Research I read in 2011

This year, I started reading research.  I can honestly say that it has completely changed my approach to training and it has revolutionised my understanding of strength and conditioning concepts.

Here’s a quick run through the research I read this year, what I thought about it at the time and where I intend to go with it next year.

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Sprinting

The more I read about athletic ability and the training programmes of various different athletes, the most I discover that sprinting is an important component of athletic ability even for non-track athletes.  It is all inter-related…

Strength and power characteristics of sprinters - it has always been controversial whether Olympic lifters are better jumpers than the track and field athletes themselves.  I was intrigued to find that this study seems to make it clear that sprinters are better jumpers than Olympic lifters.  Strength (even relative strength) is not everything you need to be fast.  And it seems that jumping is not just about relative strength but it’s also about being fast.

Strength and power characteristics of sports speed - what exercises predict sprinting ability?  This study suggests that the 3RM squat is a poor predictor of sprint performance for athletes but other studies suggest that 1RM is a good predictor.  Perhaps it is true that athletes really are much more fast-twitch dominant than many non-athletic strength trainees.  Either way, the study shows that jump squats and plyometrics are better predictors of sports speed than heavy squats.

Laboratory and field tests in the evaluation of anaerobic power in elite hurdlers - what tests are suitable for establishing how fit an athlete is for their chosen event?  Traditionally, the Wingate test has been used, and perhaps abused, for many different events.  However, this research suggests that the standing long jump, short distance runs and overhead shot throws might be both easier and better tests for predicting 110m hurdling performance.

I hope to read more about sprinting next year.  It’s an interesting area for both athletic and general populations and it’s a very natural movement pattern for people who can manage it without limitations.

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Jumping

Since sprinting performance can be measured by improving your standing triple jump (as we noted above), it’s interesting to consider ways in which jumping performance might be improved.  Again, plyometrics come up at the top of the list.

A comparison of plyometric techniques for improving vertical jump ability - this study compared a number of different plyometrics techniques for their ability to improve vertical jumps.  Depth jumps were found to be most effective at improving vertical jumps.  The study also found that the improvement in vertical jumping was not due to increases in stored elastic energy.

Muscle fibre characteristics after a period of plyometric training - researchers were surprised to discover that an 8-week period of plyometrics improved vertical jump ability by causing hypertrophy.

My reading into plyometrics has been fascinating and its definitely an area I want to look at more carefully next year.  It’s early days in my research into this area but what I am reading in the studies does not correlate with what people are saying in the fitness industry at the moment.

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Throwing

I’ve thought about throwing quite a bit this year.  I was interested to see that there appeared to be a correlation between 110m hurdling ability and the overhead shot throw and I have always been surprised with the sprinting ability of shot put athletes like Geoff Capes and Brian Oldfield.

Maximum strength-power relationships in collegiate throwers - the one and only Michael Hartman investigates peak force, peak rate of force development and how they relate to throwing ability.  This study raised a lot more questions than it answered.

New concepts in power building for the shot put - Stanley Lampert was one of the first athletes to use overweight implements and barbell training to develop strength and power specifically for his sport.  In this article, he talks about how he programmed partial lifts with overweight implements for best results.

Management of the training process in qualified female hammer throwers - Eugene Wrublevsky explains how the throwing season breaks down and how overweight implements and underweight implements are used throughout the year.  I have always been fascinated by periodisation because I know how fast strength is lost in most populations (and it’s quicker than many people think).  I struggle to reconcile old-school linear periodisation with what I know about gaining strength and explosive power.  This staggered approach of fluctuating volumes seems to make much more sense.

Advances in the understanding of throwing injuries of the shoulder - not all strength training is about gaining muscle or power.  Sometimes, strength training is about preventing imbalances.  Throwers can be some of the most imbalanced athletes and this research shows how to take better care of them.  Initial work into helping throwers suggested that stretching the posterior shoulder capsule, strengthening the scapular stabilisers and strengthening the rotator cuff were the priority.

Current concepts in the rehabilitation of the overhead athlete - and as science moves on, so we must continue to understand what it says and apply it to training our athletes.  This article argues that stretching the posterior shoulder capsule is incorrect and that the posterior shoulder muscles should be stretched instead.

I suspect I have probably gone as far as I want to go with throwers this year.  Unless I pick up a client who is an amateur throwing athlete next year, I doubt I will go much further in this area.

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Cycling

As a keen cyclist in my spare time, I am always fascinated by how I seem to maintain cycling fitness just by the gym work I do.  These studies confirm my own experience in this regard:

Maximal strength improves cycling economy - many amateur cyclists look upon weight training as unnecessary and harmful to their goals but Norwegian scientists have shown that adding a squat session into your training three times a week can markedly improve the power output of a racing cyclist for the same VO2-max

Strength training improves all-out 5 minute cycling performance - tests done on racing cyclists showed that in a simulated race situation, where cyclists rode for 3 hours at a steady pace and then sprinted for 5 minutes, strength training significantly improved performance

There aren’t actually that many studies on cyclists out there and I think I’ve picked up most of them.  I might read a bit more on cycling next year but there isn’t really a lot to say, to be honest.

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Swimming

My reading this year on swimming has been a long time coming.  I started out reading about sports science a long time ago because I couldn’t figure out why my own swimming wasn’t getting any better.  It’s taken a while but I’ve finally got to a point where I can address the problem and understand it.

Assisted and resisted sprint training in swimming - swimmers often think that long, slow aerobic training is the best and only way to get the results they want.  However, this study shows that both resisted and assisted sprint training with elastic is more effective than conventional training for building fast swimmers.

Muscle power predicts freestyle performance - why do assisted and resisted swimming training techniques work so well?  Because it is actually muscular power that is the best predictor of freestyle performance, whether the distance is 50m or 400m.

Effect of dry-land versus assisted and resisted sprint training in swimming - because many swimmers do not have access to assisted or resisted training techniques, studies have been done to see whether gym work can replicate the same results.  The good news is that gym work is equally effective.

Comparison of lung volumes of swimmers with land-based athletes - swimmers are unique in that the ability to inhale air is genuinely a limiting factor on performance.  Consequently, the lungs volumes of swimmers are often bigger than those of land athletes.  It’s not because they are in any way “fitter,” whatever that means.

The key for swimmers, I think, is to avoid gaining too much weight when they work their lower body.  In my experience, it’s quite hard to avoid gaining weight when you squat properly, so I can see a scenario where split squats and other single leg movements could be better for those athletes.  I may sit down and work out a weights programme for swimming at some point.  I think that could be interesting.

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Endurance running

Why do I spend so much time reading about endurance runners?  Well, for the most part, this is the sporting activity of choice for most active British people.  So, as a personal trainer in the UK who wants to work with amateur athletes, this is my market, like it or not.

Factors affecting running economy in distance runners - surprisingly, running economy is one of the most important factors in predicting running performance, even more than cardiovascular capacity (VO2-max).  And strength training is one of the best ways of improving running economy.  And yet runners will swear blind that strength training is useless for running.  I think they are mainly making excuses because they are more motivated by fear of getting to grips with something they don’t understand than they are by the desire to win races.

Interrelationships between muscle structure, muscle strength and running economy - and I was fascinated to see that running economy is related to muscle fibre type and the types of contractile proteins in the muscle fibres.

Core stability measures as risk factor for lower extremity injury in athletes - this study demonstrates that runners should do glute-specific work to help protect their ankles, knees and hips from injury.

Core strength influences 5,000m running performance - and this study shows that adding core strength training into a runner’s routine will have significantly beneficial effects on their actual running performance.

Running-related injury prevention through barefoot adaptations - millions are spent on developing running shoes with “better” shock absorption every year and yet up to 80% of runners still get injured.  However, this study suggests that the more padding you apply to the shoe, the less well the foot uses its own internal shock absorbing capabilities.  The only other possibility is that we were made with a pretty big design flaw, if you think about it…

Endurance running and the evolution of homo - if you are curious about our evolutionary history, it’s an interesting question to consider whether the human physique as we know it today evolved partly because of its tendency to perform persistence hunting.  I think the evidence is poor at the moment.

I have learned a huge amount about how to help runners this year and I expect to continue to learn more next year.  However, to go further, I think I will have to think more about injury prevention and therefore get to grips with more detailed lower extremity anatomy, which will be fun…

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Track running

I am well out of my depth when it comes to the middle distance running events, so it has been interesting to read research and articles about them.  It’s also been a natural way to get my head around the anaerobic pathways, because I don’t think it is completely obvious how they work.

Training for the 400m - the 400m is a difficult distance to run.  In this review article, William Black looks at some of the science that informs his training methods and explains why they work.

Energy system contribution in the 200m – 1,500m - when this study popped up in the mid-2000′s it caused a bit of an uproar because it implied that the aerobic component of the sprint distances had been vastly underestimated by poor methodologies.  However, most people who made a fuss about it didn’t grasp the implications properly.

Intra and extra cellular lactate shuttles - in 1984, George Brooks rocked the sports science world by introducing his lactate shuttle theory that replaced the old oxygen debt theory of lactate.  This review article is an update from George, explaining how the recent research has updated his model.

Anaerobic threshold: concept and methods of measurement - what is the anaerobic threshold?  Is it the same as the ventilatory threshold?  Find out in this review article.

I know I am only just scratching the surface of the anaerobic pathways so, while I find it a really confusing and unrewarding area to understand, I know I will be returning to it next year in some form or another.

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Rowing

After I stopped competitive swimming, I flirted briefly with Concept 2 rowing before deciding that I was never going to be able to lift weights and stay at 75kg (165lbs) for very long  as I am 5’10″ in height.  However, it remains one of my favourite forms of cardio and it’s great fun to get on and blast through a 500m occasionally…

The effects of high intensity interval training in well-trained rowers - there is nothing worse than reading a study on training techniques done on average guys.  Almost anything works.  That’s why this study is such a good one, as it uses elite rowers.  So I was pleased to see that interval training worked bettwe for elite rowers that the standard traditional, steady state work.

Physiological predictors of Olympic and traditional rowing performance - traditional and Olympic rowing are different sports in many respects.  Find out what physiological attributes lend themselves alternately to either Olympic performance or traditional, fixed-seat, sea rowing.

There isn’t a lot out there on rowing and since my Concept 2 rower is a tool rather than an end in itself, I can’t see myself writing a great deal more about rowing next year.

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Athletic psychology

Moving away from physiology and into psychology now, I did a brief series back at the start of the summer where I looked at some aspects of athletic psychology.

Many people are waking up to the idea that motivation and persistence are more important than genetic ability in many fields of life now, so this is a lot more important than you may realise.

Motivation and elite performance - motivation is an interesting concept to study and in a study of elite Bulgarian athletes, it was noticable that as athletes became more famous and were rewarded with the trappings of success, their internal motivation suffered.

Psychological factors in sports performance – for many years, psychologists have argued over whether you can predict an athlete’s performance from their mental state.  The debate still rages, but we can learn a lot from what they have uncovered along the way.

Coping strategies used by elite figure skaters – researchers interviewed a number of elite athletes to see what coping strategies they used, and came up with twelve different classifications.  It is fascinating to see how these athletes cope with stress and to learn about the techniques they use.

When winning is everything – when athletes define themselves by virtue of how good they are at their sport, bad things can happen to their mental health and their incidence of aggressive behaviour can increase.  However, self-affirmation can help here, as it can with stress.

And speaking of stress, that was another mini-series I did, because I am concerned not only with improving athletic performance but also with helping people lose weight and improve their health.

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Stress

There is a lot of material out in the public domain about stress and frankly a lot of it is confused.  I think that the reason for this is that the word “stress” has entered popular vocabulary and, because of our way of life, it gets used all the time, both in business and in home life.  So it’s all too easy for some internet yahoo to sit down and write about how to reduce “stress” and to use the term loosely, without rigour.

Consequently, popular understanding of stress has stopped developing because the material that is out there is just being recycled from one yahoo to the next.  Very little real research filters through from the journals, except where interested people actually sit down and read someone like Robert Sapolsky.

Having read Sapolsky, these are the studies I turned to so I could advance my understanding further:

Arousal and physiological toughness - life in a mechanized world can easily result in insufficient physical demands, so that natural toughening is not fostered and the neuroendocrine systems associated with arousal are not maintained near the optimum point of their genetic ranges.  In other words, you actually need an adrenaline spike to stop you from using your cortisol system all the time, which is bad for your health.

Chronic stress and the HPA axis - most of the research that has been done into how stress affects us long-term has been done on the HPA axis.  This meta-analysis looks at how the HPA axis has been observed in response to a variety of stressors and what scientists think is going on.

Psychological stress and the immune system – this recent meta-analysis surprised me by revealing how little we still understand about how stress affects the immune system.  While we know it does make a big difference, we are still struggling to find out why.

Centralisation of body fat - Obesity is a huge health issue today.  Many estimates suggest that obesity and its associated complications are now the leading cause of death in the developed world.  But why does being obese kill people so effectively?  Why does it lead to so many of these horrible “Western” diseases?  The recently deceased Swedish researcher Per Bjorntorp explains.

Affirmation of personal values buffers psychological stress responses - it’s amazing the things that have significant impacts on stress responses and the damage that they do to the body.  You won’t believe it but this study demonstrates that there is real power in positive thinking.

I think those few stress studies contain remarkably valuable information about how we can manipulate our environment to improve our health, physical appearance and athletic performance.  I believe that stress is one of the most, if not the most, important factor we can manipulate for health, performance and physique improvements.

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Wrapping up

Summarising, I can see next year being spent looking more closely in particularly at:

• What drives sprinting and jumping performance
• How plyometrics improve sprinting and jumping performance
• How specific strength training can help reduce endurance running injury
• What can be done to alleviate stress

Of course, if you can see any loose ends in the above that you think I should look at, or you would like me to look at, please let me know.