S.J. Fleck and W.J. Kraemer (1997) Designing Resistance Training Programs
Chapter 5: Individualizing Exercise Prescription
I. Introduction
A. The gains made in any variable related to muscular performance are linked to an individual's genetic potential
1. There is a window of adaptation is the difference between the genetic potential and where the person is on a particular variable.
2. At the start of a program the window may be very great.
B. Gains will be related to an individual's potential and their fitness level.
C. Expectation of large continual strength gains in the same exercise (e.g., bench press) by some athletes is unrealistic.
II. Setting and evaluating goals.
A. common program goals in resistance training are improvements in function, such as increased muscular strength, power and local muscular endurance.
B. Other functional gains may be, speed, power, coordination, balance, agility, etc.
C. Training goals and objectives should be testable variables (e.g., 1-RM strength, vertical jump height) sot heir achievement can be objectively judged.
D. Workout log is an invaluable tool in evaluating the effects of various resistance training programs.
E. Goals in resistance training have to be put into the context of the needed outcome for the individual.
1. factors such as age, physical maturity, training history, and psychological and physical tolerance need to be considered in any goal development process or individual program design.
III. Maintenance of Training goals.
A. When there is a situation when large amounts of time are needed to make very
small changes that the athlete decides not to continue with the progressive exercise, and a maintenance program will begin.
1. there are many instance where athletes continue to try to develop a variable even though they are showing no improvement in performance
2. An exercise may be continued even though it doesn't contribute to the sports skill.
IV. Unrealistic Goals
A. The magnitude of the training goal and the amount of time needed to achieve it must be considered.
B. Too often goals are open ended
C. Proper goal development is accomplished by starting out small, making progress, and then evaluating where the individual is and what is now possible.
V. Individualization
A. Each program must be designed to meet the individual's needs and training goals.
1. individual's fitness level be evaluated and understood by the individual, coach and personal trainer.
2. Biggest mistake made in designing a workout is placing too much stress on the individual before it can be tolerated.
B. Progress in a resistance training program must follow the staircase principle.
1. An individual begins a training session at a particular strength level.
2. During the session strength decreases due to fatigue, and is lowest at the end of the session
3. After recovering from the first session the individual should begin the next training session at a slightly higher strength level.
4. This staircase is repeated for each training session.
5. This is the goal in designing effective training programs.
C. When designing training programs for athletic teams it is common to design one program for everyone.
1. Generalized programs will not produce the same results in all individuals.
2. Generalized programs should be viewed as the starting point for each individual.
3. Program changes and progression should be based on the needs of each athlete.
VI. Exercise Prescription
A. The prescription of any exercise requires a solid understanding of the underlying scientific principles involved.
B. Major resistance training design components are:
a. needs analysis
b. acute program variables
c. chronic program manipulations
d. administrative concerns
VII. Needs Analysis
1. Major questions to ask in a needs analysis are:
2. What muscle groups need to be trained?
a. Examine the muscles and the joint angles to be trained.
b. One must do a basic analysis of the movements performed and the most common sites of injury.
c. Videoanalysis where one can slow down the frame rate and do a qualitative analysis of the muscles, angles, velocities,a nd forces involved
d. The choice of the exercises is done at this level.
e. specificity is a major tenet in resistance training and is based on the concept that the exercises and resistances used result in training adaptations that transfer to better performance in the sport.
f. Specificity assumes that the muscles must be trained similarly to the sport or activity in terms of:
i. the joint
ii. joint ROM
iii. pattern of resistance throughout the range of motion
iv. pattern of limb velocity throughout the ROM
v. the types of limb movement (concentric, eccentric, isometric)
g. Should include full ROM exercises around all the major joints of the body
h. Videotape analysis is done by the following steps
1) view the video tape of an athletic performance
2) select a movement that appears to involve high-intensity physical exertion critical to the performance
3) identify the body joints around which the most intense muscular actions occur. Running and jumping, for example, involve intense muscle actions at the knee, hip and ankle. Intense exertion does not necessarily involve movement, and may be isometric.
4) Determine whether the muscle action is eccentric, concentric or isometric.
5) Determine the range of angular motion of each joint.
6) Determine where the most intense effort occurs in the range of motion around each particular body joint. This is the point where the greatest acceleration of the body or an object occurs.
7)
Estimate the velocity of movement in the early, middle
and late phases in the
8) Select exercises to match the limb ROM and Angular velocities, making sure that the exercises are appropriately concentric, isometric, or eccentric. Example: Single leg take-off in a jump
9) It is best for the exercise to be most difficult at the point in the ROM where intensity during the target activity is greatest.
i. this analysis is followed up in the weight room with appropriate resistance exercises that train the specific muscles and joint angles involved.
j. Each exercise and resistance used in the program will transfer to another activity or sport to different degrees. The concept of transfer specificity means that a percentage of the training activity will transfer to, or carry-over to other activities. Except for practicing the exact skill itself, no conditioning activity has 100% carry-over.
k. Some activities have a higher percentage of carry-over than others because of similarities in neuromuscular recruitment patterns, energy sources, and biomechanical characteristics.
3. What are the basic energy sources (e.g., anaerobic, aerobic) that need to be trained?
4. What type of muscle action (e.g., isometric, eccentric) should be used?
5. What are the primary sites of injury for the particular sport or prior injury history of the individual?
VIII. Acute Program Variables.
1. After the needs analysis has been completed, a specific training program is designed that addresses the exact needs of the individual.
2. Acute program variables concern the design of one specific training session.
3. Chronic program manipulations concern the changes made in the acute program variables over time.
4. Changes in the acute program variables make up the progression plan for an entire training period.
5. Periods of training are planned many months or several years in advance, periodization
6. Decisions are made about the following acute program variables:
a. Choice of exercise; the number of possible joint angles and exercises is almost limitless as the body's functional movements. A change in angle affects which muscle tissue is activated. Exercises should be selected that stress the muscles and joint angles designated by the needs analysis. Exercises can be designated as primary exercises which train the prime movers or assistance exercises which train the smaller muscle groups and aid in the movement produced by the prime movers.
1) Structural - include whole body lifts that require the coordinated action of many muscle groups. Power cleans, power snatches, deadlifts, and squats. Can also be classified as multi-joint exercises, like the bench press, lat pulldowns, military presses, leg presses. These promote coordinated use of multiple joints that require neural control.
2) body part specific - these isolate the joint like arm curls, situps, knee extensions or knee curls. These are mostly the assistance exercises.
3) contraction mode -
b. Order of exercise
1) large muscle group first
2) small muscle group first (pre-exhaust)
3) arm to leg or arm-arm, leg-leg
c. Number of sets
d. Rest periods between sets and exercises:
1) influences how much of the ATP-CP energy source is recovered and how high lactate concentrations are in the blood. Figure 5.6 blood lactate responses to a strength protocol (S: 5RM, 8 exercises, 3 min rest between sets and exercises) and to a short-rest, body building, hypertrophy protocol (H: 10 RM, 8 exercises, 1-min rest between sets and exercises). This study suggests that heavier resistance does not result in higher blood lactate concentrations. It is amount of work performed and the duration of the force demands placed on the muscle that determines the blood lactate concentrations.
a) short < 1 minute
b) moderate 1 to 3 minutes
c) long > 3 minutes
2) short-rest programs can cause greater psychological anxiety and fatigue, which might be caused by greater effort, more discomfort and metabolic demands, and must be considered when designing a training session.
3) Short-rest workouts should be introduced slowly into a training program as the acid-base buffer mechanics in the body adapt to increased muscle and blood acid levels.
4) If this kind of adaptation is necessary in a sport the training protocol must progress from long to short rest periods for better performance in these sports. (i.e. 400m - 800m track events, wrestling)
5) As the rest periods are shortened the adaptation should increase the toleration for and buffering of more acidic conditions.
6) Training programs that elevate lactic acid concentrations may be inappropriate for sports that rely solely on the ATP-CP system, like baseball.
7) Since high-volume and short-rest workouts increase fatigue it is not recommended to put this workout immediately prior to a training session designed to develop skill in the sport or activity.
e. Rest periods between workouts
1) Depends on the recovery ability of the individual
2) The greatest amounts of delayed muscle soreness results from heavy eccentric muscle actions rather than from concentric isokinetic, dynamic concentric, or isometric muscle actions.
3) As the lifter advances and is better able to tolerate resistance exercise sessions, the frequency of training can be increased.
4) Four days in succession per week may be superior to three alternate days in effecting increases in strength.
5) The onset of perceived discomfort may be masked during consecutive training sessions, and the 3-day recovery period may allow for a more complete recovery.
6) Elite athletes may be capable and may need 5-days in a row to improve significantly over short periods of training.
7) Training frequency per week is a function of the individual's need for exercise stimulus to cause fitness gains, but this must be tolerated and overtraining must be avoided.
8) Periodized training cycles use variations in training frequency to alter and enhance the exercise stimulus and to provide for recovery.
9) When consecutive training day sequences are used, it may be beneficial to use different exercises for the same muscle groups (e.g., bench press and incline bench press) and different resistances (e.g., 5 RM and 10 RM).
10) A split routine where different body parts are exercised each day, or split program where different exercises for the same body part performed each day.
11) Consecutive training days should incorporate some variation
12) Progression in frequency is also a component of program design, and will vary depending upon the phase of the training cycle, the athlete's fitness level and training history, and the goals of the program.
f. Load (intensity)
1) Probably the most important variable in resistance training
2) The use of RMs is probably the easiest method for determining resistance to use.
3) The RM continuum Figure 5.8
4) The RMs of 6 or less have the greatest effect on strength measures and maximal power outputs.
5) RM resistances of 20 and above show the greatest effect on muscular endurance measures.
6) Strength gains when working with resistances greater than 25 RM are negligible.
7) The relationship between the percentage of a 1RM and the number of repetitions that can be performed varies with the amount of muscle mass needed to perform the exercise (i.e., leg press requires more muscle mass than knee extensions)
8) Typically 80% of a 1RM will be able to be lifted more than 10 times for large-muscle group exercises such as leg press, and will need higher than 80% of 1RM.
Number of reps that can be performed:
Untrained males 1 RM Trained males 1RM
40% 60% 80% (kg) 40% 60% 80% (kg)
Leg press 80.1 33.9 15.2 137.9 77.6 45.5 19.4 167.2
Lat pull down 41.5 19.7 9.8 59.9 42.9 23.5 12.2 77.8
Bench press 34.9 19.7 9.8 63.9 38.8 22.6 12.2 95.5
Knee extension 23.4 15.4 9.3 54.9 32.9 18.3 11.6 72.5
Situp 21.1 15.0 8.3 40.9 27.1 18.9 12.2 59.9
Arm curl 24.3 15.3 7.6 33.2 35.3 21.3 11.4 41.2
Leg curl 18.6 11.2 6.3 33.0 24.3 15.4 7.2 38.8
Number of reps that can be performed:
Untrained females 1 RM Trained females 1RM
40% 60% 80% (kg) 40% 60% 80% (kg)
Leg press 83.6 38.0 11.9 85.3 146.1 57.3 22.4 107.5
Lat pull down 45.9 23.7 10.0 29.2 81.3 25.2 10.2 34.8
Bench press 20.3 10.3 27.7 27.9 14.3 35.6
Knee extension 19.2 13.4 7.9 26.7 28.5 16.5 9.4 40.3
Situp 20.2 13.3 7.1 19.3 34.5 20.3 12.0 23.8
Arm curl 24.8 13.8 5.9 13.8 33.4 16.3 6.9 17.3
Leg curl 16.4 10.5 5.9 15.8 23.2 12.4 5.3 21.7
9) In general, a certain percentage of the 1RM with free-weight exercises will allow fewer repetitions than the same percentage of 1RM on a similar exercise performed on a machine.
10) Prediction equations that predict a 1RM from maximal reps of a submaximal weight are inaccurate due to the fact that they are linear and the repetition maximum vs weight is curvilinear.
11) Table 5.4 reviews the program characteristics for some of the major resistance training goals and matches them with combinations of the acute program variables.
12) Possible to train different muscles or muscle groups in different ways, resulting in workout programs that are a combination of the factors presented in table 5.4
Table 5.4 Program Characteristics for Basic Goals in resistance training
1-RM strength
· Choice of exercise, the specific movement patterns, and types of muscle action needed are emphasized
· Exercises to be emphasized are performed early in the training session
· Heavy resistances typically <6-RM
· Moderate to long rest periods (>2min) depending on the weight being lifted.
· Moderate to high number of sets (4-10) for the primary specific exercises (e.g., the squat), low to moderate number of sets (1-3) for assistance exercises.
Power
· Choice of exercise and the specific movement patterns for power development are typically related to multijoint structural movements (Olympic-type exercises such as power clean, hang-pulls, snatches, hang cleans, etc.) Eccentric actions are not emphasized in these types of lifts.
· Exercises to be emphasized are performed early in training session.
· High intensity (typically < 10RM) resistances that are varied over time (periodized), for example: 1-5 RM, 6-10 RM, > 10 RM yet rarely are more than 5 repetitions performed in a set, whether using a heavy, moderate, or light resistance. Power development lags behind strength. Therefore, in a specific set the number of repetitions performed will be slightly lower than the number the RM resistance allows.
· Moderate to long rest periods between sets and exercises (>2 min).
· Moderate to high number of sets for power oriented exercises (4-10), low to moderate number of sets for assistance exercises (1-3).
Hypertrophy
· Large variety of exercise choice or movement patterns. Includes a considerable amount of isolation exercises. Concentric and eccentric actions are important. Multiple exercise angles for a joint are used.
· Large variety of exercise order. Muscles to be emphasized are exercised early in the training session.
· Moderate to high intensity (6-12 RM); higher numbers of repetitions are sometimes used, especially with super setting (back-to-back sets for the same muscle group).
· Short rest periods between sets and exercises (<1.5 min)
· High total number of sets per muscle or muscle group (>3)
Local muscular endurance
· Choice of exercise, the specific movement patterns, and types of muscle action needed for the sport or activity are emphasized.
· Muscles to be emphasized are exercised early in the training session.
· Low intensity (12-20 RM)
· Moderate rest periods between sets and exercises (2-3 min) for long-repetition sets (20 or greater), and short rest periods (30-60 s) between sets and exercises for lower-repetition sets (12-19)
· Moderate number of sets.
I. Chronic program manipulations: Periodization
A. Intro
1. Early American research centered around the concept that there is an optimal combination of sets and repetitions to bring about increases in strength.
2. By varying the resistance, the number of reps, and the number of sets, greater gains can be made.
3. Changing program variables is termed periodization, a planned variation of the acute program variables.
4. Eastern European coaches and sport scientists noted that the training volume and intensity of successful athletes followed a certain pattern during the training year, where there was high volume and low intensity at the start of the training year, followed by decreased volume and greater intensity as the year progressed. Prior to a major competition volume was at its lowest and intensity was at its highest. Because of the need for recovery prior to a major competition, intensity was also decreased slightly immediately before competition.
5. The underlying concept promoting periodization is Hans Selye's general adaptation syndrome, which proposes that the body passes through three phases when the body is confronted with a stress (resistance training):
a. First phase: shock - when the body is confronted with a new training stimulus, soreness develops and performance actually decreases.
b. Second phase: adaptation - the body adapts to the stimulus and performance increases.
c. Third phase: staleness - the body has already adapted to the new stimulus and adaptations no longer take place. Performance usually plateaus or in some cases of elite athletes performance may actually decrease.
6. Periodization is used to avoid staleness and overtraining, incorporating adequate rest.
7. Periodization breaks the training program into specific periods of time.
a. the longest time is the macrocycle (about 1 year)
b. the macrocycle is broken down into three or four periods called mesocycles (3-4 months)
c. the mesocycle is further broken down into microcycles (1-4 weeks)
d. Each training phase has a particular goal, and is part of the total training plan
B. Classic periodization program
1. Stone, O'Bryant and Garhammer (1981) developed a hypothetical model for strength/power sports similar to the Eastern Europeans.
a. Training program is broken down into 5 mesocycles
Table 5.5 Periodization of training for strength and power
Mesocycle 1 2 3 4 5
Hypertrophy Strength Power Peaking Active Rest
Sets 3-5 3-5 3-5 1-3 light physical activity
Reps 8-20 2-6 2-3 1-3
Intensity Low High High Very High
b. hypertrophy phase major goals are to increase tolerance to resistance exercise and to increase muscle mass.
c. Major goals of the strength and power phases are to bring aobut increases in maximal strength and power, respectively.
d. Peaking phase increase strength and power for a particular competition
e. Active rest is to allow recovery from the previous training, physically and psychologically.
f. Periodization was usually for one major competition per year, with mesocycles of 2-3 months each.
g. Even greater gains were discovered if there were two to three complete cycles per year, with mesocycles of 1-2 months each.
h. Probably due to training variation and allowable recovery.
i. It would not be appropriate to use this model with a 10-K runner or a road cyclist.
j. Table 5.5 is designed to maximize 1-RM strength and power and is inappropriate for distance running.
k. A distance runner's resistance program might consist of three mesocycles.
1) first mesocycle: 3 sessions/wk. 2-3 sets of 15-20 RM with 1-2 minutes rest between sets and exercises.
2) Second mesocycle: 3 sessions/wk, 2-3 sets of 12-15 RM with 1-1.5 minutes rest between sets and exercises.
3) Third or peaking mesocycle: 1-3 sessions per week and would consist of 2-3 sets of each exercise at 8-12 RM with .5-1.0 minutes rest between sets and exercises. Reducing the training volume .
l. the intensity and volume of exercise are th etwo most notable variables manipulated in many periodization programs.
m. Beginners should use higher volume protocols with lower intensities followed by a gradual increase in the intensity over the macrocycle.
n. Highly trained strength athletes do not decrease the volume of exercise as much over the training cycle because of their ability to tolerate and recover from higher-volume and high-intensity resistance exercise stress. They may need longer periods of training to realize gains as their potential to increase strength is small.
C. Non-linear periodization models
1. Called non-linear due to the dramatic changes in resistances used.
2. Moderate: 8-10 RM on Monday; Heavy: 3-5RM on Wednesday; light: 12-15 RM on Friday for 12 weeks; followed by a short active rest, then cycle is repeated.
3. Most appropriate for team and individual sports in which peaking for one competition is not of prime importance, because there are many competitions.
Table 5.6 Nonlinear Workout variables for a week of training using various primary exercises
Monday Wednesday Friday
Intensity 8-10 RM 3-5 RM 12-15 RM
Number of sets 3-4 4-5 3-4
Rest between sets &
Exercises 2 min 3-4 min 1 min
II. Administrative concerns
A. Intro
1. for large groups: classes and athletic teams
2. Design program first, and address administrative concerns later.
3. major concerns are:
a. availability of equipment
1) the biomechanical requirements of the muscle actions to be trained with an exercise must be matched to the equipment, particularly the type of strength curve needed for each exercise.
Figure 2.3 Three major types of strength curves; a) ascending, b) descending, c) bell-shaped.
a b c
2) In an exercise with an ascending strength curve it is possible to lift more weight if only the last half or last quarter of a repetition is performed than if the complete range of motion of a repetition is performed.
a) squat is an exercise with an ascending strength curve, it is possible to lift more weight at the latter part of the curve.
b) Rubber tubes produce only ascending curves
3) An exercise with a descending curve it is possible to lift more weight at the beginning or first half or quarter of the exercise.
a) an upright row has a descending curve
4) an exercise where it is possible to lift more resistance during the middle of the ROM has a bell-shaped curve.
a) elbow curls
5) to match the three major types of strength curves, a variable resistance machine must be able to vary the resistance in three major patterns. Due to variations in limb length, in point of attachment of the muscle's tendons to the bones, and in body size, it is nearly impossible to accommodate all of the variations between individuals on a machine.
b. number of individuals
c. availability of space
d. availability of time