Power Up Your Body Composition: 6 Week Power-Based Complex Training Cuts 8% Body Fat in Female & 3% in Male Trained Football Players Without Restrictive Dieting

When plyometrics are involved, trainees usually lose more fat than on regular RT regimen.

"8% Body Fat in 6 Weeks!" It sounds like the headline of one of the hilarious articles in women's magazines, but it's the result of an experiment that was conducted by researchers from the Lamar University and the Baylor University in the US and the Hallym University in China (Miller. 2014). An experiment that revolved around a supervised 6-week training which consisted of a variety of Olympicstyle and traditional weightlifting movements and plyometrics (see Table 1) and involved 12 female and 9 male football players between the ages of 18 and 23 years.

Before we get too excited about the results, let's first take a closer look at what exactly the study participants did or didn't do. What they didn't do was dieting. There is no mention of either the overall energy intake or the intake of particular foods, food groups or macros being limited or controlled.

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What was controlled, however, was the supervised power-oriented exercise regimen that included olympic-style weightlifting, traditional weightlifting, plyometrics, supplemental movements as they are done by many people in the gym and a cool down in form of proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (PF).

Table 1: Power-based complex training (PCT) program - Note. RDL = Romanian deadlift; PNF = proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (Miller. 2014)

The three supervised workouts per week were arranged in a way that ensured that the overall load would change from week to week according to a linear undulating periodization scheme (week 1: 70%, 1RM; week 2: 80% 1RM; week 3; 75% 1RM; week 4: 90% 1RM; week 5: 80% 1RM; week 6: 95% 1RM - obviously a power workout ;-) and the pre and post body composition values were measured by the means of a comparatively accurate, yet compared to DEXA scans still inaccurate (spec. with respect to the absolute values) body impedance system.

Figure 1: Relative changes in body composition (left) and performance parameters (right) after 6 weeks of power-based complex training (Miller. 2014).

As the results in Figure 1 indicate both the increases in strength and body composition were significant - a bit more impressive, though, for the female participants. An observation that goes for the increases in clean, incline press, and squat performance, as well. 

"Both males and females significantly improved upper and lower body strength following the 6-week PCT program: 1) clean [males: +10.47% or +12.53 kg (from 119.70 ± 11.73 to 132.22 ± 10.88 kg, p = 0.001) and females: +19.98% or +8.94 kg (from 44.74 ± 7.34 to 53.67 ± 7.35 kg, p = 0.001)], 2) incline press [males: +8.81% or +9.85 kg (from 111.87 ± 14.36 to 121.72 ± 15.50 kg, p = 0.021) and females: +8.93% or +2.84 kg (from 31.82 ± 4.33 to 34.66 ± 5.75 kg, p = 0.002)], and 3) squat [males: +13.17% or +19.95 kg (from 151.51 ± 16.31 to 171.46 ± 21.92 kg, p = 0.002) and females: +17.44% or +11.1 kg (from 63.64 ± 7.63 to 74.74 ± 10.26 kg, p = 0.001)]. A post-training percent change in clean for females was significantly greater (19.98 vs. 10.47%, p = 0.009) than males, whereas the other post-training percent changes in incline press and squat were not significantly different between males and females." (Miller. 2014)

Impressed? Well, this is not the first study to show that women respond particularly well to any type resistance training.

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In 2009 and 2012 Prestes et al. and Lima et al. were able to show that both recreationally-trained and untrained young women significantly changed body composition following the 12- week resistance training. More specifically, the recreationally-trained women in the study by Lima et al. lost -2.39 kg of pure fat and reduced their body fat percentage by 3.82%, while they increased their total muscle mass by +3.07 kg. Similarly, a significant decrease in % BF (up to 12.73%) and fat mass (up to 9.32%) and an increase in muscle mass (up to 4.73%) were observed in the untrained women following a 12-week resistance training, which was composed of multiple sets of muscular endurance training in the study by Lima et al.

As a frequent SuppVersity reader (shame on you if you are not here every day ;-) you will also know that 10-weeks of a crossfit-based high-intensity helped the male and female participants of a study by Smith et al. (2013) shred 8% body fat - and that despite the fact that they were, unlike the ladies & gents in the study at hand, already at a mean body fat percentage of only 16% (read up on that study)!

Why didn't this work for men? If you look at the data in Figure 1 you will realize that the protocol did work, but due to the fact that most of the male football players have been participating in some forms of heavy resistance program for several years, the growth stimulus was comparatively low - a hypothesis that would be corroborated by the principles outlined in the latest position stand of the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM. 2009).

Step off the treadmill, ladies! If the previously cited evidence is still not enough to have you reconsider your cardio excesses, the results of one of the few review studies that focus specifically on young female athletes. The study by Wilmore et al. (1982) indicates that even athletic women can increase their muscle mass up to 1.5 kg (average of 0.3 kg) and decrease % BF up to -2.1% (average of -0.4%), when they drop the running and pick up the weights.

Obviously, men can benefit as well. For them Wilmore et al. report a maximal gain of 1.4 kg (average of 0.8 kg) and a -3.0 % (average of -1.7%) reduction in body weight - and that despite the fact that the majority of studies Wilmore et al. reviewed back in the late 1980s did not use what we today would call "highly intense, high volume" resistance training protocols.

Don't get me wrong, I don't say "drop the cardio altogether", but a training regimen without resistance training component is not going to yield the results both male & female trainees aspire | Comment on FB.

References:

• American College of Sports Medicine. "American College of Sports Medicine position stand. Progression models in resistance training for healthy adults." Medicine and science in sports and exercise 41.3 (2009): 687.
• de Lima, C., et al. "Linear and Daily Undulating Resistance Training Periodizations Have Differential Beneficial Effects in Young Sedentary Women." International journal of sports medicine 33.9 (2012): 723. 
• Miller, Joshua, Yunsuk Koh, and Chan-Gil Park. "Effects of Power-based Complex Training on Body Composition and Muscular Strength in Collegiate Athletes." American Journal of Sports Science and Medicine 2.5 (2014): 202-207.
• Prestes, Jonato, et al. "Comparison of linear and reverse linear periodization effects on maximal strength and body composition." The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research 23.1 (2009): 266-274.
• Smith, Michael M., et al. "Crossfit-based high-intensity power training improves maximal aerobic fitness and body composition." The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research 27.11 (2013): 3159-3172.
• Wilmore, Jack H. "Body composition in sport and exercise: directions for future research." Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise 15.1 (1982): 21-31.

Training for Size & Strength - Does the Rest Matter? Study Finds 7-9% Greater Increase in Muscle Size With Decreasing Rest Periods.

Image 1: If you want to build Arnold-esque arms you better not sit around too long in-between your sets.

"Short rest periods to burn fat, medium rest periods to build muscle and long rest periods to build strength" - it's actually pretty likely that one of your trainers, gym buddies or fatherly mentors told you something along those lines in the past. In view of the results of a soon to be published international study by Brazilian researchers from the State University of Campinas and the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and their American colleagues from the Eastern Illinois University, the University of Memphis and the Colorado College (Souza-Junior. 2011), this is probably the next item on list of widely accepted bodybuilding myths that have a spark of truth to them... at least for recreational strength trainees who use some creatine monohydrate to promote their strength and mass gains.

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For their study, the results of which are going to be published in the next issue of the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, Tacito P. Souza-Junior and his colleagues recruited 22 "recreationally trained" men with a minimum of one year resistance training experience at a frequency of 4 sessions a week, who were randomly assigned to one out of two exercise protocols, which differed only in the time the subjects were allowed to rest in-between sets (cf. figure 1).

Figure 1: Identical training protocol for all subjects participating in the study (compiled based on information from Souza-Junior. 2011)

The only difference between the groups was that half of the subjects trained with a constant rest time of 2 minutes between sets over the whole 8 weeks (CI group), while the remaining subjects had to decrease their rest times from week to week (DI group) according to the scheme illustrated in figure 2. The training sessions were supervised and the subjects were " verbally encouraged to perform all sets to voluntary exhaustion". Considering the overall workload and the training frequency, this were probably pretty hard weeks for the 22 trainees.

Figure 2: The rest times decreased according to a standardized protocol by 15 sec each week.

In addition all subjects, who btw. did not follow a standardized diet, consumed the proven creatine + maltodextrin mix (7 day loading phase with 20g/day creatine + 20g maltodextrin followed by a maintenance dose of 5g creatine + 5g maltodextrin taken immediately post workout) that has been used in numerous studies before.

Figure 3: 1RM performance (in kg) for bench press and barbell squat before and after the 8-week training period in subjects with constant and decreasing rest periods (data adapted from Souza-Junior. 2011).

Now, if the initially stated "wisdom" held true, then the 11 subjects with constant rest periods should either have gained more muscle (if you consider 2 minutes a "medium" rest period) or built more strength (if you would say that 2 minutes belong to the realm of "long" rest periods) - yet figures 3 and 4 seem to indicate that neither of that was the case.

Figure 4: Muscle CSA (in cm²) of arm and tigh muscles before and after the 8-week training period (data adapted from Souza-Junior. 2011).

If we have do yet a closer look at the effect sizes, there is yet a notable advantage of the DI protocol in terms of the measured increases in muscle CSA with +14% and +19% in arm and tigh CSA in the constant rest interval group (CI) and +21% and +28% in the decreasing rest interval (DI) group.

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There is a spark of truth to every myth To give you an idea of how significant - and I am talking about "posing significance" not statistical significance here - this is, I have calculated the respective increases in arm- and tigh-circumference, which would differ by 0.4cm and 0.7cm, respectively. Not really outstanding, but nevertheless an important finding of which the researchers say that it lends support to the notion that

decreasing [rest] interval[s] seems to be more efficient than constant interval to produces [sic!] hypertrophic responses.

It has yet to be stated that the 11 subjects in the decreasing rest interval group paid dearly for this increase in muscular hypertrophy, as their "exercise performance" as measured by the total workload per session decreased profoundly from week 1 to week 8: -35% total volume for barbell squats and -30% for bench presses.

The subjects who used constant rest periods, on the other hand, increased their total volume by +20% for squats and by +30% for bench presses. That being said, all powerlifters out there better stick to their constantly (long) rest periods if they do not want to compromise their game.

Combinations that Work: HMB & Isometric Training for Lean Mass, Creatine & Powerlifting for Leaning Out and Carnitine & Bodybuilding for Powerlifting?

Image 1: Jacek Spychala - I must admit, I don't know if he was one of the subjects, but 38 of his colleagues from the Polish National Powerlifting Team were (powerlifting.pl)

As an athlete and even as a regular fitness enthusiast, you got to chose your training and supplementation modalities according to your professional or personal goals (in fact, the failure to do so is, in my mind, one of the main causes why so many trainees do not get the desired results at the gym). A very recent study from the Department of Combat Sports and Weightlifting at the Józef Pilsudski University School of Physical Education (I wish every University had such a department ;-) in Warsaw, Poland, sheds some light onto combinations which work, and combinations which don't... and trust me you will be surprised by the results of Dr. Marek Kruszewski's controlled intervention study (Kruszewski. 2011).

Kruszewski recruited recruited a total of 170 (! that alone is noteworthy !) subjects who participated in a three-tier placebo-controlled study on the effects dietary supplementation of l-carnitine, creatine and HMB combined with different modes of strength training (bodybuilding type circuit training, powerlifting and isometric training) had on muscle strength, lifting performance and body composition (for a graphical overview of the study design see figure 1).

Figure 1: Graphical illustration of the three tiers (l-carnitine, creatine, HMB), general information and detailed information on the exact exercise protocol of the isometric workout of the HMB group

Not only the sheer size of the study with active and placebo groups of ~30 previously untrained subjects, each, in the l-carnitine and HMB tier of the study are impressive, the participation of 38 powerlifters from the Polish National Team (cf. video of Daniel Grabowski, with a 2254lbs total) is, as well. If each group had received all three of the supplements subsequently and body composition had not been measured with an expensive but still not 100% accurate body impedance device, this study would have been the equivalent of the egg-laying-wool-milk-sow of the Natural Rythmicity for Maximum Fat & Minimal Muscle Loss episode of the Intermittent Thoughts, but I guess we cannot have it all ;-)

2g HMB + isometric training for lean muscle gains!

Image 2: HMB is getting
cheaper, lately

I thought, I'd give the most "exotic" training variety (isometric training) the advantage and tell you about the effects 2g of HMB per day (4 servings of 500mg; one with breakfast, one before, one after the workout and one in the evening; for 5 weeks = 20 training sessions) had on the strength performance and body composition of 69 previously untrained, strength trainees -  not only to raise the awareness that isometric contractions could be a valuable addition to everyones regime (something my friend Rob Regish also advocates in his Blueprint), but also because the effects observed in this tier of the study were, as Kruszewski points out, "[t]he most distinctive and desirable" ones:

Although this type of supplementation [HMB] was used in the group of subjects who trained using the isometric method, regarded as a training system not associated with increases in lean body mass (LBM), the obtained results indicate that HMB may also affect LBM. In view of the fact that LBM involves mainly muscles containing about 70% water, the demonstrated significant elevation of LBM accompanied by the reduced water content in the bodies of the examined competitors is difficult to explain.

Now, I've got you listening my iron-friends, don't I? Increased lean mass (+1.31kg), decreased (as the author points out, later) "presumably extracellular" water - sounds like it was coming from a competitive bodybuilder's "dry dreams", doesn't it? Well, the one thing that would be missing now, is a way to get rid of the fat - but wait, weren't there other supplements in the study, as well?

10g Creatine (+10g dextrose) + powerlifting for fat loss!

Image 3: Creatine monohydrate
for fat loss? That's a surprise.

Yes, there were, and believe it or not, not l-carnitine and circuit training, but creatine and powerlifting will shed the fat - even in elite level powerlifters! By continuing their regular (pyramid style, cf. figure 1) powerlifting training, the 16 power lifters from the Polish National Team, who received the 20g/day creatine + dextrose combination did not only improve their powerlifting performance by a statistically significant +15.6kg over the placebo group, they also and, as Kruszewski points out, "surprisingly" lost a significant amount of body fat in the course of the 20 training sessions they completed within the 5 week study period:

[...] the present results indicate that supplementation with this compound [creatine] led to a significant reduction in the fat content and increase in the water content of the organisms of powerlifters from the Polish National Team.

In view of the results, the author observed in the last group, the one which did a bodybuilding-type circuit training that was supplemented with 900mg of l-carnitine l-tartrate per day (cf. figure 1), I find it pretty amusing that according to Kruszwski the "effect of creatine may be much more far-reaching than that indicated in the manufacturers’ leaflets", which is something, he certainly would not say of l-carnitine.

900mg l-carnitine l-tartrate + "bodybuilding-type" circuit training for powerlifting? 

Image 4: L-carnitine alone will not transform your physique like this magic mirror - no matter what the advertisement leaflet in the latest muscle mag says ;-)

The results in the l-carnitine supplemented group (3x300mg l-carnitine l-tartrate) were mixed. While the previously untrained subjects obviously gained strength in the course of the 15 workouts they performed in the 5 week study period, there were huge intergroup differences - meaning that a few subjects appeared to benefit from carnitine, while the majority didn't. Moreover, fat loss or beneficial changes of body composition, which is what l-carnitine is marketed for, were completely absent in the l-carnitine group. And while the training intensity was pretty low (although the trainees had to perform the 3rd of their three training circles to complete failure) this does not really surprise me, as the "fat burning" effect of oral carnitine supplementation has been debunked by more than a dozen well-designed studies, so that you better follow Kruszewski's advice and "treat advertisements of this compound [l-carnitine] with reserve" ;-) He goes on to explain that...

[...i]t is possible that individuals with inherited or acquired L-carnitine deficiency manifested by increased deposition of fat in the body may benefit from such supplementation and improve their body composition by consuming appropriate amounts of this substance accompanied by proper (predominantly aerobic) exercising. However, additional L-carnitine supplementation in individuals with normal production and concentration of this substance in the body is superfluous.

On the other hand, Kruszewski admits that despite the absence of significant improvements in muscle torque, the powerlifting performance of the subjects in the l-carnitine group increased statistically significantly more than the one in the placebo group (+13.7kg) which is ...

surprising in view of the fact that such an effect [increase in powerlifting performance] of L-carnitine has very rarely been reported and emphasized.

He goes on to suggest that these improvements may be related to l-carnitines impact "on the general physical fitness of the organism". Yet, whatever the reasons may be - out of this triumvirate, l-carnitine would certainly be the least effective addition to your regimen - whatever your goals may be.

Isometric training and HMB supplementation, on the other hand, emerge as as surprise winner. With statistically significant (+17.7kg) increases in power-lifting performance, significant increases in muscle torque, and a +1,31kg increase in body mass (predominantly lean muscle) that was accompanied by a likewise significant reduction in extracellular water, it may be a good idea to take advantage of the falling HMB prices (buy in bulk!) and to incorporate some isometric exercises into your workout regimen ... what do you say?

Lower Rep Numbers Power Up Strength Gains Without Compromising Hypertrophy: Study Compares Volume-Equated 3x10 vs. 7x3 Resistance Training Regimen

Higher reps, don't prevent muscle gain, ladies (img. fighterdiet.com)

As a SuppVersity reader you know that the number of studies with reliable and above all relevant information about the differential effects of high vs. low rep training is scarce. Compared to the number of studies which deals with question like "Is it better I perform 10x3 or rather only 7x3 reps x sets of bench presses?", their number is still pretty high, though.

With their latest paper in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research Brad Schoenfeld et al. actually break ground: A study with trainees with on average 4.2 ± 2.4 years of training experience (range of 1.5 to 10 years) that deals with the aforementioned question whether 3x10 or 7x3 would be the optimal set x rep range for strength and size gains has yet - at least as far as I recall - not been conducted.

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To compare the two loading strategies, the 20 male study participants were randomly assigned to one of the two types of resistance training routines they had to follow for 8 weeks to the figurative "T" in the study (Schoenfeld. 2014):

• a strength-type resistance training routine (ST)
• a hypertrophy-type resistance training routine (HT)

To ensure adequate protein intake, the participants were provided with a free protein supplement on training days. The product (Iso100 Hydrolyzed Whey Protein Isolate, Dymatize Nutrition) contained 24g protein and ony 1g carbohydrate and had to be consumed within one hour post-exercise.

Table 2: Overview of the exercise selection and sequence (Schoenfeld. 2014)

The hypertrophy workout was a split routine where multiple exercises were performed for a specific muscle group in a session, with only 1 muscle group trained per session (see Table 1).

Scientifically accurate, but maybe not 100% realistic: Usually you will see trainees train with an overall higher volume, when they are using 3x10 vs. 7x3 routines. As logical and necessary the standardized volume may be - from a practical point of view it's not realistic to equate both arms for volume-load. This does not mean that the results of the study at hand are irrelevant, but it does mean that they don't necessarily reflect the way advanced trainees train.

A moderate number of repetitions (target of 10 repetitions per set within a range of 8-12 repetitions) were performed with rest periods of 90 seconds afforded between sets and exercises. The load was adjusted for each exercise as  needed on successive sets to ensure that subjects achieved momentary muscular exhaustion within the target repetition range.

Figure 1: Pre- vs. post changes (%) in biceps thickness, bench press and squat performance (Schoenfeld. 2014)

As you can see in Figure 1, the total exercise volume which was kept identical to make the two training regimen comparable, the increase in biceps size is another variable that did not differ in-between the groups.

The latter cannot be said of the 1-RM and bench press and most significantly the 1-RM squat performance which (obviously?) benefits from a lower rep range - at least at a fixed volume.

What's special about this study? The subjects are trained individuals, the differences between the two protocols tested are smaller than in previous studies (e.g. 6x4 vs. 3x10 in Chestnut & Docherty. 1999) and the results implicate that >75% of the trainees could be compromising their strength gains by training with too many reps - and why all that? Because bro-science says: 10-12 reps is optimal for hypertrophy and bigger muscles are "sexier" than stronger ones ;-)

Apropos "fixed volume": While it makes sense from a science point of view to compare 7x3 (ST) and 3x10 (HT) regimen at identical volumes, trainees will usually train at a higher volume on 3x10 rep vs. 7x3 rep regimen.

With respect to the advanced strength gains, I am pretty sure that the volume "restriction" (compared to what we'd see in the real world) in the HT group is not the reason that 7x3 is superior to 3x10, when it comes to building muscle. Rather than that, I would be curious to see, whether a higher volume, higher rep regimen with 3x10 would not induce greater gains in muscle size. The fact that it is already on par with the ST regimen - in spite of significantly lower strength increases - would speak in favor of this hypothesis. Without an additional study, though, the corresponding question cannot be answered.

References:

• Chestnut, James L., and David Docherty. "The effects of 4 and 10 repetition maximum weight-training protocols on neuromuscular adaptations in untrained men." The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research 13.4 (1999): 353-359.
• Schoenfeld, B. et al. "Effects of different volume-equated resistance training loading strategies on muscular adaptations in well-trained men." Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research (2014). Publish Ahead of Print

Reflux Disease? Maybe It's a Pressure-Overload-Induced Sliding of the Hiatal Hernia? Injury is Common in Power Athletes & Bodybuilders - 7/8 Lifters Affected

If you don't want to have your phrenoesophageal ligament (see Figure 1) go baggy or rupture, you better watch your breath, when you're deadlifting and squatting or doing any other form of strenuous whole body lifting exercise.

I know that the increasing naturopath followership will tell you that everyone suffering from reflux disease would just have to pound tons of betaine HCL (stomach acid) to cure this nasty condition... obviously, this is just like 99% of the common Internet wisdom only partially true. Yes, there are people who suffer from (non-acidic!) reflux due to insufficient stomach acid, but based on personal experience I would estimate that this is by no means the most frequent reason gymrats regurgitate their food involuntarily.

Rather than a lack of stomach acid, the combination of a per se healthy, but hard to digest diet, the negative impact of exercise on the digestion process and last but not least the risk of developing a pressure-overload sliding of the hiatial hernia during deadlifts, squats & co are the most frequent contributers to "reflux disorders" in physical culturists.

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I guess the first two factors, i.e. a ton of high fiber foods, veggies and protein, as well as the role of exercise as digestion "off-switch" are pretty self-explanatory and eventually nothing you could not deal with by appropriately timing your food intake.

Figure 1: Wrong breathing patters promote the rupture / bagging out of the phrenicoesophageal ligament and will thus allow the parts of the stomach including the the lower esophageal sphincter, which keeps the stomach shut, to pass through.

The occurrence of sliding hiatal hernias, on the other hand, is something that's commonly associated with increasing age and the accompanying degenerative processes that impair the structural integrity of all tissues, including the phrenoesophageal ligament (see Figure 1) which will then allow parts of the stomach, including the lower esophageal sphincter that's supposed to keep the stomach shut, into the thorax.

The incidence of sliding hiatal hernias in the general population is 0.5%. In fact, the prevalence in the Western world is thought to be significantly higher, with approximately 60% of geriatric patients in North America having a hiatal hernia on radiologic studies.

Most hiatal hernias occurring in young adults are idiopathic or associated with hardly noticeable reflux problems after large meals.

There has been speculation of a stress-induced hiatal hernia from repeated episodes of elevated intra-abdominal pressure, and there is plenty of evidence that "injuries" like these are pretty common among elite body builders and, as a 1999 study by Smith et al. shows, young male power athletes, as well.

Warning - Belts don't protect you! Aside from the fact that weightlifting belts increase the already high pressure that's at the heart of the weightlifting induced sliding hiatus hernia, the contemporary evidence suggests, that they don't protect those of you who have nor previous back issues against injury, increase the risk of severe over less severe injuries, tend to give people the unwarranted perception that they were "protected", tend to increase both intra-abdominal pressure and blood pressure, and appear to change the lifting styles of some people to either decrease the loads on the spine or increase the loads on the spine, so that their use is, as Stuart M. McGill from the University of Waterloo points out in an invited review for the National Strength and Conditioning Association  (NSCA Hot Topics Series) not recommended for healthy individuals either in routine work or exercise participation (McGill. 2005).

The data in Figure 1 was collected in a sample of eight male elite power athletes and seven male non-weightlifters who were matched for age. The subjects underwent a fluoroscopy with barium which allowed Smith and his colleagues to test their hypothesis that "pressure overload can induce hiatal hernias in young adults." (Smith. 1999).

Figure 2: Occurrence of sliding hiatial hernia in power-lifters and non-weight training subjects (left; Smith. 1999); normal and pathologically altered esphagus and stomach (right).

Although it cannot be be repeated often enough that statistical significance and "significance" in absolute terms are two pairs of shoes, I don't think that it's necessary to point out that a difference between 7 out of 8 and 0 out of 7 is both real-world and statistically signifcant.


It should likewise not be necessary for me to point out that the occurrence of this injury is a consequence of wrong breathing patterns and will usually happen, when lifters are still working on their form and breathing technique - in other words, it happens to exactly those rookies who are particularly prone to use way more weight than they can handle.

The good news, however, is that for most those wannabe-weight lifters the hernia is without consequences of the 7 power-lifting subjects in the Smith study, for example, only one admitted to having reflux symptoms outside of weight lifting - that was also the one with one of the moderate-sized hiatal hernias.

Study suggests: Training intense, may help making gains that last | more

Unless you're overdoing it and trying to protect your back with one of those belts that actually caused the stomach to protrude into the thorax in one of the otherwise unsymptomatic powerlifters in the Smith study, it's thus unlikely you'll be turning into a ruminant from weight lifting. And in case it's already to late, there are currently a handful of effective minimally invasive treatment techniques available that can help those of you who suffer from an unbearable reflux due to a professionally diagnosed sliding hiatal hernia eat and digest normal again (Bello. 2012).

References:

• Bello, Brian, et al. "Impact of minimally invasive surgery on the treatment of benign esophageal disorders." World journal of gastroenterology: WJG 18.46 (2012): 6764. 
• McGill, Stuart M. "On The Use Weight Belts." NSCA Hot Topics Series. www.nsca-lift.org (2005).
• Smith, A. B., et al. "Pressure-overload-induced sliding hiatal hernia in power athletes." Journal of clinical gastroenterology 28.4 (1999): 352-354.

Trying to Build Strength? Periodized Training Yields 30% / 34% / 77% Increases in Bench Press, Squat and Deadlift Performance in Elite(!) Powerlifters over 16 Weeks

With the huge success of Crossfit more and more women are "hitting the weights"

Almost 80% increase in deadlift performance in "elite powerlifters" with 7 ± 3 yrs of training experience and a mean age of 34 ± 5 yrs and a mean body mass of 94.4 ± 16.7 kg? That's catching your attention, right? Now, what would you say that there was no magic supplement involved and that the periodization routine the researchers prescribed to their 9 male study participants is far from being revolutionary?

You're still interested to learn more? Even if I tell you that the baseline lifts don't look very elite, rather average, though? Let's see, then, what the subjects had to do during their three weekly 120min training sessions.

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Build 'Ur Own Buffered Creatine

As the graphical overview in Figure 1 shows, the subjects trained in four mesocycles, each of them lasting for four weeks (although the fulltext does not mention this, I assume that the subjects did all three exercises in all sessions - how else would you spend 120 training minutes?).

Figure 1: Overview of the study protocol and assessment points 1-5 (Allegretti. 2014)

Well, if we are honest, this is not 100% exact. The last of the four mesocycles was actually further devided into two 2-week and one 1-week microcycles... but I guess, it's best you check out the details in Table 1 for yourself.

Table 1. Periodization of 4 Powerlifting Training Mesocycles. Explanation of the acronyms: MESO: mesocycle; MICRO: microcycle; No. SER: number of sets; No. REP: number of repetitions; ID: rest interval; RM%: percentage of 1 repetition maximum; CT: Workload (the product of sets x reps)

I am not sure how familiar you are with classic powerlifting programs, but I personally wouldn't call the above scheme "revolutionary". What I would do, though, is call the results it produced over the course of the 16-week study period "damn impressive!".

Figure 2: Strength development from one assessment (AS) to the other (Allegretti. 2014)

Overall the researchers recorded highly significant strength increases of 31.7kg, 45.0kg and 101.7kg in the three major powerlifting exercises, the bench press, the squat and the deadlift, respectively.

Tapering is a must for professional athletes before an event like the Olympic games - learn how to do it in a previous SuppVersity article.

Bottom line: Assuming that strength (not size - that may need a higher volume and lower rest times) is your main goal, you may want to spend the next four months doing exactly what Table 1 tells you to do.

Assuming that you're eating clean (and enough), it would be a real stroke of bad luck if you didn't increase all your major lifts... well, a stroke of bad luck or the inability to recognize that the real "strength explosion" occurs only, when you are reducing volume and intensity of at the end of mesocycle four and the subsequent ignorance towards the worth of layoff phases and weeks of well-deserved rest.

Reference: 

• Astorino, Todd, et al. "Effect of 16 Weeks of Periodized Resistance Training on Strength Gains of Powerlifting Athletes." Journal of Exercise Physiologyonline 17.3 (2014).