Installment 1

May 1999

Shaun,
US lifters in general, in my opinion, are guilty of three major errors that prove fatal to their long term success in the sport.

First, they train from the start at levels they are unprepared and ill-suited for. You constantly find beginner and low class lifters training as qualified lifters and qualified athletes training as masters of sport. Occasionally, a low class lifter will attempt to emulate the training of a master of sport. They simply do not view lifting as an evolutionary process. They establish and fix an incorrect pattern to their training that virtually never changes. They liftmore, at least in the early stages, but sooner or later they hit the wall and there they stay. They basically violate the principle espoused by Bud Charniga in the 2nd paragraph of the foreward to the text. The evolution of the training process is a major theme in Roman's text as can be seen by reading pp.83-85,pp.110-152,and pp.158-163.

Second, and perhaps the most serious mistake, is that they consider the development of the muscular system to be independent ofthe nervous system enhancement when the reality is that the latter completely controls the former. O'Shea correctly notes "Understanding the transmission of neural impulses from the higher brain centers downto the muscles is the basis for understanding the science of athletictype strength training". This transmission process involves motor unitrecruitment, motoneuron rate coding, and motor unit synchronization. A motor unit consists of an alpha-motoneuron and all the muscle fibers innervated (strengthened) by it. Motor units with the largest motoneurons which have the largest and fastest twitch contractions, have the highest threshold and are recruited last. This implies in mixed muscles containing both slow-twitch (ST) and fast-twitch (FT) fibers,that the invovlement of ST fibers is formed regardless of the magnitude of muscle tension and velocity being developed. In contrast, full FT fiber activation is difficult to achieve. The discharge frequency of the motoneurons can vary over a considerable range. In theforce range between 80 and 100% of maximum,force is increased almost exclusively by intensification of the firing rate. Normally motor units work without synchronization to produce a smooth accurate movement. However, elite power athletes can activate them in a synchronized fashion during maximum voluntary efforts. To summarize:maximum muscular force is achieved when

1)a maximal number of both ST and FT fibers are recruited
2)rate coding is optimal when a fused tetanus is produced in each fiber and
3)motor units workin a synchronized fashion.

A motor skill engram causes a precise set of muscles to gothrough a specific sequence of movement as required to perform that movement. Technological efficiency, when expressed through a motor skill engram ,allows for the optimal allocation of strength, speed, and power. These are the skills needed for success and this is what lies at the heart of Roman's stance against excessive squatting (pp.67-68) and excessive pulling (p.62). The main staple of American training consists of pulling and squatting with weights that are completely out of balance relative totheir best classical lifts. Instead of developing and re-enforcing proper neural patterns,they form and then ingrain incorrect ones. As a result, when attempting limit lifts if their fast-twitch fibers are activated at all the motoneuron firing rate is insufficient to produce a fused tetanus in the fiber and the motor units certainly do not activate in a synchronized manner. Bottom line? Progress stops.

Finally, US coaches and athletes seem to be unaware of or indifferent to the Theory of General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS) or to use Verkhoshansky's term the Current Adaptation Reserves (CAR) defined to be the organisms specific, limited capability to respond to external influences with adaptational reconstruction, in order to accomodate thetraining irritant. Roman's system accomplishes this in a number of ways. He provides a rational, multi-level volume distribution among all exercises (p.102)and a rational multi-level inttensity distribution within each exercise(tables 2-6).He establishes variability in volume and intensity distribution within each cycle (see variants on p.111) and appropriately models volume and intensity changes from cycle to cycle(see pp.87-92 for volumes and pp.137-139 for intensity).With respect to the qualified lifters training (the most often employed) his two main blocks of 20 and 24 weeks are consistent with Verkhoshansky'stime frame for CAR exhaustion. Virtually none of these features are tobe found to a signifigant degree in any American system I am familiar with. Any ONE of these major errors would be enough to slow or halt progress. Given that all 3 exist it is no wonder the US is not internationally competitive. It is surprising they perform as well asthey do. To close I'd like to say that I am not trying to put down US lifting. I am exposing the flaws in their system in order that they may do better in the future. They are good guys and should be rewarded fortheir efforts. Jim