Supertraining

Greetings all;

The full article is below the following commentary,
>
> CAT IS PART OF LIFE
>
> By Mel Siff
>
> -------------------------- So, the nervous computer in the body
> ensures that the muscles increase their tension to keep the load
> moving in the appropriate direction.


Telle---wrong, wrong and wrong -- the force/length relationship determines that 
tension will decrease over the course of the positive rep.

> In going through this analysis, one then can appreciate certain
> limitations of CAT:
>
> 1. CA is limited by how much strength one has, since maximal
> acceleration is determined by your maximal strength. Thus, one
> cannot accelerate a load indefinitely. One's ability to use CAT is
> limited by one's strength in a given movement and part of this has to
> do with technical skill.
>
>
> 2. CAT is inadvisable if acceleration is in the direction of
> gravity. It is unwise and potentially dangerous to try to speed up
> the downward or eccentric direction of any exercise, because this
> means that you will have to generate even greater 'amortizing' force
> to stop the movement at the bottom of the lift.

Telle -- well so much for plyometrics. Increasing the amortization phase to a 
greater functional effect is the aim of intelligent exercise.

> For example, it is
> not a good idea to try to speed up the downward phase of a squat or
> bench press (guess why)?

Telle -- good by to counter movements -- they are all inertial -- manipulating 
the mass as a function of 1 RM and accel-deceleration patterns is done with 
every movement.

> 3. The continued application of CA during a movement is illogical and
> impossible, since unmitigated acceleration would mean that the
> movement would never end or slow down. One is always working over a
> given range of joint movement and this, in addition to the
> limitations of your strength (and endurance, sometimes), compels you
> to slow down the movement. Just like any elevator, there is a phase
> of acceleration in any movement, a period of constant or undulating
> velocity, and a final phase of deceleration (negative acceleration).

Telle -- well I guess putting the shot, medicine ball throws or even bench 
press throws or squat jumps on a machine -- and again CMJ's -- are useless?

> 4. CA may not or should not take place to speed up the action of a
> single joint in a given phase of a movement, particularly in a
> complex movement where several joints are involved in the lifting
> action (e.g. a push press, power clean, snatch, deadlift and cable
> crossovers).

Telle -- during what movement could one joint be accelerated faster than the 
others (though I can think of a few)?

> THE CAT PRINCIPLE
>
> This analysis now enables us to appreciate what Dr Hatfield is
> referring to when he advises the use of CAT. What he means is that
> you can increase muscle tension and therefore, its ability to enhance
> strength and hypertrophy, if you make a deliberate attempt to produce
> maximal acceleration of the load throughout the range of movement.
>
> “-----------------------“
>
> Of course, he is aware of the well-known hyperbolic relationship
> between force and velocity, which means that the greatest force in
> non-ballistic movement is produced at very low velocity. The
> relevance of this curve to CAT is that one just cannot accelerate
> near maximal loads at the same rate as much lighter loads, but it
> does not prevent you from trying to accelerate the load as much as
> you can, even if the acceleration is very small.

Telle-- Hatfield's CA was used to control for the increasing strength of 
various submaximal effort exercise protocols as in presses and squats. Maximal 
bench press efforts -- unless one is using one of those sling shot shirts -- 
will decelerate fairly early in the movement.

> By the way, it is important to realise that the standard hyperbolic F-
> V curve does not apply to explosive movements such as plyometrics or
> any other rebound actions (See Siff & Verkhoshansky 'Supertraining'
> 1998 Ch 3.3) and that the involvement of CA during such movements is
> much more complex.

Telle -- contradicting much of the above.

> CAT CONTAINS OTHER COMPENSATIONS
>
> Some coaches believe that they may have discovered a unique way of
> training (which we may biomechanically call 'Mechanical Realignment')
> which involves changing posture, joint position, leverages and so
> forth during a given exercise, but, as mentioned earlier, this is
> just another naturally occurring phenomenon which takes place to
> enhance the efficiency, safety and ability to complete a given
> movement.

Telle -- what? This is patently wrong -- right maybe in traditional movements 
-- but quite unimaginative in others.

> Video and EMG analysis has shown that there are frequent and regular
> changes in joint disposition and muscle activation to enable a
> movement to be carried out in the most appropriate way for a given
> individual at a given time. As with the usual CAT method, it is
> difficult NOT to change one's posture, joint positions or muscular
> efforts, particularly when the load is increased or fatigue sets in
> (just think of how the butt tries to rise when one is doing prone leg
> curls or how the hips try to lift off the bench during a heavy bench
> press).

Telle -- Video and EMG analysis have been performed for all variations of 
mechanical change techniques? -- I think not.

> Yes, sometimes the movement may be inefficient or unaesthetic, but it
> may enable an injured person to execute a movement which might not be
> possible if the recommended technique were to be attempted. This may
> also happen in the case of novices who have not yet acquired the most
> effective motor skills. They deliberately compensate by using the
> muscles and joints which will enable them to complete the movement,
> right or wrong!
>
> DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ACTION AND TRAINING METHODS
>
> So, alteration of posture and other mechanical features of an
> exercise is just another way of producing CA, which, in turn is just
> one aspect of the body's natural compensatory mechanisms which
> involve the use of feedback from the musculoskeletal system back to
> the nervous control command centers

Telle -- huh? "alteration of posture and other mechanical features of an 
exercise" is also a means to control for asymmetrical decay's in force over 
time.

> Even 'plyometric' action may be thought of as another one of these
> compensatory mechanisms, since the use of ballistic stretch increases
> the overall efficiency of movement. However, plyometric action,
> which takes place quite naturally in many daily activities like
> running is not the same as plyometric training, which involves using
> combinations of plyometric actions in the form of an organised set of
> drills.

Telle -- again contradictory to previous assumptions

> Similarly, one may distinguish between compensatory
> acceleration and mechanical realignment actions and compensatory
> acceleration and mechanical realignment training.

Telle -- which is what I've been saying all along.

> CAT AND FATIGUE
>
> Contrary to what is sometimes believed, all forms of compensation,
> realignment or change in the shape of 'strength curves' are not simply a
> result of fatigue, but also involve neural interventions to maintain motor
> efficiency, to spread activity out among large groups of muscle fibers, 
> response
> to pain/discomfort or perception of either, and level of psychological
> arousal. Consequently, it is inappropriate to implicate the action of fatigue 
> too
> freely in trying to understand the nature of strength and hypertrophy 
> training.
> Certainly, it plays a significant role in many processes of adaptation, but
> there are several other players in the theater of the body.

Telle -- no doubt -- a few examples would help.

> FORCE CHANGES MOST OF THE TIME
>
> Though John Hannon wrote that "When you first start the bar up you
> have a greater force applied, to start the bar into motion, then the force
> is constant over the remainder of the lift", force plate analysis has shown
> that force changes throughout every movement, along with acceleration and
> velocity (examples of this are given in Vorobyev 'Textbook on Weightlifting' 
> 1978;
> Enoka R The pull in Olympic Weightlifting' Med & Science in Sports' 11(2),
> 1979: 131-137; Garhammer J Cinematographic & Mechanical Analysis of the Snatch
> lift 'International Olympic Lifter' 2(6), 1975 : 5-15)

Telle -- And the point is that Hannon was wrong? Or what about force staying 
relatively constant whilst fiber tension decreases profoundly over the positive 
lift.

> In certain cases, the acceleration even reverses, e.g. during the
> primary stage of the 'double knee-bend' action of the Olympic snatch and
> clean, and then suddenly increases in the opposite direction so that the force
> exerted on the bar approaches twice the weight of the load.

Telle -- would someone care to tell me what he meant by "acceleration even 
reverses" and "then suddenly increases in the opposite direction" or did he 
just inadvertently interject acceleration for force?

> In such cases the angles of the joints involved may increase or decrease and
> vice versa during the lift, so that the most powerful parts of the body may
> be used in the best possible way to execute those complex movements (see
> above references).


Well Mel, I think it was a bit unprofessional to bow out before we could 
resolve this.

Jerry Telle
Lakewood CO USA