Contrarily to what many training for climbing gurus think, campus training would not have the capacity to be a plyometric.
In a recent study of Francoise-Regis M. Thevenet (Master in Investigation Thesis, France), he analyze the inter-joints coordination, angles, angular speeds and times of force development of three sport expressions: a Squat Jump (jumping from squat position), a campus jump with both arms and a dyno (common movement in climbing where arms and legs are used in a coordinated way).
Inside the conclusions of this study we can see that the times of force development until the arms take off in the campus jump are 691 + - 10,5 ms; keeping in mind that after 450 ms the nervous system can regulate the movement by the intervention of the antagonistic muscles, and the myotatic reflex, impeding the development of the increased power involved in plyometric activities. Due to that duration of the force expression, the campus jump cannot be considered a dynamic expression as a jump.
Comparing the campus jump with the squat jump and the climbing dyno, the movement speed and the reached height is lower (0,11 mts against 0,27 mts and 0,48 mts respectively). The problem resides in that the upper muscles should displace 90% of the corporal mass, with much smaller muscular volume that when the legs are used in the jump, or the legs and the arms in the dyno.
Also the take off in the campus jumps takes place when the joints almost arrives to its most favorable angle to produce force (90°) where the back muscles (latissimus dorsi) will be the main motors and arriving almost to the maximum flexion (52°).
On the other hand during the dyno, the coordination between legs and arms outlines an use of different musculature. The legs are the main motors, while the arms maintain the body near the wall, completing a hinge function.
Plyometrics implies an eccentric (stretching) contraction immediately followed by a concentric contraction, in other words stretch the muscle before contracting so that the accumulated energy during the eccentric contraction is released during the concentric contraction producing a more powerful movement. But the main characteristic is the duration of the impulse phase (concentric contraction). This is denominated Stretch Shortening Cycle.
Actions that overcome 350 ms lose that whole accumulated energy, so they are not plyometric exercises.
By the way not everything is lost in campus training. It is an indispensable tool for training for climbing in high level athletes. If we use both arms from complete extension as it outlines the previous study without a doubt the times of force development will be excessive, but if we limit joint range, the action have the capacity to be plyometric. At the moment I am developing a device to measure the hands contact time in the campus in repetitive campus jumps, that which will be able to clarify a little more on this topic.
As always there is a lot to investigate, but campus has many utilities, not only arm jumps. To know more about the training with campus you can check www.marvinclimbing.com
In a recent study of Francoise-Regis M. Thevenet (Master in Investigation Thesis, France), he analyze the inter-joints coordination, angles, angular speeds and times of force development of three sport expressions: a Squat Jump (jumping from squat position), a campus jump with both arms and a dyno (common movement in climbing where arms and legs are used in a coordinated way).
Inside the conclusions of this study we can see that the times of force development until the arms take off in the campus jump are 691 + - 10,5 ms; keeping in mind that after 450 ms the nervous system can regulate the movement by the intervention of the antagonistic muscles, and the myotatic reflex, impeding the development of the increased power involved in plyometric activities. Due to that duration of the force expression, the campus jump cannot be considered a dynamic expression as a jump.
Comparing the campus jump with the squat jump and the climbing dyno, the movement speed and the reached height is lower (0,11 mts against 0,27 mts and 0,48 mts respectively). The problem resides in that the upper muscles should displace 90% of the corporal mass, with much smaller muscular volume that when the legs are used in the jump, or the legs and the arms in the dyno.
Also the take off in the campus jumps takes place when the joints almost arrives to its most favorable angle to produce force (90°) where the back muscles (latissimus dorsi) will be the main motors and arriving almost to the maximum flexion (52°).
On the other hand during the dyno, the coordination between legs and arms outlines an use of different musculature. The legs are the main motors, while the arms maintain the body near the wall, completing a hinge function.
Plyometrics implies an eccentric (stretching) contraction immediately followed by a concentric contraction, in other words stretch the muscle before contracting so that the accumulated energy during the eccentric contraction is released during the concentric contraction producing a more powerful movement. But the main characteristic is the duration of the impulse phase (concentric contraction). This is denominated Stretch Shortening Cycle.
Actions that overcome 350 ms lose that whole accumulated energy, so they are not plyometric exercises.
By the way not everything is lost in campus training. It is an indispensable tool for training for climbing in high level athletes. If we use both arms from complete extension as it outlines the previous study without a doubt the times of force development will be excessive, but if we limit joint range, the action have the capacity to be plyometric. At the moment I am developing a device to measure the hands contact time in the campus in repetitive campus jumps, that which will be able to clarify a little more on this topic.
As always there is a lot to investigate, but campus has many utilities, not only arm jumps. To know more about the training with campus you can check www.marvinclimbing.com
1 comment:
Marvin, that you for the post. This topic is of great interest to me. The way I perceive my usage of the campus board is in the (power)development of:
1.Starting strength
2.Explosive strength
3.Intermuscular Coordination
4.Contact strength
5.Reaction
6. Plyometric
Plyometric, by definition,must have a 'down' phase followed by an immediate up phase to qualify as a SSC or Stretch Shortening Cycle activity. The goal in this activity is to have the shortest 'amortization' phase as possible. This is the time spent on the lower rung that you have described from the research article. I would be interested to see how the research was conducted; 1. the distance between rungs used 2. the strength/power capabilities of the test subjects 3. the size of the rungs 4.was time capture hand held or through video analysis, and several other issues that, I think, greatly effect the outcome for each individual.
Thanks again for your post. If you could send me the research article I would be very interested in analyzing it!
David Wahl
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