Guest post by Philip Schmieder
At the beginning of this year, Wolfgang Unsöld asked me if I would be interested in setting up an interview format with him on the subject of strength training. Coaches, athletes and scientists from all over the world should be interviewed, and the whole thing would then be put online. The participants would have the opportunity to view the interviews free of charge or to download them for little money. The name of the whole thing should be "The Strength Summit" .
Of course I was there immediately. Just talking to so many interesting people and being able to pester them with questions was a unique opportunity for me as a trainer, who is always anxious to continue my education in order to achieve even better, faster and more sustainable success with my customers.
It's now mid-December and The Strength Summit has been over for a few weeks. It was a lot of work contacting all the speakers, finding appointments, asking questions, recording the interviews, deciding what to edit and what goes into the teasers, typing out the interview teasers, writing the texts for the website and so on.
And it was worth it. From my perspective as a trainer, the interviews were all very interesting and I am sure that the more than 1000 participants were able to learn a lot.
The feedback from the participants was very positive and many thanked them for the opportunity to participate free of charge.
Here are three things - out of many - I learned at The Strength Summit. The choice was not easy for me.
1. Movement trains self-regulation (Frieder Beck)
In psychology, self-regulation refers to both conscious and unconscious mental processes with which we control our emotions, impulses, attention and actions.
Self-regulation is almost equivalent to self-discipline. In today's world and society, having a high level of self-regulation is very beneficial as it helps us to thrive and not get distracted by numerous, often electronic, stimuli.
Although there is a genetic disposition, self-regulation is extremely trainable compared to IQ. Movement drastically increases this learning effect by releasing messenger substances in the brain. This also trains working memory. This can be done with children, for example, playing hide and seek or in sports for adults (adhering to the rules, working under emotions) as well as with strength training - I invest in self-discipline and get a fitter and more powerful body in return. Improve your self-regulation through movement and become more successful.
2. 95% of sports are based on energy systems (Yves Nadeau)
Technique comes first in most sports. You have to master the technique to be an athlete. Whether as a thrower, a runner or speed skater.
Technology is important. But not everyone can be 100% technically. Some are better at adapting to technology and others, for whatever reason, are not as good at adapting to technology. So at some point you have to scale back the technique and work on the athlete's strength, resistance and speed. If you're technically perfect, you win an event by fractions of a second. If you're strong and resilient, you'll win the same event by a full second.
In some sports like jumping, throwing, fencing or weightlifting, technique is more important than in other sports, where everyone needs to focus more on perfecting technique. But if you look at 95% of all sports, they are based on energy systems. So mastering the technique is good, but you need all the other components to become a champion.
3. The potentiation effect of eccentric training happens in 6-8 weeks (Tom Hibbert)
The role of the eccentric portion of the rep (releasing the weight) is underestimated. This is something that many strongmen (and many strength lifters too) forget or don't pay enough attention to. Looking at your eccentric strength deficit, the difference between the weight you can lift and the weight you can slow down, helps you identify what you need to work on.
If your Eccentric Strength is low, ie you can only decelerate 105% of the weight that you can concentrically accelerate in a controlled manner, then you need to work on increasing that percentage. This can be achieved with exercises such as squats or front squats with extremely slow eccentric phases, such as the Medvedev squat .
Eccentric training has a potentiation effect, which causes your strength to increase 6-8 weeks after the eccentric training phase. You need to strengthen the weakest link in your chain. If this is the eccentric phase of the movement, weight control, make that phase stronger and everything will become stronger. Also, eccentric training has a major effect on tendon strength, not just muscle strength. It is also used to prevent injuries.
THANK YOU - All in all, of course, I was able to learn a lot more from these three interviews and a lot more from all 20 interviews of The Strength Summit. I am very grateful to all participants and especially to all congress package buyers and all speakers, without whom we would not have been able to do the summit, for this experience!
I can only recommend anyone who seriously wants to deal with the topic of (strength) training, mindset and sport to watch the videos several times, write things down and try them out.
In the congress package, each video costs the equivalent of just €2.45. You would have to pay up to $500 for a consultation with The Strength Summit speakers. Take the opportunity and get the congress package while The Strength Summit is still available and never stop learning if you want more knowledge and more success in your job, in training and in life...
You can access the congress package directly here
Image: Symbol representation. The congress package will be sent to you directly as a digital download.