Stadion's Sports and Martial Arts Training Discussion

A friend of mine mentioned that their physio gave them a rehabilitation exercise which consisted of doing repeated brief isometric contractions for the quadriceps muscle to counteract muscle wasting he experienced after surgery. Basically he was told to sit on the floor with his legs extended out in...

I gave up regular squats a while back. I just ended up getting injured doing them one too many times. Because I am quite tall, I found that I was at a fairly significant leverage disadvantage and that other lifts such as deadlifts or leg press are more suitable for heavy lifting for me. I still do 1...

Great, thanks for pointing that out for me.

I've searched the forums for a bit, but can't find any mention of how one should add weight to the back extensions described in Mr Kurz's columns and in the stretching DVD.

So how should the weight be held? Where is it held in relation to the body?

If I recall correctly there is a short description of this device and the most common exercise performed with it which can be read in the book "Functional training for sports" by Michael Boyle. The exercise described by Michael Boyle is in a standing position, holding the blade vertically in front o...

OK, here goes my attempt at explaining what these two terms mean. The vegetative system consists of those bodily functions that are mainly concerned with providing energy and responding to the by-products of exercise. They are usually under 'automatic' control - i.e. we don't consciously think about...

What you've summarised is not quite how Thomas Kurz has written the progression. Squats without weights may be performed right from the beginning of your strength training. When you start doing back extensions with added weight/resistance then you can start doing good mornings and squats with weight...

I am about six weeks in to this year's macrocycle, and having now completed my introductory mesocycle and commenced my first general preparation mesocycle I am looking to plan the shock microcycle to fit into a 4 week mesocycle consisting of 2 ordinary, 1 shock and 1 restorative microcycles (perform...

Thanks for the clarification. I erred in thinking that the training of a longer distance swimmer could be generalised to other athletes. Also much of Zatsiorsky's (or Zaciorsky's) writing is about T&F throwers and weightlifters (as Thomas Kurz alludes to in his response) where the maximal strength r...

Since posting I have found the reason for Zatsiorky's recommendation in his discussion of periodisation. The reason for sequencing strength mesocycles prior to aerobic mesocycles is the superposition of training effects. The explaination goes like this: different training types can interact in both ...

I have started researching some new materials for structuring my next year's worth of training including Thomas Kurz's book "Science of Sports Training" (I only have access to the first edition at present), and Zatsiorky's Science and Practice of Strength Training. I am training for sprints and pole...