Thesis (M.S.)--Western Washington University, 2010. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 54-61). Also issued online.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Western Australia, 2006.

Abstract available in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research

[Truncated abstract] Resistance training is increasingly popular for improving strength qualities such as hypertrophy, maximal strength, endurance and power. Although many resistancetraining programmes now adhere to the concept of periodisation, the number of studies examining its structure and design are few, and there are just a handful of studies that have examined periodised training for the maintenance of strength and power. Even rarer, are periodised resistance-training studies that utilise female subjects. Previous studies have compared non-periodised training regimens such as Progressive Resistance Exercise (PRE), and the two main models of periodisation, Linear Periodisation (LP) and Undulating Periodisation (UP). Results are inconclusive as to whether the efficacy of the periodised training programmes were due to the manipulation of training variables such as volume and intensity, or that training programmes with higher doses of volume induced better training responses. However, to make effective comparisons between training programmes, the training volume or workload (total load lifted x total repetitions) and training intensity have to be equated between the groups under examination. While the intensities (percentage of one-repetition maximum, 1 RM) for improving strength qualities such as hypertrophy and maximal strength have general consensus among resistance-training practitioners, there exists disagreement over the intensity that should be used during the training of power. Thus, it is important to first identify the load for power training before comparisons can be made between LP and UP programmes using equal training volumes. ... The final study found that adhering to two UP maintenance training programmes with equalised volumes and intensities twice a week increased upper-body strength and maintained lower-body strength adequately across a 3-wk phase. The results from these studies support previous results that suggest training programmes with higher workloads and repetitions produce superior strength and power adaptations, and it is not specifically the variation of training volume and intensity within a periodised programme that improves strength qualities. Thus, both periodised programmes used in this thesis can be recommended for untrained and moderatelytrained women as both LP and UP were found to be similarly effective for increasing upper- and lower-body hypertrophy, strength and power.

The aim of this study is to monitor short-term seasonal development of young Olympic weightlifters’ anthropometry, body composition, physical fitness, and sport-specific performance. Fifteen male weightlifters aged 13.2 1.3 years participated in this study. Tests for the assessment of anthropometry (e.g., body-height, body-mass), body-composition (e.g., lean-body-mass, relative fat-mass), muscle strength (grip-strength), jump performance (drop-jump (DJ) height, countermovement-jump (CMJ) height, DJ contact time, DJ reactive-strength-index (RSI)), dynamic balance (Y-balance-test), and sport-specific performance (i.e., snatch and clean-and-jerk) were conducted at different time-points (i.e., T1 (baseline), T2 (9 weeks), T3 (20 weeks)). Strength tests (i.e., grip strength, clean-and-jerk and snatch) and training volume were normalized to body mass. Results showed small-to-large increases in body-height, body-mass, lean-body-mass, and lower-limbs lean-mass from T1-to-T2 and T2-to-T3 (D0.7–6.7%; 0.1 d 1.2). For fat-mass, a significant small-sized decrease was found from T1-to-T2 (D13.1%; d = 0.4) and a significant increase from T2-to-T3 (D9.1%; d = 0.3). A significant main effect of time was observed for DJ contact time (d = 1.3) with a trend toward a significant decrease from T1-to-T2 (D–15.3%; d = 0.66; p = 0.06). For RSI, significant small increases from T1-to-T2 (D9.9%, d = 0.5) were noted. Additionally, a significant main effect of time was found for snatch (d = 2.7) and clean-and-jerk (d = 3.1) with significant small-to-moderate increases for both tests from T1-to-T2 and T2-to-T3 (D4.6–11.3%, d = 0.33 to 0.64). The other tests did not change significantly over time (0.1 d 0.8). Results showed significantly higher training volume for sport-specific training during the second period compared with the first period (d = 2.2). Five months of Olympic weightlifting contributed to significant changes in anthropometry, body-composition, and sport-specific performance. However, hardly any significant gains were observed for measures of physical fitness. Coaches are advised to design training programs that target a variety of fitness components to lay an appropriate foundation for later performance as an elite athlete.