Elite Sports
Fencing
TRAINING
FOR 2012 @ studioEH1 Keith Cook, UK's No.2 Fencer: What he
thinks...
“Power Plate® has revitalised my strength and conditioning regime. Since I have been using Power Plates®, I have seen a marked improvement in my all over muscle tone, speed, balance and co-ordination and I feel that my strength has increased significantly.
My flexibility has developed, making me a more dynamic fencer. I am certain Power Plates® will play a key role in achieving my dream of an Olympic Gold in London 2012.”
Strength
Strength comes from 2 sources, the recruitment of muscle fibres
and our central nervous system (C.N.S).
To get a strong muscle contraction you have to send a strong signal from your
brain and, if you have a well developed C.N.S, the signal will get to your
muscle loud and clear. Only one small problem, at about 18 you stop growing,
and at that point your body will stop developing more neurons. So, just as
most athletes are starting to compete seriously their bodies stop making the
very things that make them faster and stronger. You can produce more neurons
after that age but it takes a lot more stimulation, so much, so only the most
dedicated athletes probably manage to do it.
That's where Vibration Training comes into play. Coming into contact with a Vibration Training machine, for example a Power Plate®, will cause your neurons to fire off at a rate of up to 50 times per second, 3000 times per minute. That's an impossible amount of stimulation to achieve using regular training means. Its called Bio-mechanical C.N.S Stimulation. On top of that, the more neurons you have a lesser charge needs to be sent to your muscles to cause the same contraction; hence your body essentially becomes more economical to run, going longer and stronger on a lesser current. That's all good for power, speed and endurance athletes alike.
Speed
To
understand how Vibration Training can help with this it is important
to firstly understand how we normally move. A voluntary stretch
reflex is when you voluntarily move a limb or muscle by thinking
about it (Walking, Running, Pushups etc...). This is done by sending
a small electrical impulse from the brain via the C.N.S towards
the muscle causing the fibers to twitch, and hence you have movement.
An involuntary stretch reflex is when an outside force exerts itself
on the C.N.S also causing the muscle to spasm (Myotatic Relex).
A classic example of this is when you are struck just below the
knee cap and your leg kicks up by itself. This same rule applies
to Vibration Training.
By vibrating your C.N.S you can cause every muscle to twitch at whatever hertz rating (vibrations per seconds) the vibrations are set at. So if the vibrations are set at 20 Hz then your muscles will move 20 times a second. Your muscles are capable of moving up to 150 times per second quite safely.
Now your may have heard that muscles have memory, well they don't. Your brain has a memory but the same principal applies, once your muscles get used to moving at 50 times per second, the upper psychological limit of your top speed will be gone. That's what sports psychology is all about. Taking down the psychological barriers our own brain puts in the way of being the best. After just a few short training sessions on our machines, those barriers will be gone, helping you to move faster than you ever thought possible.
There
is another aspect of speed that is never talked about in relation
to sport because of its involuntary aspect. That is the activation
of the white muscle cells that are used only for 'fight or flight'
situations. Even the fastest athletes in the world can only ever
hope to use 70% of their muscle fibres; the other 30% are made up
of white muscle fibres (cells). These latent white muscle cells contain
the ability to give their owner incredible speed and power, problem
is they are only activated when the person feels threatened and reacts
involuntarily in fighting off an attacker or running away. Traditional
training methods cannot target these cells because of the speed needed
to even try to move them. Vibration Training though, is an excellent
way of activating these cells with the lowest frequency on any of
these machines being 30Hz all the way up to 50Hz. This ensures 100%
of your muscle fibres get activated. By using these 'fight or flight'
fibres on a regular basis, then your body will be more likely to
use them in a voluntary movement.
Balance and Co-ordination
During whole-body-vibration-therapy, the moving plate excites stretch
receptors and tendon reflexes in joints, promoting increased receptor
activity and
challenging balance and co-ordination in a safe
environment.
Single-leg activities during WBV promote improved static and dynamic balance
through that lower extremity.
Flexibility
To
understand how Vibration Training can affect your flexibility we
need to know how conventional stretching works. Your muscles will
tighten after every training session due to muscle damage and repair.
Having an over tight muscle can 'not only' hinder an athletes performance
but can pull your posture out as well. When you become over-tight
and your posture is affected, your body will be waiting for an
injury to happen, NOT GOOD.
With the different means of stretching today we can become flexible but very slowly and painfully. Here is what happens in your muscle when you stretch; Take the Hamstring for example, you lean forward and your muscle immediately tightens. This is what's known as a Stretch Reflex. A tensioning wire (muscle spindle) deep inside the muscle belly registers the change in muscle length, the brain then sends a signal back to the muscle to tighten, stopping the Hamstring from over-lengthening. Now with your average stretch (no bouncing) the tightening effect will normally subside after 6 - 8 seconds. Hence if you have a flexibility program after your normal training you end up spending around 15 - 20 minutes extra just for that. Incorporating your other training on the Vibrating platform your muscles will already be "pumped" full of blood and very warm, perfect time to stretch. You end up cutting your flexibility time down to a mere 3 - 5 minutes.
Through
the rapid Vibrations (30Hz - 50Hz) of only 2mm seems to completely
bypass the muscle spindle and work directly on the muscle fibers
allowing a less painful and deeper stretch. Almost every body increases
their hamstring length in the first 30 seconds by 2 - 4 inches, sometimes
even more…
Whilst Power Plate® can be used in isolation, at studioEH1 we believe Power Plate® needs to be viewed not as a substitute tool for resistance exercise, but as a valid additional means to be implemented in a training routine in association with all the other traditional forms of training.
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