DEAR DR. DONOHUE: I’ve been training by lifting weights and by running for a couple of years. In the past year, I’ve found myself in a rut. I’m not making the progress I made when I first started. Have you any suggestions for me? — P.T.

ANSWER: Periodization could be the answer to your lack of progress. It’s a plan you devise for your own needs and capabilities where the volume and intensity of exercise are varied. It wakes the body up and forces it to adapt to new challenges. An exercise program of constant repletion of the same exercises done in the same way is not one conducive to continued progress.

In the early stages of a training program, people see rapid improvement. Much of that improvement comes from the brain recruiting other muscles to get involved, and that includes both strength-training exercise and aerobic exercise like running.

Once a person hits a plateau, he or she has to devise a new approach to training. For example, with strength training, you plan a program for a period of six weeks. This requires learning what a repetition maximum is. The RM is the amount of weight you can lift one time only. It determines what amount of weight you begin with and the weight you add each week.

In the first week, lift weights that are 65 percent of your repetition maximum. Do eight to 10 consecutive lifts — known as repetitions. In the second week, increase the weight to 70 percent of your RM and decrease the reps. By the sixth week, you are lifting 85 percent of your RM but doing only five reps. You don’t have to follow this plan slavishly. Adjust it to your capabilities.

The same approach is taken to a running program with a six-week schedule of gradual progression to longer distances and longer times.

After six weeks, take a week off before you enter another six-week cycle.

DEAR DR. DONOHUE: Is there an advantage to lifting weights fast or slow? I have heard it both ways. — C.T.

ANSWER: The answer depends on whether you want to develop strength or power. There’s a difference between the two. Strength is the amount of force a person generates to accomplish a task with no reference to the time involved. Power is the amount of force that can be generated quickly. A 280-pound lineman can bench press more weight than a 180-pound halfback. That’s strength. The 180-pound back, however, can upend the lineman by colliding with him quickly. That’s power.

For power, fast lifting is the better approach. For strength, slow lifting is better.

Not all of this has to do with training. Much has to do with the muscle type a person inherits. People with more fast-twitch muscle fibers are more powerful; those with more slow-twitch fibers are stronger.

DEAR DR. DONOHUE: I have what our trainer calls turf toe. All I know is my big toe hurts. How long will I be out of action? — R.B.

ANSWER: Turf toe is the injury occurring when the big toe is bent upward past its normal range of motion. The base of the toe is swollen and may be red and painful. It’s a ligament strain. Ligament fibers have been torn. For a minor strain, two or three weeks are all that’s needed to get back in action. For a major strain, it can take four months to get back into action. It might even require surgery.

You should have a doctor grade the severity of the strain.

Dr. Donohue regrets that he is unable to answer individual letters, but he will incorporate them in his column whenever possible. Readers may write him or request an order form of available health newsletters at P.O. Box 536475, Orlando, FL 32853-6475. Readers may also order health newsletters from www.rbmamall.com.

Copy the Story Link