Resistance Training Recommendations

Resistance Training Recommendations

  • Presented by: Jason M Mensinger, MEd, ATC, PES, CES

Overview of Resistance Training

  • Goals of Resistance Training:

    • Enhance physical performance
    • Increase muscular strength and endurance
    • Improve body composition
    • Support rehabilitation and prevention of injuries

  • Types of Exercises:

    • Primary Movements: encompass functional exercises targeting large or multiple muscle groups
      • Total Body: Involves exercises that engage multiple joints and muscle groups simultaneously
      • Lower Body: Focus on muscles in the legs and hips
      • Upper Body: Target muscles in the arms, shoulders, and chest
    • Auxiliary Movements: Involves isolation exercises which target specific muscle groups to complement primary movements

Loading Variables in Resistance Training

  • Key Components:
    • Sets: Number of cycles of repetitions performed for an exercise
    • Reps: Number of times an exercise is performed within a set
    • Intensity: A measure of how hard a workout is; can be evaluated in 4 ways:
      • Series: The number of sets performed
      • Volume-load: Total amount lifted per workout (weight x sets x reps)
      • Repetition-volume: Total repetitions performed in a session
      • Rest Periods: Amount of time allotted between sets

Methods of Strength Training (Zatsiorsky and Kraemer, 2006)

  • Maximal Effort Method:

    • Aims to improve neuromuscular coordination
    • Focuses on both intra- and intermuscular coordination
    • Repetition count depends on specific training goals

  • Submaximal/Repeated Effort Method:

    • Primarily targets muscle hypertrophy (growth)
    • Involves performing multiple sets at lower absolute loads rather than maximal lifts

  • Dynamic Effort Method:

    • Focuses on increasing the rate of force development and explosive strength
    • Aims to improve strength deficits in explosive movements

Hormonal Responses to Resistance Training

Primary Anabolic Hormones - Testosterone
  • Role of Testosterone:
    • Heavy resistance training (using 1-2 repetitions in low-volume) can increase testosterone receptors
    • Suitable physiological marker for anabolic status in both genders
  • Physiological Effects:
    • Direct and indirect effects on body tissues and the nervous system
    • Enhances neurotransmitter levels through receptor interaction
  • Sources:
    • Men: Secreted by gonads
    • Women: Primarily from adrenal glands
  • Factors Increasing Serum Testosterone:
    • Exercises using large muscle groups
    • Heavy resistance (85%-95% of 1RM)
    • Moderate to high total exercise volume
    • Short rest intervals (30 seconds to 1 minute)
    • Over two years of resistance training experience
    • Considerable diurnal variations in levels
  • Free Testosterone & Binding Globulin:
    • Free testosterone comprises 0.5% to 2% of total testosterone; higher total levels correlate with higher free testosterone.
    • Heavy resistance can acutely increase free testosterone (e.g., six sets of 10 reps at 80% of 1RM), more significantly observed in men than in women.
Women's Responses to Testosterone:
  • Overall testosterone levels in women are 15 to 20 times lower than in men
  • Significant variability in testosterone due to individual differences in adrenal androgen secretion.
Primary Anabolic Hormones - Growth Hormone (GH)
  • Importance in Development:
    • Essential for children's normal growth
    • Plays a crucial role in adaptation to resistance training stress
  • Physiological Roles:
    • Reduces glucose utilization and glycogen synthesis
    • Enhances protein synthesis and amino acid transport
    • Increases fatty acid utilization and collagen synthesis
    • Stimulates nitrogen, sodium, potassium, and phosphorus retention
    • Enhances immune function
    • Increases renal plasma flow and filtration
    • Promotes lipolysis (fat breakdown)
  • Responses to Resistance Training:
    • Requires specific intensity thresholds and influenced by rest intervals for effective GH release
    • GH concentrations should ideally be assessed over 2-24 hours for accurate training adaptation evaluation.
Variations in GH Responses in Women:
  • Hormone concentrations and their responses to exercise fluctuate with the menstrual cycle, with underlying mechanisms remaining unclear.
Primary Anabolic Hormones - Insulin-like Growth Factor (IGF)
  • Role and Interaction:
    • Adaptations linked to IGF influenced by various release mechanisms, transport, and receptor interactions.
    • Interaction with other anabolic hormones is critical due to goal overlap.
    • The adaptations to heavy resistance training concerning IGF-I require further investigation.
Adrenal Hormones - Cortisol
  • Catabolic Effects:
    • Stimulates amino acid conversion to carbohydrates
    • Increases proteolytic enzyme levels
    • Inhibits protein synthesis
    • Suppresses glucose-dependent processes such as glycogenesis and immune function
  • Exercise Responses:
    • Alters significantly with resistance exercise protocols that demand high anaerobic metabolism
    • In some adaptations, cortisol does not negatively affect training after acclimatization, maintaining testosterone’s influence on receptors in the testes.
Adrenal Hormones - Catecholamines
  • Roles:
    • Augments force production through central mechanisms
    • Enhances muscle contraction rate and blood pressure
    • Increases energy availability and blood flow to muscles via vasodilation
    • Stimulates the secretion rates of other hormones, such as testosterone
  • Training Adaptations:
    • Heavy resistance training increases the secretion capacity of epinephrine during peak exercise phases.
    • Epinephrine contributes to metabolic control, force production, and the interaction with other hormones; hence it’s one of the first endocrine responses to resistance exercise.
Manipulation of Endocrine System
  • Managing training loads and restoration times (Zatsiorsky & Kraemer, 2006):
    • Recommended Recovery Times:
      • Extreme: 72 hours
      • Large: 48-72 hours
      • Substantial: 24-48 hours
      • Medium: 12-24 hours
      • Small: less than 12 hours
  • Exercise Order Recommendations:
    • Large multijoint exercises should be prioritized
    • Power exercises should be performed first
    • Larger muscle groups should precede smaller ones

Exercise Types

  • Examples of Movements:
    • Push Movements: Engage chest, shoulders, and triceps
    • Pull Movements: Involve back and bicep muscles
    • Hip & Thigh Movements: Target lower body muscular engagement
    • Knee Extensions: Focus on quadriceps
    • Hip Extensions: Engage posterior chain
    • Single Joint Exercises: Isolate individual muscles
    • Total Body or Power Exercises: Use multiple body parts to enhance overall motor patterns
    • Single Joint Upper Body Exercises align specific upper body muscle targeting.

Resistance Training Frequency Considerations

  • Schedules should adapt based on training season:
    • Offseason: Focused on building strength and hypertrophy
    • Preseason: Transitioning towards sports-specific conditioning
    • In-Season: Maintaining strength and conditioning compatible with sport
    • Post-Season: Recovery and injury rehabilitation occurs here.
Learning Outcomes
  • Identify various resistance training methods and their corresponding physiological effects.
  • Understand and select order for exercises in strength training sessions.
  • Determine appropriate recovery times based on training loads.
  • List and outline primary goals of resistance training programs.
  • Select appropriate frequency of training sessions throughout competitive seasons.
  • Recognize key muscle groups engaged in fundamental resistance training exercises.
  • Explain hormone responses resulting from resistance exercises.
  • Detail the hormonal interactions relating to resistance training adaptations.
  • Clearly define resistance training parameters impacting hormone release and usage.