Washington D.C. [USA], Feb 1 : A team of researchers with a new study has shed light on the fact that weightlifters could do less and still get stronger by changing the amount they lift each session. Velocity based training method intends to give more fruitful results.
Sports scientists from the University of Lincoln, UK, compared two groups over six weeks, the one group being those who used a traditional training method of one-rep max -- the maximum weight an athlete could lift and the other group who use a load velocity profile. In the load velocity profile method, the weights were tailored so the weightlifters can lift either more or less at each session.
The study was led by Dr Harry Dorrell from the University of Lincoln's School of Sport and Exercise Science.
From the study, it has come to the notice that the people, who used the load velocity profile, became stronger despite lifting less overall during the six-week period in comparison to those, who followed one rep max routine.
The load velocity profile enabled the participants' training load to be adjusted based on their performance that day: if the athlete was moving the same load at a faster velocity, the weight was increased, but if they were lifting slower, the weight load would be reduced.
He said: "The velocity-based training enabled us to see if they were up or down on their normal performance and thus adjust the load accordingly. It's about making sure the athlete is lifting the optimal load for them, on that particular day. If you lift too little then you won't stimulate the body as you intend to; but if you lift too much you'll be fatigued, which increases the risk of injury."
"This fatigue won't necessarily happen immediately, either. You could lift too much regularly, and three weeks down the line this will catch up with you and you'll find that the muscles are too fatigued to manage what you believe should be in your ability," he added.
Sixteen men aged between 18 to 29 years, with body masses ranging from 70kg to 120kg with at least two years' weight training experience, took part in the trial which included two training sessions a week over a course of six weeks.
They performed a back squat, bench press, strict overhead press, and conventional deadlift, and the results at the start and end of the six weeks training were recorded.
Researchers also recorded the athlete's countermovement jump, a term used to describe the explosive lower-body power and found that only the velocity groups had improved.
Following a trial that included two training sessions a week over a course of six weeks, of sixteen men aged between 18 to 29 years, saw those using the velocity-based training method could lift an average of 15kg more on the back squat than when they started, rising from 147kg to 162kg, despite their training loads being an average of 9 per cent less at each session.
Dr Dorrell added: "While some of these changes could be considered as only small improvements and were similar to the group using the traditional training method, the velocity group lifted significantly less in order to see the gains they made. The idea of velocity-based training has been around for a while, but until now there hasn't been any science to prove that it actually works; the science has finally caught up."