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Change the Tune: Accommodation & Stagnation

By May 15, 2014January 13th, 2016Guest Blogs, Strength Training

Change the Tune: Accommodation & Stagnation
By Will Vatcher

Here’s what you need to know:

  • There is a delicate balance between the correct blend of specificity and the correct amount of variation to progress
  • You can continue to progress if you change your exercises regularly
  • A process of elimination is useful to discover where you are stuck

During the late 1960’s, a Soviet scientist named U. I. Ivanov performed and published results from an interesting experiment. Ivanov used three similar groups of people and had them perform strength training exercises twice a week for a period of three months.

  • Group 1 performed (concentric) dynamic weight exercises
  • Group 2 performed static strength exercises (isometric) with maximal tension
  • Group 3 performed yielding (eccentric) exercises using weights exceeding 10-40% of what they were capable of lifting in an ordinary (concentric) manner.

After the period was concluded, the results were very interesting. Compared to their previous personal performances:

  • Group 1 managed to lift on average 8.5 kg more in the squat and 5.5 kg more in the clean. They also managed to jump 3.7 cm higher and could pull with 14.6 kg more force in a back strength test.
  • Group 2 managed to lift on average 9.2 kg more in the squat and 12.7 kg more in the clean. They also managed to jump 5.4 cm lower than before the training period and pulled with 30.0 kg of increased force in a back strength test.
  • Group 3 managed to lift on average 15.0 kg more in the squat and 9.7 kg more in the clean. They also managed to jump 1.6 cm lower than before the training period and pulled with 19.1 kg more force in a back strength test.

What did and does this experiment reveal? The athletes tested strongest in the motor skills and tasks that were the most similar to the exercises they did in the experiment.

clean

A problem arises though.

On the one hand, the specificity of the training produced the highest results in the motor tasks and exercises most similar to the ones performed.

On the other hand, if those same athletes would have continued using the same exercises for an extended period of time they would have ceased to progress any further. This is called Accommodation.

Accommodation is a biological law that states that a decrease in adaptation will occur to a repeated stimulus over an extended period of time. In other word, your progress will stop. Every activity you do has a learning lifecycle to it.

Let me provide an example. When you were a small child, you probably read kids’ books (maybe you still do). Simple stories, learning the alphabet and learning your times table were likely things you did. At an early stage of learning when these processes are not fully comprehended the brain is greatly stimulated.

Fast forward 20 years. You have left school and you are working as an accountant. Would you still be using such books to learn how to be a good accountant? I sincerely hope not! Your brain has exceeded the capacity to learn any more from such elementary activities. What you need is increasingly more complex demands to keep progressing. If you were to return to elementary teachings you most definitely would not be progressing in your accountancy job for long!

Believe it or not, strength and speed adapt in a similar way.

I’m sure you are aware or have seen people in the gym making rapid progress in the early stages of training only to hit a brick wall due to using the same routines. You have likely experienced it yourself. Most definitely I have.

Thomas Kurz reports that one cause of reaching a plateau is to repeat an exercise over and over with the maximal speed attainable in that exercise. The brain then learns to move with that speed to the point that it cannot be exceeded. A greater intensity of stimuli results in a faster learning of the movement. To illustrate:

  • A sprinter hits a speed barrier due to using the same maximum velocity sprinting drills during training
  • An olympic weightlifter cannot exceed their maxes on the competitive lifts because of repeatedly and with no intensity variation practising the competitive lifts
  • A powerlifter cannot exceed their maxes on the completive lifts because of repeatedly and with no intensity variation practising the competitive lifts

Stagnation can also occur as a result of lacking a particular strength or speed quality. For example:

  • A sprinter who cannot exceed their sprint times due to a lack of absolute strength
  • A powerlifting who cannot progress past a sticking point due to a lack of explosive or speed strength
  • An olympic weightlifter who cannot progress past a sticking point due to a lack of absolute strength

Accommodation and stagnation can be conquered in the following ways:

  • Changing an exercise or drill to another similar exercise or drill
  • Changing the movement speed of an exercise or drill
  • Changing the intensity zone of an exercise or drill
  • Adding more exercises to a routine

In regards to maximal strength training this can be achieved by utilizing the following:

  • Maximal and near maximal deadlift, squat, good morning & bench variations (wide stance, close stance, partial movements, inclines)
  • Maximal and near maximal hip hyperextension movements(hyperextensions, 45 degree hyperextensions, glute bridges, hip thrusts)
  • Isometrics

In regards to explosive strength training this can be accomplished by utilizing the following:

  • Bounds with long amortization times (not trying to minimise ground contact to an excessive degree)
  • Depth jumps (falling from heights varying from 75-110cm – do not try to keep the legs stiff)
  • Broad jumps (weighted, un-weighted, single jumps and repeated jumps)

In regards to speed strength training this can be accomplished by utilizing the following:

  • Bounds with short amortization times (trying to minimise ground contact times while simultaneously making the maximal distance possible)
  • Drop jumps (falling from heights varying from 20-60cm trying to minimise ground contact times while simultaneously jumping the maximal distance possible)
  • Broad jumps (weighted or un-weighted trying to minimise ground contact times while simultaneously making the maximal distance possible)

Bounding-Drill

Exercises in the 3 categories above all have slight variations in movement, speed and intensity, but they remain within an intensity range which will continue to train a targeted motor quality or strength. This is an excellent way to avoid accommodation and stagnation.

Eliminate the impossible to discover the truth

It would be impossible in one article to cover every sports training method to combat accommodation and stagnation. What is possible, however, is to come up with a set of parameters to use to discover what areas must be addressed.

Here is a possible guideline to use for analysis:

  • How many times has this exercise been repeated in this manner?
  • How many total exercise variations are being utilized?
  • What strengths or motor skills are not being trained sufficiently?
  • Is the sport more heavily reliant on strength, or speed?

When answering such questions, some points for analysis to be mindful of are:

  • Exercises with a high speed element can have a lifecycle of as little as 7-10 days
  • Exercises with very high resistance can have a lifecycle of around 21-25 days
  • The more exercise variations being utilized, the greater the chance to avoid accommodation provided the motor skills targeted are the same(e.g. explosive strength, absolute strength)
  • The greater the resistance to be overcome the greater reliance of maximal strength(powerlifting, olympic weightlifting, strongman)
  • The lower the resistance to be overcome the greater the reliance on speed and explosive strength(sprinting, shot, javelin)
  • Higher levels of speed and explosive strength will assist in reaching high forces levels faster
  • Higher levels of maximal strength will provide the foundation for increased speed and explosive strength
  • Like a cake that must have certain ingredients in optimal quantities, when a mass must be moved, absolute strength, explosive strength and speed strength must be present and involved to a greater a lesser degree in optimal quantities.

So for a sprinter whose times have stalled, such an athlete may want to look at their current training with these points in mind. Perhaps their current training consists of the following:

Monday: Block starts

Wednesday: Maximal accelerations

Friday: Maximal top speed sprint mechanics

It could be that this athlete’s technique is very good. If so, this could be eliminated as a potential problem. For such an athlete, perhaps performance could be improved by:

  • Utilizing a greater variety of drills and exercises for technique, explosive strength and speed strength
  • Utilizing maximal effort work to build a foundation of absolute strength needed to increase speed and explosive strength further

Enter a possible new routine:

Monday: Block starts (with parachutes of different sizes) – bounds, depth jumps or broad jumps for explosive strength

Wednesday: Maximal accelerations (with parachutes of different sizes)

Wednesday PM: Lower body maximal strength training

Friday: Maximal sprint mechanics (with parachutes of different sizes) – bounds, drop jumps or broad jumps for speed strength

Sunday: Upper body strength training

Notice the change:

  • The speed of the technical exercises has been changed slightly without altering technique by using parachutes
  • Absolute strength has been increased allowing for greater total force production
  • Explosive strength have been increased allowing for faster acceleration
  • Speed strength have been increased allowing for faster top end speed

The proof is now in the performance. If it increases, that is a good indicator that the changes are working. If performance stalls out again later down the road, the coach or athlete can go back to the drawing board to figure out more solutions.

The process can be repeated for any activity. Identifying dominant strengths and support strengths in a sport activity will go a long way to being able to identify and eliminate weak links.

It has been said already – every drill or exercise has a lifecycle to it. Along the same lines, it is often what is not being trained that will hold performance back. To teach the brain and body to adapt further requires learning increasingly complex motor skills. Make adaptation your friend – let it work for you, not against you.

References:

“Special Strength Training Manual For Coaches” by Yuri & Natalia Verkhoshansky
“Depth Jump vs Drop jump” by Natalia Verkhoshansky
“Shock method and plyometrics” by Natalia Verkhoshansky
“Jump training 101” by Natalia Verkhoshansky
“The Science of Sports Training” by Thomas Kurz
“Sports skills and strength training” by Thomas Kurz
“The Science and Practice of Strength Training” by Vladimir Zatsiorsky

Bio:

WillWill Vatcher is a strength & conditioning coach based in Cambridgeshire, England. He has written several articles on training for www.t-nation.com & www.about-muscle.com, and published interviews with Louie Simmons & Fred Hatfield (Dr. Squat) which are posted on about-muscle. He is a very enthusiastic researcher of all things strength, speed and sports related. He can be contacted via email willvatcher@hotmail.com for information on articles and training.

18 Comments

  • Nicole says:

    This is completely off topic but can you advise of the best way to build/train calves?

    • Will Vatcher says:

      Hey Nicole, standing calf raises and dragging a sled backwards while on your toes. Have 1-2 heavy calf days and 1-2 light days per week. Use a weight you can get about 6-12 strict reps for 3-6 sets on heavy day, 30-50 reps light day for 2-4 sets. For sleds, use about 20 steps for heavy day and 60-100 steps on light day. Rep ranges will vary from lifter to lifter but this is general guide. The combination will blow up your calves. Do the calf raises heavy with the heavy sleds on lower body heavy day, come back later in the day if pos and train them again light

  • Dunkman says:

    Great article. I like your approach of starting with research and carrying it through to application.

    I always wonder in these studies (which are inherently fairly short term compared to an athlete’s training horizon) how much of the accommodation is neurological as opposed to what most people assume is muscular.

    Anyway, great piece. Thanks so much for sharing.

    • Will Vatcher says:

      Thankyou, as long as it is helpful info to you I am pleased. I like to write about things that in the past often took me a long time to understand – hopefully the articles I put out can save the reader a little time

  • Nicole says:

    Thanks Will!! This was very helpful, especially since I have a sled.

    • Will Vatcher says:

      Just make sure u have a balanced lower body routine including squat, deadlift, oblique, hip flexor/front abs and calf work. During a warm-up I would do some kind of horizontal jumping(drop jumps & broad jumps or long and short bounds) as well to really work horizontal plane hip power. Always use multiple rep ranges during a week if poss.

  • Carolina says:

    Hi Bret! First congrats on your book Strong Curves, I’m currently doing the Glute godess workouts and I’m loving it. I’ve been lifting one year now, and yesterday I remembered that when I was a child doctors found a little deviation on my spine. Nothing too big, because never needed special control, unlike my brother, whom scoliosis was more severe (around 40 plus degrees him. Mine is less than 20), but enough for my left hip being about 1 cm lower than the right, so my left leg is about 1 cm longer than the right. The thing is I never think about it and never thought it could be anything wrong with weighlifting until yesterday, when I remembered it and comment in the gym. They told me I shouldn’t do squats and dead lifts. I’m really concerned, and those exercises are my absolute favorites and never experienced any pain out of the stifness in the back from doing them. I’m a girl, 31 years old, squatting and dead lifting about 120 lbs. Can I keep going or should I stop? Please, if you can answer me it would mean a lot. I’m very concerned and lost. Thank you very much.

  • Andrew Mayes says:

    In the article when referring to absolute strength and maximal strength. Are you referring to the definitions that are used in supertraining ? or just using the two words interchangeably?

    • Will Vatcher says:

      I mean maximum isometric force(Po) based on research done in Moscow Russia by soviet scientists. None of the article is based on supertraining(which is a superb book), it is all based on the references I provided

  • Stew says:

    Great article Will.

    Fellow Cambs trainer here.

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