Conscious Deceleration Training

[Guest guest]

Casler wrote:

<... If you do the simple bungee plus dumbbell experiment I mentioned

earlier, and perform a simple dumbbell press explosively, as the movement

nears the end where your arm would normally have to begin decelerating the

weight, the elastic band does so for you and not only that, it allows you to

continue applying load to the muscles during this range. This ROM is usually

not only " not loaded " but is ruined by the fact that we need to decelerate,

activating the wrong motor commands and muscle actions.>

*** If the load is maximal or circamaximal, you do not have to begin to

decelerate the bar, since deceleration starts quite 'happily' on its own much

earlier in the movement and you manage to produce just enough force to keep

the bar from stopping before reaching its end point (in fact, the competition

rules state that any lift shall be deemed 'failed' if the bar stops moving

during the lift). In fact, if you almost stop at any sticking point during

the movement, then you will have noticed that conscious deceleration is not

at all necessary to slow the bar down or stop it. A maximal lift may even be

defined as one which in which 'failure' or zero acceleration coincides with

the end point of the movement.

You can even choose to move any load more slowly from the outset, so that no

conscious deceleration is necessary, since fatigue or failure will simply

force the body to decelerate much earlier in the movement. Unfortunately

some tunnel thinking, seems to constrain many HIT gurus to believe that the

body always has to produce deceleration in heavy lifting, but they fail to

discuss the effects of the load and the method of movement being used. This

may happen in some cases with lighter loads, but not as a general principle

in all cases. Don't ever fall into their trap of limited and subjective

analysis.

We also not forget that deceleration training involving eccentric action may

play a very useful conditioning role, especially since some studies and

practical experience indicate that this type of action may play a vital role

in stimulating muscle hypertrophy. The explosive amortisation (deceleration)

phase of " plyometric " or stretch-shortening action followed by its brief

phase of explosive isometrics also appears to play a vital role in the

conditioning of viscoelastic tissues and enhancing the efficiency of certain

neuromuscular processes. In other words, the elimination or reduction of

deceleration from training can diminish the benefits of strength training.

For instance, the use of elastic bands in box squatting increases the

eccentric loading, so that one actually has to produce greater force during

the deceleration phase. If the movement is rapid and the elastic loading is

significant compared with the inertial (weights) loading, then the use of

elastic squats over part range (as with a box) can serve as useful form of

" plyometric " training, especially for heavier athletes whose joints may not

tolerate drops from a height as well as those of their lighter colleagues. I

often have my athletes use elastic bands widely as a substitute for many

plyometric drills, so I am quite indebted to this form of enhanced eccentric

deceleration training.

You also stated that " This ROM is usually not only 'not loaded' but is ruined

by the fact that we need to decelerate, activating the wrong motor commands

and muscle actions " , but the " wrongness " of motor commands and muscle actions

is caused not by deceleration, but by inefficiency of technique. Even though

conscious deceleration may take place in maximal or submaximal exercise, the

resulting motor activity is perfectly appropriate or optimal for that

situation. You are defining 'wrongness' with reference to your beliefs about

how a load should be moved in training.

Dr Mel C Siff

Denver, USA

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Supertraining/