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About a Verkhoshansky Quote

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adarqui:


Bear with me, i'm trying to keep this very short :)



This is easily my favorite quote of all time:

"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 Verkhoshansky

I have my own understanding & interpretation of that quote, but I've noticed people seem to take this quote & run with it in all kinds of directions.

First of all, it doesn't mean that there exists some kind of magical training formula or exercise, that when performed, will allow an athlete to reach arousal levels similar to those seen in an extreme life or death situation. This quote, when taken out of context, can easily be misinterpreted as such.


Low Squat Ankle Hops in an Extreme Situation




1. Arousal levels

Now on to the meat of the matter, what constitutes extreme? Well, there exists a natural continuum, let's invent one real quick, with a level of 1 to 7:

Arousal Continuum
NOT EXTREME <1--------------------------3.5---------------------------7> EXTREME: LIFE OR DEATH
 
So for example, using the arousal continuum:

[*]LEVEL 1: Being comfortable and relaxed
[*]LEVEL 2: Low intensity training session (LITS)
[*]LEVEL 3: Moderate intensity training session (MITS)
[*]LEVEL 4: High Intensity training session (HITS)
[*]LEVEL 5: Very High intensity training session (VHITS)
[*]LEVEL 6: Stimulated VHITS (SVHITS)
[*]LEVEL 7: LIFE or DEATH situation


Now, let's give a general example of each:

[*]LEVEL 1: Watching Yanni on TV
[*]LEVEL 2: Low intensity GPP (<50% 1RM), circuits, jogging etc
[*]LEVEL 3: Moderate intensity GPP ( > 50% 1RM and < 80% 1RM), sprints, jumps, sports, low level reactive work
[*]LEVEL 4: Intense training ( > 85% 1RM), plyo progressions, low volume plyos, sprints, jumps, sports
[*]LEVEL 5: Intense training ( > 85% 1RM), shock blocks, overspeed, stim method complexes, depth drops, REA (ie drop catch lifts)
[*]LEVEL 6: Same as LEVEL 5, except management of fatigue becomes an additional stimulus created by using specially crafted fatigue blocks or fatigue sessions, inducing a supercompensatory response for LEVEL-5 work
[*]LEVEL 7: I'd get sued if I listed my ideas.

Briefly, an athlete will progress from level 1 through level 4 over the course of their training career. Rarely will athletes master level 4 or experience levels 5 & 6, either through lack of knowledge, lack of progression, or lack of preparedness. Utilizing a training session that makes use of level 7 arousal is possible but not well documented, and especially not "recommended". Actuuuuallllly, I'm pretty sure Halil "Little Naim" Mutlu was a weightlifting slave, that might count.

After progressing through the beginner stage, it might take years for an athlete to be prepared enough to truly experience level 5, so most of the time is spent in level 4. Level 5 & 6 become important when trying to fully peak performance, such as in an elite athlete. Level 5 & 6 can also be used with intermediates, but with care & with modifications, such as less volume & lower supramaximal intensity. Regardless, incorporating level-5 & level-6 requires a great deal of preparation and knowledge about ones self in regards to the training process.




2. The Potential of the Human Organism

Verkhoshansky states that a human has a few important reserves, or resources provided by the CNS (central nervous system):

Easily Available:
[*]Reserves employed in reactive movements (15%)
[*]Physiological Reserves employed under conditions of elevated motor activity (20%)

Inhibited by the CNS:
[*]Special Reserves mobilized only under conditions of muscle performance of great intensity or long duration (35%)
[*]Innate Reserves (concealed, hidden, defended) mobilized only in extreme, life threatening situations (30%)


Notice that the special reserves & innate reserves are "inhibited by the CNS". This means, the CNS is protecting the body from utilizing these resources, but they are available in extreme circumstances, such as life & death situations. Through progressing one's abilities in level 4, the special reserves gradually become available, ie, less inhibited. Through progressing one's abilities in levels 5 & 6, the innate reserves gradually become available, ie, less inhibited. The difference between the special reserves & innate reserves lies within the training methods employed. The special reserves become available, through volitional (voluntary) effort, such as in sprinting, squatting, olympic weightlifting, etc. The innate reserves become available, through extreme situations of supramaximal overload, such as in the shock method (high volume depth jumps), the stim method (stimulation caused by a tonic exercise, such as depth jumps, to improve a subsequent exercise, such as squatting), and overspeed sprinting.


"[The Special Reserves & Innate Reserves...] are distinguished by their mobilization barrier, inhibited by the central nervous system. Overcoming this barrier under normal living conditions is precluded by a protective inhibition, which forces the  body to reduce the intensity of the work, or decease it." -- Verkhoshansky

"Experiments conducted in my laboratory demonstrated that the aforementioned “protected” functional reserves of the body are inaccessible regardless of the intensity of  the volitional effort without special long–term training. " -- Verkhoshansky


So, here you go, in a nutshell, from Verkhoshansky himself:

"The application of “special” reserves with the traditional methods of SPP, through strength - of - will - impulse, becomes increasingly difficult and involves major expenditure of time and energy by the sportsman. The subsequent increase of the special – work - capacity level requires essential 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, i.e. to make them accessible for mobilization from a strength-of - will impulse.  " -- Verkhoshansky.


There are two key phrases here. The first one, "becomes very difficult", is referring to athletes who have truly begun to reach a plateau in their abilities. The second one, "involves major expenditure of time and energy by the athlete", is self explanatory, but often overlooked. Training to realize your true potential is NOT easy, it is hard, hard, hard work.

There are no shortcuts to achieving your ultimate potential.



I wanted to keep this short & not get into too much detail about the special means, or anything like that. So as always, if you have any questions, post. All info is referenced from Verkhoshansky's SUPERMETHODS OF SPECIAL PHYSICAL PREPARATION FOR HIGH CLASS ATHLETE.

peace

ESav15:
Interesting post ,as usual, Andrew.

Reaching the full potential is the ultimate goal for every serious athlete.
But as you said, the highest level of training intensities may be out of reach for most non elite athletes as far as a more than solid knowledge of the science of training is required (staying away from injuried wouldn't be a bad thing too).

I was wondering: don't you think that( apart from the already mentioned knowledge lack and the possible/probable injuries you may run through training "as hard as you can") just playing a sport would be another serious limit?
Wouldn't the sport specific activities "drain" to much of the energy and time?
As you stressed out in your post, the more advanced of an athlete you are, the more the time and effort you have to invest in order to improve.
So how do you as a trainer actually behave managing, for example, a basketball player? Are those concepts really applicable to those who are concerned about so many multiple aspects (among wich the sport specific skills) of the performance?

PS: I LOLed at the picture,btw

Raptor:
So what should the approach be training-wise in order to tap into those reserves?

LBSS:

--- Quote from: Raptor on March 25, 2010, 09:13:25 am ---So what should the approach be training-wise in order to tap into those reserves?

--- End quote ---

Lots of careful, hard work over many, many years.

bball2020:
ESAV, good question

My guess would be unless you are somehow super prepared, the majority of team sport athletes would benefit the most from staying in level 4.  Think how many athletes can't activate the correct muscles in the squat, cant squat even 1.5x BW, cant sprint a 4.9 or jump 26 inches. Throw in the already draining practice and life schedule for most high school-college level athletes, and there is barely enough time to focus on basic weighted exercises (squats, GHR, etc) and explosive (low level plyos, jumps, bounds, sprints etc) and other key components of training for athletes (mobility/flexiblity, imbalances, general and specific endurance etc)

darq, have you ever done day before potentiation/stimulation (ie squat singles) + stimulation complexes(ISO stim for PRS) + caffeine   Im guessing thats freaking 4-10 inches on someones vertical...maybe thats one of JS secrets  ;)  , seriously would be interesting to try though. 

Question about Iso stim like we have both done before, its obviously a great low back/glute activator, but wouldnt it work better if it was more CNS intensive exercises(90% squat or whatever) or if the ISO was coupled with a CNS exercise(such as depth jump) BEFORE attempting the PR??

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