Scramblog Aerobic & Lactate GPP and Mouth taping for better…
I’ve written before about Aerobic and Lactate GPP circuits we use at Powering Through. We use these blocks to prepare athletes before more intensive strength and conditioning cycles but also to raise base physical qualities, such as general fitness, resting heart rate, BP and local lactate tolerance.
We take simple compound exercise pairings and put them together and have the athlete alternate between them for 5 minutes at about 50-60% loading going rep for rep. Each session the athlete will try and do more reps within the same amount of time or try for more reps within 30s chunks of the whole 5 minutes. Some of your might recognize this as EDT style training. Between 5 minute work block we can schedule 5 minute mobility and balancing work. Got tight shoulders? Mobilize those and strength your upper back. Got tight hips? Look to add a yoga flow or some bodyweight lunge and leg stretches. We’ll often tape the mouth during these sessions why? Read on below.
Here’s a Sample Session
Warm-up
Bench and Trap Bar – 5 Mins 1 rep each alternating (60% of 1RM) Mouth taped.
- 5 Mins mobility. Band Pull apart/spiderman with reach/Six Point Zenith
Chins and Dips RDL 5 Mins 1 rep each alternating (60%)
- 5 Mins mobility. Band dislocation/Alternating half pigeon/half kneeling press (light
Chin up and Sled Chest Drives 5 Mins 1 rep each alternating (60%)
- Foam Rolling, band based stretching, iso holds.
Why mouth taping?
While there isn’t strictly any need to tape the mouth, I find athletes especially non endurance based athletes mouth breathe often without realizing it. Mouth breathing decreases functionality of the lungs which results in reduced endurance obviously. Nose breathing helps you maintain parasympathetic tone which is important for oxygen uptake and deeper breathing. Another factor is increased NO (nitric oxide) production when mouth is taped. NO is linked to blood pressure and oxygen binding among other things. Now you could just keep your mouth closed obviously but some people just need some ducttape based reminder to keep their mouths shut. This focus on nose breathing obviously can be very useful for grapplers in positions where mouth breathing maybe restricted. Below is supporting research put together by Matt Van Dyke
https://www.researchgate.net/…/14600296_Comparison_of_maxim…
http://jap.physiology.org/content/65/4/1520
https://www.researchgate.net/…/22406673_The_role_of_hyperve…
https://journals.tdl.org/jhp/index.php/JHP/article/view/70
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28674596
https://journals.aiac.org.au/…/I…/article/viewFile/3079/2548
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/677559
https://www.researchgate.net/…/287204150_Intraoral_pH_and_t…
https://www.researchgate.net/…/15755325_The_Switching_Point…
https://www.researchgate.net/…/235995492_Physiology_of_nost…
Lacate Based GPP
The intention is now to build lactate specific qualities but locally for improved sprint ability but also tax the body globally for continued aerobic training effect (running 400m would be a global lactate GPP method for instance). This also include local lactate accumulation methods such as isometric holds and oscillatory movements cause fatigue accumulation by different means one through static action the other through rapid contraction and relaxation, with the intent being as much local fatigue accumulation as possible so muscle is more resistant to mast product accumulation. Useful if your sport is particularly fatiguing to specific muscles. We can also mouth tape during these sessioms, it however is much harder than the aerobic GPP.
This can be performed as a 3,4 or 5 day program;
Day 1 Lactate EDT training – 5 min 35-50% 10 reps 2 exercise alternating
Day 2 30s Isometric lactate GPP – 30s hold 3 exercise 10s between each 1-3 sets
Day 3 Lactate EDT training – 5 min 35-50% 10 reps 2 exercise alternating
Day 4 30s Oscillatory Conditioning – 30s oscillatory 3 exercise 10s between each 1-3 sets
Day 5 Lactate EDT – 5 min 35-50% 10 reps 2 exercise alternating
These can be performed as solely the lactate EDT sessions and the Iso and oscillatory sessions added.
Lactate Based EDT
30s Isometric GPP
30s Extended Oscillatory GPP
These GPP blocks should have athletes prepared for intensive lifting to come. On a personal note I always feel better for completing a cycle as it allows me an opportunity to fix weaknesses that have cropped up during the course of my own regular training.
This is an ongoing series of blog posts from William Wayland CSCS of Powering Through, owner of Powering Through Performance in essex, who works with UFC and other high level combat athletes. Twitter. Facebook
