Improving strength in athletes should be a primary objective for nearly all players on a sports team. This is because strength has both direct and indirect effects on performance (i.e., speed, power, change of direction ability, etc.) in addition to stimulating physiological adaptations that help reduce the risk of contact and non-contact injury potential. Therefore, developing an effective resistance training program that can induce the greatest strength gains under the typical seasonal time constraints is of particular importance for the coaching staff. Various loading schemes have been developed that can be classified as linear periodization (progressive increase in intensity with a concomitant decrease in volume); reverse linear periodization (the opposite of linear); block periodization (focusing on a particular quality, or set/rep scheme for a given ~4 week block); and undulating periodization (daily alteration in volume and intensity). Great debate surrounding which loading scheme is the most effective for athletes.
A new study published ahead of print in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research compared each of these loading schemes in a cohort of 200 resistance trained individuals. Each scheme had 50 subjects equally split for gender. Over a 6 week period, all groups performed 3 full-body workouts per week in which the same exercises were performed in the same order for all groups. The only difference between the groups was the loading scheme. Before and after the training program, 1-RM and 10-RM values were obtained for each of the utilized exercises.
The results showed that each of the loading schemes significantly improved strength. However, daily undulating periodization was superior than each of the other schemes in all categories. For example, relative strength gains were on averaged 34.2% in the undulating periodization group compared to 21.5%, 24.6%, and 21.8% in the block, traditional linear and reverse linear periodization groups, respectively. The authors propose that this may be due to the fact that the undulating group were exposed to loads equal to 90% of their 1-RM more frequently (once per week), compared to each of the other groups. This may have resulted in greater neural adaptations (i.e., motor unit recruitment). Since training at or above 90% of 1-RM too often can be too fatiguing, undulating between heavier and lighter days appear to be an effected means of accumulating more work over 90% without being too fatiguing for the individual. This study provides further support for the use of daily undulating periodization for effectively increasing strength gains in a relatively short time period (i.e., 6-weeks).
Reference:
Eifler, C. (2015) Short-term effects of different loading schemes in fitness-related resistance training. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. Published ahead of print.
