1. Increases in stored glycogen:
When you eat a lot of carbohydrate from either starchy food like bread, pasta, rice, or sugars in sweets or drinks, the resulting blood glucose is stored as glycogen in the liver and muscle. Each gram of glycogen is stored with around 3g of water - so storing 500g of glycogen packs on another 1.5kg of water.

2. High salt intake:
If you overindulged on salty snacks (think potato crisps, take away, processed meats etc) this causes water retention which can easily add kilograms of weight.

To combat this, make sure you drink lots of fluid to flush out the salt (it sounds counterintuitive, but is true), focus on eating lots of fresh fruit and vegetables, cut down on the salt, caffeine containing drinks (tea, coffee, diet soft drinks) and alcohol, and do some exercise to get things moving.

3. Alcohol:
If your weekend binge also included some serious volumes of alcohol, this can cause you to retain water. As alcohol is dehydrating, your body goes into overdrive to retain water so to not become dehydrated.

4. Genetics:
Depending on your genes, there is a wide variation in an individual's propensity to store excess energy from over-eating as body fat.

It's just the way it is - some people are better at dissipating excess energy as heat, whereas in other people, the excess energy is very efficiently stored as fat. Thanks mum!

5. Chronic under-eating:
If you've been under-eating (i.e. less energy than your body needs to sustain itself), this can slow the metabolism to such an extent that when you do eventually eat more, your body holds onto the excess energy in fear of the next 'famine'.

Thanks to Metabolic Jumpstart for this great information.
http://www.metabolicjumpstart.com/

Maximal strength training relies more simply on the biggest weight a client can lift per exercise or muscle group. It does not rely on how many sets the client achieves, or the total amount of weight lifted per workout. Max strength training predominantly stresses the neuromuscular system asking the central nervous system to adapt to the increasing weight needed to be moved by that muscle or that movement sequence. Maximal strength training is best done slowly and only increased in speed if you are trying to help develop the clients power.

When programming for hypertrophy, the actual training volume needs to include a high number of reps of at least 250 plus reps/workout, a rep range in the 6 – 15 region and a somewhere between 3 to 6 sets per exercise.

The training intensity needs to be low to moderate to enable the high volume of reps and sets required and the tempo of each set needs to be controlled to around 3 to 4 sec on the eccentric phase and 2 to 3 sec on the concentric phase. You need to do this in order to achieve a total of at least 60-70 seconds duration per set per exercise.

Another important factor is the variety of exercises used per workout. A novice should complete between 8 to 10 exercises in total, and do fewer sets per exercise of 2 to 3 sets each. An advanced trainer should create greater focus with fewer exercises of between 4 to 5 exercises, but do more sets per exercises of between 3 to 6 sets each. But by far the most significant factor in gaining muscle mass; outside of calorie intake; is how much weight you lift in tonnes per workout. This is calculated by the following formula.

Volume (total of sets x reps) x Intensity of load (kg per exercise) = Tonnes

Using this formula is where you can either make great gains or great mistakes. Look at the following example.

Program 1:

1. • Bench press 6 x 15 100kg
2. • Squats 6 x 12 120kg
3. • Chin ups 6 x 12 90 kg
4. • Upright row 6 x 15 60kg

Total reps for the workout = 324 reps

Total weight lifted for the workout = 29520 kg

Program 2:

1. • Bench press 6 x 8 125kg
2. • Squats 6 x 6 150kg
3. • Chin ups 6 x 8 120 kg
4. • Upright row 6 x 8 90kg

Total reps for the workout = 180 reps

Total weight lifted for the workout = 21480 kg

In comparing the two programs, you’ll see that program two achieves the heaviest weights per exercise, but the total rep range is too low being well under 250 reps in total. There is also a massive 8040 kg difference in total weight lifted between the two workouts. Program 1 has the reps and sets in the correct ranges and is by far the best program to do for weight gain. Program 2 would make the greater gains in maximal strength.

As we need to place the body under stress in order to make it grow, the total weight lifted per workout for program one is producing the greater stress on the muscles biology than program two. Program two is placing greater stress on the body’s neural drive to create greater neural recruitment of motor units, but not to increase muscles mass.

When training a client to get greater muscle mass, calculate the total reps and total weight lifted. Then each time you reprogram the client after the 4-8 week period make sure that firstly you achieve the minimum number of reps on each program and also that you don’t drop the total weight volume lifted per workout just to go heavier with certain exercises.

Let’s look at another example. When training to increase muscle mass we know we have to lift as much weight per workout as possible. Look at these two programs.

Program 1:

1. • Bench press 6 x 15 100kg
2. • Squats 6 x 12 120kg
3. • Chin ups 6 x 12 90 kg
4. • Upright row 6 x 15 60kg

Total reps for the workout = 324 reps

Total weight lifted for the workout = 29520 kg

Program 2

1. • Bench press 3 x 15 100kg
2. • DB flyes 3 x 15 20kg
3. • Squats 3 x 15 120kg
4. • Leg curls 3 x 15 50kg
5. • Chin ups 3 x 15 90 kg
6. • Seated row 3 x 15 60kg
7. • Upright row 3 x 15 60kg
8. • Lat raises 3 x 15 15kg

Total reps for the workout = 360 reps

Total weight lifted for the workout = 23625 kg

Many people still believe that in order to get big they must program clients to do lots of exercises and do more exercises per muscle group, changing the angles and hitting the muscle in both isolated and compound fashions.

In comparing the two programs, you’ll see that the sets and rep ranges are both correct. In fact program 2 has more reps per workout than program 1. Both programs allow 6 sets per muscle group, yet Program 1 still achieves nearly 6000 kg extra in total weight lifted per workout.

You may think that going to another exercise will give the muscle more specific work, yet when the body is placed less than 6000 kg in stress, it will respond less, grow less and adapt more quickly than if it was to do program 1.

In programming for hypertrophy make sure that if you are going to manipulate the program variables that you take into consideration the principles mentioned above. It is much easier to program strength by consistently increasing weights lifted and decreasing reps performed. When dealing with clients who have less than 5 years experience, train between 1 and 1.5 hrs 3 to 4 times per week and are trying to achieve weight gain naturally, it is always best to go with the principles mentioned. Only when dealing with clients who train for a significant number of additional hours per week by longer sessions and more frequent sessions per week will you need to consider changes from the program styles shown. Ultimately though the load principle remains and you must achieve greater loads to achieve greater muscles mass, expect now the load is being spread across multiple workouts and days instead of the standard 3 to 4 sessions per week.

The Human Trainer:               Australian Leisure Concepts      
Pro Grade Kettelbells:           Australian Kettelbells                 
Power Rope - 15m, 2-inch      Australian Kettelbells             

Weight: 241g

Great racing shoe, feel in love with these shoes within the first kilometer of use.

Split routines first appeared sometime in the late 50s or early 60s, around the time that steroid use was really becoming widespread in bodybuilding and power lifting. You can understand why such types of splits became prevalent when rates of recovery and training responses went through the roof. Of course programs needed to be changed to allow them to ‘hit’ the individual muscles more and more. Hence, the evolution of the Split training style program. You also need to understand that the loading patterns in use today were only just being developed and the concepts of periodisation were only starting with elite athletes and not the average body builder who wanted results.
Further support for the use of split routines is that they will allow you to train more frequently because you are training different parts of the body each training session. It’s true, you may train different muscles each time, but the muscular system is not the only part of the body that is influenced or fatigued by training. All other systems such as the nervous and endocrine systems are being trained every time and can be susceptible to considerable fatigue. Proper nutrition and recovery methodologies may allow the average client to cope with this training, but the truth is few trainers actually know enough about these strategies to pass it on to their clients to help them cope with such methods (unless they use drugs).

Don’t get me wrong, the concept of splitting up the training is a very sound one. The manner in which these types of splits have been used is where i have a real problem. I believe these types of splits mentioned previously have taken trainers down the garden path with their way of thinking and it results in an ‘isolation mentality’. What happened to the full body routine? Trainers today tend to provide full body programs only to beginners and people who can only train once per week. (Don’t even get me started on the one set per body part programs) When in fact if you delve into the programs used by elite athlete and some of the world’s strongest and biggest lifters you will see mostly full body programs and if they are split, they will be split quite differently. Full body programs have much more use than with beginner clients, yet they just don’t seem to the used by the average fitness trainer.

The concept of splitting has been taken beyond the practical for most non elite trainees and even in some cases for the elite athletes. There is a lot to be said for hard training using the big lifts with proper periodisation over any fancy style split that a trainer may try and develop. Sure you can split up the training week in order to achieve the strength goals and lifts you want, but that doesn’t mean you have to use the isolation approach.

I frequently provide my clients and athletes with two different gym programs to alternate between and in a way you could say their training is split, but not in the traditional sense. My programs will often have leg work, pulling movements, and pushing movements on both programs. I will also use trunk strengthening exercises on both programs. So what is correct and what’s considered poor programming?

Do you aim to balance the number of push/pull movements? Should you make sure that there is equal number of sets between Bicep and Tricep movements? Should there be as much quad work as there is hamstring work? Should one program take as long to complete as the other? Should my total training loads be equal across both days? I could go on asking questions that would in all likelihood create more questions than real answers. The truth is that program design and development has gone away from the simple principles that get results.

Instead of worrying about what split to do, we should be more concerned about the effort put in, the progression in weight lifted, the total volume of weight moved in a session and the manner in which we recover before the next training session. Stop playing with splits and fancy designs that really don’t work and go back to the basics. Chose an exercise because it can be progressed often, allows weights to increase steadily and challenges the lifter to develop better movement patterns and control. Choose loads that require the body to adapt over time and allow for frequent recovery cycles which is where all the training effect actually shows as results.

Contact Toni for your personalised online training program

Introduction of power training for athletic development programs typically reveal a majority of Olympic lifting (e.g., clean, power clean, snatch) or plyometric exercises (e.g., bounding, jumping) to increase muscular power (1,2). While these exercises are a great way in developing lower body power, methods for developing upper body power have not been explored in the same extent.

Maximal upper body power production is an important aspect of training for sports that require a pushing (e.g., rugby league, rugby union) or striking movement (e.g., boxing, martial arts) as well as hitting sports (e.g., tennis and baseball) (3).

The purpose of this study is to outline the different requirements sports have in regards to the most effective way to employ the bench throw into a periodised training program to develop maximal power production in their chosen sport.

Methods
Experimental Approach to the Problem: Each participant of this study was required to complete a 1 repetition maximum (1RM) bench press and complete bench throws at 20%,30%,40%,50%,60% and 70% of 1RM. Assessment of 1RM bench press was necessary to establish the relative loads for the bench throw at each percentage of 1RM. Each participant performed both the 1RM bench press and bench throws in the same session.

Subjects: Subjects included 16 men all of whom were undergraduate students in Sports and Exercise science (mean ± SD, weight =78.7 ± 9.9kg, height= 179.8 ± 7.9cm). Each participant had varying degrees of weight training experience, however it is predicted that training the majority of students have had weight training experience due to the nature of the course of study.

Procedures: 1 Repetition Maximum Bench Press To determine bench press strength, subjects underwent 1RM testing. Bench press 1RM was measured as the maximum amount of weight that could be eccentrically lowered and concentrically lifted one time throughout the full range of motion. The bench press was completed on a standard bench with an Olympic bar and standard cast iron plates.

Participants were positioned supine on the bench with their head, shoulders and buttocks in contact with the bench at all times. Both feet were placed flat on the floor. The bar was aligned with the eyes of the lifter and the subjects were asked to grasp the bar just wider than shoulder width (4). Each subject was instructed to remove the bar from the rack position and complete one repetition consisting of an eccentric and concentric contraction finishing with full extension of the arms.  If the participant was successful, the weight on the bar was increased and another attempt was completed until a failed 1RM attempt occurred where the previous lift was recorded as the subjects 1RM.

Bench Throw: Upper body power production was assessed using a bench throw that was set up in a smith machine (Elite Fitness) that only allows vertical movement. The subject was set up in the same fashion as the bench press however the bar was set up parallel to the nipple line. In each of the lifts the bar was set up with a predetermined weight accounting for a percentage of the subjects 1RM. After each throw weight, power production (watts) and velocity (m/sec) was recorded. The Power production and velocity was recorded using a GymAware power production unit (Kinetic Performance Technology, Australia). Each subject worked in a group of four to allow for adequate recovery between each throw.

Statistical Analysis: The following values were used to determine the relationship between two variable, r values: 0.0 to 0.29 = weak; 0.30 to 0.59 = moderate; 0.60 to 0.84 = strong; 0.85 to 0.99 = very strong; 1.00 = perfect relationship. The statistical analyses uses means ± standard deviation (mean±SD).

Results
Peak power (PP) production occurred between 50-70% 1RM and ranged from 193W and 577W (Table 1). PP plateau at around 60% of 1RM (Figure 1). Velocity showed an inverse relationship as power production increased when comparing means at each throw (Figure 1).There was a weak inverse relationship (r= -0.17) when comparing the power of every throw with the velocity.

11 subjects recorded 1RM loads equal to or greater than their measured body weight, while 5 subjects recorded less than their measured body weight. A significant difference (p=<0.05) was shown between subjects with a 1RM≥ Body weight (BW) and subjects with a 1RM<BW when comparing 1RM, no significant difference occurred when comparing body weight of both groups (Figure 2). A significant difference was shown when comparing peak power (p=0.039) and peak relative power (p=0.007), however peak velocity showed no significant difference (p=0.134).

Body weight and peak power production showed a very strong positive relationship (r=0.937), while body weight and peak relative power (PRP) showed a strong positive relationship (r=0.879) when looking at all subjects. Weight and 1RM of all subjects showed a moderate positive relationship (r=0.546).

Discussion
The objectives of this study were to determine the best weight to be used when training for maximal upper body power production for a range of sports that utilize a pushing, striking, hitting or throwing movement. Taking into consideration the force required to overcome the weight of an opponent as in rugby league, rugby union or martial arts, or the best way to increase the speed and power relationship required when sticking a tennis ball or throwing a baseball requires different levels of power and velocity production.

The results showed that maximal force production occurred with a load of 60% of 1RM, therefore suggesting that power training is best utilised at this load. However research has suggested that power output is greatest at 70-80% of 1RM (5). This difference could have occurred due to the experience disparity between the subject groups with the study using elite and sub-elite rugby league players who are currently playing in the 1st division (NRL) or 2nd division and have a training history of 4 years in regards to maximal strength and power development when compared to the group used for this study where training history is not stated. This study suggest that for inexperienced athletes training at a load of 60% of 1RM will aid in the development of maximal strength and increase power production and benefit an athlete looking to overcome significant weight as in an opponent in rugby league, rugby union or martial arts as well as having the effect of increased hypertrophy (5).

Previous work relating to the force velocity relationship has demonstrated that at a load of 30% 1RM maximal mechanical power output is attained (6). Baker suggests that maximal power production may occur between 10kg to 40kg load in boxing and throwing related sports that require greater speed contribution (3). 10kg to 40kg relates to a 1RM between 11% and 46% in regards to the mean 1RM displayed in this study, therefore agreeing with the earlier recommendation that loads of 30% 1RM are best utilised to increase maximal mechanical power in sports that require greater concentration on velocity of movement when undertaking activities like throwing or hitting opposed to maximal power production to overcome an external force as in rugby league.

The difference in our data between those subjects that achieved a 1RM≥ BW and those that achieved a 1RM<BW suggests that prior training in maximal power and/or maximal strength was a factor. Body weight of the subject was not a good indicator in predicting 1RM as there showed no significant difference between both groups, therefore when prescribing strength or power training exercises for athletes individual testing is needed to predetermine training loads.

Range of repetition during power training sessions have been noted as having an effect on the outcome of achieving maximal power. With maximal power production occurring at the second or third repetition and declining rapidly after 5 or 6 repetitions when using loads between 30-45% of 1RM, it is suggested to train a minimum of 2 to 3 repetitions and a maximum of 5 to 6 repetitions when maximal power production is the goal (3,7). Power endurance based athletes may entail higher repetitions of 10 to 20 repetitions as they have different training objectives however, it is advised to remember that power levels drop significantly after 5 or 6 repetitions and may  (7).

Practical Application
This study has demonstrated that maximal power production occurs at around 60% of 1RM in untrained and recreational subjects and is best used when training to overcome an external load as in rugby league, rugby union or wrestling. Maximal velocity occurs at 20% of 1RM and is best used when training athletes in striking, throwing and hitting sports that require greater velocity of movement. Coaches need to be aware that training at maximal power or maximal velocity or somewhere in between the continuum will depend on the athlete or chosen sport and its requirements. When training for power and velocity a minimum of 2 to 3 repetitions and a maximum of 5 to 6 repetitions is suggested.

Table 1- Description of subjects and results of strength and power. Figure 1- Power and Velocity curve expressed at varying percentage of 1RM Max Bench Press. Values are Mean ± SD. N=16.

Figure 2- Body weight and 1 repetition maximum for subjects with a 1RM≥Body Weight (n=11) and 1RM<Body Weight (n=5) and the overall group (n=16). Values are means ± SD.

References

1.    Baker DG and Newton RU. Selecting the appropriate exercises loads for speed strength development. Strength Cond Coach  3: 8-16, 1995
2.    Haff, GG, Whitley, A and Potteiger, JA. A brief review: Explosive exercises and sports performance. Strength Cond. J 23: 13-20, 2001.
3.    Baker DG and Newton RU . Methods to increase the effectiveness of maximal power training for the upper body. Strength and Conditioning Journal 27: 24-32. 2005
4.    Delavier, Frederic. Strength Training Anatomy Second Edition. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics, 2006.
5.    Baker DG and Newton RU. Adaptations in upper-body maximal strength and power output resulting from long-term resistance training in experienced strength-power athletes. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research 20: 541-546, 2006
6.    Kaneko, M, Fuchimoto, H, Toji, H, Suei, K. Training effect of different loads on the force-velocity relationship and mechanical power output inhuman muscle. Scand. J. Sport Sci 5: 50-55, 1985.
7.    Baker DG and Newton RU . Change in power output across a high repetition set of bench throws and jump squats in highly trained athletes. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research 21: 1007-1011, 2007.

How can you assess your MAS?
Perform a thorough warm-up for at least 20 minutes. Then time yourself over 1.5-2km. This is best done on a 400m track, but can also be done on a flat road stretch provided you can accurately measure and mark 1.5-2km (a bicycle computer could be used).

Ensure that you run at a perceived rate of 100% of maximal effort to ensure accuracy for testing and programming.

Obtain your time and calculate how many seconds you ran for and divide it by the length of the run to work out your MAS (m/sec):

E.g.         4min 55sec= 295sec                        1500m/295secs=5.08m/sec

Use of the MAS:
By understanding your MAS you can now design programs based around this figure to enhance cardiovascular performance. For example below (appendix 1) is a table and graph for an athlete who has a MAS of 5.08m/sec.  From here I can develop interval training sessions at 100% or higher of my MAS to elicit a VO2max response.

With any aerobic interval work to rest ratio should remain as 1:1 up to 1:1.5.

An example session may look like this:

5 x 15sec at         100% MAS (76m)              with       15sec active recovery
5 x 15sec at         110% MAS (84m)              with       15sec active recovery
10 x 15sec at       120% MAS (91m)              with       15sec active recovery
5 x 15sec at         110% MAS (84m)              with       15sec active recovery
5 x 15sec at         100% MAS (76m)              with       15sec active recovery

Total work time for this program is 7min 30secs with the same as active recovery completing a total of 2510m at or above 100% of MAS.

Conclusion:
MAS can be a great way to train clients who want to improve VO2max but may dislike continuous exercise or who are not built for continuous exercise. (I.e. overweight clients)

The above example is one way MAS can be used for training clients. Use your imagination and remember to continually program for the needs of your client and follow a periodised program to ensure you don’t injury your clients.