January 25, 2017

Why fast training makes you more muscular.

Warum schnelles Training Sie muskulöser werden lässt.

Here's what you need to know...

Build harder, bigger muscles by recruiting more motor units when you exercise. The faster you move the weights, the more motor units you will recruit.
Move a weight up as explosively as possible and you will activate multiple muscle groups simultaneously.
Workouts with weights that emphasize a fast concentric phase will exhaust you less than a workout with excessive slow concentric movements. You can train more frequently if you have more energy.
If you are a beginner, then you should focus on moving the weight up as quickly as humanly possible and lowering it back down in a controlled manner. Advanced strength athletes can try a few different strategies between reps to recruit more motor units.

The science of fast training

Motor units cause muscles to contract. The more motor units you recruit, the stronger and more powerful you become... and the bigger your gains will be as a result.

Muscle physiologists have discovered an important law of motor unit recruitment: the faster the speed of execution of an exercise, the greater the recruitment of motor units.

Our nervous system has "evolved" with an inherent, ordered recruitment of motor units. In other words, low force release activities like running around your living room do little to induce muscle growth. Why? Simply because walking requires very little recruitment of motor units.

Jumping and sprinting, on the other hand, induces the recruitment of a large number of motor units, which leads to substantial muscle growth. What is the main difference between walking and jumping? The speed of the muscle action.

This becomes clear when you look at the lower body musculature of a 100 meter gold medal sprinter compared to the lower body musculature of a hairdresser (or anyone else who stands and walks around all day).

Benefits of fast training

1. improved recruitment of motor units with a high stimulus threshold

Faster recruitment of high threshold motor units occurs at a super fast pace because you improve recruitment of the motor units that have the greatest potential for growth.

The fast-fatiguing, fast-contracting motor units include type IIB muscle fibers. These motor units are capable of inducing tremendous gains in strength and hypertrophy.

2. improved rate coding

Fast training also improves so-called rate coding. Rate coding refers to a change in the discharge frequency of motor units at higher speeds. In other words, the pulse frequency rate increases with an increase in speed/power production.

3. improved synchronization of motor units

The final scientific element that is enhanced by fasted training is improved synchronization of motor units. When you increase the frequency of faster workouts, motor units improve their synchronized activation during maximal voluntary efforts. This leads to more strength and improved neuromuscular efficiency.

The three variables mentioned (recruitment, rate coding, synchronization) all work together to improve intramuscular coordination.

4. improved intermuscular coordination

When you apply a maximal effort to a weight (i.e. try to move the weight up as fast as possible), you improve your body's stability to maximally activate many different muscle groups simultaneously. This coordinated effort improves inter-muscular coordination, which in turn increases your strength levels.

5. altered muscle fiber characteristics

With consistent use of high training speeds, skeletal muscles and nervous systems adapt by giving many slow contracting muscle fibers (Type I) characteristics of fast contracting muscle fibers (Type IIA and IIB). This is another perfect example of the specific adaptations to the principle of forced demands (SAID).

The missing link

I can't even begin to name all the misleading advice that has been spread by muscle magazines, but one of the biggest misconceptions is slow training.

I don't know why so many exercisers move the weight slowly during the concentric phase of the movement. Maybe because it's easier or maybe because they can "feel" the muscle working. Either way, it leads to inferior results.

If you want strength and muscle mass, then you should learn to train fast. How fast? As fast as humanly possible without sacrificing form.

Stuff you didn't expect

The first characteristic of fast-paced focused training that you'll probably notice is a relative lack of fatigue. In other words, you should feel energized, not exhausted, at the end of your training sessions. That's a great thing!

My clients extol the virtues of fasted training because they feel consistently motivated to train throughout the week. In fact, I often have to hold them back when they train this way because they feel like they can do the same exercises again the next day.

Train fast and you'll feel like your nervous system is constantly on overdrive.

The mission for beginners

If you have been training for less than a year, you should start by doing the concentric - lifting - phase as fast as you can. Don't think about the pace. Here's what you're doing:

Eccentric (negative or lowering part of the exercise) = controlled
Concentric (lifting part of the exercise) = fast

Perform the lowering phase in a controlled manner (1 to 2 seconds) before explosively moving the weight up at the speed of light. Simply adding this element to any training program will be enough to accelerate gains in strength and muscle mass.

A fast concentric tempo leads to the strongest recruitment of high threshold motor units, which have huge potential for muscle gains and strength increases. It improves the factors that make up intramuscular coordination: rate coding and improved synchronization of motor unit impulse frequency.

The mission for training veterans

If you've been training with weights for a while, my advice is a little different. Keep in mind three primary methods for accelerating strength and muscle gains through a fast concentric tempo:

1. stretch-shortening cycle training (SSC).

Use a 20X tempo for all exercises. In other words, lower the weight for a period of 2 seconds before immediately pushing the weight up as fast as possible. This method takes advantage of the stretch-shortening cycle, which leads to increased strength and power production.

As P.V. Komi puts it in Strength and Power in Sport: "The purpose of a stretch-shortening cycle is to make the final action (concentric phase) more powerful than the concentric action alone." (2). In other words, your stretch-shortening cycle improves your ability to develop amazing power.

2. dispersion of the Stretch Shortening Cycle (SSC) Effect

This type of training is the antithesis of SSC training. Just as it is necessary to train with different repetition ranges, it is sometimes necessary to compensate for the SSC effect.

To compensate for the SSC effect, you should hold the weight in the extended position for one second. This will dissipate any stretch reflex, also commonly known as the elastic potential of a muscle. In other words, your muscles can store similar to a rubber band and sometimes it is beneficial to negate this effect in order to increase strength and muscle mass.

The hypothesis behind holding before performing the concentric phase is to minimize any energy stored in the elastic components (SEC).

Eliminating this energy source should potentially force the muscles to work harder to perform the lifting phase (more motor units are recruited as the elastic potentials are no longer available).

3. putting the weight down

The last example refers to the benefits of putting a weight down before performing the concentric phase. When a weight is set down between the eccentric and concentric phase, the elastic potential of a muscle disappears. Therefore, such a set-down forces you to build up starting and accelerating forces.

Explosive force consists of three important components: starting speed, acceleration force and maximum force. By putting the weight down between repetitions, you will improve two of these three hugely important strength qualities that build explosive power.

To achieve optimal strength and hypertrophy training results, all three methods should be periodized throughout your mesocycles.

Faster = more muscular and stronger

If you want to completely revamp your training program, you can use the following program. It's based on scientific research and my own successes with clients in all walks of life. It works and it works exceptionally well for strength and muscle gains. Here's what you should do for six weeks:

Day 1

Sets: 6
Repetitions: 3
Weight: 6RM
Rest intervals: 50 seconds between sets
Exercises: *Dips, front squats, squats, pull-ups, leg curls and calf raises Seated

Day 2

Workout-free. If required, perform 10 minutes of cardio training at medium intensity. Jumping rope and jogging are excellent options.

Day 3

Sets: 5
Repetitions: 5
Weight: 8RM
Rest intervals: 60 seconds between sets
Exercises: *Flat bench presses, deadlifts, bent-over rows, lying tricep presses (skull crushers), donkey calf raises and barbell curls.

Day 4

Same as day 2.

Day 5

Sets: 4
Repetitions: 6
Weight: 9RM
Rest intervals: 70 seconds between sets
Exercises: *Dumbbell incline bench press, squats, upright rows, close grip bench press, standing calf raises and Scott curls

Day 6 and 7

No training. Perform HIIT or cardio on one of the two days if you wish.

* These exercises are excellent choices, but feel free to replace them with similar exercises.

Explanation

For the greatest benefits, all three of these speed training methods should be used. The following periodization works extremely well:

Week 1 - 2: Stretch Shortening Cycle (SSC) Training Method. Tempo: 10X (one second for the negative phase, no rest. "X" means an explosive movement where you move the weight up as fast as possible).
Week 3 - 4: Dispersion of the SSC method. Tempo: 14X
Weeks 5 - 6: Drop the weight method. Tempo: 21X

Increase the weight by 2.5% if possible. The workouts in this program should not induce severe fatigue. If you feel like you could do half of the workout again, then you are on the right track. Leave the gym fresh and motivated - the key to consistent success with weight training.

If you learn to train fast without reaching muscle failure and excessive fatigue, you will accelerate your hypertrophy and achieve explosive strength gains.

Make science your new training partner.