Strength in track and field training

Strength is the ability of skeletal muscle to produce tension.

In the practice of athletics, strength constitutes one of the fundamental athletic abilities and participates in the development of power in the specific athletic gesture; among the various disciplines, the one that requires more power (therefore greater strength) is the shot put.

Briefly: some principles of physics useful for measuring strength

The peak of Power (F) during the athletic gesture is given by maximum muscle contraction (MCV); the unit of measure for strength, according to the International System, is the Newton (N) or respectively the metronewton (Nm).
In physics, the weight of a "body" is given by the product of Mass (kg or Lbs) multiplied by the force of gravity (force of 9.80663 N, rounded off 9.81N); ultimately, every 1kg of mass develops a Weight quantifiable in 9.81N (force necessary to overcome its resistance). For example, 5kg * 9.81N = 49.05N are required to move a weight determined by a mass of 5kg.
There Power is given by the relationship between the Mechanical Work (Work) and the Execution time (t), therefore Work / t or Wxt-1, even if in the field of athletic training it is better expressed as the product of Strength (F) for Speed (V), therefore P = F * V; the "unit of measurement of power is the watt (W). The" unit of measurement of angular velocity is instead the Radian (Rad), or 59 ° 29 "obtained by means of: 360 ° / 6.28.
NB. Knowing the unit of measurement of angular velocity is also very important in rehabilitation through the "Cibex" which uses isokinetic muscle tension at a given speed.
The maximum force peak (max) is reached when the lever arm is in optimal mechanical conditions; eg, for the knee it is 127 °.

Strength conditioning in athletics training

In athletics it is essential to develop strength, as it is necessary to increase the power referred to the technical athletic gesture (throwing, jumping, fast running, etc.). The factors that have the greatest impact on the increase in strength are:

Cross section of the muscle: with the same neural control and muscle insertion (the most determining factor), a greater cross section is associated with greater strength
Total body mass: the increase in total mass with a prevalence of muscle increases strength; this explains why in disciplines such as throws the total body mass of athletes is always much greater than that of endurance disciplines, even if in some specialty you choose a compromise (for example in fast runs and jumps).
Composition of the muscle fibers: the fast white fibers develop greater strength, which can be observed in the correlation between isometric strength and the percentage of the latter; they also deliver it faster.
Nervous factors: the delivery of strength, even in athletics, depends on the ability of the nervous system to recruit ALL muscle fibers; it should be borne in mind that specific exercise increases the excitability of motor neurons, an aspect that can be observed in both sprinters and weight lifters.
Age and gender: in people without training, the peak of strength is reached at about 20 years; the woman possesses 40% less absolute strength than the man, even if the difference varies according to the muscle group in question: in the upper limbs the females have only 50% of strength compared to the males, while in the legs they reach 75%. Between the sexes, the discrepancy in terms of strength is dictated solely by the quantity and not the quality of muscle tissue.
Trainability: an appropriate training increases the voluntary strength quite specifically on the athletic gesture; NB. muscle mass gain is not always welcome.

Strength Training Methodology in Athletics

In athletes who perform jumps and sprints in athletics, subjected to strength exercises 2-3 times a week for 2 months, an improvement in the nerve impulse from the brain to the muscle and an increase in muscle circumference are appreciable. Mass gain is not directly related to jump performance gains; rather, strength training has been shown to be extremely effective in athletes with a percentage of fast white muscle fibers of at least 60% of the total. Furthermore, also the improvement of the relationship between slow fibers and fast fibers with an increase of the latter (expressed thanks to the specialization of the intermediate fibers and of the muscle satellite cells) represents a physiological mechanism probably responsible for the improvement in performance in sprinters and jumpers who train for strength in athletics. We also remember that it is never the muscle fiber that conditions the nervous system but the opposite; it is established that the practice of maximal efforts requiring a very long maximal contraction time favors the constitution of numerous actino-myosin bridges (cross-bridge), therefore the increase of the developed force.

Strength training for youth athletics: general principles

The general principles and limitations to be respected in strength training for youth athletics follow reasons of an orthopedic, biological and methodological nature:

The orthopedic reasons are of morphological maturation of the skeleton and of the joints being completed
The biological reasons are those underlying the mechanisms of development
The methodological reasons are constituted by the prematurity of the sports technique and motor skills, which prevents the correct transformation of the general conditional capacity into the specific one

It is also advisable to concentrate the development of general strength towards fast strength, which is the basis of all special strength performances in the various disciplines. Explosive strength, reactive strength, resistance to strength, mixed strength originate from it.
Furthermore, strength for athletics MUST be solicited through the aid of numerous (and always different) training means or tools, alternating general rehearsals with specific tests. We recall that hypertrophy, as a component of strength, in athletics is stressed secondary to fast strength, just as exercises for reactive strength (plyometrics) subordinate the development of maximal strength.

The fundamental exercises for the development of strength in athletics

The fundamental exercises for the development of strength in athletics are 4: pull, turn, momentum and jerk. They, especially in young athletes, must be acquired gradually through careful training supported by general pre-athletics, useful for the necessary muscle-tendon structuring. in preparation for specific strength training. In athletes under the age of 15, barbell exercises must NEVER be dominant over specific ones, as well as explosive-reactive strength exercises MUST begin after the age of 14 and ONLY through careful control of load and weight. execution (cycle of 2-3 months, frequency 2-3 times a week, each session 20-30 plyometric or explosive executions).
Other exercises extremely useful for the strength of the lower limbs are: full squat (or squat), ½ squat, 1/3 squat, 1/3 squat jump, maximum sagittal spreads and step-ups (specific for long runners, altists and triplists).

Fast Strength Development Proposals in Youth Athletics Training

As anticipated, in youth athletics the first goal is the development of fast strength as it represents the basis of the explosive-reactive, resistant and mixed strength.
Fast (or rapid) strength can be defined as the ability to develop the greatest possible strength in a very short time against an obstacle of modest weight (instrument or weight of the subject himself) with the most correct technical execution possible (Prof. Peter Tschiene). In order to have a "sufficiently exhaustive idea of the mechanisms underlying the fast force, I propose the scheme coined by Buehrle:

The development of fast strength in athletics has favored (in recent years) the increase in performance in sprints, jumps and throws; the interesting aspect is that it is a trainable ability already from 12-14 years of age but, on the other hand, it emerged that a good part of the coaches make a real abuse of it on young athletes (in particular for that which concerns the lower limbs, therefore the exercise of leaps). This leads inexorably to an excessive overload of the joints, NOT yet fully formed and stabilized, increasing the risk of complications, even serious ones. We also distinguish 2 types of stresses:

Explosive strength, which only involves shortening or rapid stretching
Reactive strength, which also includes a preliminary stretching phase

Explosive Strength Exercises for Athletics Training:

High and long jump from standstill without counter-movement (concentric and positive work)
Lower limbs collapsed up to 90 ° with and without overload (polycompetition)
Throws of various gear from stationary to one or two arms.

Instead belong to the exercises of reactive strength for the training of athletics:

Jumps from standing with counter-movement and in motion (with some starting steps)
Leaps of all kinds in continuous succession
Plyometry
Continuous, fast and springing exercises in overload
Sprint uphill, with tow and with light overload.

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