Tap your strength-power your performance

Many wonder what to do with all of the strength training programs available on the Compex NMES units. The programs are like the notes on a musical scale. They can be sequentially organized in a variety of ways to produce very different results. Let's explore just a couple examples.

Week 1 Strength Building       Training Days   Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday OR  Monday/Wednesday/Friday             mA (energy level) and Program 20 -50             Strength  program Compex Performance US or Elite Sport Muscle group   Globus-quads and calves       E-stim recovery   Active recovery program     Globus active recovery programs daily after traditional training: running, cycling, paddling, swimming, climbing     20  to 70 (max) energy level for active recovery sessions.
		Week 2 Strength Building - make one change- add 10% to the energy level

Keep a few things in mind as you proceed with your E-stim strength building.

• ·         There is a good deal of variability in the starting energy level settings for different individuals. Don't be too aggressive the first few times you strength train so you  avoid unnecessary soreness.
• ·         Note that you need recovery of 48 hours between strength training sessions. Active recovery daily is recommended to speed your recovery from strength training and the traditional training that you do.
• ·         E-stim strength train after you have completed your traditional training for the day.
• ·         Strength train on those days that you have your biggest traditional training loads rather on your lighter traditional training days. This becomes less critical the further you proceed with your E-stim strength training. You will accommodate to the load quite easily.

		Week 1 Strength Building-training a different set of muscles
Training Days		Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday OR  Monday/Wednesday/Friday
mA (intensity) and Program		20-50+               Strength  program Compex Performance US or Elite Sport
Muscle group		Gluteals and Hamstrings ,  Lats and Traps, etc.
E-stim recovery		Active recovery program

The difference between this strength training scenario and the previous one is the muscle groups trained. Other muscle groups could be substituted depending upon your sport's needs. Paddlers would want to concentrate on their upper body. Latissimus dorsi and trapezius muscles could be substituted for the gluteals and hamstrings or quadriceps and calves.

Split routine strength training.

Each muscle group needs 48 hours to recover  from an E-stim strength building session. One muscle group can recover on a day that a different muscle group is being trained. One could train their quadriceps and calves on Monday, Wednesday,  Friday and a different set of muscle group(s) on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. Keep in mind that it could take a couple of weeks to become adapted enough to E-stim strength training daily so as to not feel the effects while training traditionally. It can certainly be done however.  This time of year, when most are not in the competitive phase of their season, is ideal for gaining the adaptations needed to fit both strength training and traditional  training in during the competitive phase of your season.

A Powerful Strength Building Progression

Since there is little potential for improvement once the rate of adaptive gains gets low (a plateau in your training progress), one should move through a variety of strength training programs to regularly introduce change that promotes adaptive gains. Two to three weeks at each level of Strength E-stim programs regularly introduces change and is not a period long enough to result in a training plateau. Six to eight weeks is enough of one kind of strength training though, even when progressing through the three levels of increasing training load.  An abrupt transition to Resistance  E-stim programs, or a more gradual blending of  Strength and Resistance over a period of a week or two will work well at this time of year. The adaptations gained from the Strength and the Resistance Strength programs are similar enough that a good part of the fitness gained from  Strength training will spill over to the gains anticipated from Resistance training. The schedule for these two scenarios may look something like this.

Abrupt transition to Resistive Strength

Training	Monday	Tuesday
days
mA (intensity) and Program	30-60+ energy level Resistance	Strength
Muscle Group		Globus-quads and calves
	Globus-gluteals and hamstrings
E--stim recovery	Activ rec.	Activ rec.

Transition to Resistive Strength using a blend of strength building programs

Week 1 Training	Monday	Wednesday                           Friday
Program	Strength	Resistance                              Strength

Week 2	Monday	Wednesday                           Friday
Program	Resistance	Strength                                   Strength

Week 3	Monday	Wednesday                           Friday
Program	Resistance	Resistance                             Resistance

There is a good deal of variation that can be introduced obviously. All of the variety allows you to be creative and continue E-stim strength building season after a season without exactly repeating what you do from season to season. It can be like any other kind of training that you do season after season-address weaknesses based on your past season's results. Just keep a few things in mind as you hatch out your next planned block of training.

• Make smooth transitions from one phase to the next by looking for adaptations that aren't too dissimilar from the adaptations just gained. Moving  from  Strength to Resistance is a smooth transition. Moving from  Strength to Endurance would not be.
• Find a schedule that you can consistently adhere to over weeks and months. Consistency is the cornerstone of every successful training plan and your schedule should support consistent training.
• Focusing on one kind of strength building program will focus your adaptive gains in a very specific area. These gains are potentially sizeable.  Blending programs will deliver broader adaptations that are not as profound . Neither approach is right or wrong, rather it is choice you make.

You'll like what building strength with E-stim will do for your performance. Power up.

Active Recovery - it's the new racing edge

Maximum and Explosive Strength, Resistive Strength, Endurance and Ultra-endurance-these E-stim programs are all part of a periodized approach to building the kind of strength that spills over to enhanced performance. All the while, Active Recovery addresses the ability to consistently train without feeling beat up, without the loss of a sharp edge needed to absorb quality training. At this time of year, traditional training is occupying  the vast majority of training time. Having built strength throughout the season, there comes a time when it's necessary to focus our time on training specific to the intended performance at hand, and to build to a performance peak. The time for heavy training and the fatigue that accompanies it is over.

Removing strength training completely can increase the rate of muscle degradation (catabolism) that reverses the gains made while strength training. Increased levels of sodium and chloride ions in the muscles also contributes to the breakdown of muscle fiber. Natural testosterone levels can fall. Slow twitch muscle fibers are the first to lose their force generating capabilities, and these are certainly necessary for endurance sports. Motor units ( a motor nerve cell and the tens to hundreds of muscle fibers it controls) rate of recruitment can drop. Another way to state this is that neural inhibition increases with disuse. No doubt some of these degradations are held at bay because traditional training continues during this period. It certainly would be nice to maintain as many of these adaptations as possible while "resting", backing off, from the high training volumes.

 What is emotionally difficult is backing off on any of the training that delivered a noticeable improvement. Those strength building with E-stim definitely feel and measure the improvement. How can the gains be maintained while the energies are focused on the specifics of the performance at hand? E-stim delivers options.

Certainly the Active Recovery is the most used E-stim program and it's for a good reason.  There is an advantage to using this program each training day to prepare for the next workout. The strength training programs deliver workouts that also require recovery. They can't be done daily. They require 36-48 hours of recovery to avoid overtraining. These programs aren't appropriate when there are only a few weeks of season remaining.

Active Recovery is a key component to tapering (training at a reduced load to enhance recovery) while maintaining the ability to recruit motor units at a high level. If that is accomplished, strength will be maintained. The Active Recovery program helps move blood out of the muscle's capillary beds and along with it, the waste products and toxins that must be dealt with before resuming training. The program also stimulates the production of the body's natural endorphins that ease the discomfort felt post-exercise. Those two benefits are reason enough to  use the Active Recovery program, but it does more. Motor unit recruitment can be maintained at the high levels achieved with the strength building programs.  Since the Active Recovery can and should be done after any training bout, a daily dose will keep all of the cylinders firing at peak levels. That's race ready, and one more reason to use E-stim on a daily basis to keep performing in top form. Power up.



Want to Sizzle?… Warm Up First

Author: Jim Bruskewitz

What is it about exercise? Why do we forgo many of life’s other pleasures to workout? It feels good! Maybe we sacrifice a whole bunch of life’s other pleasures for years to reach a goal, but I doubt we’d even imagine that goal if the exercise didn’t feel great at some point along the way. Today I had a good early morning run before sitting down to write this. What about it was good? It FELT good. Bad workouts and races generally go hand in hand with feeling bad. Drawing on personal experience, I’d say we keep up a regular training schedule in search of another workout that feels great. Maybe success could be measured by the number of workouts that feel great in a month or a season.

So why did my run feel good today? For a lot of reasons no doubt, but I know why the first couple of miles felt better than they might otherwise have felt. I got a terrific warm-up and I used my Globus EMS unit to do it. I don’t do this before absolutely every run. Maybe that’s why I can say that this run felt better than the other runs that weren’t preceded by a Globus EMS warm-up. I have a more traditional warm-up routine prescribed by a talented athletic trainer I work with. That warm-up makes me feel better. However, if I have my Globus unit on hand, I choose to warm up with an Endurance Prep warm-up program because I feel better than I do when I warm-up in a traditional fashion.

I really appreciate the difference in the way I feel if I use the Globus EMS warmup before a cycling event too. I notice this most when I want to be “on” right out of the gate. Instead of waiting a few miles to adjust to the high output when the race starts, I’m ready to go right off the bat. The same can be said for a workout when I’m not in top form (usually from a hard workout the previous day). On one of those days when it normally would take 10 to 15 miles before my legs feel ready to go, the day turns into a ride where I can actually get some quality training out of those first 10 to 15. My time is spent more efficiently because my muscles are working more efficiently.

The physiology of a warm-up is well researched. There are a number of observed changes in the muscle that improve performance:

• A muscular contraction is a cascade of biochemical reactions. Each of the inter-dependent reactions will proceed at a faster rate if the temperature at which the reaction occurs is increased. Normally some blood is shunted away from a working muscle when it is inactive. Blood supply will increase when the muscle is active and this will increase the temperature of the muscle tissue. Expending energy for contracting muscle fibers also produces heat and additionally contributes to increasing the temperature of the muscle tissue.
• A muscle fiber is full of enzymes and organelles that make up a kind of soup. The mixture has colloidal properties and behaves like another familiar colloid, Jell-o. Mix the packet of Jell-o in water and put it in the refrigerator and it becomes a shimmering, jiggling semi-solid. Take this Jell-o out of the refrigerator and it will return to its liquid state after it has warmed. You can move a finger through the semi-solid Jell-o with a little effort. Moving your finger through the liquid form requires much less effort. A muscle is deformed when it contracts and bunches up. A warm muscle deforms with less effort sparing some of the work done to generate the desired force.
• The oxygen carrying molecules, hemoglobin and myoglobin, will give up their oxygen where needed more easily at higher temperatures. Aerobic energy delivery may proceed at a faster rate.
• Some muscle fibers are reluctant to contract. This is normal even if not desirable when there is work to be done. Some of this reluctance to contact is temporarily removed with a good warm-up. More muscle fibers are available to help develop the desired force from a muscular contraction.

Add up all of these warm-up adaptations and it is no wonder that you and I feel better when initiating a workout after a thorough warm-up.

Why use a Globus EMS warm-up program instead of a different method. There are advantages and disadvantages to traditional warm-up routines when compared to EMS warm-ups. Globus EMS has a variety of warm-up programs to choose from. The advantage is that we can warm-up specifically for different kinds of activity to follow. The different programs target different kinds of muscle fiber types. Simply ask yourself, is the planned activity going to use primarily slow twitch, endurance, or fast twitch, sprint, muscle fibers? The Globus EMS warm-up programs target these different muscle fiber types of your choosing. Which type of warm up do I prefer, Globus EMS or more traditional warm-ups? I like them both, but without question I feel better and “sizzle” more after a Globus EMS warm-up.

Jim is a multiple-time World and National Age Group Triathlon champion, a coach (www.enduranceperformance.com), and former lecturer at UW-Madison-Department of Kinesiology. He recently left teaching at UW to study and teach EMS training.