Strength and Conditioning Part 5

[Mark Rippetoe]

Strength & Endurance, Pt 5 | SSC Panel

[Matt Neilsen]

I wanted to say thank you for choosing to release this 5-part series for public consumption. As a lay person, it's hard to get a grasp on all of the data out there and then form an objective and sufficiently nuanced position. I thought all 5 of the presentations were fantastic, and I will be going back through them several times to internalize the material.

Information like this is exactly what we need to forward the societal conversation around strength training & health/fitness. Thank you Drs. Sullivan, Baraki, Petrizzo and Mr. Gotcher for the immense amount of time and energy that must have gone into this effort, and thank you Rip & Co. for producing the material and making it available.

[KyleL]

As a competitive middle distance runner who recognizes the need for strength, all this has been so valuable -- thank you for all the hard work, guys!

For anyone who might be interested, this is a very good article on the many reasons why V02max is likely a very faulty parameter to use for endurance training. The author, Steve Magness, looks at the history behind the development of V02max in the exercise physiology world and also points to the importance of a central governor model in influencing an individual's ability to use oxygen.

Link: The Fallacy of Vo2max and %VO2max – Science of Running

[Mark Rippetoe]

An interesting article that could benefit from an editor.

[BitPlayer]

VO2 max always seemed a bit odd and pointless to me. For endurance running, cycling, whatever, what really matters is the performance, so why not focus on improving that rather than a score on some test?

The type it'd maybe be most applicable to would maybe be something like soccer players (maybe hockey though I know little about that honestly), since it's a lot of high intensity mixed with low and moderate intensity over an extended period, even then something like a 2 mile run is seeming much easier to test and track.

[Mark Rippetoe]

This is the key:

The fact that VO2max was first measured during exercise by one of the pioneers of Exercise Science in the 1920’s goes a long way in explaining the level of importance ascribed to it. Whenever a new parameter is discovered or introduced, a large degree of emphasis is put on that parameter in the research. The initial reaction by many scientists is to ascribe a great deal of significance to the newly discovered parameter, as if it will answer all of the questions that we have. It is almost as if it is human nature to go through this process of discovery and then exaggeration of the importance of the new finding. This can be seen in many instances in a wide degree of scientific fields.

It seems crazy, but if your lab has the equipment to test for a certain parameter, that parameter tends to be the focus of a lot of your research, despite the fact that it may mean very little to the understanding of the problem you claim to be investigating. But hey, we've got this instrument, we've got all these graduate students, and we've got to publish some studies.

[synchronicity]

This is the key:



It seems crazy, but if your lab has the equipment to test for a certain parameter, that parameter tends to be the focus of a lot of your research, despite the fact that it may mean very little to the understanding of the problem you claim to be investigating. But hey, we've got this instrument, we've got all these graduate students, and we've got to publish some studies.

A quote that has stuck with me forever - "we value what we measure". Applies in a LOT of areas.

[George Christiansen]

It seems crazy, but if your lab has the equipment to test for a certain parameter, that parameter tends to be the focus of a lot of your research, despite the fact that it may mean very little to the understanding of the problem you claim to be investigating. But hey, we've got this instrument, we've got all these graduate students, and we've got to publish some studies.

Everything looks like a nail when all you've got is a hammer.

[Pluripotent]

A quote that has stuck with me forever - "we value what we measure". Applies in a LOT of areas.

Moreover, I think it was Rumsfeld, speaking about institutions, who said that you get better at what you measure and worse at what you don't. Problem is, some things are easier to measure than others, but that doesn't make them important!

[Mark Rippetoe]

CPK is a perfect example.