Dr Mel Siff talks Complex and Functional Training Extract from Supertraining

A post from Mel Siff and his Yahoo Group at http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/supertraining , the best of which can be found at www.melsiff.com Here is an extract from my book which defines "complex training" as it
was formally conceived as a training approach in Russia. If one analyses
this information in some depth, it will be seen how it also applies to what
constitutes 'functional training' and how 'functional training' may be
integrated into an overall complex or concentrated loading scheme of physical
preparation. Well-meaning attempts to separate all training into
"functional" and "non-functional" training thus may be seen to be often
misleading and inaccurate, because a complex (at the level of the single session or microcycle) comprising "functional" and "non-functional", machine and free weight, two dimensional and three-dimensional, training can still
produce a perfectly acceptable scheme to achieve "functional training". One
cannot categorically label a given exercise or form of training as
"functional" or "non-functional" without considering the context of the
specific training stage and individual involved. COMPLEX TRAINING

(Siff MC "Supertraining" 2000 Ch 6, pp 367-368)

< There are essentially two basic different ways of organising training,
namely the complex and the concentrated loading methods. Complex loading
involves prescription of multi-faceted training regimes to achieve several
different fitness objectives over the same period, whereas the concentrated
loading method concentrates for a given period on producing a single major
specific fitness quality via the use of a unidirectional regime of training.

Complex training refers to the concurrent use of different training means in
the same workout, microcycle or mesocycle. For instance, a complex workout
might comprise resistance training, plyometrics and sprinting; a complex
microcycle (typically a week) might employ those same training means on different days or during different sessions on the same day. If complex
means are to be utilised, it is essential to understand fully how the
different means and exercises interact with one another, as determined by the
acute and delayed after-effects of each (discussed earlier in this chapter).
In addition, the prescription of complex means depends on the individual, the
level of proficiency of the athlete, the specific objective, and the stage of the training programme, especially the proximity to important competitions

"Complex training", which involves concurrent (during one workout or microcycle) and parallel (prolonged stages of training, up to a year) use of
several training tasks and loads of different primary emphasis, is usually
regarded as the most effective form of training construction. This is a
direct result of considerable early research that supported the principle of complex organisation of training. The results showed that the athlete
achieves balanced and multi-faceted physical fitness, that development of one
motor ability contributes to the development of others and that multifaceted
loading improves strength, speed of movement and endurance to a greater
extent than unidirectional exercise (Krestovnikov, 1951; Letunov et al.,
1954; Zimkin, 1956; Korobkov et al, 1960).

Consequently, arguments were propounded for unifying the GPP and SPP, and combining personal qualities to determine training methods, independent of the athlete's level of qualification. Complex training became preferred over the unidirectional approach, with its inherently monotonous workouts that tend to diminish conditioning effectiveness and promote one-sided physical preparation. Prolonged unidirectional work (focused on developing factors such as strength
or speed) apparently causes the body to adapt to loading with the dominant
involvement of only some of the physiological mechanisms and does not create conditions for specific adaptation to competition activities. Parallel
loading of different emphasis was shown to simultaneously improve different
physiological functions in the necessary balance for various sports
(Matveyev, 1970). All of these concepts are indisputable in principle and are important as the
most general guidelines, serving as the fundamentals of physical education
and sport training. However, the research supporting these ideas was done
many years ago and utilised athletes of low qualification. Had advanced
athletes taken part in these studies, then their achievements would have been
only average with respect to modern criteria. Besides this, the form of
loading in those days was different. Therefore, under modern conditions this
loading would be applicable only to beginners or athletes of average
qualification.

According to Verkhoshansky (1977), there generally appears to be little
advantage for high-level athletes to utilise the complex system of training, although one should not dismiss their possible value at different stages of
training with certain individuals in specific cases. Arguments in favour of
another approach may be based on more progressive sports practice, involving the search to overcome the major deficiencies of the complex system of
training, in particular the following: 1. Highly qualified athletes have a very high level of special physical
preparedness. To raise this significantly to improve sports proficiency, one
must use strong and relatively prolonged training influences of appropriate emphasis. Complex training does not achieve this. In complex training, the
distribution of the volume of special loading (see Ch 6.7.4) is not able to
provoke extensive adaptation of the necessary emphasis.

2. There is a definite specificity in the structure of the physical
preparedness of high-level athletes. Complex training, with its multifaceted
influence on the body, cannot create the conditions necessary for producing highly specific physical preparedness. Besides this, complex training at high
volume accentuates the need to establish specific relationships between the
processes which develop separate systems of the body, as well as between the
training effects of loading of different primary emphasis.

3. Highly qualified athletes have to execute the competition activities expertly and with precise control. Extensive complex loading to
simultaneously perfect sport technique and special physical preparedness
inevitably leads to general fatigue and deterioration of this control. >

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Dr Mel C Siff
http://www.drmelsiff.com
Mel Siff
Author of Supertraining
Author of Facts and Fallacies of Fitness
www.melsiff.com

Mel Siff Talks Optimal Hypertrophy for Sports Supertraining Extract

Mel Siff talks hypertrophy in this extract from his textbook Supertraining, as taken from http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/supertraining - of which the best posts are listed at www.melsiff.com

HYPERTROPHY & STRENGTH

OPTIMUM, NOT MAXIMUM, HYPERTROPHY

In both Olympic lifting and powerlifting, optimal and not maximal hypertrophy is a central feature of the game, unlike bodybuilding where it does not matter whether one is relatively weak or strong with reference to one's
bodymass. All that matters is well-defined, symmetrical muscle bulk in
bodybuilding, but in the lifting sports, your size and impressiveness of
appearance earn you scant respect - all that counts is what you lift.

Optimal hypertrophy means continuing to develop building muscle only as long
as that extra bulk continues to provide you with significant increases in strength and power. If you add 10kg to your bodymass and your total
increases by only 5kg in a higher bodymass division, then your relative
strength has decreased and that added hypertrophy is wasted on you.

This is a serious problem in contact sports such as football where the common belief is that virtually any form of added mass is good for the game (especially defensive players), whereas in reality it would be a lot better if the added bulk was mainly solid, functional muscle which added strength,
power, speed and agility.

DIFFERENT TYPES OF HYPERTROPHY Research from Russia even suggests that there are two different types of
muscle hypertrophy: sarcomere hypertrophy (of the actual contractile
components) and sarcoplasmic hypertrophy (of non-contractile proteins and semifluid plasma between the muscle fibres), with the latter type of
hypertrophy being more in evidence in bodybuilding (Siff M C "Supertraining", 2000, Ch 1.13).

MUSCLE GROWTH & PERFORMANCE

To provide some more relevant information on this important and controversial topic, I have included this fairly lengthy extract from "Supertraining" (pp
67-69) for those who may be interested: Other research has found that hypertrophied muscle fibres need a significantly larger tissue volume to perform a given amount of work. With
the development of non-functional muscle bulk (sarcoplasmic hypertrophy), the
increase in muscle mass outstrips the development of the circulatory system,
resulting in decreased nutrition and oxygenation of the muscle, slowing down
the metabolic processes in the muscle and less efficient disposal of metabolic waste products from the musculoskeletal system (Zalessky & Burkhanov Legkaya Atletika 1981: 1-7). Furthermore, adaptation occurs more slowly in connective tissue (such as
tendons and ligaments) than in muscle and any increased tension made possible in the musculotendinous complexes by the increased muscle mass can cause
damage to these structures (Zalessky & Burkhanov, 1981). Thus, excessive
hypertrophy usually leads to slower muscle recovery after exercise,
deterioration in speed, speed-strength and speed, as well as an increased
incidence of injury. THE ENERGY COSTS OF TOO MUCH HYPERTROPHY

This might suggest that all muscle fibre hypertrophy lowers work capacity. Hypertrophy is an adaptive response to physical stress and does offer the
benefit of increased mitochondrial surface area, which provides for more
efficient energy processes than would an increased number of mitochondria. With a rapid increase in loading, the size of the mitochondria continues to
increase markedly, but their number decreases and the concentration of ATP
drops, thereby diminishing the partial volume of the contractile myofibrils.

The resulting energy deficit soon inhibits the formation of new structures
and the decreased amount of ATP stimulates various destructive processes associated with decrease in the number of myofibrils. This process is
referred to as irrational adaptation.

Growth of any living structure is related to the balance between its volume
and its surface area. When muscle hypertrophy occurs, the surface of the
fibres grows more slowly than their volume and, this imbalance causes the
fibres to disintegrate and restructure in a way which preserves their
original metabolic state (Nikituk & Samoilov, 1990).

It would appear that light and medium increases in loading require less energy, facilitate cell repair, minimise the occurrence of destructive processes and stimulate the synthesis of new, non-hypertrophied cellular
structures. Medium loads applied with a medium rate of increase in loading produce intense muscular development, the process in this case being referred
to as rational adaptation. The fact that conventional isometric training improves performance in static, rather than dynamic, exercise may be due to the different structural effects
of isometric training on the muscle fibres, muscle cells, connective tissues
and blood capillaries.

MORE ON OPTIMAL HYPERTROPHY

This work seems to corroborate the hypothesis referred to earlier that there
may be an optimum size for muscle fibres undergoing hypertrophy (MacDougall
et al, 1982; Tesch & Larsson, 1982). The importance of prescribing resistance training regimes which produce the optimal balance between
hypertrophy and specific strength then becomes obvious. Thus, it is not only prolonged cardiovascular training which can be detrimental to the acquisition
of strength, but multiple fairly high repetition sets of heavy bodybuilding
or circuit training routines to the point of failure may also inhibit the
formation of contractile muscle fibres.

Therefore, it is vital to monitor regularly changes in muscular structure and
function alongside changes in size and mass. In most cases the taking of
biopsies is not possible or financially practical, so that indirect
assessment of the adaptive processes is necessary. Increase in hypertrophy
of a given muscle zone may be assessed from muscle girth and skinfold
thicknesses at that site, while factors such as relative strength, maximal
strength and the strength deficit (see "Supertraining", Ch 1) serve as useful
indicators of functional efficiency. INDISCRIMINATE WEIGHT TRAINING

Bosco (1982a) cautions against the indiscriminate use of resistance training
that typifies much of the 'cross training' prescribed with weights and
circuits by Western personal trainers and coaches. He emphasizes that,
although heavy resistance training serves as a powerful stimulus for the development and hypertrophy of both ST and FT fibres, the invaluable role
played by FT development can be impaired by the accompanying growth of ST
fibres, because the latter appear to provoke a damping effect on FT contraction during fast movement.

This is due to the fact that, during high speed shortening of muscle, the
sliding velocity of ST fibres can be too slow and therefore, may exert a
significant damping effect on the overall muscle contraction. He concludes
that the central role played by the storage and release of elastic energy by
the connective tissues of the muscle complex should never be ignored in sport
specific training programmes.

-----------------------

Dr Mel C Siff
http://www.drmelsiff.com
Mel Siff
Author of Supertraining
Author of Facts and Fallacies of Fitness
www.melsiff.com