Paul, you officially crush me in every event you swim. :bow: I just looked up your times. So about this weightlifting thing. . . :weightlifter: Guess I had better start taking it more seriously. Is there room for a Ms. Hulk? Cause if I start sweating in the gym . . . there's no telling what I will turn into! :rofl:
Have a USS meet this weekend. I'm concerned as I'm dead tired. Like that's a surprise. Should prove interesting. The psych sheets are scary. I'm an average swimmer. :doh: I think it's good for me though. Should be interesting to see if I fall apart mentally (due to being tired). Or perhaps I'll show I'm a bit better than a creampuff. Maybe a jelly donut. Should be fun regardless and I know I'll get to see some fast swimming.
Crush you? Nah, I'm faster in the shorter stuff because I'm taller and stronger. But do not sell your self short. Crush you, bah. And an 'average swimmer?' puh-leeze. Triple AAA times in most of your events? And just a fraction of quad-A? Once again you are short selling yourself. Don't do it again, or I'll have to hurt you. :duel:
But as for strength training. Yes, anyone can benefit from a solid, well structured resistance training routine. Does this mean that you have to sweat like a dog for 2 hours a day, lifting small cars? Nope. But it does mean that you have to continually challenge your body to adapt.
In any training, one key fact must always be addressed and that is the human body's huge capacity for adapting to physiological stress. And any form of movement, be it walking, riding a bike, lifting, etc. is a form of physiological stress. So to keep the body from adapting and becoming static, we need to keep increasing and/or changing the stress.
I'm using stress here to represent positive stress, otherwise as eustress. Avoidance of negative stress, distress is a major goal.
There is a core belief that resistance training falls into three types. These are not all inclusive and everyone's body responds differently but these are pretty good guidelines.
1) Strength training - 4-6 reps of 3 sets using 80-85% of 1RM (one rep max) using longer rest periods between sets. Goal is to maximize overall gains in muscle power and density while minimizing overall growth.
2) Hypertrophy - 6-8 reps, 3-4 sets using 65-75% of 1RM - using slightly shorter rest periods, goal is to maximize production of muscle fibers in the shortest possible time. main focus is to increase total muscle fiber size (hypertrophty).
3) Endurance training - 12-15 reps per set, 2-3 sets per exercise using 50-60% or 1RM with very little rest between sets. Goal here is to maximize stored energy (glycogen) in muscle fibers and to speed the body's response in eliminating fatigue toxins.
Now, all three training types will have the following benefits:
1) Increase muscle fiber density - increased strength
2) Increased muscle fiber quantity - increased size
3) Increased long term efficiency - increased endurance
4) Increased short-term efficiency - increased power
But the difference between them is the difference in emphasis on the primary goal. Note: PRIMARY goal. Will you increase the quantity of muscle fibers while strength training? Yes. Will you see an increase in muscle density while bodybuilding? Yes. And so on. But you will have the BEST chance of maximizing your strength gains following at strength training routine that you would following an edurance training one. And that is the heart of the matter. Working smarter not harder.
Which brings up this key point. To be able to work smarter you HAVE to track your progress and that means that you HAVE TO keep a log of your activities. This gives you the following benefits:
1) You can track your progress which can help motivate.
2) You have a historical record of your progress so you can see what exercises worked and what didn't.
3) You can see when you start to plateau in your training. These plateaus generally indicate one of two things: overtraining (the eustress is becoming distress) or adaptation (your body has adapted to the eustress you have been applying and is becoming static)
More to follow
Paul
Paul, you officially crush me in every event you swim. :bow: I just looked up your times. So about this weightlifting thing. . . :weightlifter: Guess I had better start taking it more seriously. Is there room for a Ms. Hulk? Cause if I start sweating in the gym . . . there's no telling what I will turn into! :rofl:
Have a USS meet this weekend. I'm concerned as I'm dead tired. Like that's a surprise. Should prove interesting. The psych sheets are scary. I'm an average swimmer. :doh: I think it's good for me though. Should be interesting to see if I fall apart mentally (due to being tired). Or perhaps I'll show I'm a bit better than a creampuff. Maybe a jelly donut. Should be fun regardless and I know I'll get to see some fast swimming.
Crush you? Nah, I'm faster in the shorter stuff because I'm taller and stronger. But do not sell your self short. Crush you, bah. And an 'average swimmer?' puh-leeze. Triple AAA times in most of your events? And just a fraction of quad-A? Once again you are short selling yourself. Don't do it again, or I'll have to hurt you. :duel:
But as for strength training. Yes, anyone can benefit from a solid, well structured resistance training routine. Does this mean that you have to sweat like a dog for 2 hours a day, lifting small cars? Nope. But it does mean that you have to continually challenge your body to adapt.
In any training, one key fact must always be addressed and that is the human body's huge capacity for adapting to physiological stress. And any form of movement, be it walking, riding a bike, lifting, etc. is a form of physiological stress. So to keep the body from adapting and becoming static, we need to keep increasing and/or changing the stress.
I'm using stress here to represent positive stress, otherwise as eustress. Avoidance of negative stress, distress is a major goal.
There is a core belief that resistance training falls into three types. These are not all inclusive and everyone's body responds differently but these are pretty good guidelines.
1) Strength training - 4-6 reps of 3 sets using 80-85% of 1RM (one rep max) using longer rest periods between sets. Goal is to maximize overall gains in muscle power and density while minimizing overall growth.
2) Hypertrophy - 6-8 reps, 3-4 sets using 65-75% of 1RM - using slightly shorter rest periods, goal is to maximize production of muscle fibers in the shortest possible time. main focus is to increase total muscle fiber size (hypertrophty).
3) Endurance training - 12-15 reps per set, 2-3 sets per exercise using 50-60% or 1RM with very little rest between sets. Goal here is to maximize stored energy (glycogen) in muscle fibers and to speed the body's response in eliminating fatigue toxins.
Now, all three training types will have the following benefits:
1) Increase muscle fiber density - increased strength
2) Increased muscle fiber quantity - increased size
3) Increased long term efficiency - increased endurance
4) Increased short-term efficiency - increased power
But the difference between them is the difference in emphasis on the primary goal. Note: PRIMARY goal. Will you increase the quantity of muscle fibers while strength training? Yes. Will you see an increase in muscle density while bodybuilding? Yes. And so on. But you will have the BEST chance of maximizing your strength gains following at strength training routine that you would following an edurance training one. And that is the heart of the matter. Working smarter not harder.
Which brings up this key point. To be able to work smarter you HAVE to track your progress and that means that you HAVE TO keep a log of your activities. This gives you the following benefits:
1) You can track your progress which can help motivate.
2) You have a historical record of your progress so you can see what exercises worked and what didn't.
3) You can see when you start to plateau in your training. These plateaus generally indicate one of two things: overtraining (the eustress is becoming distress) or adaptation (your body has adapted to the eustress you have been applying and is becoming static)
More to follow
Paul
