Russian Sport Scientists

Over the last few days I have been reading the research of Natalia Verkhoshansky (Daughter of Yuri Verkhoshansky) the Russian sport scientists who were credited with introducing strength training in to the soviet era track and field athletes. Specifically; the article that first sparked my attention can be found HERE 

Essentially; the Russians thought that having the athlete perform an explosive movement directly after a heavy lift would increase their sport specific performance. Furthermore; and perhaps something that interest me the most, is the Russians theory of delayed effect of strength training.

I won’t go in to the full details of the Russians, the above mention article is very well written and provides some excellent references and foot notes.

I first came across this theory while researching for a neuromotor control assignment I had to write in second year Uni; where I found the Russians hypothesis have been tested in modern times under the working hypothesis of post activation potentiation (PAP). While the modern test protocols all differ from that of Verkhoshansky the basic principles remain the same; heavy lift, followed by an explosive movement.

I have had the idea of implementing this in to my training, kicking around the back of my head for a while now. However, in part from developing the Ben-Eiko-5-3-1 program and simply not finding a training block suitable to the development, the PAP theories remain un-tested and un-developed in my world. However, since I just got back from GPC nationals and I have some time away from Uni I have decided to take on a PAP experiment through the month of July. The primary aim of this is to develop suitable training protocols for increasing the vertical and horizontal jump of my clients who specialize in sport performance and also to test the PAP hypothesis as a viable alternative to West Side conjugate speed training and of course Olympic lifting.

The test period is going to look something like this:

-          4 weekly sessions

-          2 specifically related to PAP testing.

-          2 related to upper body and conditioning training (essentially; the weather is nice right now, I am going to train in the park). These mostly work around HIIT/TRX/Kettle Bells and the exact programming changes day to day

-           

-          Day 1: PAP: Front Squat 1 rep 90%

o    Directly followed by 1 depth jump from ~45cm (see below)

o   2 minute interval

o   Repeated 7-10 times

-          Day 2: Upper body/outdoor conditioning session,

-          Day 3: PAP: Box or Comp Squat, no knee wraps, 1 rep 90% 1Rm (around 140kg)

o   Directly followed by 1 depth jump from ~45cm

o   2 minute interval

o   Repeated 7-10 times

-          Day 4: Bench day with the boys or outdoor session as per above, once again I am fairly flexible with these.

-          Most PAP sessions will have a normal component of supplementary work such as sled drags, farmers walks, abdominals and kettle bells.

Understanding the depth jump:

The Russians found it was impossible for an athlete to simulate in the gym the amount of force created when they would push off for a high or long jump. As such; the concept of first dropping from a box and then immediately rebounding was developed.

Interesting pics of Depth Jumps are hard come by

The Key performance indicators on this test period are

-          Vertical jump

-          Horizontal jump

-          Outright weight of squats 
-          Resting Heart Rate (often speculated at a global fatigue measure) 

Throughout the test period I am actually expecting these to decrease as per the Russians ideas of delayed training effect. However, I will test my jumps weekly and asses my squat weights at each session.

I will also endeavor to keep my training logs update on facebook and report back here at the completion of my experiment.