Monday 14 October 2013

The heady heights of success or suffocating ambition…

Altitude

By Richard Aitchison



To understand altitude training there are a few factors we have to understand and take into consideration.
Firstly, we have to look at atmospheric pressure, air content and oxygen partial pressure. Atmospheric pressure is measured by a barometer and measures around 760mm/hg, ( the force exerted on a column of mercury =760 millimeters high at sea level ) and consists of 21% oxygen and 79% nitrogen so to calculate the partial pressure of oxygen we multiply oxygen content by atmospheric pressure so it would look something like this…
( 02pp ) = 0.21 x 760 mm/hg = 160 mm/hg
So we can see that at sea level the partial pressure is 160 mm/hg.
However at high altitude, considered to be 1500m approx. 5000ft and above the atmospheric pressure drops to 632mm/hg, so with that in mind we can then calculate that partial pressure of oxygen at that height is 133mm/hg. At 8000ft it drops again to 120mm/hg. So if we compare that with the altitude of say Big bear in California ( approx. 6700ft ) where a lot of mma fighters train, we can see a fairly significant difference.
It’s important to note also that air content doesn’t change regardless of how high you are. ‘The air is thinner at altitude’ although a true statement, doesn’t really describe what’s going on, what changes is atmospheric pressure, so although the oxygen to air content is essentially the same there’s just less of it to breath due to weight differences of oxygen/nitrogen and the other gases in the atmosphere, helium and hydrogen etc. which have the effect of diluting/thinning out air. If you imagine taking a glass, filling it a third of it with orange juice then the rest of the glass with water, you haven’t altered the amount of orange juice in the glass it just became thinner as it was diluted. So the point in reference in this instance is that when we calculate atmospheric pressure it’s always done using the 0.21/21% figure for oxygen partial pressure.

hy*pox *i *a
n
Insufficient levels of oxygen in blood or tissue

Another fact we have to understand is the immediate effects of altitude on the respiratory system.
The higher we go the less pressure there is, so obviously it becomes harder to breath, due to the lack of inspired oxygen this causes a hypoxic environment in the body. The body responds hormonally and acclimatizes by producing EPO ( Erythropoietin ) which promotes the production of red blood cells and increased capitalization, ironically and somewhat contradictory, to help transport less oxygen around the body.
In terms of altitude training, especially for endurance athletes, this is great news as it means when the athlete returns to sea level the increase in oxygenating red blood cells will help transport the ‘normal’ levels of O2 around the body, increasing the lactic threshold giving the athlete elevated levels of endurance without fatigue...or does it.?
It’s a great theory, but not necessarily a sound one.
When we take now into consideration that when the athlete arrives at said altitude, even the fittest person will experience massive performance loss in the first place due to everything mentioned above, and also that it takes several weeks, arguably months, to acclimatize to the conditions of altitude and even then will never recover fully, at least to the extent of their full potential at sea level. With this in mind, training times and methods have to be adjusted to compensate, they inevitably shorten and are not as intense as at sea level, oxygen debt becomes a major factor thus quickening the body’s response to lactic build up and fatigue. So all in all the athlete never really reaches his/her full potential because of the environmental conditions.
What we have to look at here is the circumstances of why people train at altitude, if we take fighters for instance as many of them are known to train at altitude for the theorized benefits, (of which I might also mention, a lot research is on going and non conclusive). Effectively they are going from an already good standard of fitness to train at altitude which as explained, diminishes performance and hinders progress for questionable results..to then return to a familiar environment, which they will arguably acclimatize to very quickly and probably lose most of the so called benefits before they fight anyway.
Here’s an idea, why not train at sea level where the event is held, train at 100% percent of your physical capabilities where you can exploit your full potential, adapt and improve without having to worry about the psychological and physical downsides of training at altitude.
Personally, I think there is a massive placebo effect going on here, when people believe something strongly enough they will convince themselves its working even when it’s had no effect at all. Really, the only benefit I can see of altitude training is when the event the athlete is competing in is also held at altitude. Spending enough time at altitude to acclimatize to the conditions and therefore be as competitive at that level as you can be.
Anyway, this is all well and good and we’re now familiar (all be it briefly) with the general ins and outs of altitude training. This brings me to the real reason I chose to write about this subject as I keep hearing a lot about this product and the benefits of using it and all the other bullshit that goes with it. To be honest, I’m sick of seeing people in gyms wearing silly masks under the impression it simulates an elevated environment thinking they are doing themselves justice.
Apparently this is the ‘science’ behind the masks although all it seems to say is what they ‘should do’ not if they actually ‘do’ and as far as I can see the only reference to research wasn’t done by the company themselves and only refers to tests on other respiratory devices. It also suggests with ‘correct application’ these devices can improve performance, not what the actual applications are. Which brings me to my first and in my opinion the most glaringly obvious reason that these particular devices do not simulate nor have the effects of altitude.
The effects of atmospheric pressure as altitude is increased is a naturally occurring thing, we’re surrounded by it, its constant and always there. Moving to high altitude, regardless of whether you train or not, your body will ‘eventually’ adapt and acclimatize to the environment it’s subjected to, and in theory (and an ideal world) receive the benefits that altitude provides. It makes physiological changes to deal with the extraordinary situation. However, as we know, and as stated above this takes time, weeks, if not months to adjust, living in it 24 hours a day 7 days a week. (I’ve yet to see anyone walking around with a mask on for this amount of time, but it probably won’t be long)...
So, how is it that the people that make this particular device would have you believe that these effects are achievable with as little as 20 minutes use a day? 

This has to be one of the most profoundly ridiculous statements I’ve ever seen, and what’s even more ridiculous is that people have bought into this utter gobshite. It’s like saying, by putting on this mask you can actually turn naturally occurring atmospheric conditions on and off at the flick of a switch. Of course though, we can’t prove it so you’ll just have to take our word for it. Also, as we can see from the charts even after acclimation is achieved the athlete would invariably work at a sub optimal level to achieve slight, if any improvements at all.

Initial inefficient response to low oxygen pressure





Beginning of successful acclimatization to low oxygen pressure





Increased fitness level after successful acclimatization to low oxygen pressure












Enhanced fitness level for a short period of time after returning to low altitude








































To reiterate, if we use a professional fighter as an example, they arrive at training camp in elevated conditions, probably not in the best shape, to train in conditions that initially diminish their fitness level further and only get slightly better than they were originally and only reap those benefits for a very limited time…however, they do adapt.
By artificially restricting the volume of inspired air from the outset ( which actually has more in common with suffocation than hypoxia…just saying.!! ), you’re causing an almost immediate oxygen debt scenario causing a quicker response to lactic build up as there’s not enough oxygen available quick enough to convert it, inevitably resulting in premature fatigue. The device isn’t utilized enough to warrant an adaption process, and as in any case, if there is no adaption there is no improvement. Also, it’s the volume of air that is being restricted not the content (as described in the thinning of air paragraph) so in terms of it being necessary for the body to produce more red blood cells, why would it.? It’s still receiving the same amount of oxygen it always did, just not as quickly. 
I found this interesting..
Personally, I find these sorts of things offensive, not only because of the claims they make but also because no one has even made an attempt to verify them.
It’s arguable that altitude training actually works and taking everything into consideration and unless the event your training for is held at altitude the results are hardly worth the effort. I understand at an elite level every professional athlete has to look for an ‘edge’, and maybe for some, the idea of hypoxic training works. That’s great, and if you have the resources then even better ‘knock yourself out’…
However, as far as training masks go I’m convinced there’s absolutely no correlation between them and altitude/elevation training, there’s no specific research available and no statistics to back the claims . Whatever people get from these devices is of their own making, a complete placebo effect that’s taking place in their own minds. In all fairness, that’s fine, if you needed to break through mental barriers, I get that. Although, I think what you’ll find here is that it’s really your body entering what people call a ‘fight or flight’ situation and it’s not so much breaking through mental barriers for improved fitness, more like your body’s way of telling you there’s something wrong and you’re going into survival mode, which I’m sure you’ll agree is probably only any good if someone is trying to kill you by putting a plastic bag over your head…or a training mask, whatever.!!
For the professional athlete hypoxic training is more of a reality, they probably have the resources to subject themselves to these environments. For average Joe, it’s not a realistic approach to training and trying to replicate the conditions by using restrictive breathing devices isn’t the answer, most people will never realize their full genetic potential as an elite fighter or an Olympian does, so looking for an ‘edge’ becomes pointless when you have so much more potential physically you can exploit under your own steam.


For more articles and training tips check out www.cjscombat.com







Thursday 11 July 2013

Dropping weight Class, the easy way to win?


(By Richard Aitchison)

I’ve noticed there seems to be a current trend of fighters seeking to become more competitive by dropping horrendous amounts of weight. Fighters dropping from 185lbs to 155lbs or less when they were already cutting weight to get to 185lbs. I find this a little disconcerting and more so because no one seems to think it’s a problem, when you have people jumping on the scales at weigh ins looking more and more emaciated because of ridiculous weight cutting techniques stemming from bad advice and coaching I find It harder and harder to ignore especially when it reflects not only in their performance on fight day, but also their overall physical and mental well-being.

With this in mind we have to outline the fundamental issue, in this case and in my opinion far too much emphasis is put on major dehydration as the key element to weight loss especially when done only 24hrs before weigh in. We can see in this link a demonstration of how someone like George St Pierre cuts 15-20lbs 5 days before weigh in

http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2013/05/06/how-to-cut-weight-ufc/




Now, the person in the demo finds it a hard task and for someone that’s not accustomed to cutting weight like this, it will be. However throughout GSP’s whole training camp he only ever cuts 15-20lbs which realistically he could start 2-3 weeks prior to weigh in. Wouldn't this mean certain elements in his diet, carbohydrate,water etc, could be ramped down on a more gradual incline. Surely this would be less of a shock to the central nervous system and certainly less pressure on the fighter mentally as the time constraints are not as severe, allowing for mishaps or any unforeseen issues that may arise during the process. How many times have we seen fighters stand on the scales looking not only physically depleted but mentally exhausted and worried that they may not make weight, the look of absolute relief when they do and the look of absolute disappointment when they don’t, at the end of the day it’s the fighters that forfeit part of the purse if they fail to make weight, not the coaches. Maybe a little more emphasis should be put on preparation regarding weight loss and the times involved, then perhaps it wouldn't be such a big surprise when the scales tip in their favour.  


 We can see from the link above details of GSP’s diet and methods of weight loss.
By this example we can see a fighter’s successful training camp and weight loss regime when the fighter himself stays within 15-20lbs of his fight weight. Although the methods are questionable, this situation is much more favorable as there is less physical and mental pressure and less of a stressful environment for the central nervous system to cope with during training.


Another example worth mentioning would be Frankie Edgar. He chose a weight class that was perfect for his physical predisposition barely having to cut weight at all to enter at 155lbs which reflected awesomely in terms of performance, recovery and essentially success, the pinnacle obviously being when he won the lightweight title.

So maybe we could consider the ‘norm’ for most fighters to be somewhere in the range of anywhere between 10lbs to 20lbs or maybe this is just the cutting range that a fighter can still function optimally in a fight with the current methods of cutting in mind , however, there are a few exceptions and this is what I think needs to be addressed.

Here we can see some examples of weight cuts gone wrong, to the point where one of the people mentioned, Rory Markham, actually suffered from lung failure due to a drastic and very ill advised cut. Also, how often have we seen Anthony Johnson miss the mark when the time comes. I don’t know how they can describe him as a massive welterweight when he struggles so much to make that weight. Anyone that has to drop 40-50lbs to make weight really needs to reconsider the options.
This is a prime example of how these fighters, (either themselves, or more than likely under the coercion of a third party i.e coaches, managers or even the pressures of having to be competitive) will go to any lengths to gain the advantage in the cage.

So, whats the solution.?

I think it’s only human nature to look for the quickest and easiest way to gain advantages in competition. Although, sticking with this mentality and the methods they use in regards to weight cutting it’s only a matter of time before something goes wrong, and in a sport ( especially UFC ) that is yet to be tarnished by serious injury or death it will only take one incident to make people, press, athletics commissions and politics question the ethics of it and throw the whole thing into disrepute.
With this in mind then how realistic would be to regulate the weight classes a little more, inevitably reducing the risk not only to the fighters but the sport as a whole. Perhaps also leading to evening out the numbers in each division.
This could be determined in a number of different ways, for example, by weight itself, if a fighter has to drop more than 15-20lbs then should they be forced to reconsider the class they have entered into? After all, keeping within 15-20lbs of their fight weight is only going to make things easier not to mention giving their career longevity. Isn’t that what everyone wants?
One thing in particular that I find a little ridiculous is fighters (and there are a few) that are, in my opinion, far too tall for the division they choose to fight in. Guys that are 6ft plus fighting at 135-145lbs just doesn’t make sense to me. So would height restrictions on weight divisions be the way to go? Would that be fair? It doesn’t really seem fair to me for a person that’s 6ft plus entering a division where he knows the majority of the opponents he will face will be 5-6 inches or more shorter than he is giving him a clear height and reach advantage. Consider this, and it becomes pretty clear what their agenda is, regardless of the consequences.

I realize there is a lot of different variables when it comes to genetics and these guys are generally, genetically predispositioned with ectomorphic body types. However with the right direction there is no reason why they cannot effectively put significant amounts of weight on in order to compete at a healthier level in a more suitable category. To have someone that is already very lean with minimal body fat not only depleting themselves to the point where they suffer the serious side effects of dehydration but also sacrificing healthy muscle tissue from the effects of malnourishment, this isn’t efficient or productive and is crucially detrimental to their mindset and physicality. It astounds me that there are fight teams, coaches, trainers, or even organisations that insist they have their best interests at heart but still allow them to do this time and time again in complete disregard for the effects it will have on their short and long term health. 

Richard
Check out www.cjscombat.com for training tips and more articles

Thursday 13 June 2013

Power Development for Combat Sports Part 3

Last week we have looked at Explosive Strength Training.

Today, I will go over another method used for power development.

BALLISTICS

Ballistic resistance training involves releasing the external load into the air without decelerating.  The force outweighs the resistance and the movement is of a high velocity.

Examples of ballistic exercises are - jump squat, med ball throws, KB throws, KB swings etc. The goal is that the athlete reaches peak acceleration at the moment of release projecting the object or the body as far / as high as possible.

There are no definitive guidelines for the resistance used with ballistics. 30% of 1RM is often recommended for the exercises that use free weights i.e squat jumps, however as mentioned in the previous article, percentages may vary for individuals, and also for exercises. Allow +/- 5% and review the % in different stages of the training.

In terms of the guidelines for med balls or KB, the weight of these objects themselves dictate the load. Med Balls 2 - 10kg, KB's 8- 32kg or higher (again, the load varies for different exercises, you will use a lighter load for single arm KB throw then for KB swing etc).

The guidelines for ballistics training :

Load (med balls, KB's, power bags) - variable
Load (for free weight exercises) - 30-35%
Number of exercises  2-3
Number of reps per set (med balls, KB's, power bags, etc) 10-20 (or 6-10)
Number of reps per set (free weight exercises) 1 - 5
Number of sets per session 3 - 5
Rest 2-3 mins
Speed of execution EXPLOSIVE
Frequency 2-3 x per week

The reason that the number of reps per set is quite high when using med balls etc, is that it takes some time to retrieve the ball or KB. However if you use a wall or partner to bounce the ball back the number of reps is lower, as you have no rest time between reps. Generally as soon as the speed and the quality of the movement cannot be maintained anymore, the exercise should be stopped. The guidelines are there, but it is up to the coach to determine the most accurate load and reps.

Note that ballistics place a considerable eccentric forces on joints, ligaments and tendons. This type of training is awesome to improve the strength and health of connective tissue, however athletes should always progress gradually from unloaded to loaded exercises and if your goal is to develop POWER your athletes MUST NOT be fatigued before starting a ballistic power training session. There can be certain exceptions from this rule when developing POWER ENDURANCE, but I will discuss this in a separate post.

Always watch the speed and form the movement is performed with, QUALITY outweighs QUANTITY.

Have a good week

Sabina
www.cjscombat.com

PS. HERE is an interesting article on squat jumps (light vs heavy load) for all of you who want to explore the ballistics a bit further


Thursday 6 June 2013

Power Development for Combat Sports part 2

As mentioned in the part 1, before commencing power training, the athlete has to display sound levels of strength ( all our standards were mention in the previous article). MMA and most combat sports as well as other athletic activities involve far faster movements and far higher power outputs than are found in maximal strength exercises. Therefore although it is true that you need to make your athlete strong, you also need to consider the possibility that even an exceptionally strong athlete can lack significant explosive power. This means that although they are strong, they are unable to apply their strength rapidly at a fast rate.

Lets look at  the POWER equation again:

The traditional strength training addresses only the top part of the above equation, as it increases the ability to apply a maximum amount of force. But when we talk about POWER that force has to be applied at maximum speed, this way we also have a time component to take care of in our training.

The goal here is to reduce the amount of time it takes to apply a set amount of force, in other words - move the load (or body weight) at greater speed.

After the strength training phase, where your goal was to maximize the athlete's ability to apply force, the power phase will train the rate of force production, meaning the athlete will be able to apply the force faster and after also completing the power endurance phase - for a longer period of time. 

There are various methods that help to develop power, the most frequently asked question is what load is optimal to achieve the best results. Is that the "magic" 30% of 1RM, or is it anything from 70-100% 1RM? Should we do a heavy or a light power training... There is only 1 correct answer - IT DEPENDS... 

In s&c for any sport SPECIFICITY is the key. It is very important for the s&c coach to decide upon the qualities you wish you train in your athletes. Lets look at MMA as an exemplary sport - is the movement velocity paramount for any MMA athlete - YES! Then it seems that training light and fast is the most appropriate training mode. 
However if we keep looking at the subject deeper, do the fighters have to overcome a significant weight? - YES! Then training heavy and fast is the answer. 

Again, what I said above is highly simplified, as you will need to look at an athlete as an individual. For example if you train someone who displays great levels of strength, but at the same time they are slow, then reducing the weight and focusing more on velocity may be an answer. Coaching is half science half art, finding the right solution that works best for an athlete you train, has always been a challenge. All theories you can study in books, articles, all research that has been done, all are great information tools, however it is always up to the coach to tailor all the knowledge, so it suits the individual you train, and sometimes what should not work in theory, will get you pretty good results in practice. 

The research on power training still presents mixed and inconclusive evidence on which loads maximize athletic performance and peak power for the various lifts. As said before - the best and most effective load is specific to the individual. The point is to find their weakness and fix it. 

Always remember - training hard is only a part of success, training smart will get you the results you are after. 

Lets have a look at different types of training that improves POWER. This week we will take a look at 

EXPLOSIVE STRENGTH TRAINING:

The parameters for explosive strength training are as follows:

Load (single effort) 80-90% 1RM
Load (multiple efforts) 75-85% 1RM
Number of exercises 2-5
Numbers of reps per set (single effort) 1-2
Numbers of reps per set (multiple efforts) 3-5 
Number of sets per session 3-5
Rest 2-5 mins (or as needed - the rest time should be recorded for future reference)
Speed execution Fast/Explosive
Number of sessions per week 2-3

Important: Sets are not performed to exhaustion as the quality and speed of each lift is the most important factor. Rest intervals are also kept high for the same reason. The rest time can be used to improve mobility. 

As the explosive strength method uses heavy load, I like using it after completing Strength phase (+ 1 week of deloading). It is a great time to use Olympic lifts and derivatives. My preference for combat athletes are power clean, hang clean and jerk.   
Oly lifts are highly complex movements that require great amounts of flexibility and coordination thus they  take a long time to master. This is a reason why a lot of s&c coaches do not care to include them in their training programs. Personally, I think that if you have a luxury of training your athletes on a regular basis (not just for 8 week training camps) it would be of a huge benefit to spend time with them to master the oly lifts and their derivatives. Olympic lifts, done correctly can prove to be an extremely powerful tool in developing strength-speed component in an MMA athlete. There was a remarkable research conducted during Mexico City Olympics in 1964, which showed that oly lifters had not only the highest vertical jump out of all the athletes (including high jumpers) but they could also run a 25 yard dash faster than any other athletes (including the sprinters). Both tests are great display of power. Only this research alone should make you consider including oly lifts in your programs, providing the athletes are ready for this type of training.

Next week, I will take a look at Ballistic training for power development. 

Sabina

Thursday 30 May 2013

Power Development for Combat Sports Part 1

Power development for combat sports is often a subject that has been highly misinterpreted by many trainers and fighters themselves.  Most of the sessions you can find online focuses on power endurance and doesn't really have anything to do with developing raw power.
Lets look at the definition of POWER



Power in sport is the ability to generate maximal force in the shortest period of time (knock out punches, kicks, all those lethal take downs etc) .
This way, the goal of POWER training is to enable an athlete to apply the greatest amount of their maximal strength in the shortest period of time.
Based on the analysis and rankings (by ESPN) of 60 sports disciplines that require the most power production.

Olympic weightlifting is placed number 1 (as it epitomises power in sport) (9.75 points out of 10) , Boxing 3rd (8.63 points) place followed by American Football, MMA 8th place (7.75 points) and wrestling is number 13 (7.13 points). Interestingly track and field have been scored same as wrestling (7.13 points).
Does it mean that wrestlers should train in the same way as track and field athletes during their conditioning sessions ... absolutely not.
Lets look closer at the components of Power. One of the main ones is Force = Strength, which brings us to an obvious conclusion. You cannot be powerful without being strong in the first place.
Strength development should always come first before even attempting any sort of power training.
For most of the fighters, that have no or not much experience in weight lifting training, the initial gains in strength will automatically result in increased power of kicks, punches, take downs etc. The fun starts when you have a combat athlete with years of weightlifting experience under their belt - for him or her - sticking solely to strength training may have a detrimental effect to the power, as it may actually slow them down. 
How to overcome it and how to power train an MMA fighter, BJJ athlete, boxer or wrestler. 
In the series of articles I will explain the methods we believe in, when and how they should be used.  
FIRST OF ALL
Make your athlete STRONG. Without having the fundamentals of strength, I would not attempt moving to power training. If you can deadlift 2x your body weight, then lifting your body weight only will occur at greater speed and at much lower exhaustion rate as if you were able to lift only a weight close to your own. Seems obvious, right? And yet... strength training seems to be still an overlooked component, as most training camps favour power endurance work. 
Here are the standards we use for our fighters (the % are given for 1RM unless stated differently):


Deadlift - 2xBW
Back Squat - 1.75xBW
Front Squat - 1.5xBW 
Overhead Squat - 5 reps @ 1xBW
Bench Press -1.5xBW
Military Press – 0.9xBW
Pull Up (Weighted) - BW + .5BW
1 arm push up - 5 (full range) per arm
1 legged squat (pistol) 5 full range per leg


Once the standards above have been achieved with perfect form, we can move to ballistic power training. All the standards serve as guidelines and may change through the year. Ideally, as a s&c coach you would like to have your athletes free of injuries, however anyone who has ever been involved in combat sports knows the likelihood of this is ... minimal. Never be afraid to come back to basics, solid foundation can never be overestimated, and it is something we always come back to in order to progress further with the training. Please note we have included single limb movements in our standards.

In the next weeks post, I will look closer at the different types of power training.

Best
Sabina