Weight Room Charts Send The Wrong Message To Athletes

5 pounds x 10= 75 pounds
225 pounds + 75 pounds = 300 pound max
Once a value is assigned to the repetition based upon the study, in this case 0.0333,  a ‘Weight Lifting Percentage Chart’ is constructed for the general population.

To use the chart a weightlifter simply finds his or her maximum along the left side.  The weight to workout with is taken from the chart based on the percentage and repetitions they are asked to utilize in their workout plan.
Sample of an athletes instructions from the Coach…
Today we are going to use 75% of our maximum for 10 reps, then 85% of our maximum for 6 reps and 90% for 4 on the bench press.  The above chart tells you the weight you should be working out with based on your individual max to Get Strong.
The athlete with a 270 max chooses…
75% – 205 x 10
85% – 230 x 6
90% – 245 x 4
Exactly what these percentages really mean to the muscle tissue is a huge question.  Weight Charts can be used as guides, yet to be accurate and take into account individual differences you need to make a chart for every exercise and every individual.
Try this to explore the reasoning of many charts…
Find your one repetition maximum in a multi-joint exercise such as a free weight barbell squat or bench press.  Select a percentage such as 65%, 75% or 85% of that maximum and do as many repetitions as possible with that percentage and record your repetitions.

Now select a ‘single-joint‘ exercise such as barbell curl and repeat the test.  Whether trained or untrained you will find you achieve fewer repetitions at the same percentage of 1RM with a single-joint movement and more repetitions with a multi-joint movement.   In other-words multi -joint and single-joint exercises have different values of a repetition.  The amount of muscle mass involved in a multi-joint exercise and the neural system alter the outcome.
If this same test is done with a large group of athletes, say a team, you will get a similar result.  You will also find a great deal of variability from athlete to athlete in the data.

Try this also……
Take all your athletes who’s maximum is the same in a particular exercise.  Let’s say their maximum is 270 pounds on the bench press.  Using 75% of their max in the above chart (205), test the maximum amount of repetitions they can do.
In general, most may achieve 10 reps as indicated on the chart, but you may find an athlete who can only do 6 reps or another who can do 15.  Very normal stuff, as we all have different neurological efficiencies.
Charts are charts, they set a course.  They give direction. Understand that they are not based on the scientific method and each athlete will be effected differently with the recommended weights and repetitions.
The best chart to hang in your weight room is the ‘Effort Chart’.  When you go to it, it says…. give a 100%  effort to any weight you choose to….. Get Strong.



Pendulum 3 Way Row

Tags: Strength Training, Muscular Growth

High or low reps that is the question?

High or low reps that is the question?

With the advent of Life Sciences, Exercise Science is beginning to take a dramatic turn.

Scientists now have the capability to take training studies much further and compare the number of molecules developed from a training regime, tracking their respective pathways that elicit particular muscular responses.

They look at fancy stuff like P70s6k, GSK-3beta, Foxo1 and AKT signalling and the mTOR molecular pathway.

This takes the testing inaccuracy and bias out of the results. It says this is what happened when we counted or tracked the molecules.

The cool thing is you can find out what is going on even if the strength training protocol is not equivocally designed.

Studying the molecules has and will change what we think and what we think we know about exercise. The real science of exercise is just beginning.

In a recent study out of Australia at Deakin University, the researchers were looking at the pathways to hypertrophy and atrophy of skeletal muscle in humans.

They were looking at the AKT signaling. AKT is at the center of the chart on the left.

In order to compare and study the molecular responses to training they wanted disparity between the strength training groups.

When you do a study you want the results to show up so you can compare the two modalities in question..

To achieve this they decided to repeat the protocols on high and low repetitions as described in the current scientific literature on strength training. This way there would be no doubt about the results and make tracking of the molecular pathways easier.

The findings would be good stuff for a strength coach. They would know for certain if you do the following protocol, this is exactly what will happen at the cellular level.

This is much like the Kreb Cycle that the health professional learned as part of physiology classes.

They learned if you run aerobically a glucose molecule in the presence of oxygen enters the Krebs cycle and will give you 36 ATP and 2 ATP more from glycolysis. With this info the health professional can accurately tell you what is occurring when you run and design the appropriate distance or sprinting routine.

The Deakin University scientists thought they understood strength development and had one strength training group train with low repetitions and the other with high repetitions. The low repetition group did 3-5 reps for 4 sets, while the high rep group did 20-28 reps for 2 sets. The low rep group took 3 minutes rest between sets and the high rep group only had 1 minute rest between sets.

The exercises used in each group were the leg press, squat and leg extension.

Based on the previous studies they were replicating the authors were sure that there protocols would give them disparity in results. The low repetition group would develop much more strength than the high repetition group. They would then report all the molecular changes based upon the protocols.

What they found was both groups had significant increase in hypertrophy, muscular strength and muscular endurance.

Which was exactly what they were not looking for.

Their study refuted just about everything that had been written regarding repetitions in strength training so far.

They did establish the role of AKT downstream signaling pathways in human skeletal muscle.

It also cleared up something that many strength coaches already empirically knew.....high repetition strength training gives you surprisingly tremendous results.

The key to developing strength is being systematic and progressive. Repetitions don't mean much to molecules other than providing mechanical tension. The cells sense the force and this tension changes cellular behavior.

High rep stuff is a great way to..... GET STRONG.

Tags: squat, Strength and Conditioning

Every Rep Counts!

Count and record every rep that you do and remember Every Rep Counts.

Mike Gittleson was the Director of Strength & Conditioning at the University of Michigan for 30 years and was a part of 15 Football Championships in that time. He explains, when I coached I put the following sign on the door. I wanted the players to know that everything they did counted towards their potential.

The sign meant many things. It referred to all aspects of life from sleep, eating and exercising - to school, family and friends. All of these aspects of living add up to who you are.

We discussed that all teams trained and we always assumed that everyone worked hard. Our goal was to be purposeful and get the most out of everything we did. The repetition in life is everything. The rep is how you grow as a person and reach your potential and grow as a team. Every rep of life counts.

The repetition in the weight room has a uniqueness as it causes muscular tension and physically changes who you are. This mechanical stress elicited by the lifter determines the metabolic stress or the amount of ATP in the cell. With brief and hard training there is little ATP, the mTOR pathway is triggered. The genes for skeletal muscle growth respond.

When you perform a repetition lifting weights, contract your musculature and pause at the top of the movement. The length of the pause should always be the same. After pausing ease back into the lowering phase of the repetition. You should feel the muscle lengthen. The lengthening phase causes high muscular tension and growth.

I like to have the athlete pause each repetition and wait for a number from the spotter. This creates quality repetitions, accuracy of results and requires a certain degree of discipline. Working until you can't control the descent of the weight creates the highest muscular tension. So, forcing reps and training to 'momentary muscular failure' is the way to go.

Performing repetitions, that is building muscular tension, is like pumping up the tire of a bicycle. If someone is helping you, but keeps releasing air at the valve: while you are trying to pump up the tire you can pump all day and never get the tire filled.

When lifting weights you are the someone who is in control. You make the decision to release air or tension based on effort or the discomfort you feel when pumping up your muscles. You can lift all day releasing muscular tension or you can get it done.

Remember these points when training - you lose the value of the rep or you lose muscular tension:

1. If you relax during the movement

2. If you use momentum as an advantage to make the lift easier during the movement.

3. If you use leverage to your advantage during the movement.

If you do properly performed reps and never lose muscular tension, pausing at the top of each movement and feel the lengthening of the muscle on the descent.......you will become brutally strong.

Systematic and Progressive Strength Training causes Adaptation.

Get the most out of each rep that you do

Make every rep purposeful

Make every rep count

And.............

Tags: Strength and Conditioning