Edited by Dr. Luca Franzon
"... You would sit among the spectators and observe the courage and physical beauty of men, their marvelous form," impressive skill, invincible strength and their indefatigable will to win ... "
These are words spoken by Solon in Anacarsi in ancient Greece, where the concept of strength was already known and admired.
Over the years, many scholars including: Verkhoshanky, Hatfield, Zarciorskij, Bosco, Vittori, Cometti have tried to define the concept of muscle strength, and have devised training protocols to increase strength in athletes.
These are the most significant definitions given to the concept of force by the authors mentioned above:
"Muscle strength can be defined as the ability that the intimate components of muscle matter have to contract, in practice to shorten". (victories)
"Strength is the ability of skeletal muscle to produce tension in various manifestations." (verchosansky)
"Man's strength can be defined as his ability to overcome external resistance or to oppose it with a muscular effort". (Zaciorrskij)
We then owe to Harre the division of force into:
MAXIMUM FORCE: it is the highest force that the neuro-muscular system is able to express with a voluntary contraction.
RAPID FORCE: it is the ability of the neuro-muscular system to overcome resistance with high speed of contraction.
RESISTANT FORCE: it is the body's ability to resist fatigue during strength performance over time.
The various expressions of strength mentioned above: maximum strength, explosive strength, resistance to explosive force and muscular endurance can be classified according to biological principles. These expressions can be classified taking into consideration both the neuromuscular aspects, which serve to modulate the tension, and the metabolic aspects that determine its duration. Therefore maximum strength and explosive strength are characterized by neurogenic factors, while resistance to explosive strength and muscular endurance are characterized by metabolic factors.
Strength, speed, endurance are the sine qua non conditions for successful performance. The dominant ability is that conditional ability to which a motor performance requires a higher contribution. Most motor activities require optimal performance of at least two of the three listed qualities. The development of one of the three conditional capacities must take place in a methodical way, since it directly or indirectly affects the others.
Strength is a fundamental ability which, however, must be trained together with the others so as not to become counterproductive. Strength is what the foundation represents for a home in an athlete. Strength is the starting point. A cyclist cannot think of winning a final sprint if he has not trained strength, a volleyball player cannot think of jumping higher if he has not trained strength, and a bodybuilder cannot think of developing further hypertrophy if he has not trained strength.
Of the three strength types Harre classified, maximum strength is the first to train. Once this quality has improved then it can be transformed into other types of strength with adequate training. The maximal strength can then become, explosive, resistant or can turn into hypertrophy.
The improvement of the maximum strength occurs first with adaptations and modifications at the level of the nervous system then with morphological transformations that will lead to hypertrophy.
Most probably the adaptations at the neural level act both at a central and peripheral level, this determines as a final result a "maximal activation of all muscle fibers (Millner-Brown et coll. 1975). These modifications will give the possibility to immediately recruit a very high number of muscle fibers, triggering all those processes that determine the explosive force.
Changes in the nervous system will cause both intramuscular and intermuscular coordination to improve, resulting in energy savings and an increase in the speed of execution of a movement.
A fundamental concept, because it will be the means by which strength will be developed, is the concept of load. Small loads can get high tensions through the speed of execution of the movement but it is not optimal to use low loads and high repetitions because in this training situation the alternation of motor unit recruitment comes into play which does not lead to the improvement of strength. high muscle tension will also give greater supercompensation.If high muscle tension is not produced through optimal loads, no increases in strength are produced.
The training methods to increase maximum strength are varied and among these we remember:
Method of repeated efforts
Series method
Pyramidal method
Dynamic method
Maximal stress method
Static or isometric stress method
Contrasting methods
The methods listed above are the result of the studies of the authors mentioned at the beginning of the article and are methods that go well with performance sports. As for strength training for the body builder or for the advanced fitness practitioner, the aim is to increase the recruitment capacity of the motor units, so that they can then be exploited to the fullest in mesocycles with hypertrophic purposes.
In general these are the characteristics to build the strength table:
load between 75% -100% of MRI.
repetitions from 1 to 8/10.
6-10 sets per exercise.
1-2 exercises per muscle sector.
recovery time between sets of 3 to 5 minutes.
duration of the mesocycle from 6 to 10 weeks.
In the strength mesocycle it is not uncommon to encounter injuries caused by the use of too high loads. We have said that the load is the means to become stronger but unlike other sports where lifting a high load means winning a race, in body building we have said that strength has other objectives that are not purely of a performance type.
At this point I just have to close the "article with an" inevitable phrase when it comes to strength ..... MAY THE STRENGTH BE WITH YOU !!!!!!
SHEET A
*BENCH
CROSSES 3X6 / 8
* BALANCER CURL
SHEET B
* SQUAT OR PRESS
LEG CURL 3 / 4X6 / 8
* CALF
SHEET C
* SLOW FORWARD
PULL THE CHIN IMP. WIDE 3X6 / 8
* THRUST ON FLAT BENCH, NARROW HANDLE
SHEET D
* PULLEY
TRACTIONS AT THE BAR 3 / 4XMAX
BASIC EXERCISES T.D.R. (recovery time) - 2/3 "-
COMPLEMENTARY EXERCISES T.D.R. - 1.30 / 2 "-
ALL 1 6X10
ALL 3 7X10
ALL 5 8X10
ALL 7 8X8
ALL 9 8X6
ALL 11 8X4
FLAT BENCH
HIGH CABLE CROSSINGS
SHOULDER PRESS
FRONT RAISES
CURL WITH HANDLEBARS
SCOTT BENCH WITH HANDLEBARS
3/4 X 12/15
15-12-10-8-6
3/4 X 12/15
15-12-10-8-6
3/4 X 12/15
CALF STANDING
CALF SITTING
LEG CURL LAY DOWN
HPX WITH OVERLOAD
SQUAT
SINK WITH HANDLEBARS
15-12-10-8-6
3/4 X 20/25
15-12-10-8-6
3/4 X 12/15
15-12-10-8-6
3/4 X 12/15
PULLEY
LAT MACHINE WITH TRIANGLE
THRUST ON BENCH IMP. TIGHT
TRICEPS BUST 90 °
RISES 90 °
15-12-10-8-6
3/4 x 12/15
15-12-10-8-6
3/4 X 12/15
3/4 X 12/15
EXERCISES COMP. T.D.R. 1.00 "
WEEK N.
MON
MAR
WED
THU
FRI
SAT
1
TO
B.
C.
D.
2
1
2
3
3
TO
B.
C.
D.
4
1
2
3
5
TO
B.
C.
D.
6
1
2
3
7
TO
B.
C.
D.
8
1
2
3
9
TO
B.
C.
D.
10
1
2
3
11
TO
B.
C.
D.
12
1
2
3
BIBLIOGRAPHY
BOSCO C .: Muscle strength. Physiological aspects and practical applications - Società Stampa Sportiva 1997.
COMETTI G., Modern methods of muscle strengthening - Theoretical aspects, Calzetti-Mariucci, Perugia,
MANNO R .: Strength training - Società Stampa Sportiva 1988.
PATREGNANI E .: Training and sports performance - Edi Ermes 1990.
VERCHOSANSKIJ Y. V .: Means and methods for the training of explosive strength. All about the impact method - Società Stampa Sportiva 1997.
ZATCIORSKIJ V.M .: The physical qualities of the sportsman - FIDAL Study and Research Center 1972.
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