Breakdown Training

[old] Bayko · Post by **[old] Bayko** » May 24th, 2004, 10:28 am

Not sure if this applies to erging, but it seemed interesting. From yesterday's Parade magazine in the sunday newpaper: "You're likely to reach a plateau after six months of consistent exercise, but it can take longer if you're less fit. When you hit a plateau--the point at which your body stops making gains--it's time to add more intensity and variety to your workout. Most exercisers make the mistake of including more sets in their routine or adding strength exercises, both of which can lead to overuse injuries. Wayne L. Westcott, fitness research director of the South Shore YMCA in Qunicy, MA, and author of Building Strength and Stamina (Human Kinetics), says 'breakdown training' is one way to increase the intensity of a workout. In this regime, you push your muscles to a higher level of exhaustion by doing one set of reps with your usual weight, then reducing the weight and doing up to three more. 'Breakdown training can provide a deeper stimulus to the muscle fibers so that you train more intensely and use a greater percentage of muscle strength.' explains Wescott. In a study he conducted, 60 adults ages 25 to 84 trained for four weeks, lifting a weight with which they could do one set of 8-12 reps per exercise. Half of the group continued in this manner for four weeks. The other half, after doing the initial set, would lower the weight by 10% and complete 2-4 more reps. The adults who added these reps gained 39% more strength; the seniors saw an increase of 100%." Rick

[old] GeorgeD · Post by **[old] GeorgeD** » May 25th, 2004, 3:50 am

Hi Bayko, Having given this some thought I am not sure how it could be applied to erging. There are many techniques in lifting weights that can provide this sort of stimulus such as the one mentioned, or pre-exhausting a muscle group (say doing dumbell flys before bench presses) or going to failure then doing negatives (do a set of chins then when you cant do anymore stand on a bench so you can get into the fully contracted position then lower yourself slowly) .... All these techniques bring more muscle fibres into play and lead potentially to a greater level of muscular develpment. What is important and is relevant is that the body adapts quickly to the challenges we present it and as this happens improvement slows .... hence it is important to mix up our training in intesity to ensure that this does not happen. A steady diet of 5k's at 2:00 pace will eventually lead us to being world beaters at rowing 5k in 20minutes and not much else. Whereas if these same 5k's were rowed at a variety of paces from 1:40 to 2:10 they would have a much greater impact. IMHO - George