Strength & Conditioning Update - Sep '15: Reduced Rest, 200kcal Extra-EE (+30%) | Dehydration Turns Sprint to Jog | Knee Wraps More Power, Lower ROM & Vastus Activity
No, this is not the first time you read about "battling the rope" and how it could be an excellent form of fat burning and conditioning HIIT training. In my previous article "Want to Get Ripped & Strong? 'Battling the Rope' Could be THE Exercise to Do!" I've already discussed the proven long-term benefits of this intense conditioning exercise | learn more. |
Accordingly, today's research update contains my very personal favorites from September 2015 issue of this journal. Well, my favorites minus one study by Soares et al. (2015) about which I've written in my April 2015 article "Single- vs. Multi-Joint, Rookie vs. Gymrat - How Much Rest is Required in Trained Athletes if Noobs Need 72h or More?" (read it!), when the study was published initially as an online exclusive "ahead of print" print article five months ago.
Read more about exercise-related studies at the SuppVersity
- Rest intervals and their effects on metabolism and velocity loss during battling the rope and ballistic bench press exercises - With the studies by Ratames, et al. (2015) and Garcia-Ramos et al. the latest issue of the JSC contains not one but two studies that deal with the effects of reducing the inter-set (rope) and inter-rep (ballistic bench press = "bench throws") times.
Want to Design a Killer Workout? Reduce the Rest Times and Burn 37% More Energy During Your Workout! - No, hydration doesn't matter for marathoners, only - While we usually think of endurance athletes when we talk about the effects of (de-)hydration on exercise performance, the reality is that everyone can experience the ergolytic (=performance decreasing) effects of dehydration. Against that background, it's sad that the number of studies that quantify these effects is very limited. With Davies et al.'s (2015) latest contribution we do now have the first detailed study on the effects of dehydration on repeated sprint performance which is highly relevant for almost every teamsport and may also give us insights into the effects of dehydration on high(er) rep strength training.
In their study, the researchers from several universities had eight male collegiate baseball players complete intermittent sprints either dehydrated (DEHY) by 3% body mass or euhydrated (EU). To induce the state of dehydration the men were subjected to heat with controlled fluid restriction occurring 1 day before the trial. During the actual trial, which was repeated with appropriate time for recovery, the participants completed twenty-four 30-m sprints divided into 3 bouts of 8 sprints with 45 seconds of rest between each sprint and 3 minutes between each bout.SuppVersity Suggested: Learn why sodium restriction in athletes is a stupid idea (learn more) Figure 2: Sprint times and rates of perceived exertion after each bout of exercise (Davies. 2015).
In addition, the scientists' post hoc tests showed significantly faster mean sprint times for EU vs. DEHY during the second (4.87 ± 0.29 vs. 5.03 ± 0.33 seconds; p = 0.01) and third bouts of sprints (4.91 ± 0.29 vs. 5.12 ± 0.44 seconds; p = 0.02). Heart rate was also significantly lower (p ≤ 0.05) for EU during the second and third bouts. Post hoc measures also showed significantly impaired (p ≤ 0.05) feelings of recovery (PRS) before exercise and increased (p ≤ 0.05) perceptual strain before each bout (PR) during the second and third bouts of repeated sprint work (i.e., RPE and PR) and after the total session (SRPE) in the DEHY condition.Every Sip of Plain Water Can Reduce Your Type II Diabetes Risk | more - Expected but often disclaimed reduction in vastus lateralis activity when squatting with knee wraps - Ok, ok... there's one thing that's missing here: The reduction occurs if the weight that's used with and without the knee wraps is identical. If, however, you are able to squat 10% more, which is very likely, since studies indicate increases of >20% in maximal isometric force during the squat exercise, independent of the level of stiffness of the knee wrap (Gomes. 2014), the results of Gomes' latest study (2015) are no real reason to worry about your gains.
Figure 3: Changes in vastus lateralis (A), gluteus maximimus (B) EMG activity and knee and hip angles (C) when doing back squats with (KW) or without (NW) knee wraps (Gomes. 2015).
Bottom line? You don't really need one, do you? So, instead of giving you another summary of the already dicussed implications of the (in part unsurprising) results of the previously discussed studies, I am inclined to give you a second serving in form of an extra-study.
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- Davis, J.-K, Laurent, CM, Allen, KE, Green, JM, Stolworthy, NI, Welch, TR, and Nevett, ME. Influence of dehydration on intermittent sprint performance. J Strength Cond Res 29(9): 2586–2593, 2015
- García-Ramos, A, Padial, P, Haff, GG, Argüelles-Cienfuegos, J, García-Ramos, M, Conde-Pipó, J, and Feriche, B. Effect of different interrepetition rest periods on barbell velocity loss during the ballistic bench press exercise. J Strength Cond Res XX(X): 000–000, 2015
- Gomes, Willy Andrade, et al. "Acute effects on maximal isometric force with and without knee wrap during squat exercise." Int J Sports Sci 4.2 (2014): 47-49.
- Hooper, DR, Dulkis, LL, Secola, PJ, Holtzum, G, Harper, SP, Kalkowski, RJ, Comstock, BA, Szivak, TK, Flanagan, SD, Looney, DP, DuPont, WH, Maresh, CM, Volek, JS, Culley, KP, and Kraemer, WJ. Roles of an upper-body compression garment on athletic performances. J Strength Cond Res 29(9): 2655-2660, 2015
- Ratamess, NA, Smith, CR, Beller, NA, Kang, J, Faigenbaum, AD, and Bush, JA. Effects of rest interval length on acute battling rope exercise metabolism. J Strength Cond Res 29(9): 2375–2387, 201
- Soares, S, Ferreira-Junior, JB, Pereira, MC, Cleto, VA, Castanheira, RP, Cadore, EL, Brown, LE, Gentil, P, Bemben, MG, and Bottaro, M. Dissociated time course of muscle damage recovery between single- and multi-joint exercises in highly resistance-trained men. J Strength Cond Res 29(9): 2594–2599, 2015.