Strength is Never a Weakness

Tuesday, 15 September 2015

Sprint Training by Holly Clark

Sprint Training by Holly Clark

The 100m sprint is often referred to as the easiest most complicated event in sport. It requires a specific combination of power, speed, flexibility, efficiency and technique. You have to be both aggressive and relaxed at the same time. Getting the balance wrong can be the difference between being world champion and going no further than club representation.

The main aim is to have the best possible strength to weight ratio, allowing maximal force production without carrying too much mass which can reduce movement efficiency. A lean body mass is desirable to achieve this.

Traditionally, sprinters were short and powerful, allowing for a rapid stride frequency and minimal ground contact time. However more recently sprinters have been becoming taller and increasing their stride length as depicted by Powell's size (190 cm (6 ft. 3) tall, weighing 88 kg (14 stone). He has a stride length of 2.6 meters which allowed him to break Maurice Greene’s WR in 2005 which had stood for 6 years. You can see from the table below how sprinters’ physiques have changed over the years.

Name	PB	Height (cm)	Weight (kg)
Jesse Owens	10.3, 20.7 (1934-1936)	180	75
Carl Lewis	9.86 19.75 (1981-1993)	188	81
Ben Johnson	10.00 (1982-1999)	177	77
Linford Christie	9.87 (1984-1999)	188	92
Michael Johnson	10.09, 19.32 (1991-2000)	185	77
Maurice Greene	9.79 (1997-2004)	176	75
Asafa Powell	9.72 (2002-2015)	190	87
Justin Gatlin	9.74 19.57 (2002-2015)	185	83
Tyson Gay	9.69 19.58 (2005-2015)	180	77
Usain Bolt	9.58 19.19 (2004-2015)	196	94
Jason Smyth T13/12	10.22 20.94 (2005-2015)	177	72
Jonnie Peacock T44	10.48 (2006-2015)	178	73

Technique

When Michael Johnson was competing he was as near to the full marks model of sprinting as you could possibly get. He was so efficient when competing that it allowed him to be the first man to win Olympic Gold and set world records in both the 200m and 400m. Now when he is commentating he always mentions an athlete’s form and how it could be improved.

The key points of good technique are outlined below:

Driving out at a 45⁰ angle is most effective to get to top speed quickly
Head – straight forward and no lateral movement to maintain balance and technique
Arms – should be driving hard. Hand should rise no higher than the shoulder elbow bent at less than 90⁰. They should have no lateral movement as this will affect legs. Hands should be relaxed if closed to avoid causing tension. Shoulders should be down and relaxed
Core - steady holding body straight and allowing the most efficient transfer of forces through the hips
Legs – straight leg drive and high knee lift with no lateral movement. Knees should come high to allow increased stride length. Commonly see knees coming across the body which takes more time. Driving the ankle up the side of calf then out allows more force
Ankle dorsi-flexed pre plantar flexion to increase propulsion
Keeping the muscles relaxed and not tensing up will help maintain good technique and reduce likelihood of injuries

Stride length v cadence

There has been much debate about whether to improve your speed you should increase your stride length or stride frequency. A study conducted by A J Murphy et al (2003) on the key determinants on acceleration have found that for early acceleration, participants had quicker times with reduce foot contact time and higher stride frequency. Over shorter distances, and particularly for games sports, it is therefore desirable to have high cadence to achieve maximal acceleration. The table below shows that over the first 30m, during acceleration, Bolt’s split times are no faster than the other athletes. Beyond this point however, when reaching maximal speed, Bolt’s stride length gives him the advantage. It takes him 41 strides to run 100m compared to Dwaine Chambers who takes 43 or 44. Bolt’s stride length is on average 20cm longer than the rest of the field according to research conducted by Maćkała Krzysztof and Antti Mero (2013).

Therefore, it is advantages to have higher cadence in the early stages of a race to accelerate quickly but beyond this point a longer stride length is more advantageous.

	Ben ‘88	Carl ‘88	Asafa ‘05	Bolt ‘08
RT	0.132	0.136	0.104	0.165
0-10m	1.83	1.89	1.89	1.85
10-20m	1.04	1.07	1.02	1.02
20-30m	0.93	0.94	0.92	0.91
30-40m	0.86	0.89	0.86	0.87
40-50m	0.84	0.86	0.85	0.85
50-60m	0.83	0.83	0.85	0.82
60-70m	0.84	0.85	0.84	0.82
70-80m	0.85	0.85	0.84	0.82
80-90m	0.87	0.86	0.85	0.83
90-100m	0.9	0.88	0.85	0.9
Time	9.79	9.92	9.77	9.69

Warmup

Needed with every sport.

What you do should be kept consistent so that when you come to competition you know what you are doing and help reduce any anxiety. For most sprinters a warm up can take from 15-25 minutes depending on the weather conditions and how they are feeling.

You may follow standard RAMP (Raise, Activate, Mobilise, Prepare) procedure or be adapted to a Dynamic movement circuit completed over 20-30m.

You should focus on technique when completing the drills as they help to develop muscle memory through rewiring the CNS (Central nervous system) to make it fire faster and more effectively which benefits you in both training and races. Drills may seem simple and boring but if done properly can really enhance your technique, posture and overall performance.

Resisted Sprints

Hills and using sleds are forms of resisted sprint training. They are brilliant ways to develop muscular strength, drive phase, power and technique. They will also improve your resilience as they are hard work and often a stomach emptier!

A study conducted on Rugby players by Harrison, Andrew Burke and Gillian in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning found that using sleds significantly decreased the time taken to complete the first 5m of a 30m sprint, showing the benefits for a sprint start.

Having a good arm drive is extremely important for hill training, as the more you drive your arms, the more your knees are encouraged to lift, increasing stride length, which you need to get up the hill.

Using a trail hill where the surface underneath is unsteady will also provide additional strength to the muscles and tendons of the ankle and thus help reduce the likelihood of any injuries.

The length of the hill should be relative to the distance that you are training for. For up to 200m the hill shouldn’t take you longer than 60seconds to complete depending on the gradient. The steeper the hill the more powerful you are required to be.

An example session would be 8x45s steep hill with a walk/jog down recovery. Controlling this recovery time is essential; 90seconds to 2minutes is more than adequate for this session.

To improve endurance you should reduce recovery time and ensure that you jog down. For more powerful sessions, rest for up to 4 minutes between each rep.

Intervals

Fast interval training is a signature part of any sprint program. Known by many as HIIT training, the benefits spread to all sports and those who just want to keep fit. The times and distances vary throughout the season. Winter training to develop speed endurance would include 8x60s:60s or 2x4x200m 2min rep recovery and 5 min set recovery. Pure speed work would be a lot shorter with longer recover such as 3x3x60m 3min rep recovery 5 min set recovery. Typically 2 sessions will be completed a week alongside 1 resisted sprint session and a circuit session.

Strength training

A good weights programme is needed to help optimise an athlete’s performance. For sprinters this will commonly include Olympic lifts such as cleans, squats, deadlifts, walking lunges and step-ups. Single leg work and exercises for foot strength are also necessary to help reduce the likelihood of injury.

A study conducted by U Wisloff et al in the British Journal of Sports Medicine (2004) has found strong correlation between maximal strength in half squats (90⁰ knee angle) and sprint performance and jump height and concluded that the maximal strength squat determined sprint performance. This therefore gives reason to be performing squats and developing maximal leg strength in the gym to improve 30m sprint time.

Upper body strength work should also be in the program to improve arm drive, however this must not be done in excess as this can give unnecessary muscle mass to carry. For example doing 30 second arm drive sprints holding light weights is a great way to build the dynamic strength needed to race.

Core strength is really important. Having a strong core allows forces to be transferred through the body most efficiently. It also avoids any unwanted rotations or movements which would both waste energy and reduce streamlines.

Key part is also plyometric training. These prepare the body for the powerful sprint start and for ground contact. Reducing ground contact time is important for speed. Care must be taken especially if you have a history of bad shins or ankles.

Circuit training

As part of my training I use individual load circuit training once a week, usually 3x30:10s W:R with 12-16 stations. The circuit is for general conditioning although I also use it focus on technique and areas that I find are weak.

Recovery

Very important and necessary for improvements in performance to occur! It is often said that “rest is not a four letter word” and as with many sports, people may find it requires more discipline to rest than to do their sessions due to their competitive nature. Rest must be specific! Water and nutrition intake must also be maintained.

Periodisation

The traditional Matveyev model for sprint training is a Long to short program where the athlete performs slower aerobic work and anaerobic work at the beginning of the training year to build endurance and strength and then progresses to faster anaerobic work towards competition.

The other model put forward by Coach Charlie Francis is the Short to long approach where you do more speed work in the winter and gradually increase the distance.

There is not a one size fits all, you need to find the training that works best for you. Personally I have found for myself that the long to short suits me better as the HIIT training involved offers more calorie burn and helps keep me lean. From speaking to other female athletes they have had a similar experience. The short to long method in my opinion is more suited to the highly trained and for those only competing in 60m and 100m sprints or is your first sprint training program.

Other sports

Michael Jonson has set up MJ Performance (MJP) which assists professionals and junior sports people improve their speed, strength, suppleness, stamina and skill which compliments the technical work they do in other sports. The Global Performance director has justified the use of their program saying that “98% of what happens on a football pitch is without the ball…it is very uncommon for any player to have the ball at their feet for more than two minutes”. This has been recognised by several clubs including Manchester United, Arsenal and FC Dallas.

Football:

Adam Gemili of GB competed in the 100m at the 2012 World Junior Championships in Athletics in Barcelona getting winning time of 10.05s: a new championship record. He is a former football player (defence) for league 2 side Dagenham & Redbridge having spent seven years in the youth academy at Chelsea from the age of 8. In 2012 he decided to focus fully on athletics.

Bolt spent his time as a child playing cricket and football and it was his high school cricket coach who noticed his speed on the pitch and urged him to try track and field events. He also did a training session with Cristiano Ronaldo in 2009 to help him with his sprinting technique.

American Football:

Gatlin reportedly planned to serve his four-year ban playing American football. ESPN reported in November 2006 that he had worked out with the Houston Texans, despite his little football experience. In May 2007 The Tampa Bay Buccaneers announced that Gatlin was one of 28 free agents taken to their 2007 rookie camp on tryout contracts. He tried out for the team as a wide receiver although was unsuccessful.

Rugby Union:

Carl Isles was ranked 36th fastest sprinter in the US in 2012 (10.24). He has since changed to rugby Union 7s and has since been dubbed “Fastest man in American Rugby” (Rugby Mag). He now plays for Glasgow Warriors. Similarly English Schools’ champion: sprinter Tyrese Johnson-Fisher has followed in a similar path reaching the NatWest Vase rugby final with his school, despite clocking 10.91 seconds for the 100m, the fastest ever time for a boy of his age in Britain (Sport 360).

Rugby League:

Studies conducted showed that the majority (67.5%) of sprints completed during a rugby league game were over <20m, and 78.7% of sprints were done without the ball. This suggests that players could benefit from doing technique work to improve their efficiency. Also they benefit more from acceleration work due to the nature of the distance usually sprinted. (Sprinting patterns of National Rugby League Competition Gabbat, Tim J)

Why you should sprint

Having innate speed and acceleration gives you a great advantage in many games sports. Sprint training helps to benefit this by improving technique and thus your efficiency.

Sprint training methods have also been recognised for their health benefits with the likes of HIIT training becoming a common method used by many now.

References

- Gabbet, Tim J Sprinting Patterns of National Rugby league Competition 2012

- U Wisloff, C Castagna, J Helgerud, R Jones, J Hoff Strong correlation of maximal squat strength with sprint performance and vertical jump height in elite soccer players 2004

- Aron J Murphy, Robert G Lockie and Asron J Coutts Kinematic Determinants of early acceleration in field sport athletes 2003

- Harrison, Andrew J; Bourke, Gillian The effect of resisted sprint training on speed and strength performance in male rugby players

- Maćkała Krzysztof and Antti Mero A Kinematics Analysis Of Three Best 100 M Performances Ever 2013

If you wish to contact Holly about Sprint Training please use her email below;

hollyc.94@hotmail.co.uk

Andrew Richardson, Founder of Strength is Never a Weakness Blog

I have a BSc (Hons) in Applied Sport Science and a Merit in my MSc in Sport and Exercise Science and I passed my PGCE at Teesside University.

Now I will be commencing my PhD into "Investigating Sedentary Lifestyles of the Tees Valley" this October 2019.

I am employed by Teesside University Sport and WellBeing Department as a PT/Fitness Instructor.

My long term goal is to become a Sport Science and/or Sport and Exercise Lecturer. I am also keen to contribute to academia via continued research in a quest for new knowledge.

My most recent publications:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1752928X19300216

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1752928X19301076

My passion is for Sport Science which has led to additional interests incorporating Sports Psychology, Body Dysmorphia, AAS, Doping and Strength and Conditioning.

Within these respective fields, I have a passion for Strength Training, Fitness Testing, Periodisation and Tapering.

I write for numerous websites across the UK and Ireland including my own blog Strength is Never a Weakness.

I had my own business for providing training plans for teams and athletes.

I was one of the Irish National Coaches for Powerlifting, and have attained two 3rd places at the first World University Championships,

in Belarus in July 2016.Feel free to email me or call me as I am always looking for the next challenge.

Contact details below;

Facebook: Andrew Richardson (search for)

Facebook Page: @StrengthisNeveraWeakness

Twitter: @arichie17

Instagram: @arichiepowerlifting

Snapchat: @andypowerlifter

Email: a.s.richardson@tees.ac.uk

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-richardson-b0039278

Research Gate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Andrew_Richardson7

Tuesday, 18 August 2015

Lying to Make Athlete's Stronger: The Placebo Story

Lying to Make Athletes Stronger: The Placebo Story

By Andrew Richardson

Immediate Disclaimer: I never lie to my athletes, I have never used a placebo or placebos on them as it is unethical due to it not being in a lab/sports science setting under controlled conditions with participants consent to be part of a controlled study.

What if I told you there was a way to get stronger, bigger, faster, learner, jacked and tanned, or just better at anything and everything? Well there is but you may have already experienced without being told it.

There is something called a “Placebo” which you may of heard of. Not the band called Placebo (still great but wrong context for this article). A placebo can be described as “something fake which is believed by someone to make it very real”, “a substance that has a positive effect as a result of a patient’s perception that it is beneficial rather than as a result of a causative ingredient”, “an inactive substance or preparation used as a control in an experiment or test to determine the effectiveness of a medical drug”. “Something of no intrinsic remedial value that is used to appease or reassure another”.

Placebos can be used on a variety of situations and have been known to be used for a very long time. Some theorist’s believe Stonehenge in England was the first “Placebo Hospital” as people would come to see it for the stones magic healing powers. Another example of a Placebo is when a child falls and hurts their leg (small cut nothing serious) they scream for help. Mum appears she calsm the child and kisses the leg better. The child feels better even tho the mum didn’t do anything (medically speaking) to take away the pain. It was all in the head or unless mums have superpowers.

Doctors have described placebos as a mistake as we are letting our guard down to get something done. In Research particularly Sports Science it is a controversial subject. One lecturer I recall saying to a student “You want to do a study on Placebo’s Effecting Sport Performance? Hahah Good luck funding that one”.

Top Ten Facts about Placebo’s

1/ Designed to get Consumers. The Supplement Industry uses this so much.

2/ It has physical and psychological responses

3/ The Bigger the production the bigger the effect: What this means is if someone takes a white pill it has an effect, if the pill changes shape that effect is increased, then if the colour of the pill is changed, again the effect of the placebo increases. Then if someone has an injection the placebo effect is dramatically increased. Then of course if you have surgery then this is increased tenfold compared to the pill.

4/ Placebo’s can affect fertility rates: One study was trying to help women get pregnant as they were struggling to do so. 2 groups of 33 women took part one used a sugar pill the other used actual drugs. The placebo group only got 5 pregnant and the actual test group got 7 pregnant proving that the placebo was useless.

5/ Can negate the effects of drugs

6/ Price of treatment affects results: The increased price means to consumers, it costs more so it must be better where in fact it’s the same thing you are just paying for the labelling.

7/ Brand names affect results: Some sprinters feel faster in specific brands of clothing.

8/ Placebos work better than ever before: No one knows why this is the case maybe we like being told what we want to be told.

9/ If you know it’s a placebo you can still get better: Some study groups have shown this but most (including an example later on) will disprove this point.

10/ Placebo surgery is effective: This is used heavily in cartilage surgery where they take the patient to surgery and open them up but don’t do anything.

The Research

Athletes look for any product, technology, or process that might provide tem a competitive advantage. This leads some athletes to use illegal and potentially harmful drugs. Resulting in 73 documented deaths of athletes using PED’s in sport.

Counterintuitive Suggestion?

A small number of athlete’s who have failed drug tests have claimed that they did not know they had taken the drug. One athlete stated that a drug is only fully effective if the individual is aware that they have taken it

This lent some support by medical staff and was consistent with recent findings in medicine (Benedetti et al 2009). A placebo effect is a desirable outcome resulting from the belief that treatment has been received.

A Placebo Effect V Placebo Control

A neurophysiological event driven by expectation of conditioning
An experimental conditioning used to control for a range of potential confounds.

Below is an image by Dr Chris Beedie from Aberystwyth Uni where it compares experimental designs using caffeine in sports performance.

The balanced placebo is the most interesting as it has 4 different levels = 4 different sets of results as the group has been manipulated in 4 variables.

Reviews from studies (Beedie & Ford 2009, Berdiet et al 2011) indicate a moderate overall effect size for placebo studies in sport performance (n=14).

Wide Range of Interventions involving Placebos

Anabolic steroids (Ariel et al 1972 and Maganaris et al 2000)
Morphine (Benedetti et al 2007)
Carbohydrate (Clarke et al 2000, Hulson & Jeukendrup 2009)
Caffeine (Beedie et al 2006, Foal et al 2008)
Sodium Bicarbonate (McClung & Collins 2007)

How Large is the Placebo Effect on Performance?

Sustainal Varaibility
Generaly < 10% above baseline
Possible substance – response relationship (Beedie & Ford 2007, Berdiet et al 2011)
Anabolic Steroids (Ariel et al 1972 and Maganaris et al 2000)
Morphine (Benedetti et al 2007)
Carbohydrate (Clarke et al 2000)
Caffeine (Beedie et al 2006, Foal et al 2008)
Sodium Bicarbonate (McClung & Collins 2007)

Can a Placebo have a Negative Effect on Performance?

Athlete expectation predicts effect
Positive placebo effect driven by positive expectation
Negative expectation can lead to negative outcomes (Beedie et al 2006, Foal et al 2008, Beedie et al 2007, Beedie 2007, Benetti & Hopkins 2009, Duncan 2010.
Novebo Effect

Isn’t the Placebo Effect in Sport Simply the result of Increased Motivation?

Motivation is a factor yes
Increased motivation is associated with increased load
Evidence for improved performance in absence of;

1: Increased physiological load (Foad et al 2008, McClung & Collins 2007)

2: Increased perception of effort (Beedie et al 2006, Beedie et al 2007)
Same level of performance at;

1: Reduced physiological load (Foad et al 2008, McClung & Collins 2007)

2: Love Perceived Effort (Foad et al 2008, McClung & Collins 2007)

Placebo Response unlikely a stable characteristic of athlete (Beedie et al 2006, Beedie 2007)

Personality did not predict placebo responding (beedie et al 2008)
Athletes respond to placebo in one experimental trial but not another (beedie et al 2006)

Can the Placebo effect help and Athlete in Competition?

Placebo effects as laboratory phenomenon (Hopkins 1999)
Much anecdotal evidence for real world placebo effects
Hurst et al 2013, investigated the placebo effects of caffeine on a competitive 5km track time trial
Used balanced placebo design (shown earlier)
Both CP & CC associated with enhanced performance over PP & PC

Can a Placebo Enhance Performances even when the athlete knows it is a Placebo?

Athletes underperform in “open labelled” conditions (Beedie et al 2006, Foal et al 2008, Hurst et al 2013)
However positive effects of open labelled placebos in medicine recently demonstrated (Kaptchuk 2010)
Open labelled placebo “this is a placebo”. Placebos have been found to improve sports performance by up to 5% in a number of scientific studies.
Pilot study (n=12) used Cooper test
Mean improvement of 2.8%

British Cycling Head Coach Dave Brailsford sought to make up the 5% gap of which PED’s create over the drug free cyclists. This involved improving every aspect of the cycling team’s performance by 1%. It included the following;

Own team bus
Own chef to meal prep at all hotels and venues
Own bed sheets and pillows brought to each hotel to improve sleep quality
De-Humidifiers in each room to make sure the air humidity was perfect for each athlete
Bikes all custom made to fit each athlete
All bikes made lighter
All athletes changed their riding positon to create less resistance when riding
Clothing was lighter as well
Team Psychologists for each athlete to make sure they are in the correct mental state

With all these personalised improvements perhaps one can speculate a placebo effect was created as the athletes felt they would get better simply by being a part of Team Sky’s plan. They have won 3 Tour De Frances in the last 5 years so something must be working.

What do Athletes believe are the Mechanism’s of the Placebo effect in Sport?

Self report data (questionnaire & interview usually post study) (Beedie et al 2006, Foal et al 2008, Beedie et al 2007, Beedie 2007, Hurst et al 2015.
Motivation “I just felt more up for it”
Pain reduction “The pain just went away”
Emotion “I felt calmer & less tense”
Pacing “I went out harder & was able to hold it there”
Physiology “My body seemed to swtich into a different mode, it just did things more efficiently”

What are the potential Applications of Placebo Effect in Research?

Anti-Doping: education re the role of the mind in drug effects (McClung & Collins 2007).

1: previous cases (Maganaris et al 2000)

2: debrief interviews (Beedie et al 2006, Foal et al 2008, Beedie 2007)
Sport Psychology: placebo responsiveness as indicator of sub optimal status?
Research: better interpretation of findings in placebo controlled performance studies

Current Anti-Doping Research (Hurst, Foal, Coleman & Beedie )

Evaluate athletes existing Attitude Towards;

1: Drug Effectiveness

2: Drug Mechanism’s

3: Likelihood of future drug use

This feeds into the following,

Expose Athlete to Either:

1: First hand experience of placebo effect on sports performance (experience intervention) n=400

2: Educational material relating to the placebo effect on sports performance (education intervention) n=100.

This feeds into the following;

Evaluate any changes in Attitude towards;

1: Drug effectiveness

2: Drug mechanics

3: Likelihood of future drug use

Most studies use legal substances (caffeine, creatine, sodium bicarbonate)
Only 1 studies have used illegal (morphine) (Benedetti et al 2007)
Problems with both (Method & Testing)
Anti-Doping Application’s likely only relevant if placebo effects associated with drugs athletes abuse.
A definitive study of placebo & real abuse (biological) effects of an illegal performance enhancing drug is required.

Placebo Effect and Anabolic Steroids

Two studies

1/ Ariel et al (1972) “Anabolic Steroids: The Physiological Effects of Placebo’s”. Medicine & Science in Sports. Vol 4. 124-26.

In this study 15 male lifters were told the subjects who make the best progress/gains on the strength training protocol would be chosen to go on a course of anabolic steroids for 4 weeks after the 4 week protocol.

This group have the extrinsic motivation to train hard to get the drugs however, they are unaware that the steroids are actually sugar pills. (hahahah gutting for the 15 guys but all for the pursuit for good data in science)

The strength protocol was training on seated shoulder press, military press and bench press. So these 15 guys trained their asses off and after 4 weeks of training 6 of the 15 where chosen as they made the best progress averaging out 11kg over the 3 lifts. The 6 then began the “sugar pill/steroid medication”.

After the 4 week training/medicated cycle using the same training protocol as before, the results showed they gained an average of 45kg (about 100 pounds) between the three lifts. That compared to the 24 pounds total in the first 4 weeks between the lifts. Making someone believe they are on drugs, they expect to gain strength and size quickly. The human mind is a great tool in a training arsenal if used correctly.

2/ Maganaris et al (2000). “Expectancy Effects & Strength Training: Do Steroids make a difference? Sport Psychologist. Vol 14. No 3. 272-278.

11 national level powerlifters from Great Britain were all looking to get stronger through illegal means. They asked their coach if he could get them some PED’s. The coach being very smart and sly agreed to getting them the stuff, but what the athletes didn’t know was the coach had other ideas.

The coach gave all the athletes a saccharine pill or as he told the athletes “an oral steroid which is fast acting”. I can’t believe they believed him as anything orally taken usually gets destroyed by protein enzymes and stomach acid during digestion.

11 athletes took the pill they then went and immediately tested their maxes on Squat Bench and Deadlift. All improved by 4-5% on their lifts. Now National level lifters beating their PB’s by 4-5% (that’s a lot). They group kept training for another 2 weeks taking the pill and relying feeback to their coach. The reports showed they kept hitting training PB’s and volume Pb’s each session being on this “pill”.

After the 2 weeks they came in again to test, but before they did the group was split into 6 and 5. The 5 where told they weren’t on gear all along but a sugar pill. The 6 weren’t told anything but given more pills. The 6 improved again however the 5 regressed back to their old PB’s even tho they weren’t using drugs.

How I Would Use a Placebo:

Build trust with a group of clients
Tell them about a programme that is aimed at their goals
Get a list of references and exaggerate the results to make it seem it brings craxy results
Give them an incentive to train harder. Part A of the programme 20 people do and all fight for 10 secret prizes that will make them even bigger/stronger
Another motivating factor for all participants is using money. The ten who put on the most muscle get £100 per person
Those that get into the 10 spots (based on how much they gained off the programme) are given a top nutrition plan (a simple plan just labelled highly scientific with fancy words and graphs)
Now you have two groups 10 who got the nutrition plan and 10 who didn’t. Within the nutritional plan split it into 2 groups of 5. Both still receive the same nutritional plan however one is given a sugar pill labelled as a muscle gain pill which has been approved by the IOC.
From this all groups run the same training protocol and seen from the three variables who packs on the most muscle.
The placebo group with the sugar pill will probably pack on the most as they are led to believe they have been giving a muscle building drug closely followed by the nutritional plan group.

BUT…..

I couldn’t do this as it is unethical and if I did people would complain that I lied to them even tho I made them better. This feeds into the ethics of placebo trials.

An Ethical Dilemma?

To placebo or not to placebo? That is perhaps a question each coach/trainer/physio/doctor may ultimately have to answer individually.

Given the potentially placebo-inducing advertising in the sport, health & fitness industry (think sleazy advertising), should the coach consider it part of his job to influence his athlete’s perceptions of supplements. Mean if a kid came in saying he got a weight gainer all happy and excited (looking convinced it would make him into a freak) should we tell him he doesn’t need it or encourage him as it will give him the placebo effect?
Is lying to athletes morally defensive if one’s intentions are good, especially if most high level athletes are willing to be deceived if it would improve performance (Berdi et al 2014)

I personally believe placebos are linked with what can and can’t be done regarding certain tasks. If we remove all perception of what is possible and impossible form the task then is there a need for a placebo. One case is the story of Cliff Young.

Cliff Young: Sheep Farmer to Ultra Endurance Legend

Cliff Young 61 year old sheep farmer wins 1993 ultra-endurance race in Australia. This was 543.7 miles from Sydney to Melbourne.

He turned up in boots and overalls and entered the race. People looked at him to the professional youthful athletes in shock. Cliff said he could do it, all the other competitor’s laughed at him. They asked him why he thought he could do it. Cliff replied “Yes I can, you see I grew up and worked on a farm where I still do to this day. On this farm we have 2,000 acres with 2,000 sheep. I would spend 2-3 days at a time running after the sheep. It took a long time but I would always catch them”.

When the race started the pro’s quickly left Cliff. Cliff also didn’t run, he shuffled the whole way. Post race analysis of Cliff’s running mechanics/gait showed it was very energy efficient. This style of running for this event has made a lot of pro’s change their style to this one.

The pro’s knew it took 5 days to finish the race, in order to compete they decided to run 18 hours at a time then sleep 6 hours at a time. The thing was Cliff didn’t know that he just ran all through it.

Cliff literally meant he would spend 2-3 days running after his sheep. Everyone was surprised when Cliff said he was going to run it straight with no rest. By the final night he passed all the competitor’s and won the race well ahead of anyone. Set a new World Record in the process. Years later after competitor’s adopted Cliff’s outlook and style of running another day has been taken off his time.

Summary: Placebos & Drugs in the Real World

In the absence of a biological intervention

Belief that you have taken a drug might result in a therapeutic outcome
Negative expectations of the drug might result in a undesirable response

In the presence of a biological intervention

Knowledge that you have taken the drug might augment the biological effect
Ignorance of having taken the drug might offset some of the biological effect
Negative expectations of the drug might antigonise the biological effect

The human mind is very powerful if we believe something works even tho it has no significance on the outcome it will still work.

I hope you enjoyed reading this

Take care

Andrew