other exercises that train your core, both directly and indirectly. Doing other exercises, such as push-ups, can activate your core muscles as well. Running also builds your core and is a viable option too.

Conclusion:

A strong core is necessary for athletes looking to perform their best. By providing stability and strength to the whole body along with protecting the back and spine, core muscles are essential to the body’s function and should not be neglected. Developing a strong core is not only an athletic benefit, but an asset in day-to-day life as well. If you haven’t trained core already, it’s definitely worth giving a try.

Sources:

Barber, Aaron. “Core Stability: What Is It and Why Is It Important?” Nationwide Children's Hospital, 5 July 2018, https://www.nationwidechildrens.org/family-resources-education/700childrens/2018/07/core-stability.

Bubnis, Daniel. “6-Pack Abs: What They Mean and How to Get Them.” Healthline, 15 November 2021, https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/best-ways-to-get-abs. Accessed 2024.

“Core exercises: Why you should strengthen your core muscles.” Mayo Clinic, 22 September 2022, https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/fitness/in-depth/core-exercises/art-20044751.

“Exercises to improve your core strength.” Mayo Clinic, 25 August 2023, https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/fitness/in-depth/core-strength/art-20546851.

Ribaudo, Anna. “A Guide to Your Core Muscles, from a PT.” HSS, 12 February 2024, https://www.hss.edu/article_what-are-core-muscles.asp.

Calisthenics

Introduction

To many that are ready to begin a journey on their fitness, calisthenics is a promising place to start. Calisthenics is a type of exercise focused on using one’s own body weight to generate resistance during movements. As a result, many calisthenics exercises do not require equipment- an idea that is appealing to beginners. In addition, almost everybody can start a workout, considering the movements required are relatively si mple. Exercises are typically completed for many repetitions to help build muscular endurance, and advanced athletes should add extra weights or fitness bands for more resistance.

Types of Calisthenic Exercises:

• Pullups: targets upper back and shoulder muscles

• Pushups: targets pectoral and tricep muscles

• Planks: targets abdominal/core muscles

• Lunges: targets buttocks and thigh muscles

• Dips: targets pectoral and tricep muscles

• Crunches: targets abdominal muscles

• Jumping Jacks: targets whole body 

Benefits

1.Greater Muscular Strength

Calisthenics can be a great way to work out a large amount of muscles, especially those you don’t typically use often, which greatly increases one’s strength. This can give people the confidence to improve, while also allowing for more diverse workouts in the future.

2. Increased Muscular Endurance

Because of its use of high repetition exercises, calisthenics is very good at pushing all of one’s muscles to their limits and improving stamina. Muscular endurance can be helpful in many day-to-day activities such as carrying objects long distances.

3. Easy to Start

By its nature, calisthenics is friendly to beginners. It requires very little equipment due to its focus on body weight exercises, meaning that anybody can start it without needing to spend money on a gym membership or without leaving their home. Calisthenics also has a very low risk of injury for those who are inexperienced.

4. Improved Coordination and Balance

Through completing body weight exercises, calisthenics improves one’s coordination by establishing a strong connection between the mind and the body, allowing the two to work together more easily. Exercises like the downward dog can also greatly increase flexibility.

5. Targets Broad Muscle Groups

Common calisthenics exercises can be combined to workout the entire body and strengthen almost all of one’s muscles.

6. Balance of Cardiovascular and Muscular Exercises

Calisthenics, while strengthening muscles, can also function as cardiovascular exercise, which increases blood flow. This translates to calisthenics serving multiple purposes and being very versatile.

Conclusion

Calisthenics is a good way to improve whole body muscular strength, muscular endurance, and coordination. Despite being simple, calisthenics has a little bit of everything and is a viable option for anybody to add to their gym routine.

Sources:

Cirino, Erica. “8 Calisthenics Workouts.” Healthline, Healthline Media, 25 Apr. 2017, https://www.healthline.com/health/fitness-exercise/calisthenics.Clinic, Cleveland. “5 Calisthenics To Try.” Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland Clinic, 3 Dec. 2022, https://health.clevelandclinic.org/calisthenics.

Johnson, Shannon. “Calisthenics: What It Is, How to Do It, Exercises, and More.” Medical and Health Information | MedicalNewsToday, Medical News Today, 28 Feb. 2020, https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/calisthenics.

Pagán, Camille Noe. “Calisthenics: Benefits, Types of Exercises, and More.” WebMD, WebMD, 11AD, https://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/benefits-calisthenics.

“What Is Calisthenics? 18 Calisthenics Exercises for Beginners.” TODAY.Com, TODAY, 26 July 2024, https://www.today.com/health/diet-fitness/calisthenics-rcna80283

Finding Reliable Training Videos on YouTube

Training from home can be challenging, since many athletes don’t have a personal trainer or a gym in their living room. However, with the use of modern technology, many athletes have found YouTube an amazing way to stay fit without spending too much. With hundreds of fitness videos streaming the platform, it can be both daunting and empowering to have so much information at one's fingertips; thus, many athletes can fall into the pit of trainers using YouTube as a quick cash grab, rather than a true place of fitness. In this article, we will take a deeper dive into five important tips to remember when training with YouTube and how to avoid false advertisements.

Tip 1: Consider Your Goals

When creating a training plan, it is important to first understand why you are training. Training to gain muscle requires vastly different exercises than training to recover from an injury, so understanding what you want out of your workouts is crucial for success. Once you have established your goal, ensure that it is SMART; relying on SMART goals (specific, measurable, attainable, reasonable, and timely) can help create goals that are strong and also catered to yourself. With a clear picture in mind of your goal, now you can find workouts online that can help specifically with your needs; this helps weed through the videos that are unhelpful for you.

Tip 2: Find the best intensity

Based on your current level of fitness, it also is important to find your ideal intensity of workout. You still want the workout to be challenging, but not so challenging that you overwork your body. If you try a video that is above your fitness level, then you could experience negative effects like:

• Extreme breathlessness

• Nausea

• Dizziness and fainting

• Muscle and joint pain

• Extreme perspiration

• Chest pain and pressure

To avoid this, you should identify the level of intensity in your workout by using a test. One common test is the “talk test.” If you can talk and sing after exercising, then the workout is too low in intensity. If you can talk, then you are at a moderate level. If you cannot talk without losing your breath, then you are at a vigorous intensity.

Many workouts on YouTube use keywords like “beginner.” “intermediate,” or “advanced” to sort them better for users. So, if you are doing a “beginner” workout but are able to sing afterwards, consider stepping up in intensity to add to your workout. This helps add to the reliability of the workout since it becomes more catered to your level of athleticism, thus pushing you to the limit without overworking yourself.

Tip 3: Create or Find a Plan:

Once you have established what goals and intensity your workouts should be, now is time to create a consistent plan. This plan should include a variety of workouts to ensure that you are reaching all the important aspects of remaining fit. Mayo Clinic finds that a well-rounded fitness routine should include aerobic exercise, core exercises, balance training, and flexibility in addition to the standard strength training; focusing on all areas of fitness will allow you to feel stronger in more ways than one.

YouTube has many videos that fall under each of these aspects, and some creators even create playlists to ensure that you don’t have to seek them out yourself. Be sure to check that these videos still fall under the same intensity and goal-based results though!

Tip 4: Recognize signs of cash grabs/false advertisement:

The hardest part about training on YouTube is understanding that some fitness creators are not there for your health, but rather to make money. There are plenty of signs that can help you understand whether a creator is making true workout videos or if they are just making a cash grab.

Selling a product as a “perfect supplement:” many creators start a brand to help sell their products to their viewers, and that by itself is totally normal! It’s when they start pitching false advertisements that most likely won’t improve your athletic performance at all that creates a problem.

Claiming to be the only person with knowledge: This typically goes hand-in-hand with selling an item; if a creator states that watching only their videos will create a competitive edge, then they are looking to keep you watching for money rather than improve your skills.

Promising quick and easy results: as sad as it is, becoming an athlete is anything but a quick process. Training isn’t always going to be difficult, but workouts promising rock hard abs in a week are misleading. Real progress comes with consistency and effort over extensive periods of time.

Conclusion:

So, to wrap this whole list up, training on YouTube can be incredibly transformative if you know what you're doing! Setting goals, creating a solid workout plan, and then finding the right level of intensity all lead to a great blueprint for success! Lastly, knowing the signs of shady content creators will prevent you from falling into the clutches of false advertisement.

Sources:

Better Health Channel. (2012). Physical activity – setting yourself goals. Vic.gov.au. https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/healthyliving/physical-activity-setting-yourself-goals

Common Health Scams. (2022, January 6). Consumer Advice. https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/common-health-scams

Mayo Clinic Staff. (2018). 5 elements of a well-rounded fitness routine. Mayo Clinic. https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/fitness/in-depth/fitness-training/art-20044792

Services, D. of H. & H. (n.d.). Exercise intensity. Www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au. https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/healthyliving/exercise-intensity#exercise-intensity-warning-signs

Pilates

Pilates, developed in the early 20th century by Joseph Pilates, has become a popular method of exercise known for its comprehensive approach to body conditioning. Initially used by dancers for injury recovery, Pilates now attracts a diverse range of individuals seeking its numerous health benefits. Combining approximately 50 simple, repetitive exercises, Pilates aims to enhance muscle strength, endurance, flexibility, posture, and balance.

Focus on the Core:

The core muscles, including the abdominal muscles, lower back, hips, and buttocks, are crucial for stabilizing the body. Pilates exercises are designed to engage these muscles through precise movements and controlled breathing. Positions and movements often require the arms and legs to maintain or apply loads to the core, leading to strength gains in these areas as well.

Muscle Engagement:

Pilates emphasizes muscle engagement through slow, sustained movements. Each exercise sequence is performed with attention to proper breathing and abdominal control. This methodical approach ensures that muscles are rarely worked to the point of exhaustion, allowing for intense concentration and precise muscle activation. As a result, Pilates helps build muscle strength and endurance without causing excessive strain.

Balance and Coordination:

Pilates exercises require concentration and focus, moving the body through precise ranges of motion. This concentration helps improve balance and coordination, as the body learns to move in a controlled and purposeful manner. Enhanced balance and coordination are beneficial for everyday activities and overall physical fitness.

Equipment:

1. Resistance bands

2. Reformers: Exercise machines with a moveable carriage that provide resistance

3. Foam rollers

4. Barrels

5. Bars

6. Mats: Used for mat-based Pilates that relies on gravity and body weight for resistance

Health Benefits:

1. Pain relief, particularly for lower back issues

2. Improved posture

3. Increased lung capacity through deep breathing

4. Stress relief and overall mental well-being

Conclusion:

Pilates is an effective form of exercise that strengthens the body through a comprehensive approach to muscle engagement, flexibility, and balance. By focusing on core strength and stability, Pilates enhances muscle tone and endurance, supports balanced muscle development, and improves posture. Its adaptability makes it suitable for individuals of all fitness levels, providing numerous health benefits. Whether using specialized equipment or performing mat-based exercises, Pilates offers a versatile and effective way to achieve a stronger, more balanced body.

Sources:

Kloubec, June. “Pilates: How Does It Work and Who Needs It?” Muscles, Ligaments and Tendons Journal, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 29 Dec. 2011, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3666467/#:~:text=Pilates%20uses%20a%20combination%20of,enough%20to%20challenge%20skilled%20athletes. Accessed 18 July 2024.

“Pilates and Yoga - Health Benefits.” Better Health Channel, Department of Health & Human Services, 31 July 2007, www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/pilates-health-benefits. Accessed 18 July 2024.

“Pilates: Overview, Pros and Cons, Benefits, and More.” WebMD, www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/a-z/what-is-pilates. Accessed 18 July 2024.

The Benefits of Cryotherapy and Vibrations Post Injury

In a world of sports medicine, two innovative techniques have gained considerable attention for their potential to enhance recovery and alleviate pain: cryotherapy and vibrations. These methods have shown promise in helping individuals recover more efficiently from injuries. This article delves into the science behind cryotherapy and vibrations, exploring how these therapies can benefit those dealing with pain and recovery post-injury.

Understanding Cryotherapy

Cryotherapy, or cold therapy, involves exposing the body to extremely cold temperatures for short periods. This technique can be applied locally using ice packs or cold compresses, or systemically through whole-body cryotherapy (WBC) chambers. The primary goal of cryotherapy is to reduce inflammation, numb pain, and promote healing.

Benefits of Vibrations Therapy in Injury Recovery

Improved Circulation: Vibrations therapy enhances blood flow to the muscles and tissues, promoting the delivery of oxygen and nutrients essential for healing. This increased circulation can aid in the recovery process after injuries and surgeries, such as ACL replacements.

Pain Relief: Vibrations therapy has been shown to reduce pain by stimulating the release of endorphins, the body's natural painkillers. This can provide relief from chronic pain and discomfort associated with injuries and surgical recovery.

Enhanced Flexibility and Range of Motion: Regular vibrations therapy sessions can improve joint flexibility and range of motion. This is crucial for individuals recovering from ACL replacements, as it aids in restoring normal function and mobility to the knee joint.

Combined Benefits of Cryotherapy and Vibrations Therapy

While cryotherapy and vibrations therapy each offer unique benefits, combining these two modalities can provide a synergistic effect, enhancing the overall recovery process. The anti-inflammatory and pain-relieving properties of cryotherapy can be complemented by the muscle-strengthening and circulation-boosting effects of vibrations therapy.

Comprehensive Pain Management: The numbing effect of cryotherapy can provide immediate pain relief, while vibrations therapy promotes the release of endorphins, offering a longer-lasting reduction in pain and discomfort.

Accelerated Healing: Cryotherapy's ability to control inflammation and swelling, combined with vibrations therapy's enhancement of blood flow and nutrient delivery, can accelerate tissue healing and recovery.

Improved Muscle Function: Cryotherapy can reduce muscle soreness and fatigue, allowing individuals to engage in vibrations therapy more effectively. The muscle contractions induced by vibrations therapy can then help maintain muscle strength and prevent atrophy during the recovery process.

Enhanced Rehabilitation Outcomes: Integrating both therapies into a comprehensive rehabilitation plan can improve overall outcomes, enabling individuals to regain strength, flexibility, and function more efficiently.

Promising options for improving recuperation and pain management following injuries and ACL replacements include cryotherapy and vibration treatment. The combined advantages of these cutting-edge methods can enhance the success of rehabilitation as a whole. People can enjoy faster healing, less discomfort, and better muscular function by including cryotherapy and vibration therapy into a comprehensive treatment plan. This will ultimately result in a more seamless and effective recovery process.

It is essential to consult with healthcare professionals, such as your doctor or athletic trainer to develop a personalized treatment plan. Please talk to your doctor before trying these methods. 

When you twist an ankle or get a muscle strain, it’s not uncommon to receive an ice pack to relieve the pain. However, did you know that cold exposure isn’t just for injuries? It can also improve your mental health, focus under stress and mood! Explore the benefits of cold exposure to mental health in this article!

Sources

Baxter, Amy. “Amy Baxter: How to Hack Your Brain When You’re in Pain.” Amy Baxter: How to Hack Your Brain When You’re in Pain | TED Talk, www.ted.com/talks/amy_baxter_how_to_hack_your_brain_when_you_re_in_pain?subtitle=en&trigger=15s. Accessed 13 July 2024.

da Cunha Lima, Elaine Aparecida, et al. “Effect of Vibration Associated with Cryotherapy on Vaccine-Related Pain and Anxiety Levels in Adults: Study Protocol for a Randomized Clinical Trial.” Trials, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 1 Aug. 2022, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9344641/.

Stvincent, www.stvincent.edu/assets/docs/academic-conference/academic-conference-201/IS_poster%20Kilgus.pdf. Accessed 14 July 2024.

Susam, Volkan, et al. “Efficacy of the Buzzy System for Pain Relief during Venipuncture in Children: A Randomized Controlled Trial.” Acta Bio-Medica : Atenei Parmensis, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 18 July 2018, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6357594/.

Ultrasonography Effectiveness of the Vibration vs Cryotherapy ..., onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/iwj.13074. Accessed 14 July 2024. 

Sports Specific Training: Football vs Soccer

Overview of soccer and football: 

People often use the terms “soccer” and “American football” interchangeably. However, soccer and American football are entirely different sports and thus require different training programs. 

Soccer, the most viewed sport in the world, is played on a rectangular pitch with goals on each side. Here, two teams of eleven players each try to score the ball into the other team's goal. The game is played in two 45-minute halves. Players taken out of the game cannot be put back on the field. 

Conversely, American football is played on a slightly smaller rectangular field. One offensive team of eleven tries to take the ball either into the opposing team's end zone for a touchdown, or to kick it through the goalposts for a field goal. The defensive team’s objective is simply to stop that from happening. American football is played with four 15-minute quarters with players constantly subbing in and out, allowing for plenty of rest. 

Training emphasis for soccer: 

Due to the massive size of the pitch and the lack of rest for players, cardiovascular health and endurance are heavily emphasized for the sport. 

In addition to cardio, players have to focus on technical skills on and off the ball. Those skills play an immense role in soccer agility and speed. Although many soccer players may not appear large in size, they have incredible strength and need to condition their body to drive power through their movements. 

Lastly, soccer players have to train their mind, working on new tactics and improving their game intelligence to outplay the other team. 

Training plan for soccer: 

Endurance: Soccer does not ask for running at a constant pace like cross country. Instead, there are moments that require a flash of speed but also times where players simply need to jog back to their position. Due to the vastly different situations in the game, there are numerous endurance exercises for players to perform. 

• Long distance running

• HIIT (high intensity interval training)

• Game-realistic drills (drills that simulate the stop and go style of play that soccer requires) 

Skill development: Players need to focus on their technical skills with the ball 

• Dribbling drills that focus on speed and containment (examples include cone drills or juggling drills) 

• Passing drills that focus on accuracy, speed, and tactical positioning

• Shooting drills that emphasize power and accuracy 

Speed and Agility: Soccer demands quick bursts of explosiveness during the game

• Ladder and cone drills without ball control to improve game speed

• Short but quick sprints 

Strength and Conditioning: Players implement exercises for gaining strength but not size in order to keep endurance levels high but still stay strong and agile

• Functional exercises for leg strength, core stability, and overall balance

• Plyometric exercises for explosivenes

Soccer IQ: Soccer players primary need to work on their in-game sense and understanding of the game

• Watching professional games to emulate the elites 

• Team drills on passing, tactics, and formation

• Scrimmages focusing on teamwork rather than individual play 

Training emphasis for football

Football is a markedly physical sport that emphasizes pushing and tackling opposing players. As a result, strength training and size are very important for football players. Speed, explosiveness, and agility are key factors in the game. 

There are also specific drills based on position for the players. Last but not least, team strategies are a major part of the game, as offensives are built off predesigned plays, while defenses must develop multiple formations to counteract the offense.

Training plan for football: 

Strength training: Football players not only worry about strength but also size. Because of this, hypertrophy training is vital for football players. 

• Compound weightlifting exercises like squats, bench press, deadlifts focused on hypertrophy training

• Specialized weight training based on position (examples include split squats for wide receivers or barbell rows for linemen) 

Speed and Agility: Due to the fast paced nature of football, players need to be quick and agile 

• Ladder, cone or hurdle drills

• Sprints or resistance runs (resistance can be with parachutes or weighted backpacks) 

Skill Training; There are skills that are specialized for each individual position. They could be with or without the ball. Main skill positions include: 

• Quarterback: Passing and scrambling drills

• Wide receivers: Catching and route running drills

• Cornerbacks: Shadowing and shifting drills

• Kickers: Practicing kicking the ball in varying conditions and distances

Conditioning: Players must not only be strong, but prepared physically for longer stretches of the game. 

• Endurance training such as HIIT or shuttle runs 

• Mobility workouts such as dynamic stretching 

Football IQ or game strategies: Since offenses rely on designed plays and specific routes, running and practicing these plays is essential in football.

• Playbook design and practice to understand routes, strategies and plays

• Scrimmages to emulate in-game scenarios 

• Watching professionals and taking inspiration from their game

Football vs Soccer Training

Since football and soccer are two vastly different sports, their training styles are naturally also different. Football, on one hand, is focused on strength and explosive movements, while soccer takes a more endurance-based route. Football requires more of a strategic game plan beforehand while soccer demands quick in-game decisions. Though they are different, both follow a similar structure and basis of training planned around physical and technical skills, strategies, and conditioning. As such, players should follow a routine that fits them best while also implementing each aspect for maximum athletic performance.

Works Cited: 

Wright, Sean. “How to Get in Shape for Soccer.” Red Bull, www.redbull.com/us-en/how-to-get-in-shape-for-soccer. ‌

Soderberg, Zach. “How to Train like a pro Soccer Player - Elite Sports Clubs.” Eliteclubs.com, eliteclubs.com/how-to-train-like-a-pro-soccer-player/. ‌

Johal, Reggie“Planning Strength and Speed Training for American Football.” Www.brianmac.co.uk, www.brianmac.co.uk/usafootball/strengthspeed.htm. 

Haddad, Chris. “The Complete Beginners Guide to American Football.” VIQtory Sports, 5 Nov. 2020, www.viqtorysports.com/how-to-understand-american-football-beginners-guide/. ‌

NFL. “A Beginner’s Guide to American Football | NFL.” YouTube, 10 Sept. 2015, www.youtube.com/watch?v=3t6hM5tRlfA. ‌

Aerobic Training

When it comes to exercise and training, there are typically two routes to go: aerobic and anaerobic training. Aerobic and anaerobic are terms that indicate how the body produces energy – with oxygen and without oxygen respectively. Biologically, during aerobic training, the exertion of large muscle groups pushes the heart to pump harder and faster, transferring and burning energy through transported oxygen, stored carbs, and fats. While many are familiar with anaerobic training and seek it for its intense properties, aerobic training is equally beneficial. Aerobic training exercises include any of those that raise heart rate and make breathing difficult.

Training:

Also known as cardio, the rhythmic, continuous, and repetitive movements help with muscle strength and endurance. Different exercises put more stress on varying muscle groups and joints. Common exercises include:

• Walking

• Running

• Hiking

• Biking

• Swimming

• Rowing

• Skiing

• Jump Rope

• Stair Climbing

• Martial arts

• Playing sport games

Walking, biking, and particularly swimming apply minimal stress on joints, which is a good option for those injured or in the process of recovering from an injury.

Ideally, individuals should train 3 to 5 times a week, for around 20 to 60 minutes with a warmup and cooldown period. If one is inexperienced in exercising regularly, they should gradually transition into it; slowly increasing the intensity, resistance, and duration of their workout over the course of a few weeks is optimal for building gradual strength, rather than risking injury due to overexerting the joints. Good indications that exercises are at an appropriate intensity (to be considered aerobic training) include being able to comfortably say a few words during the workout, their heart rate being between 60% to 90% of their maximum heart rate (to calculate maximal heart rate: subtract age from 220), and being able to judge the difficulty level of their exercise as ranging from 2 to 7 on the Borg Scale of perceived exertion.

Benefits:

Aerobic training has many benefits such as increasing stamina and strength, decreasing resting heart rate, burning fat, increasing levels of good cholesterol in the body, developing better heart, lung, and muscle fitness, reducing the risk of high blood pressure, heart disease, obesity, stroke, diabetes, and improving mood. One of its most notable benefits is its ability to improve endurance. As mentioned earlier, aerobic training works by increasing the rate at which oxygen is distributed and used as energy by the body. Due to the fact that aerobic training involves performing physical activity for extended periods of time rather than short 1 to 2 minute energy bursts, it trains the body to build endurance. As athletes engage in aerobic training, they will experience less muscle fatigue, more energy, slower heart and breathing rates, and increased recovery time. These improvements can be measured quantitatively by testing the maximum oxygen uptake (VO2 max) while doing cardio in a laboratory setting.

Injury Prevention:

To prevent injuries, proper warmup and cooldown activities lasting around 5 to 10 minutes should be performed. Stretching should only be done during the cooldown session, as doing it during warmup can actually increase the chances of injury–think about the difference between stretching a cold rubber band compared to a warm one. Warmups should include easy exercises that increase blood flow to muscles, which will help prepare the body for aerobic training. Similarly, cooldowns should help the body transition out of such physical activity. It is also beneficial to engage in cross-training by alternating through different types of exercises. For example, running one day, swimming the next, and cycling the day after that. This will challenge different parts of the body at different times, reducing the risk of overuse injuries.

Sources:

“Aerobic Training.” HealthyChildren.Org, https://www.healthychildren.org/English/healthy-living/fitness/Pages/Aerobic-Training.aspx#:~:text=Aerobic%20training%20exercises%20are%20any,Walking%20or%20hiking. Accessed 7 July 2024.

professional, Cleveland Clinic medical. “Aerobic Exercise.” Cleveland Clinic, https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/7050-aerobic-exercise. Accessed 7 July 2024.

view, Log in or sign up to. “What Are Aerobic Exercises?” WebMD, https://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/what-are-aerobic-exercises. Accessed 7 July 2024.

The Effects of Training at Altitude

We’ve all heard the phrase “the sky's the limit,"  but what if training at a higher elevation actually helps in athletic endeavors? While something as simple as training location may seem straightforward enough, there has been continued research on performance benefits, technological advances, and practical applications of training at high elevation levels. What does altitude training involve, and more importantly– what are its implications to the sporting world? 

History of Altitude Training

To truly get a full understanding of what altitude training is, we first must get an idea of how it came to be. The practice originated in the early 1800s when the unusual hobby of hot air ballooning became popular. On these voyages, balloonists would note the physical limits of the human body when going above 13,000 feet. 15,000 feet was seen as the “death zone,” in which oxygen levels dropped low enough to kill animals– and even people. Yet, human nature defied the labeled limits of altitude training. People began to compete to reach the greatest heights without suffering the fatal effects from a lack of oxygen.

Fast forward over a century, and studies have found that training in an oxygen deficit may actually benefit athletes. The first primary example of this took place at the 1968 Olympics. Located in Mexico City, which sits at 7,350 feet, the 1968 Olympics holds the record for highest location elevation in Olympic history.

The biggest takeaway from the 1968 games was how bipolar the results in the track and field events were. Despite the high elevation, world records were set in all sprint events, including the long jump, triple jump, and the breaking of the 10-second barrier by James Ray Hines. While success was seen in the sprints and jumps, there was a slaughter in the long-distance events. The gold medal time in the 5,000 meters race was 17 seconds slower than the year before and the 10,000 meters race went over a minute longer than its predecessor. With such polarizing results from these Olympic Games, researchers quickly resolved that the leading factor in these results was the elevation of Mexico City.

Altitude Training: Benefits and Drawbacks

Altitude training, also known as hypoxic training, involves an athlete training in a place that stimulates the lack of oxygen for the athlete. It is important to note that altitude training works best for athletes in sports that focus on endurance, such as running, swimming, and biking. 

The typical stance on the height that is classified as “altitude” is 2,000 meters, or 6,500 feet. At this height, the athlete will begin to experience the symptoms that come with high elevation, most prominently the lower air pressure and the lack of oxygen levels in the air. These symptoms prompt the body to experience many benefits, including:

• Increased Red Blood Cell Production: The body is forced to become more effective at moving oxygen, so it immediately begins to create erythropoietin, the hormone that stimulates the growth of red blood cells.

• Increased VO2 Max: VO2 Max is how efficiently your body works to use oxygen between your respiratory, muscular, and cardiovascular systems while exercising. With less oxygen at higher altitudes, the body is forced to become more efficient with homeostasis.

• Enhanced Respiratory and Cardiovascular Efficiency: With lower amounts of oxygen, the body improves features such as lung capacity to breathe more air, capillary volume to send more blood to muscle in the body, and boosting the amount of blood that is sent through the body.

Now this all sounds great, but what does this really mean? 

Taking a look at recent successful endurance athletes, it can be observed that altitude training has most certainly paid off. For example, training partners from Provo, Utah, Conner Mantz and Clayton Young just recently qualified for the 2024 Paris Olympics. And where do they train? The mountains of Utah (6,100 feet above sea level on average). If we look at the sport of collegiate cross country, the team that has had the most success over the past couple of years by far has been Northern Arizona University, who have either won or were runners-up a whopping eight times in a row (6-time winners, 2-time runners-up). Could it be a coincidence that Northern Arizona University is located in Flagstaff, Arizona, sitting at 6,950 feet (2,120 m) of elevation?

Although there are inherent advantages to putting your body through the struggles of lower oxygen levels, there are also inherent struggles that will come with elevation training. Some struggles may include:

• Lower Ferritin Levels: Due to higher erythropoietic activity (the body making new red blood cells, as stated before), the body eats into its ferritin stores. Ferritin, or iron, is important in all kinds of ways in the body, so if these stores are not sufficiently maintained, the increased effort could lead to detrimental changes.

• Reduced Recovery and Accelerated Fatigue: Increased effort at higher elevations leads to less recovery and therefore more compounded stress on the body. As most people know, recovery is important for the body and is the primary preventative measure against getting injured.

• Increased Production of Cortisol: More physical stress on the body can lead to higher production of cortisol, which is the brain’s stress hormone. 

How to Properly Train at Altitude

Now that we know the benefits and drawbacks of altitude training, we can come up with a plan for how to apply our new-found knowledge to our training. Now keep in mind that no training plan is perfect for every athlete, so here are a few plans that have generally worked for successful athletes and how their success in training can apply to you.

For starters, make sure that altitude training will actually benefit you. Altitude training is primarily focused on by endurance athletes, such as distance runners, bikers, swimmers, etc., due to the specific benefits that are received from the lower amount of oxygen. It is important to note that short, more intense sports such as football, sprinting, or throwing will receive better results from competing at high altitudes. Thanks to the lower air pressure, training at these heights will not necessarily lead to better results in training.

Altitude training requires a lot of planning and resources to train properly, making dedication and commitment essential to the practice. However, the most important factor of altitude training is obviously, the altitude. As seen in the topographical map of elevations above, most of the places of high elevation are on the West Coast. Unfortunately, athletes in the East Coast must relocate far to properly train at altitude. In fact, all of the best states for altitude training are located in the Western Region, some of which include Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, and New Mexico.

Time is also a big commitment when it comes to properly training at altitude. Research shows that the typical athlete only starts to get the benefits of altitude training once their body fully acclimates to the elevation. This process does not start until two weeks into acclimation, and is only fully acclimated after four weeks. In order to get the full effect of altitude training, the athlete must train at a high place of elevation for around a month. 

One of the primary benefits of altitude training comes from the change in cells. However, the benefits only last as long as those cells are alive. The average cell life in an adult is one month, but in a hard-training athlete, cells usually die within three weeks. If an athlete were to train at altitude for one month, they would only receive the cellular benefits for at most another month. This being said, the advantages of training at high elevation are the accumulated muscle build of working with less recovery. While this can lead to injury, it can also lead to quicker muscle growth. Therefore, it is imperative to monitor the body and ensure sufficient recovery.

If you’re still here at this point and you’re still thinking that altitude training might be right for you, you may be wondering exactly what kind of training you should do. Of course, there are always new developments to training methods. Even so, the ideology behind altitude training is to try to keep the same amount of workload while you are still at altitude. This will give you the benefits of living at high elevation while still getting the physical development of training. Struggling during acclimation is inevitable, so make sure to ease into full mileage when first moving to a higher elevation. 

An alternate route to taking off mileage is called “Living High and Training Low."but the basic concept is that you spend most of your time at high altitude so your body can produce the cells that it gets from low oxygen levels while still being able to train at full load at a more manageable sea level. This is thought to be the most optimal way of training, but it is also the most difficult due to the fact that you would need to be living at the top of a mountain and have to travel down to a lower elevation for every training session.

Alternative Training Methods

Now, all this information at once can be a little hard to digest, and it may sound like a lot of work to only gain this chemical advantage for as little time as a month. If you think that traveling to high altitude may be out of the cards for you, then you’re in luck, because there have been technological advances to help bring the advantages of training and living at altitude to athletes who actually live at sea level.

The most common method for simulating altitude training is by using altitude masks which limit the amount of air you are allowed to breathe in by using valves. This simulates the lack of oxygen that you would experience at high levels. However, the name is actually misleading. These training masks fail to encourage the body to create those erythropoietin hormones that create red blood cells– the complete opposite of the purpose of altitude training. Although training masks still help the body with respiratory efficiency, the same effect can be simulated by holding your breath while running. This method, funnily enough, is an actual training method of its own– hypoventilation training.

Arguably, the best alternative to altitude training is using a nitrogen tent. Nitrogen tents simulate the lack of oxygen that you would experience at altitudes, through chemical levels that will help release erythropoietin hormones. These tents are hooked up to hypoxicators that can match the symptoms you want to recreate by setting an ‘altitude’. Companies have even started to put these into entire houses, so you could spend your whole day living on the beach in California while your body experiences the elevation of Colorado! Although these tents are costly, they are much cheaper compared to the prices of traveling and living in a different state for a month. Additionally, these tents are portable, and you can use them for a long time, meaning that the benefits of altitude training could be more accessible.

Conclusion

Altitude training allows the athlete a unique advantage by capitalizing on the oxygen deficit of higher elevation and the chemical reactions that come with it. From hot air ballooning to tents that can make you feel like you’re on a mountain, altitude training has evolved all the way to modern athletic training and is still being studied today. Reaching new heights in training isn’t just a metaphor; it’s science. Whether it’s scaling mountains or exploring innovative technologies, altitude training offers a breath-taking path to peak performance.

Works Cited

Baker, A, and W G Hopkins. “Altitude Training for Sea-Level Competition.” Www.sportsci.org, 1998, www.sportsci.org/traintech/altitude/wgh.html#table2. Accessed 29 June 2024.

Mateo, Ashley. “Some Face Masks Claim to Improve Endurance Performance by Restricting How Much Air You Get.” Runner’s World, 29 Jan. 2021, www.runnersworld.com/training/a34984200/running-with-an-elevation-training-mask/.

Rybnikova, Elena A., et al. “Intermittent Hypoxic Training as an Effective Tool for Increasing the Adaptive Potential, Endurance and Working Capacity of the Brain.” Frontiers in Neuroscience, vol. 16, 21 June 2022, https://doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2022.941740.

“The History of Altitude Training - Intermittent Hypoxic Exposure (IHE).” AltoLab USA LLC, altolab-usa.com/pages/the-history-of-altitude-training-iht.

Valle, Carl. “Is Training at Altitude Worth It for Athletes?” SimpliFaster, 6 Mar. 2018, simplifaster.com/articles/altitude-training/.

Hypertrophy Training: Chest

“How much do you bench?” The question that gets asked the most to determine whether a lifter is beginning or advanced in the gym community. A strong and full looking chest is important because not only is it the main indicator of strength in the gym, but it also completes the armor plate look that no other muscle group can for an aesthetic physique. But what exactly does one need to do to obtain this “armor plate?” The answer is focusing on hypertrophy training.

What is Hypertrophy Training?

Hypertrophy training refers to increasing the physical size of your muscles and their cells. This style is often adopted by bodybuilders for its aesthetics and body recomposition. However, hypertrophy training is different from strength training, in which the goal is to increase the strength or the amount of external force your muscles can move. Strength training is specifically adopted by powerlifters to obtain pure strength instead of aesthetics and muscle size. Training for hypertrophy and training for strength are interconnected because they often occur at the same time. Hypertrophy training typically involves more repetitions and volumes of a specific movement at a relatively lower weight compared to strength training, while the opposite is true for strength training, which involves higher weight at lower repetitions. However, if the goal is to have a full chest that gives the “armor plates” look for your body, hypertrophy training is the best approach.

The Composition of Your Chest:

In order to train the chest efficiently and effectively, it is crucial to understand the basic composition of the pectoral muscles. It is easy to be confused with the sophisticated terms of the various parts of the chest; therefore, to make chest training less complicated for all lifters, the chest can generally be categorized into three parts: the upper, middle, and lower chest. All three different heads need to be targeted in order to get a strong and full looking chest. With that said, what are some exercises that effectively target specific parts of the chest?

Upper Chest:

For a lot of people, the upper chest is weaker and smaller compared to the middle and lower chest. Lifters that struggle to build the upper chest lack the proper understanding of what movements are best to build the upper pecs and how to use them in a training program. Most people are obsessed with the bench press, a classic exercise in the world of bodybuilding. But they ignore the fact that it actually produces little stimulus for the upper chest. A general rule of thumb to grow the upper chest is to do pressing movements on an incline. This is because when the bench is at an incline, your upper pec muscle fibers will be directly below the line of force. Some great incline pressing movements include:

1. Incline barbell/dumbbell press

2. Incline machine press (Hammer Strength, Life Fitness, etc.)

3. Incline Smith Machine Press

Middle/Lower Chest:

The middle and lower chest are equally important as the upper chest when it comes to aesthetics. It is important to note that the middle as well as the lower parts of your chest will be stimulated when doing any incline pressing variations for the upper chest. However, it is advisable to still pick one to two exercises that specifically target the lower half of your chest. Some great exercises that hits the lower half of the chest include:

1. Dips (Weighted/Bodyweight/Assisted)

2. Decline/Flat Bench or Dumbell Press

3. Flys (Machines or Dumbell)

Volumes and Repetition Ranges:

For hypertrophy training, the golden repetition range goes from 8 to 12 reps. Furthermore, it is important to train close to failure on all of the exercises to make sure you are maxing out each set. An ideal set range per workout ranges anywhere between 5 to 15 sets. So an example of a 10 set chest workout would look like this:

1. Incline dumbbell press (3x8-12)

2. Flat bench press (3x8-12)

3. Chest Flys (2x8-12)

4. Dips (2x8-12)

This is just one of numerous workouts that is possible depending on your specific goal and time you have in the gym. Because of genetics and many other factors, people also react differently to different volumes, therefore not all workouts need to be 10 sets. It is imperative to experiment with different sets and rep ranges to determine what is best for you. While the exercises listed above are great movements that effectively target the specific chest muscle, there are still other great exercises that can be incorporated into your workout. It is absolutely crucial to experiment with new things that personalize your goals and your body.

Conclusion:

The one important thing about hypertrophy training, or every kind of training in general, is it takes time to reach desired results. Genetics also plays a huge role in how your chest looks and how fast it will grow. However, with persistence and the right training, you will be the best version of yourself and those “armor plates” will come eventually.

Sources:

Barbell Medicine. “Best Upper Chest Exercises for Bigger Pecs.” Barbell Medicine, 23 Feb. 2024, www.barbellmedicine.com/blog/best-upper-chest-exercises-for-bigger-pecs/.

Frothingham, Scott. “Hypertrophy Training vs. Strength Training: Pros and Cons of Each.” Healthline, Healthline Media, 11 June 2024, www.healthline.com/health/exercise-fitness/hypertrophy-vs-strength.

Laurence, Emily. “The Best Chest Exercises, According to Experts.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 24 May 2024, www.forbes.com/health/fitness/best-chest-exercises/.

Williams, Pete. “50 Best Chest Exercises for 2024.” Men’s Journal, 29 Feb. 2024, www.mensjournal.com/health-fitness/50-best-chest-exercises.

Lifting for Speed Development

How can lifting weights possibly make athletes faster? Athletes training for speed development can derive their work from the weight room, advancing their explosive power and muscle elasticity that will translate into speed in their respective sports. These exercises focusing on speed development mainly target the quadriceps, hamstring, calves, and glute muscles. By emphasizing speed development in the weight room, athletes are able to generate more power in their strides in addition to turning the leg over in a faster motion– transforming them into a faster athlete.

Benefits of Lifting for Speed:

• Increased muscle strength: Weight-lifting can help athletes increase muscle strength, allowing them to generate more power during their sprints. This increased power can lead to faster running speeds and improved sprint times.

• Improved muscle endurance: Weight-lifting can also help athletes improve muscle endurance. This can help them maintain their speed for longer periods, which can be particularly beneficial in situations where they may need to run for a longer time, such as soccer or 400m races on the track.

• Improved energy output: Weight-lifting can also help athletes improve the amount of energy used to run at a certain speed. This can help them run faster and more efficiently.

• Reduced risk of injury: By strengthening the muscles, tendons, and ligaments around the joints, weight-lifting can help to protect athletes from common running injuries.

• Boosts metabolism: Strength training helps increase muscle mass, which requires more energy to maintain than fat tissue. In order to fulfill the energy requirements needed from muscle mass, the body’s metabolism increases. This boost in metabolism not only maintains muscle mass, but also helps burn more calories– even when at rest. It can even help prevent muscle loss during weight loss, which can lead to a decrease in metabolic rate.

Weight-lifting to increase speed for an athlete’s sport can be categorized into three different types— maximum strength training, explosive power training, and reactive strength training. Each category focuses on various aspects of developing speed for athletes.

Maximum Strength Training:

This type of training focuses on hypertrophy, or, the building of muscle mass. It is similar to the training that a bodybuilder would do, as it is meant to be fundamental for athletes to develop before more reactive and explosive work. This strength training consists mainly of compound movements that incorporate multiple muscle groups. These movements are performed at a slower rate during the eccentric phase and then at a quicker rate during the concentric phase. For example, when going down (eccentric) during a squat, it should be done slowly. When going up, it should be performed quickly and powerfully. When done correctly, these exercises simulate the force produced during quick movements such as running and jumping– allowing athletes to strengthen their muscles and develop speed. Examples of these exercises include:

• Back Squat

• Front Squat

• Deadlift

• Nordic Curls

• Lunges

• Hamstring Curls

Explosive Strength Training:

This type of training is quicker and focuses on producing a powerful amount of force at a faster rate. It can be simplified into the phrase “moving heavy weight fast”, as athletes produce power during quick movements with a heavy load. Explosive training simulates the acceleration that athletes would perform in their sport. Compared to maximum strength exercises, explosive training is performed at a quicker and more powerful rate.

• Power Clean

• Snatch

• Squat Jump

• Med Ball Toss

• Box Jump

• Standing Long Jump

Reactive Strength Training:

Mainly consisting of plyometric exercises, reactive strength training is meant to simulate the movements done during running or sprinting. It simulates the force production and leg movements that would be done during a sprint, minimizing the amount of ground contact time while simultaneously producing the maximum amount of force. Examples of these reactive strength training exercises include weighted vests, sleds, and box jumps. It can also include plyometrics such as:

• Low hurdle jumps with bounce

• Hops

• Sprint bounding

• Vest sprints

• Sled sprints

When performing these types of exercises to develop speed, proper form must be maintained to get the most optimal development and reduce the energy risk. Weight is best to be increased by a progressive overload, which should match the intensity of the exercise for each athlete. With proper technique and training intensity, athletes can perform these exercises to develop their force production, power, and speed.

Sources:

Parisi, Bill. “The Fundamentals of Increasing Strength to Improve Speed.” TrainHeroic, TrainHeroic, 21 July 2019, www.trainheroic.com/blog/the-fundamentals-of-increasing-strength-to-improve-speed/.

Putsov, Sergii, et al. “Strength Training for Sprinters (Detailed Program).” Torokhtiy Weightlifting, 12 June 2024, torokhtiy.com/blogs/guides/lifting-for-sprinters#:~:text=The%20best%20lifts%20for%20sprinters,%2C%20planks%2C%20and%20Russian%20twists.

Read, Tyler. “Explosive Workouts: Benefits, Exercises, and Workout Plans.” Healthline, Healthline Media, 18 Apr. 2022, www.healthline.com/health/fitness/explosive-workouts#how-to-train.

“Strength Training for Increased Speed and Power.” The Speed Project, The Speed Project, 22 Sept. 2020, www.thespeedproject.com/sprinting/strength-training-for-speed/.

Olympic Weight Training

Introduction:

CrossFit, a high-intensity fitness program with its unique combination of aerobics, calisthenics, and Olympic-like weightlifting, recently rose to popularity. Since the early 2000s, CrossFit has attracted a large global following (some may call it a cult), taking over gyms everywhere. Boasting that it will prepare participants for every physical contingency, CrossFit  helps push individuals past physical and mental barriers. However, its aggressive approach to fitness has also led CrossFit into controversy, with many critics arguing its emphasis on high-intensity, complex movements causes more injuries than other activities. Despite this, CrossFit continues to experience fast and widespread popularity. Let's look closer into CrossFit.

History:

Greg Glassman first developed a training regimen when he was 16, combining gymnastics, weightlifting, and calisthenics. He called it the “Fran”, which combined pull-ups and thrusters (a combination of front squat and push press). With the help of his partner Lauren Jenai, he opened a gym in Santa Cruz, California in 2001 and posted their workouts on the internet for their clients, which quickly grew popular with people in the police, military, and fireforce. Later, Glassman developed a curriculum to train others in running the new CrossFit program. In 2018, Glassman, with complete ownership of his company after divorcing his wife, increased the number of gyms from 13 to 15,500. The pandemic saw one of CrossFit’s biggest challenges – 20% of gyms were closed down and Glassman was forced to sell his company, facing backlash relating to his comments about George Floyd.

Overview:

Crossfit’s strength and conditioning program is "constantly varied functional movements executed at high intensity across broad time and modal domains" and develops the “ten components of physical fitness”: cardiovascular/respiratory endurance, stamina, strength, coordination, etc. Crossfit gyms utilize various equipment, including barbells, dumbbells, and rope climbs.

Criticism:

Many critics have discussed their potentially dangerous exercises, extreme intensity, and underqualified trainers, but the CrossFit community continues to defend itself, emphasizing the importance of technique and workout modifications to minimize injury risks. Citing studies that compare its injury rates favorably to other sports, research suggests that while CrossFit's injury rates are on par with other athletic activities, there is a higher incidence of shoulder injuries, and proper supervision is crucial for reducing the likelihood of harm.

Sources

“CrossFit.” Wikipedia, 8 Apr. 2024. Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=CrossFit&oldid=1217873082.

Meier, Nicole, et al. “CrossFit®: ‘Unknowable’ or Predictable?—A Systematic Review on Predictors of CrossFit® Performance.” Sports, vol. 11, no. 6, May 2023, p. 112. PubMed Central, https://doi.org/10.3390/sports11060112.

“The Controversy Behind CrossFit.” Livestrong.Com,https://www.livestrong.com/article/545200-the-fall-of-fitness/. Accessed 29 Apr. 2024.

Jump Training

What Are Jumps?

Jumps include multiple events including triple, long, and high jump. As one would expect, the principal difference lies in the fact that the triple jump consists of three successive jumps from alternate legs whereas the long jump consists of a single jump from a single leg. The high jump is a competition of whoever jumps the highest in the competition of letting the bar go progressively up and up. Training can be quite rigorous and consists of doing usually similar workouts as regular sprinters do.

Long Jump Workouts:

• 6-8x200 m at 75% with 3 rest periods in between efforts and consists of a series of alternative switching leg hops and a series of switches.

• It is critical for long jumpers to practice their landing form, since it can affect the length of the jump.

Triple Jump Workouts:

• Two leg start – start like the athlete will do a standing long jump. Before landing, have the plant foot begin the triple jump action (RRL or LLR) into the pit. Next, jump off the foot and alternate (RRL or LLR).

• The athlete will either do a right foot hop, then a right foot step, then a left foot jump OR a left foot hop, then a left foot step and a right foot jump. In each case the first two take-offs will be on the leg they start with, with the final take-off on the other leg.

High Jump Workouts:

• Pit Circles

• Walking or jogging in a five step curved approach 

• 3 and 5 Jump Steps

• 3 point line runs back and forth

• Circle Runs or Skips

• Scissor Walk Kicks

In the Gym:

It’s crucial that athletes train in the gym just as much as outside and balance things out; such workouts can affect performance drastically and make a significant improvement in any one of the respective events. 

Training Legs:

• Leg Press

• Leg Extension

• Smith Machine 

• Calf Machine

• Leg Curl

• Standing Calf Raises

• Optimal high jump training requires specific drills and workouts that meet the unique demands of the event. 

• The most effective high jump workouts incorporate a range of drills that reinforce proper mechanics and high jump technique throughout each phase of the jump, in addition to developing speed and explosiveness.

Conclusion: We should look upon these sorts of events much more often, appreciating the hard work and dedication it takes to perform at the highest levels of expertise.

Works Cited:

1. Bigeye Tuna | Species | WWF, www.worldwildlife.org/species/bigeye-tuna. Accessed 9 Apr. 2024. 

2. Schexnayder, Boo. “Off Season Training for the Jumper.” Complete Track and Field, 6 Nov. 2018, www.completetrackandfield.com/off-season-for-jumper/. 

3. Thomas, Charlotte. “Triple Jumper Nathan Fox’s Olympic Training Regime.” Coachmaguk, Coach, 10 May 2016, www.coachweb.com/sport/5283/triple-jumper-nathan-fox-s-olympic-training-regime. 

4. https://www.quora.com/How-do-people-become-nordic-ski-jumpers-How-do-they-start-training-for-such-a-crazy-high-risk-sport

says:, Ron Thomas, et al. “9 Ultra-Effective High Jump Workouts and Drills.” Outperform, 16 Apr. 2024, outperformsports.com/high-jump-workouts/.

Hill Training

What is hill training?

Hill training is just as simple as it sounds: running up hills and similar terrain simulations. Hill training is typically incorporated on occasion depending on the training cycle. Many professional runners practice hill training for better aerobic ability to tackle different terrain, as well as to simply improve fitness. Sometimes hill training may include running fast intervals uphill. 

Why is hill training recommended?

Strengthens Muscles: Running uphill engages different muscle groups, including the glutes, quadriceps, hamstrings, and calves, more intensely than running on flat terrain. This helps build strength and power in these muscles, leading to improved running performance overall.

Increases Fitness: Hill training requires your heart and lungs to work harder than usual, which can enhance endurance and improve your aerobic capacity. This, in turn, can lead to better performance in races and other running activities.

Improves Running Form: Running uphill encourages proper running form, including shorter strides, a slight forward lean, and driving the arms. Practicing good form on hills can translate to more efficient running on flat terrain.

Prevents Injury: Running uphill reduces the impact forces on your legs compared to running on flat or downhill surfaces. Additionally, the varied terrain of hills can strengthen stabilizing muscles and improve joint stability, reducing the risk of injury.

Cons of hill training

Increased Risk of Injury: While running hills may help in some cases decrease the risk of injury, it may also increase the likelihood of injury more if a runner is overdoing it and not properly letting their body recover in between sessions.

Muscle Soreness: Hill training can lead to increased muscle soreness, especially in the calves, quadriceps, and glutes. This soreness may require extra recovery time and could affect subsequent training.

Some people just don’t have a hill: People living in some areas may have a hard time finding a hill to do hill training on.

What to do if you don’t have hills in your area?

If you live in an extremely flat area with no hills, there are still ways to get in hill training. One method of which is to utilize the incline feature that is present on most treadmills. Inclining the treadmill can help simulate hills and in addition also has the advantage of being able to adjust the steepness to your fitness level and goals.

Conclusion

Hill training can be a useful training method that can be incorporated into various athletes’ routines, helping improve fitness and simulating conditions that may be present to the athlete during competitions. 

Sources:

"The Complete Guide To Hill Running: Benefits, Tips, and Workouts." Marathon Handbook, 2024, marathonhandbook.com/hill-running-guide/.

Lee, Jennifer, PT, DPT. "How Hill Training Can Make You a Better Runner: Plus Tips for Getting Started." Houston Methodist, 2022,
www.houstonmethodist.org/blog/articles/2022/sep/how-hill-training-can-make-you-a-better-runner-plus-tips-for-getting-started/.

Miele, Christine Luff and Verywell Fit. "The Benefits of Hill Running." Verywell Fit, Verywell Fit, 2024, www.verywellfit.com/benefits-of-hill-running-2911958.

Strides

“Strides, ready, go!”

Strides are an excellent way for runners to perform their best on workouts and at races. Let’s explore what strides are, and how you can implement them into your running routine.

What are strides?

Strides are short, fast bursts of running that typically last 15 to 30 seconds or covering 50 to 100 meters. They are run at a pace quicker than a regular run or jog. Runners use strides after the initial warmup to further prepare themselves for a more intense workout session. Strides can be done in tandem with other drills, such as A-skips, B-skips, and high knees, before a workout or race. They can also be included at the end of an easy run to get the legs moving.

How to perform strides:

After doing your warmup jog/run, find a flat stretch where you can run interrupted for 50-100 meters. Ensure the surface is suitable for running; avoid areas that are too slippery, rocky, or have too many holes. Tracks and football fields are good choices as they have distance measurements you can follow. Begin by putting in a moderate amount of effort, and gradually accelerate to 75-90% of your top speed as you progress through the stride. Hold that pace until you get near the end, then decelerate to a walk or stop. After you catch your breath, you can start on the next one. In terms of relative effort, strides should feel hard but should not be an all-out effort. You don’t want to tire yourself out before the actual run. The primary goal is to focus on good form while remaining relaxed.

Benefits of strides:

Whether you’re a high school athlete or a recreational runner, you can benefit from strides. Here are some ways strides can be helpful to your running:

1. Pacing: Strides can help you practice running at the pace you want to run for your workout or race. You can use strides to remember what that pace feels like so you will be ready to run it later on.

2. Warmup: Strides elevate your heart rate as well as prepare your legs and respiratory system for faster paces. This allows you to be ready and prevents your body from going into shock after a sudden and large increase in effort. In essence, you’re giving your body time to warm up or “wake up”.

3. Speed: For both sprinters and distance runners, strides can help you build speed and practice the final kick of a race. Consistently doing strides helps your respiratory system, circulatory system, and muscles become more efficient.

4. Form: Sprinters often use strides to practice proper form, biomechanics, powerful accelerations, and safe decelerations. Distance runners also benefit from improving their form.

5. Mental: Strides allow you to get more comfortable running at a faster pace. Eventually, you will get accustomed to how it feels to push yourself and be able to replicate it during races and workouts.

When should you do strides?

There are many instances where strides come in handy. Here are some ways to incorporate strides into your training:

1. Before a race/workout: Strides are a good shakeout for races and workouts to do at the end of your warmup.

2. After an easy run: Adding a few strides after mileage days allows you to combine some fast running with your regular running. Strides help with maintaining speed, especially for distance runners.

3. As a workout: Strides can be a workout themselves. This is especially useful for beginner runners wanting to ease into fast training.

Conclusion:

Strides are a valuable tool for all runners looking to get faster. While they are commonly used to prepare runners for hard efforts, they can also be used to improve speed, form, and pacing. Strides are worth trying if you want to tap into those faster paces and perform your best on your next race.

Sources:

Carey, Elizabeth. “Everything You Need to Know About How to Run Strides.” RUN, 24 January 2024, https://run.outsideonline.com/training/getting-started/how-to-run-strides/. Accessed 21 April 2024.

Sayer, Amber, and Katelyn Tocci. “Running Strides Guide: Everything You Need To Know To Get Faster.” Marathon Handbook, 16 January 2024, https://marathonhandbook.com/running-strides/. Accessed 21 April 2024.

“What Are Strides in Running? How to Run Strides - 2024.” MasterClass, 29 July 2022, https://www.masterclass.com/articles/what-are-strides-in-running. Accessed 21 April 2024.