Strength Improvement Tools
With the development of strength, physical exercises are used, the implementation of which requires more effort from athletes than under normal conditions. These exercises are called strength exercises.
Exercises with weights with their own body weight do not require special equipment, do not cause the risk of injury and overload, and therefore are widely used in the practice of physical education at the initial stage of strength training.
Exercises with burdening with a mass of objects allow you to dose the amount of effort in accordance with individual capabilities. A wide variety of exercises can effectively influence the development of various muscle groups and all types of strength abilities.
Exercises with resistance to resistance of the external environment. These include motor actions, in which the magnitude of the burden is not limited by precisely defined boundaries (running up the sand, snow, water).
Exercises in overcoming the resistance of elastic objects are effective for the development of muscle mass, and therefore maximum strength, but less effective for the development of speed and strength and are unsuitable for the development of explosive strength and negatively affect intermuscular coordination.
Exercises with combined encumbrances. This group of means allows you to achieve variability of influence, and thereby increase the emotionality and effectiveness of training. With their help, you can solve the problems of special strength training. For example, jumping with weights contributes to the development of explosive power in repulsion.
Exercises on simulators... Modern simulators allow you to perform exercises with precisely dosed resistance both for individual muscle groups and for general influence, and selectively influence the development of a certain strength ability. The use of simulators increases the emotional background of the classes.
Isometric exercises gained widespread popularity in the 60s. Later, interest in them decreased slightly. In isometric loads, you can achieve a greater training effect than in dynamic ones. This allows you to use inexhaustible energy for other tasks, or perform more strength exercises.
At the same time, we warn you that these exercises, especially with submaximal and maximum stress, are inappropriate to use in classes with children, adolescents, the elderly and persons with disorders in the work of the cardiovascular system, since they require prolonged breath holding and tension.
When using isometric exercises, the greatest increase in muscle strength is observed only in those positions of the body links in which isometric strains were performed.
Maximum strength development method
There are several directions in the method of training maximum strength, each of which is aimed at improving a certain factor on which it depends.
Let's consider each of them.
The method of developing maximum strength by increasing muscle mass
This direction in the method of strength training in the literature is also called the method of repeated efforts. It consists in such an organization of the training process, which contributes to the intensive breakdown of proteins in muscles, the decay products of which stimulate their synthesis during the recovery period, followed by myosin compensation and a corresponding increase in muscle mass.
This way of developing maximum strength is expedient in the physical education of adolescents, since it contributes not only to the improvement of their strength, but also to the general strengthening of the functional capabilities of the autonomic systems.
The positive aspects of this path to increasing muscle strength are also:
• the ability to control the technique of motor actions fulfillment;
• reducing the risk of injury;
• the ability to avoid stress that negatively affects health.
The most effective means of strength training are exercises:
• with burdening with a mass of objects;
• with overcoming the resistance of elastic objects;
• on special simulators.
Exercises are also quite effective:
• with the resistance of partners;
• resistance of own body mass;
• resistance of own body mass with additional weights.
In the process of strength training, interval and combined methods are used. At the same time, the value of resistance is selected individually and should be such that a specific athlete can overcome it for 25-30 s until fatigue. This duration of work leads to the depletion of phosphagen agents and the activation of protein breakdown. Duration up to 10 seconds and more than 40-45 seconds does not contribute to effective muscle growth.
The pace of exercise is of great importance for the development of muscle mass.
If the resulting duration of work (20-35 s) is divided by the optimal duration of one repetition, then we get the required number of repetitions in one approach, ranging from 6-8 to 10-12 times.
The number of approaches in work with beginners is 2-3; with trained persons - up to 5-6 per muscle group.
In one lesson, it is recommended to do no more than one third of the skeletal muscles. An active extreme rest interval is used between approaches (heart rate recovery to 101-120 beats / min). Between series of exercises for different muscle groups - a full combined rest interval (91-100 beats / min).
During active rest, they perform slow walking, breathing exercises, relaxation and stretching exercises.
The strength training program, which consists of 4-6 weeks after the adaptation processes are reached, should change, can be built either on the principle of the complex development of various muscle groups, or alternately.
Development of certain muscle groups.
With the complex development of various muscle groups, the weekly program may include effects on various muscle groups.
For example: 1st lesson - muscles of the arms and shoulder girdle;
2nd - trunk muscles;
3rd - the muscles of the legs and pelvis.
In subsequent sessions, this cycle is repeated for 4-6 weeks.
This construction of a system of related activities is quite effective in working with beginners.
With the alternate development of certain muscle groups, the same muscle groups develop in each lesson for 4-6 weeks. When the necessary training effect has been achieved, they move on to the development of other muscle groups, and to maintain the achieved training effect, one should continue to perform strength exercises for already developed muscles, but with a load, which is 30-40% of those that took place in the developmental cycle.
It should be noted that with any system of constructing classes, large repeated loads on the same muscle groups should be planned once every 2-3 days.
A technique for developing maximum strength by improving intermuscular coordination
The most effective means of improving intermuscular coordination are exercises: with weights with a mass of objects, on simulators; in overcoming the resistance of their own body mass with additional burden.
When using this path, interval and combined methods are used.
The value of resistance is within 30-80% of the maximum in specific motor actions. When working with children, weights of 30-50% give a greater effect.
In one approach, 3-4 to 5-6 repetitions are performed in a row, focusing on (unlike the first way) that the last repetition does not require maximum volitional tension.More repetitions can cause poor muscle coordination due to the build-up of fatigue.
The optimal tempo of the motor action fulfillment is (depending on the amplitude) 0.5-1.5 sec., Both for the overcoming and for the inferior phase.
The number of approaches is 2-6 for each exercise. In this case, it is necessary to focus on the quality of the exercise. The signal for stopping the exercise is the first signs of a violation of the coordination of the work of synergistic and antagonistic muscles.
An active extreme rest interval is used between approaches. Between series for different muscle groups, the duration of the combined rest can be increased by 50-100%.
Exercises to improve intermuscular coordination should be performed at the beginning of the main part of the session, when the body is in a state of optimal performance.
The optimal number of sessions in a weekly cycle ranges from 3-4 to 5-6 sessions, depending on the level of physical fitness. The training program is drawn up for 4-6 weeks and is subsequently systematically updated, the amount of weights increases.
A technique for developing maximum strength by improving intramuscular coordination
In some literature, this path is called the maximum effort method. It is mainly used in work with athletes. The most effective means of improving intramuscular coordination are exercises: with weights with a mass of objects;
The value of resistance in the overcoming and mixed modes of muscle work should be 85-90%, and in the inferior mode - from 90-100% to 120-140% of the individual maximum in the overcoming mode of work of the same muscles.
In one approach, the exercise is repeated from 1 to 3-4 times (with weights of 85-90% - 3-4 repetitions; 91-95% - 1-2 repetitions; more than 95% - 1 repetition).
The pace of execution is 1.5-2.5 s for each repetition.
When performing exercises in an inferior mode with a weight of 90-100%, 1-2 repetitions are done at a pace of 6-8 s, and when weights are more than 100% - 1 repetition at a pace of 4-6 s.
One training task for each muscle group includes 2-3 to 4-5 approaches.
The duration of active rest between approaches depends on the number of muscles working during the exercise and averages 2-6 minutes (in local impact exercises - 2-3 minutes; regional - 3-4 minutes; total - 5-6 minutes). In this case, it is necessary to take into account the subjective sensations of readiness to repeat the exercise. In the intervals of rest, exercises for relaxation, breathing, moderate and gradual stretching, massage, hanging are performed.
The maximum resistance exercise should be done at the beginning of the main body (in a state of optimum performance). Such classes are held 2-3 times a week.
A technique for developing maximum strength through the use of isometric exercises and exercises with self-support
In some literary sources, this path is called the isometric stress method. Isometric exercises and self-support in order to develop maximum strength are performed with a tension of 70-100% of the maximum weight (at the initial stage - 70-80%).
The optimum duration of a single voltage is 4 s. It is clear that the higher the tension and the low level of training, the shorter it should be, and vice versa. In the first half of the tension (2-4 s), the effort should gradually increase to the planned one, and then keep at this level until the end of the exercise.
The breathing technique consists of incomplete inhalation before the start of tension, holding the breath and exhaling slowly in the final part of the exercise.
In one approach, 4-6 tensions are performed, with intervals of passive rest of 1-2 minutes, at which the muscles are relaxed as much as possible. In a series, 2-3 approaches are done after 4-6 minutes of combined or active rest.
The total volume of isometric tensions in a training session can be up to 15 minutes. During the week, isometric exercises can be used in 3-4 sessions.
A greater effect in the development of maximum strength can be achieved if exercises of an isometric and dynamic nature are combined in the training process.
Concluding the consideration of the methodology for the development of absolute strength, we note that specific strength training classes can be built according to two schemes.
The first consists in performing an exercise for a full muscle group in full (the number of series of approaches, repetitions) and only after completing this exercise they switch to another. This scheme is typical for performing exercises of general impact (more than two-thirds of skeletal muscles).
The second option involves the combined performance of several exercises that involve different muscles or muscle groups to work. For example, a bench press while lying on your back; squats with a barbell on the shoulders; raising the body from a prone position; pull-up in the hang. These exercises are performed alternately according to the training task scheme. This saves up to 40% of the time, since there is a switch from one muscle group to another, and the rest pauses between sets can be significantly reduced.
At the initial stages of strength training, it is advisable to use exercises aimed at the predominant development of muscle mass and the improvement of intermuscular coordination. Only by well strengthening the musculoskeletal system and autonomic systems and improving the coordination of movements, it is possible to gradually include exercises with extreme weights in the strength training program.
