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by Charles Staley
Publication Date:
June 1998
Sports Massage and Performance
Dear Charles,
The other day, I had a long massage just
before my workout, and I think it actually made me weaker. I always
hear that massage is supposed to help improve recovery, so do I
maybe need to seek out another therapist? Or should I avoid massage
before workouts?
Don't fire your massage therapist just yet! There are many
different kinds of massage, and I suspect that the massage you had
might have been more appropriate after a workout rather than for
pre-training. The ideal type of massage for "pre-event" purposes is
very light, most often done without oil, for about 20 minutes before
an event. We use broad compression strokes, jostling and light
friction at tendons to warm the muscles up, loosen them from spasms
prime them with blood.
Massage has become an indispensable part of my work with
athletes. My Los Angeles-based athletes are treated by Dianna
Linden, MT, CFT (who may be contacted at
diannal@netVIP.com), who
uses a wide range of techniques and disciplines with her clients,
many of whom are athletes. I asked Dianna to comment on your
question, and here is what she had to say:
"Massage which is of a deep tissue style or sports massage of
a clinical nature is used to release spasms or adhesions (old or
new) from muscles and tendons. This type of work is more
invasive and does require some recovery time before the muscles
are ready for peak performance again. For this reason, this type
of deeper tissue work is best done in the off season or as part
of the athlete's rebuild phase so that the tissues are
'available for training' without damaged or restricted fibers
restricting their ability to fully relax and contract. After
deep tissue style massage the muscles might even feel tender and
weaker for that day and a day following the massage. After that,
they should perform better, being freed from the internal
restrictions of the erased adhesions."
Dianna also cautions that If a large range of motion is important
to the performance of the athlete's sport or training (for example,
deep squatting or dumbbell bench presses) the athlete should take it
easy for the first workout and be aware that the synergistic
functioning of the antagonists has been temporarily altered by the
release of the adhesions. For example, if the hamstring has had a
large spasm or adhesion in it and the deep tissue work relieved some
portion of that spasm or all of it, the muscle might behave
differently, the leg could go forward faster, thus affecting the
athlete's gait. This is ultimately beneficial for performance, but
could be temporarily disconcerting to feel your leg moving faster
than you are used to. This takes some re-orientation for the athlete
and would hardly be noticed by the average person.
A well trained sports therapist should inform her client what to
expect from the work and how to choose what kind of massage is
appropriate for their immediate goal and how to best time the
massages to be most affective to help the athlete achieve enhanced
performance. So communicate with your massage therapist, and I'd
suggest that you treat a deep massage almost like a workout - don't
make any strong demands on those muscles for a few days following
the treatment.
Weight Training for Martial Arts
Dear Charles,
I read your book
Special Topics in Martial Arts Conditioning which emphatically
encourages weight training for improved martial arts performance.
After implementing a few weight training cycles into my Tae Kwon Do
competition preparation, I ended up slower and feeling unusually
awkward. What do you think I'm doing wrong?
Simply moving your pawns, knights, and bishops forward on the
chess board does not assure victory. Before you decide to quit on
you resistance training program, let's examine a few avoidable
mistakes that can contribute to diminished results on "event day:"
First, timing is everything. Being undertrained or overtrained on
contest day can spell disaster for any athlete; but if you time it
just right you're in the medal hunt. The proximity of intense
resistance training to competition can even throw off a weightlifter
- imagine how that effects an athlete who must cope with a highly
technical skill element! In an undertrained state, an athlete has
been away from his/her resistance training so long that they are
suffering detraining effects. The more common obstacle is
overtraining, however - something that martial artists seem to have
a patent on. Intense lifting places great demands on the nervous
system, so intense technical and tactical training (which also taxes
the nervous system) should be placed on the "back-burner" while
strength is increased. Because strength training debilitates skill
temporarily, reduce and eventually discontinue the strength training
program as the event nears. The closer the contest is the more
refined and specific your training should become.
Sometimes the best intentions hit a pothole. It's possible that
the training was timed perfectly well; however, exercises selected
and the muscles targeted were flawed.
One of my favorite tricks, which I initially learned from my
colleague Charles Poliquin, is to emphasize the antagonists. For
example - tae kwon do, which places great emphasis on kicking,
encourages athletes to develop the quadricep, the muscle responsible
for extension of the leg. In the mix, the hamstring, responsible for
flexion (in this case retraction) of the leg is forgotten about. The
quadricep and hamstring have an 'agonist/antagonist' relationship.
This means one muscle lengthens while the other shortens and vise
versa. When an agonist/antagonist relationship exists it becomes
incumbent upon the opposing muscles to 'protect' each other by
decelerating the force of the concentric activity. Therefore, one
possibility is that your quadricep's ability to deliver force with a
kick might be limited by insufficient hamstring strength.
Feeling awkward could also reflect a neglect of skill retention
during a strength training phase. Although you should certainly
reduce the total volume of technical training during a phase
designated to strength improvement, basic drills a few times a week
for will help an athlete to adjust to increased muscle mass. I find
that my martial artist clients who begin a weight training program
for the first time must be prodded to keep up with their technical
sessions, since weight training tends to make you feel heavy and
stiff, at least during a hypertrophy phase.
So, before discounting the benefits of strength training specific
to fighting, consider my advice, and also look at the trend:
athletes such as Rickson Gracie, Lucia Rikert, and Evander Holyfield
carry impressively muscular physiques while projecting an aura of
invincibility around them in the ring.
Misconceptions of the effects of resistance training
Dear Charles,
I just joined a gym to lose weight and tone
up (I feel very cliche saying that, but it's true!). After filling
out the paperwork, the sales guy introduced me to a trainer who
showed me how to use aerobic and circuit training equipment. It's
not my intention to look like the female bodybuilders I see on TV,
so should I keep the reps high on the machines, or just stick to the
aerobics to slim down?
Without the backing of a statistic, I'll venture to say you have
most common goal among new fitness enthusiasts. As well, you
probably have one of the most common misconceptions of the effects
of resistance training on your body.
First, let's clarify your goals:
1) Lose Weight- here we are invariably referring to reducing
body fat. (not just weighing less).
2) Tone Up- I hate the term "tone," (Tone is simply, a
partial, involuntary muscle contraction, which is possible even
if you're obese) so let's just say that we want to increase
muscle mass (fortunately, you don't have to wait nearly as long
as a bodybuilder to realize your goals!)
"Slimming down and toning up" can be viewed as a stop on the
route to bodybuilding. Take as many transfer passes as you need to
get where you're going - when you get there, it's completely your
decision to continue on or stay where you are. What I'm saying is -
training like a bodybuilder, using the tools that the fitness
instructor at the gym showed you, will steer you in the direction
you want. Incidentally, you will see many gradual progressions in
your body - in other words, you'll never wake up one morning and
find that you went "too far."
Now, in the immortal words of Seinfeld's personal trainer, "All
aboard the pain train!"
First, get off to the best possible start by hiring a reputable
professional trainer (The
International Sports Sciences Association will be glad to help
you find a great trainer in your area - just call 800-892-ISSA).
With or without a trainer there are a few guidelines you should
follow. Spend the next eight to ten weeks performing one or two sets
per workout/per muscle targeting all or most of the muscles on your
body (not just the areas youıre primarily concerned about). By
developing more muscle all over the body, your metabolism will
elevate due to the fact that you have more tissue that requires fuel
(this may be one reason why men usually have lower body fat
percent); hence, you will be burning more body fat all day long. Not
a bad deal, huh?
Be careful not to get too comfortable with the initial program,
however. It's not unusual to accomplish a great percentage of your
training objective in the first couple of months, regardless of what
program or system you're using. Like a drug that makes you feel
better, it is very hard to discontinue an exercise program that is
producing results. However, realize that along with the benefits you
are seeing, there is an accumulation of drawbacks as well. For
example, squats can be a terrific exercise for the quads, hams, and
glutes; however, prolonged squatting for months or years with no
significant break could lead to overuse injuries in the joints. So
don't be afraid to change a few variables in your training every few
weeks (after the initial eight weeks, rewrite your program every 3
or 4 weeks).
Another point to consider: Moderate amounts of aerobic exercise
will elevate your metabolism, however, excessive aerobic training
can have at least three major drawbacks: First, excessive aerobic
exercise can exhaust muscles, most frequently in your lower body,
leaving them unable to perform at the intensity you need to develop
them to the point you desire during weight training. Second, the
caloric expenditure created during the aerobic exercise can end up
consuming the protein in your diet if you don't eat just enough
calories. In this case, there won't be sufficient protein in your
body to repair your healing muscles and provide enough energy at the
same time. And whenever your body has to choose between energy and
growth, energy always wins. Finally, studies have shown that large
volumes of aerobic exercise can cause muscle necrosis (tissue
death). Not very productive in my book.
So in summation, emphasize a constantly changing resistance
training program, low to moderate amounts of aerobic activity, and
please come back every month. I've got a lot of valuable
information to share over the coming months!
Training Alone and Home Gyms
Dear Charles,
I always (or usually, anyway) train alone
in my home. For chest, I always bench inside my smith machine for
safety because I don't have a spotter. I'm well aware that top body
builders don't get big using machines, so could you recommend any
changes that could increase the effectiveness of my pec workouts
while keeping them safe?
Before I answer your question, I have to first say that the Smith
machine isn't completely foolproof! It IS possible to get stuck in
one, because you can't always hook the bar onto the pins. If this
happens, you're REALLY stuck! I strongly recommend using a spotter
anytime you use this device.
Getting back to your question: I happen to train my clients (and
often, myself) myself in private settings. This being the case, I am
often in the same boat as you. Although implementing a training
partner is superior for safety and motivation, I realize it is not
always a reality, so I do have a few suggestions.
First of all, I would not necessarily look at machine exercises
as inferior. As a matter of fact, machines often allow you to reach
a higher level of exhaustion without fearing for your personal
safety. In my mind, machines are only inferior when you use them
exclusively. Relying only on machines is likely to minimize results
because prime mover (the muscles primarily targeted) development is
limited by your body's ability to stabilize yourself during the
exercise (this is why you can always bench more with your feet on
the floor than on the bench).
Luckily, you don't have to be an unstable person to incorporate
unstable movements into your pec workout! Dumbbells are an excellent
way to accomplish this. Try exhausting the stabilizers with a
dumbbell bench press or flye as your first exercise. Having a
greater tolerance to the unstable nature of this exercise, your
prime movers (the pectorals in this case) will not exhaust as
quickly as the muscles stabilizing your body during the exercise;
therefore, when you cannot continue pressing the dumbbells due to
the fatigued stabilizers, you will be able to maintain the same
intensity for more sets, picking up with the Smith machine bench
press where you left off with your dumbbell bench press. At this
point, your Smith machine becomes a great tool for optimal
exhaustion.
Most home multi-gym gym devices have an attachment for dips. Dips
are probably the most effective pec exercise that can be performed
without the aid of a spotter (if you have any know shoulder
problems, I'd talk with a competent orthopedist who understands
strength training first, however). Start the exercise from a sturdy
block or support set high enough to easily return your feet to.
Should you misjudge your ability to complete a set, you can maneuver
your feet to the block and remove the tension on the pecs (and more
importantly, shoulders). For more advanced trainees, the dip can
create a safe environment for eccentric training. To perform an
eccentric dip, you must again place a block below your feet,
starting with the arms extended and lower yourself in a controlled
fashion. As you descend to the end of your normal range of motion,
place your feet on the block, assist yourself to the starting
position, remove the tension on your feet, and continue until the
set is complete. Particular attention must be paid to safety and
control during the flexion of the elbow during dips. Note: it is
preferable to position the block so that the feet are always above
the block when not assisting in the movement.
Finally, I must point out that the bench press can be safely
performed alone through the use of safety spotters, a device which
can be set to catch a bar just past your normal range of motion,
allowing you just enough room to remove yourself from a failed
attempt. Using a power rack with safety pins can also be used for
the same purpose. Either way, NEVER bench without a spotter!!! EVER!
And one last point while we're talking about safety - even though it
feels better to have your thumbs on the same side of the bar as the
rest of your fingers, never do so. One slip is all it takes, and the
consequences are disastrous. It'll only take a handful of workouts
to get used to the new grip, and who knows - you might be eligible
for lower life insurance premiums!
Bicep Curls Useless for High School Athletics
Dear Charles,
My football coach will not let us do curls
he says they have no place in training, but I say they do. The
biceps must be there for a reason, right?
Since the biceps is often thought of as a "show" or "beach"
muscle, bicep training is often over-worshiped by young male
trainees, but also excessively discouraged by well-meaning coaches.
To say, as many coaches do, that the biceps has no function for a
football player demonstrates a basic lack of understanding.
I understand your coach's sentiments - he's just trying to
emphasize function over aesthetics. However, it's kind of like
telling school kids not to read the latest controversial book‹ itıs
the best way to guarantee that they will!
The biceps plays a pivotal role in the function of the shoulder
and also in the articulation of the hand. It also balances the
forces created by the triceps at the elbow joint. So I hope your
coach will someday take less of an "extremist" position about this
issue, but in the mean-time, see if he'll allow you to perform more
chins - a great bicep movement, but just tell him you are doing it
for your back strength!
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