Strength Analysis and Observations of VRT

A gentleman who wrote to me about VRT had this to say. My response to him follows this.

"Hello Greg, I have been following a program of VRT exclusively for quite some time now, several months in fact. I recently tried to duplicate some of the lifts I had done previously. The results were shall we say, less than expected. The weights felt incredibly heavy and cumbersome. After the session I thought about why this occured. Obviously specificity plays a big role.

I also spoke with a friend who is a physical therapist and runs one of the major rehab clinics in the area. He pointed out that during VRT training you are working in a "loadless" format as opposed to a "loaded" format with weights/other objects. I had heard of this term "loadless" training before. An article by Mel Siff, one of the worlds top sports performance experts, I believe coined this phrase.

My friend David, the therapist, went on to say that in a loadless training situation, yes, the fibers do contract and one can experience a deep cramping sensation. Yet, you are limited in developing strength beacause this type of training limits how many fibers you can recruit. He went on to say that lifting under "loaded" conditions, weights, etc., one can push or pull against some object thereby increasing leverage, which in turn allows one to contract more fibers and produce more strength. Also, with loadless training there is no stability or balance factor as well, which will also cause less fibers to be contracted. Of course there is the obvious, adding extra weight will cause more fibers to contract.

After all this, I have to say that I have never used any type of training modality that made me feel better after a workout. My friend had no explanantion for this. I told him this was commonplace among people who used VRT in their training. I really do struggle with this "losing strength" thing. I know that specificity is the major player here, but I wonder what type of strength does VRT build? Perhaps you can shed some light on these comments. By the way, I have no desire to lift and it is certainly not my contention to cast any negativity toward VRT. This is why I have chosen to address my concerns here, instead of at the forum."

Thanks,
Shane.
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My response:

"Shane, I wouldn't exactly call VRT a "loadless" format vs. one that is "loaded." The terminology can be deceiving. Just my tangent on the definition. I'm sure David, your therapist, understands flexors pulling against extensors and vice versa. Any load can be maximized by the opposing muscle group. Perhaps one can be limited in gaining strength by the quantity of the load put on the opposing muscle group. While the entire musculature is in full balance, the load should approximate the full capacity of the opposing muscle, or isostatic load, in which one could not move a weight whatsoever. I understand fully what he means by balance and stability and the body, in the need to right itself, would perhaps incorporate many more muscle fibers to maintain stability. Muscle fibers in other muscle groups, though.

However, I take to task the amount of the myofibrils that are recruited in any given exercise. In a total state of tetany of flexors and extensors, all myofibrils are made up of sliding filaments, and it is an 'all or none' response, not just some of them, in which the sarcomere is in contraction. One cannot utilize only a portion of the myofibrils in a sarcomere.

I know you like VRT, Shane, but if a brute increase in strength alone is what you are trying to achieve, it would probably depend on how "hard" you do VRT. Is it really an all out effort, so that you can later check on your progress with weights? When you were lifting weights alone, how long did it take for you to increase your strength, and by how much? (What percentage? Like how long a period of weightlifting to go from a 180 lb. bench to a 200 lb. bench?)What I'm getting at, is that it's possible to gain strength faster with weights than VRT; BUT it has been shown that one can increase strength as fast or sometimes faster with VRT, depending on how long it's done, and with how much effort. I am glad to hear it makes you feel good, however. That's a real plus in and by itself."

Greg Mangan