Bodybuilding.com Interview with Tudor Bompa

As for leg curls and calf raises, these are exercises specifically employed to prevent injury and combat imbalances that are almost natural to resistance training. The quadriceps has approximately a 3:2 strength advantage over the hamstrings, and most exercises (apparently) only increase this disproportion.

As for toe raises, well, here's his Five Basic Laws of Strength Training:

1) Develop Joint Flexibility
2) Develop Tendon Strength
3) Develop Core Strength
4) Develop the Stabilizers
5) Train Movements, not Individual Muscles

No other exercises really develop tendon and stabilizer strength in the ankles, and the ankles are the cause of what percentage of injuries in team sports, you think?

Calf raises won't make you jump higher, but they probably will make you less likely to roll an ankle.
 
Good posts Madmick. Periodization of Sports Training is a great book, with a lot of good information in there. His methods probably aren't the best for stict powerlifting guys, but for people trying to integrate strength training into an overall sports program I think it's a great framework. In terms of the exercises he recommends for different sports, their not carved in stone. You can substitute exercises that work better for you, that may be more specific, or works with the equipment that you have on hand. But, the underlying principles of periodization and specificity are solid. The micro/macro cycles that he lists in the book are just examples. They can be changed to match your particualar goal/event/competition schedule. And I agree with him on hypertrophy, it makes your muscles shorter and slower. Flexibility and speed are more important for most sports.
 
CarnalSalvation said:
I think there is a tendancy for there to be a great deal of overthinking as people become older, and continue their education. In fact, it's somewhat similar to what I witness on this very board sometimes. People get fixated on the idea of an optimal way of training athletes, acquire too much information, and end up with a bunch of jumbled shit.

The fact of the matter is that there is only so much to be learned about lifting, and almost all of it is already in a book somewhere. The uncharted territory is in physiology only for the most part. And as peoples physical make-up and chemistry differs greatly from individual to individual, lifting will forever be an art not a science, the sooner people realize that, the better.


Great post bro.
 
Madmick said:
No, and I found this a little odd, but he actually excoriates any type of training split for athletic-oriented resistance training in "Periodization of Sports." For example, If you have 7 exercises selected for an athlete (2 upper body, 2 core, 3 lower body) and the athlete is advanced to the point that he is considered capable of handling 4 days of lifting a week- in addition to his technical and tactical sports training- Bompa argues that every exercise should be lifted on every one of those days. This makes sense in his model only because even within microcyles (one-week cycles) that belong to a macrycocyle (4-15 weeks) devoted to the development of a single type of strength, the sessions in that microcyle will probably alternate the type of strength being trained or the intensity of training.

When I refer to "types of strength," for those of you unfamiliar to periodization, I am referring to Bompa's (perhaps most useful principle) of the speed-strength-endurance triangle. Different sports require different emphasis on one of these three biomotor abilities. A marathon runner needs a great deal of endurance, not much speed or strength. A shot putter needs strength and speed (since shot-putting relies on power, a function of speed and strength, not just strength) but absolutely no endurance. A mixed martial artists needs everything in probably equal proportions. Improvements in one ability usually improve abilities in another, but once an elite level is reached, trade-offs must be moderated; thus, it is doubtful you will ever see anyone who squats over 600 pounds excel in an endurance sport (since he has obviously dedicated too much of his energy to increasing the potential for an ability irrelevant to his sport).

He delineates many different types of strength along each axis of the triangle (between Speed & Strength, between Strength & Endurance, between Endurance & Speed). For example, on the Strength-Endurance axis, the type of strength nearest the strength peak is P-E (Power-Endurance), or the ability to perform a powerful movement such as jumping to rebound a basketball, and the ability to repeat this movement many times during a game. The emphasis is more on strength than on endurance, but both are involved. The type of strength nearest the endurance peak is M-EL (Muscular-Endurance Long), or the ability to perform a less powerful movement but to sustain it. You may jump 200 times during a basketball game lasting two hours, but the total time spent performing that action is probably less than a minute. Conversely, a marathon runner will never explode as in a jump, but he will have to maintain a turnover of his gait throughout the two hours his marathon lasts. The former emphasizes P-E, the latter M-EL.

The significance of this is that P-E operates mainly on the anaerobic system and M-EL on the aerobic system. It's best to tax only one system in a day, but this also makes it possible to completely tax one system on one day and then the other on a consecutive day; this allows for maximum intensity on consecutive days.

So even in a macrocyle dedicated to converting maximum strength into power (not muscular endurance) for a basketball player, a microcyle will probably involve a taxation of both anaerobic and aerobic systems, but with an emphasis (especially in strength training) on the anaerobic. However, you can sandwich two days with the same exercises if one day emphasizes power and the next endurance, since they operate on two separate systems.

Furthermore, I was wrong when I posted in another thread the aerobic system takes 24 hours to recuperate (this is perhaps only for seriously intense aerobic exercise); it's actually 8 hours. For the anaerobic, it's 24-48 hours. Since microcycles are composed of varying high intensity and low intensity days, some days won't tax the anaerobic system to the point that training the same exercises the next day will be impractical.

I should mention, some muscles take longer than others to recuperate. The lower back is the slowest; after an intense deadlifting session, it will take 72 hours or slightly more to fully receuperate.

oops i think i mixed up poliquins protocols with bompas. i retract my statement about him normally using bodybuilding splits. i know isolation exercises can have places in a program, though i might take issue with calf raises decreasing ankle injuries.
 
cockysprinter said:
oops i think i mixed up poliquins protocols with bompas. i retract my statement about him normally using bodybuilding splits. i know isolation exercises can have places in a program, though i might take issue with calf raises decreasing ankle injuries.

I am curious what do you take issue with? IMHO, Madmick's assesment is right on. Ankle injuries account for around 20% of all sports related injuries.

And almost every ankle rehabilitation program I have read included calf raises. Such as this one.

Management of Ankle Sprains

Also, there have been studies showing the effectiveness of treating and preventing injuries using such exercises as calf raises, even when compared to surgery. And decreasing the reoccurance of the injury.

As examples

Heavy-load eccentric calf muscle training for the treatment of chronic Achilles tendinosis.

Superior short-term results with eccentric calf muscle training compared to concentric training in a randomized prospective multicenter study on patients with chronic Achilles tendinosis.
 
Let me add in that Power cleans are not Teh gay. They are one of the most effective and important exercises known to man. Ii is typical to call somthing gay when you are terrible at them such as squats are gay because my knees hurt or deadlifts are gay because because i have a sore back. Nene of these lifts are gay just a bunch of pussies decide that they are rathere difficult to perform and decide it is better to bitch about them then to reap the excellent benefits from sucking it up and doing them.
 
Nah, I did em for a long time. Hell, I even liked them for a long time because they were fun. Then I realized they produced no results, and were a huge waste of my time for the most part.

Now highpulls I can see a use for, but not cleans.
 
CarnalSalvation said:
Nah, I did em for a long time. Hell, I even liked them for a long time because they were fun. Then I realized they produced no results, and were a huge waste of my time for the most part.

Now highpulls I can see a use for, but not cleans.

musta been doing something wrong. the bigger i clean the faster i run.
 
i think the main thing about cleans is just that they teach athletism to strong guys who only usual train slow heavy lifts, which require no athletism just brute force. when i did cleans, i only got better at then by being stronger in the deadlift and high pulls or just getting more proficient at the technique. its nothing more than applying strength to a technique.
 
Madmick said:
As for leg curls and calf raises, these are exercises specifically employed to prevent injury and combat imbalances that are almost natural to resistance training. The quadriceps has approximately a 3:2 strength advantage over the hamstrings, and most exercises (apparently) only increase this disproportion.

As for toe raises, well, here's his Five Basic Laws of Strength Training:

1) Develop Joint Flexibility
2) Develop Tendon Strength
3) Develop Core Strength
4) Develop the Stabilizers
5) Train Movements, not Individual Muscles

No other exercises really develop tendon and stabilizer strength in the ankles, and the ankles are the cause of what percentage of injuries in team sports, you think?

Calf raises won't make you jump higher, but they probably will make you less likely to roll an ankle.

I rolled my ankle on friday and I have monsterous calfs. It was the fucking morning dew I slipped on. It hurts so bad when you roll an ankle, seriously.


Toe raises and calf raises...is that the same thing or no?
 
BoxingFanNoMore said:
I am curious what do you take issue with? IMHO, Madmick's assesment is right on. Ankle injuries for around 20% of all
BoxingFanNoMore said:
I am curious what do you take issue with? IMHO, Madmick's assesment is right on. Ankle injuries account for around 20% of all sports related injuries.

And almost every ankle rehabilitation program I have read included calf raises. Such as this one.

Management of Ankle Sprains

Also, there have been studies showing the effectiveness of treating and preventing injuries using such exercises as calf raises, even when compared to surgery. And decreasing the reoccurance of the injury.

As examples

Heavy-load eccentric calf muscle training for the treatment of chronic Achilles tendinosis.

Superior short-term results with eccentric calf muscle training compared to concentric training in a randomized prospective multicenter study on patients with chronic Achilles tendinosis.

i guess i was just thinkin there are some ankle injuries that are just unavoidable, regardless of ankle strength. i dont think monster calf strength wouldve kept me from destroying my ankle in basketball last fall. but rehabilitaion isnt my specialty.
 
I think Mad Mick is deadon.

Granted there is some art behind training, like Carnal says but without some scientific foundation you'll be chasing your tail. This guy is basically saying that training needs to be sports-specific and there was one quote that reminded me very much like the conjugate method.

Anyway, none of this stuff is new but its a good read all the same.

- J.
 
Maybe this was posted more than once, but I'm sure I remember posting in a thread on this subject.

Anyway a good article, but any trainer who tells you you don't use hip extension in judo has never tried to perform uchimata (a study of throws scoring ippon or wazari in international competition, had uchimata way ahead of any other throw).
 
Oh, well I don't have a problem with homosexuals.

However, like most assholes, I often equate homosexuality with weakness or femmeninity, so what I am saying is Fart Bompa is right, cleans are TEH GHEY.

Is fatboy a little bitter cuz he never learned how to do powercleans?
 
How the fuck did Nizzle get banned?

*searches posts*
 
It was kinda funny when he got banned. I remember him posting in the PR thread, "Woohoo, no more dubz!" Then 2 seconds later he got hit with teh ban stick. Poor bastard never saw it coming.
 
I was mistaken, he was banned for starting a thread asking for porn site passwords, RIGHT AFTER we removed his dubs.
 
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