En Garde! The serious fencers’ training diary       Maître Gary Worsfield

TRAINING FENCING SPECIFIC STRENGTH

GENERAL GUIDELINES FOR WEIGHT TRAINING  

STRENGTH TRAINING

Individual muscle fibres perform on an “all or nothing” basis.   Only the number of fibres that are actually required to move a particular amount of resistance are involved in any movement.   As the fibres fatigue they contribute less force resulting in more fibres being called in and thus greater strength development.   To produce significant development the muscle must be worked to a point where as many available fibres have been involved, and where at least some of the fibres have been worked to a point of total failure.

General guidelines for weight training, applicable to conventional, universal gym and nautilus equipment.

1. Strength training must be progressive.

• Constantly attempt to increase the repetitions or resistance in every workout.

• Never terminate a set simply because a certain number of repetitions have been completed. 

• A set is properly finished only when additional movement is impossible.

2. Developing strength is related to the intensity of the exercise.

• Muscles must be exposed to a load that produces high intensity contraction.  

• The heavier the weight the better the muscles are stimulated.

• When a muscle is producing as much pulling force as it is momentarily capable of doing, then maximum intensity of contraction is involved.

3. Each repetition should be performed slowly; range of movement from a position pre-stretching the muscles.

Strength training must be progressive.  You should constantly attempt to increase the repetitions or resistance in every workout.

In general best results will occur if reps are kept in the 8-12 range.  It stresses reserve ability by doing 8 or more reps.   Keep within the 12 so that each muscle group is exercising for 40-70 seconds.  This is not an aerobic event.

Never terminate a set simply because a certain number of repetitions have been completed.  A set is properly finished only when additional movement is utterly impossible.

Training should be done to build strength not demonstrate it, therefore how much you can lift in one repetition should be avoided.

The building of strength is related to the intensity of exercise, the heavier the weight the better the muscles are stimulated. 

OVERLOAD PRINCIPLE   

The muscles must be exposed to a load that produces high intensity contraction.   When a muscle is producing as much pulling force as it is momentarily capable of doing, then maximum intensity of contraction is involved.

Individual muscle fibres perform on an all or nothing basis - only the number of fibres that are required to move a particular amount of resistance are involved in any movement.  As the fibres fatigue they contribute less force.  Results in more fibres called in and thus produce greater strength development.  Not enough reps = not enough fatigue.

To produce significant development (hypertrophy) the set must be continued to a point where as many available fibres have been involved and where at least some of the fibres have been worked to a point of total fatigue.   A set that is terminated before the point of failure will not involve the maximum available muscle fibres.

A slight decrease in the intensity of effort will cause a disproportionate reduction in the results.  You can measure 100% effort by performing every exercise to momentary failure.   For maximum strength gains high intensity is the most important factor.

Each repetition should be performed with special attention given to SLOW speed of movement, a great range of movement, and pre-stretching of the involved muscles. 

Uniform speed throughout and an equal force applied. Special attention given to the lowering portion (eccentric contraction) of exercise.  E.g. 2 seconds to raise and 4 seconds to lower in a slow and controlled manner.  It’s easier to lower so therefore slow down the action for more of a workload.

Avoid jerky movements, they are dangerous and unproductive and give a false number of reps achieved. 

Range of movement should be from full extension to full contraction.

Each rep should be from a pre-stretched position.  For example: biceps curl - starting position extended with muscles involved in flexion stretched beyond the normal relaxed position.

How you lift the weight is a factor of far greater importance than the amount of the weight.

With free weights you are limited by what you can do concentrically.  On Nautilus and Universal Gym you can use two hands or legs to successfully cause concentric contraction and perform eccentric contraction with one limb.

Exercises should be selected that involve the greatest range of movement of the major muscle groups.  Full range movement with resistance throughout is only possible with Nautilus based equipment.

The greater the muscle mass involved, the greater the value of the exercise.

Do not try to improve a sport skill by devising a strength exercise similar to the skill.  To practice movements that are nearly the same cannot only be confusing but it can be disastrous.

All workouts should begin with the largest muscle groups and proceed down to the smallest.

Greater overall strength will result if the largest muscular structures of the body are worked first.  Small muscle groups are the links between the resistance and the larger muscle groups; therefore you can’t afford to fatigue the smaller muscle groups initially and then attempt to train the larger muscle groups.

Faster rates of growth will result if growth is proportionate, i.e. a well-rounded, total body program.

The following is a list of muscle groups in the desired sequence of exercise:

1. Hips & lower back   

2. Legs:  Quadriceps, Hamstrings, and Calves   

3. Torso: Back, Shoulder, and Chest

4. Arms: Triceps Biceps Forearms

5. Abdominal

6. Neck

Increases in strength are best produced by brief training sessions.

High intensity training must be brief.  A properly conducted strength training session should not exceed 30 minutes. 

Strength training prescription for fencing.

PRE-SEASON  

12-15 reps X 1 set   X  3 times/week X 1 week     

8  -12 reps X 1 set   X  3 times/week X 1 week

8  -12 reps X 2 sets X  2-3 times/week X 6 weeks    There should be 48 hours rest between high intensity workouts.

IN-SEASON Strength gains from pre-season training are easily maintained in season.

8-12 reps X 1 set X 1/week

NAUTILUS TRAINING PRINCIPLES

General procedures to be followed on all machines where the regular (positive-negative) form of exercise is performed.

1. On any machine where seat adjustment or body positioning can be varied, make certain that the rotational axis of the cam is directly parallel to the rotational axis (joint) of the body part that is being moved.

2. Position your body in a straightly aligned manner.  Avoid twisting or shifting your weight during the movement.

3. Never squeeze handgrips tightly but maintain a loose comfortable grip (a tight grip elevates blood pressure).

4. Lift resistance (positive work) to the count of two...pause...lower the resistance (negative work) slowly and smoothly while counting to four.

5. For full range strength and flexibility (and protection against injury) your range of movement on each machine should be as great as possible.

6. Breathe normally.  Try not to hold your breath while training.        

7. Perform each exercise for 8 - 12 repetitions for upper body exercises and 15 - 20 repetitions for lower body exercises.

   Begin with a weight you can comfortably do 8 times (15 for lower body). Stay with that weight until you can perform 12 strict repetitions (20 repetitions for lower body).  On the following workout increase the weight (approximately 5%), which should result in your inability to perform more repetitions than the minimum 8 (15 for lower body). Ideally on every workout you should progress in repetitions and/or resistance.

8. For best cardio-respiratory (heart-lungs) conditioning move quickly from machine to machine (this does not apply to the actual   exercises).   The longer the rest between machines, the less effective the cardio-respiratory conditioning.

9. When possible follow your routine as the exercises are numbered on your workout sheet, however any time the machine you are to   do next is being used, go to another exercise and then return to the machine that was in use.

10. All compound and double machines were designed to make use of the  pre-exhaustion principle (where a single-joint exercise is   used to pre-exhaust a given muscle and a multi-joint exercise is used to force the exhausted muscle to work even harder) therefore  it is important to move very quickly (in less than 3 seconds) from the primary exercise to the secondary exercise.

11. Your training session should include a maximum of 12 exercises, 4 to 6 for the lower body and 6 to 8 for the upper body (a compound machine counts as two exercises).

12. Exercise the larger muscle groups first and proceed down to the smaller muscle groups (hips, thighs, back, shoulders, chest, arms   and neck).

13. Your entire workout should take from 20 to 30 minutes.

14. The time lapse between exercise sessions should be at least 48 hours and not more than 96 hours.