Author: Dan Foley
When it comes to programming your fitness routines there are countless ways and programs to choose from. The right program always starts with the end goal in mind. Once you know what you want the program to accomplish it becomes easier to create a program that helps reach your goals. There are three methods of training and they are the repetitive effort, dynamic effort, and max effort methods.
The repetition method consists of doing higher rep work similar to bodybuilding training. Typical workouts would be things like 3-4 sets of 8-12 reps of multiple exercises. This type of work target the muscular system the most and is what most people should be doing if they are trying to change the way their body looks. When doing this type of training the goal is to increase the amount of work that you can handle. The accumulation of more work results in changed body composition.
The max effort method involves lifting heavy weights that only allow for 1-5 repetitions. These weights are typically 85-100% of your one rep max. This type of work targets more of the nervous system than the muscles and requires you to be able to contract your body harder. With this type of training you will get stronger but will not change your body composition much. Since this type of training is reliant more on the nervous system than the muscular system you will typically not change your body composition or muscle mass dramatically. You will get stronger more so than you will get bigger or leaner. The main benefit of doing this type of work for those looking to change their bodies is that getting stronger allows you to do more work when using the repetition method.
The dynamic method involves doing explosive activities such as sprints, jumps, medicine ball throws. The goal of this method is to get faster, more explosive, or more powerful. This method is also more nervous system based and less muscular. This means that it will often improve your speed or explosiveness but not contribute to huge changes in muscle mass. With the addition of more dynamic work one thing that usually happens is that you will usually get leaner because you are still producing a high level of work when doing things like sprinting.
In conclusion there are 3 different methods of training which all produce different end results
• Repetition effort work= Increased lean muscle mass and lowered body fat but little improvements in max strength or speed.
• Max effort work = Increased strength with little changes in muscle mass and body composition
• Dynamic effort work = increased speed and power with the athlete usually leaning out but not gaining much mass