3 hours sleep, pulled quad, ya im proud of this jump:
What are we capable of, as athletes? Are we to accept our "genetic destiny" without a fight? Are we to believe that in order to truly achieve elite gains, we need to accept anabolic drug use, though our body can readily produce these compounds through intensification of training? Why does a guy like t-dub jump ~50 inches at age 18, and continue to jump this high the rest of his athletic life, but not more? Why do most high school track & field athletes running insane 100m numbers rarely improve their times considerably throughout college and the rest of their career? Why do we need to gain weight to get stronger when our body's are capable of so much more?
To understand the rest of this blog, you'll need to go over this small concept from my Verkhoshansky notes posted on this site, and subsequently found on
http://verkhoshansky.com:
innate potential of the human organism:
- reserves employed in reactive movements (15%)
- physiological reserves employed under conditions of elevated motor activity (20%)
- special reserves mobilized only under conditions of muscle performance of great intensity or long duration (35%)
^^ inhibited by the CNS
- innate defended reserves mobilized only in extreme, life threatening situations (30%)
^^ inhibited by the CNS
these reserves not accessible regardless of the intensity of the volutional effort without special long term training.
the cns mechanism controlling the mobilization of the contractile function of muscles of gymnists gradually is perfected during many years of training - making it possible to realize the motor potential fully (including the special reserves) in a volitional effort).
the application of special reserves with traditional methods of SPP, through strength of will impulse, becomes increasingly difficult and involves major time & energy by the athlete.
the subsequent increase of the special work capacity level requires increases in the force (intensity) of the training.
"consequently it is necessary to create the training conditions that will force the body to mobilize the hidden (concealed) functional reserves and to form central nervous system mechanisms for their application, ie to make them accessible for mobilization from strength of will impulse"
The difference between every single athlete, lies in their natural ability to tap into their special & innate reserves, the "force production potential" that is protected from us, due to evolutionary and safety reasons. Regardless of biomechanical differences, we are all able to achieve elite level performance, for this one simple reason: elite level performance is inherently human, anything less is a lack of development of the human organism. We are all capable of insane jumping ability, blazing speed, extremely high levels of fitness & strength, and great endurance capabilities. Anything less than elite performance, is "sub human", ie, a "negative adaptation due to society, food, sex, technology, etc. (negative regarding performance, positive in other regards)". Not having to hunt for our food would be an example, not having to worry about being hunted for food would be another.
So what does that mean? It means some people have it easier than others starting out, naturally due to genetic variation, but we all have very similar athletic potential at the rawest levels.
A guy like t-dub, disregarding his biomechanical leverages, grew up being able to utilize a higher percentage of his special & innate reserves than most athletes. For some reason, those energetic reserves were "less protected" to him specifically. This lead to adaptations, over the course of his development, until full maturity. One of the most explosive athletes on this planet is the result of these adaptations over the course of his chronological development. But now what? Why doesn't he jump 55? Why doesn't he jump 60? Is it possible, probably. The reason he doesn't achieve these numbers is very simple:
"consequently it is necessary to create the training conditions that will force the body to mobilize the hidden (concealed) functional reserves and to form central nervous system mechanisms for their application, ie to make them accessible for mobilization from strength of will impulse" -- VerkhoshanskyThough I do not know t-dub, I (& other coaches) can pretty much say, without a doubt, that he has "failed to intensify his training" (natural athleticism, no weights), thus further adaptations cannot take place. Therefore, t-dub has remained in a state of stagnation, albeit insanely impressive stagnation, for quite some time. Athletes who fail to improve their performance are ALL subject to what has caused t-dub to fail at improving his performance, the failure to intensify the training regime & cause further adaptations to occur.
Since we are all human, we all are subject to this very same issue, the only difference is where along the spectrum we naturally fit into as individuals. Using running vertical jump as an example, my true "stagnation point" may be 27" RVJ, T-DUB's may be 52", someone elses might be 44" RVJ, yet another 35". Some may be thinking, "how is your stagnation point 27 inch RVJ if you're nearly jumping 40 inches?". The answer: intensification of training. I can guarantee you I put in just as much, if not more work than t-dub on the basketball court growing up. I worked my a$$ off, basketball was my dream. I jumped max all of the time, barely nicking the rim with my fingertip until age 24, where I finally got a few inches of my fingers over due to being extremely lean from boxing. So, given all of that work on that court, jumping, sprinting, boxing, bodyweight exercises, etc, I had never achieved anything even remotely close to what I currently have. Why? Again,
I had to progressively intensify my training regime to achieve my current results. What did that take? Well for example, I struggled with a 1xBW squat for 4 reps at 6'1 147 lb at 26 years old, yet I was in the best condition of my life due to boxing. Now i'm ~152 squatting 325 for 5 at the same depth. The ~1.2xBW to ~2.5xBW increase in squat is not the point, the ability to tap into protected motor potential, is. There's a 5 lb difference between then and now, and I was actually leaner then, due to my intense conditioning/boxing routine. I'm still skinny as hell, so it's obviously not muscle gain. What changed? My ability to tap into protected motor potential improved & of course some physiological changes to tendon, fasciae, and muscle, though not much.
Constantly challenging yourself under the bar & intensifying the regime, is what causes these adaptations. If a near maximal weight causes you to elevate HR and "worry about being safe" prior to lifting it, what happens when you've made a 50 lb gain in your 1RM? That weight won't give you the same physiological stress response that it once did, thus, training at that old poundage would eventually result in detraining. It also means that you are now tapping into more motor potential than you once were. What will it take for me to achieve my goal of 47" RVJ? The exact same thing I've been doing, progressively intensifying the training regime, making strength gains, becoming more "fit", improving my work capacity, etc. For example, that might mean going from 2.5xBW half squat to 3.0xBW half squat while getting in even more total work each week under the bar. That type of training doesn't get any easier, it in fact gets harder. If your goal is a 20 inch vert gain, the first 10 are going to seem hard at the time, but compared to the next 10 inches, looking back it will look like a walk in the park. Intensification of training never gets easier, it ALWAYS gets harder, otherwise it wouldn't be called intensification now would it? Challenging yourself means:
"... to create the training conditions that will force the body to mobilize the hidden (concealed) functional reserves and to form central nervous system mechanisms for their application, ie to make them accessible for mobilization from strength of will impulse" -- VerkhoshanskyAn elevation in HR, nervousness, self doubt, increased ventilation rate, increased focus, self talk, pacing back and forth, and many others, are all signs that you are intensifying the regime. There should be at LEAST 2 training sessions per week which set forth these symptoms, if not, what are you doing, sounds like you're deloading or maintaining (nothing wrong with that, but it needs to be defined).
Some athletes spend their entire lives in stagnation, will you?
Athletes who constantly look for shortcuts will never understand or realize the brevity of Verkhoshansky's quote, and thus will never realize an impressive transformation in athleticism.
Like I said in a thread recently today, in regards to gaining weight to squat more: "If someone were to stab you with an adrenaline shot, why then are you able to squat more without gaining weight?" => SPECIAL & INNATE RESERVES => PERCENTAGES OF SPECIAL/INNATE RESERVES ARE NOW LESS PROTECTED. This means that in fact you do not have to gain weight to squat more, instead you need to intensify the training regime over time to tap into those protected reserves through "voluntarily strength of will", ie, when you say go, your body gives you more.
I will leave you with another quote, read them, think about them, realize that we are all capable of so much more, it's already inside of us. It's about getting in there and digging it out through intensification of training.
"Nature has provided man with the possibility to enhance his abilities in extreme situations, and we need to utilize it in the training of the high class athlete." -- Prof. Yuri VerkhoshanskySome athletes spend their entire lives in stagnation, will you?
(ps: none of the Verkhoshansky quotes promote drug use, they are in fact anti drug use, "nature has provided", ie, it already exists within us, the end.)
