Oscillatory Training: A New Approach to Strength and Conditioning

[Kenny Croxdale]

Pulse Training​

Oscillatory Training is what Dr Stu McGill termed as "Pulse Training" or "Contract-Relax-Contract Pulse Training"

Information on this was provide in this post...

Other/Mixed - Abdominal Pulse Strength Training

Abdominal Pulse Strength Training This is an addendum to the posted on "Direct core work has been a game changer for me". I didn't want it to get lost in the fray of post on it. This is a unique method that will an increase in Abdominal Strength Force Production and other muscles groups...

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Below are Cliff Notes on a good article that breaks it down and forces that information in the above post.

Oscillatory Training: A New Approach to Strength and Conditioning - Vitruve | Velocity-Based Training

History of oscillatory training​

Oscillatory training is a method that emerged based on Sherrington’s law of reciprocal inhibition which states that for one muscle to contract, another must relax (Johnson, 1960). Several decades ago, Matveyev, one of the most influential Russian scientists in the field of training, found that one of the main differences between fast and slow athletes was their ability to relax the antagonist musculature in order to contract the agonist (Verkhoshansky & Siff, 2009). The athlete who had better coordination between the muscles that contracted (agonists) and those that had to relax (antagonists) was a better athlete.

When we speak of agonist musculature we refer to the muscle groups that create the movement, while the antagonist musculature are the muscle groups that oppose the movement. For example, when a pitcher in baseball throws the ball with an explosive contraction, the front shoulder muscles, as well as the pectoralis, triceps brachii, and other agonists must contract rapidly. On the opposite side, the antagonists slow down the movement as protection to prevent us from hurting ourselves (Lyle & Nichols, 2019). This mechanism serves as protection, but is designed to overprotect, so it can be trained by making it relax more quickly and allow a higher rate of force by the agonist musculature (Chalmers, 2002)

Oscillatory training is used to accelerate the relaxation of antagonistic muscles​

The best athletes are able not only to perform explosive contractions at high speeds, but also to relax the antagonist musculature at higher speeds than the rest (Dietz & Peterson, 2012). When an athlete has a slower relaxation rate of his antagonist muscle complex, he is limited in his force production. Oscillatory training focuses on maximizing the ability to generate force in the minimum amount of time possible. To do so, he performs very short and fast repetitions that allow the antagonist muscles to relax more quickly and “get in the way” less.

Oscillatory training uses very fast movements with a very short range of motion of less than 10 cm distance. This type of execution is a far cry from traditional repetitions where we perform a full, or nearly full, range of motion. On the contrary, in oscillatory training the athlete constantly pushes and pulls the bar as fast as possible.

The general recommendation is to use loads of 65% – 80% of 1RM at high speeds on the specific parts of the muscle structure we want to target. It will be in that small range of motion where the rapid changes between acceleration and deceleration will cause the antagonist muscles to relax more and more quickly.

Normally they are performed in the lower part of the movement, which is usually the weakest and the one we need to improve the most. Secondly, choose the load you are going to use, knowing that between 50% – 60% of the 1RM is an interesting average load and that you should not exceed 80% of the 1RM.

Conclusion and practical application of oscillatory training​

Our joints are surrounded by muscle groups that contract and relax in a coordinated manner. To protect us from excessive stretching, the musculature opposite to the movement, the antagonist, slows down the movement so that it takes longer to relax, “hindering” the speed of the agonist musculature, the one that contracts.

To carry it out, we must select a point where we are going to perform pushes and pulls of just 5 – 10 cm range of motion at maximum speed.

Another aspect of "Pulse" or "Oscillatory Training" is in how to how it can elicit and develop Power to some degree with Higher Hypertrophy Sets

Muscular adaptations to combinations of high- and low-intensity resistance exercises

Muscular adaptations to combinations of high- and low-intensity resistance exercises - PubMed

Acute and long-term effects of resistance-training regimens with varied combinations of high- and low-intensity exercises were studied. Acute changes in the serum growth hormone (GH) concentration were initially measured after 3 types of regimens for knee extension exercise: a medium intensity...

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

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High-intensity (90% of 1RM) and low-repetition exercise ("strength type"); and a single set of low-intensity and high-repetition exercise added immediately after the strength-type regimen ("combi-type")

Increases in Isok.max during the strength phase also tended to be larger in the HC (High Combi) group than in the HS (High Strength) group, and a significant difference between these groups was seen at the velocity of 300 degrees per second (Figure 8). This indicates that the combi-type regimen was effective in improving not only maximal strength but also muscular power at relatively high speeds. Although the reason for this is unclear, the movement during the exercise in the additional set was likely associated with ballistic actions because the load was relatively light (40–50% of 1RM). When the exercise was performed with counter movements, the peak force produced during the exercise was shown to be much larger than the resistance actually applied (25). Thus, such an effect may cause an improvement of muscular strength at high velocity.

Long Length Partials for Hypertrophy

Below posted information on Long Length Partial Training.

Long-Length Partial Reps For Hypertrophy

Long-Length Partial Reps This was posted on this forum. I would give them credit for it but I cannot rememeber who posted it. Stretching For Hypertrophy Training Long Length Partials falls inline with some earlier research that determined Stretching was effective for increasing muscle mass...

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When Long Length Partials when the Muscles are in the most stretch position of an Ascending Strength Curve Movement (weakest position) with a Plyometric "Recoil" off the bottom part o it as with a Bench Press, Squat, Leg Press, etc.) it elicits a "Pulse"/Oscillatory Effect"

This is especially true when in a Dumbbell Bench Press, which allows a greater Stretch of the Muscle comparative to a Barbell Bench Press.

Another example is a Deficit Conventional or Stiff Leg Deadlift off a box; a greater Stretching of the Muscle occurs.