ASCA Podcast #109 - Dr. Tim Suchomel

ASCA Podcast

Tim Suchomel has a PhD in Sport Physiology and Performance from East Tennessee State University. He is currently an associate professor of exercise science and the program director for the Sport Physiology and Performance Coaching graduate program at Carroll University. In addition to his teaching, Tim is the Director of the Carroll University Sport Performance Institute (CUSPI) and works as a human performance coach with several teams. He has published 1 book, 10 book chapters and over 100 peer-reviewed journal articles on topics that include weightlifting movements and their derivatives, strength and power development, and athlete monitoring and was named the 2022 National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) Terry J. Housh Outstanding Young Investigator of the Year. Tim is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist with Distinction (CSCS,*D) and Registered Strength and Conditioning Coach (RSCC) through the NSCA and a Level I Performance Coach through USA Weightlifting. QUOTES “Accentuated Eccentric Loading (AEL) is prescribing an additional load that we can handle in the eccentric load before removing it in the concentric phase, and the other thing that has to be involved is pairing the eccentric and concentric phase so there is no delay between them” “The eccentric duration makes a big difference in the adaptation you will get with AEL” “If you were chasing strength from a loading standpoint, the gap between what is on the bar and what is on the weight releasers should be relatively small; however if I have a wider gap, that may favor RFD and power production” “With AEL, I would question is does the individual have the capacity to do it and do you need AEL on every repetition?” “One of things I would tell people first and foremost is when you are going to implement AEL 1) you don’t have to do it with everything and you shouldn’t be doing it with everything and 2) you’re probably not going to be doing this over consecutive training blocks for a long period of time" SHOWNOTES 1) The update on what Tim’s has been up to since our last episode (#31) 2) The ins and outs of Accentuated Eccentric Loading (AEL) and the benefits of using AEL 3) Why it is not always necessary to go supramaximal with athletes doing AEL and maintaining natural movement speed 4) The pros and cons of increasing the eccentric contraction duration e.g., tempo during training 5) AEL programming recommendations to target different training goals (e.g., hypertrophy, strength) 6) Practical advice for implementing AEL with weight releasers, dumbbells or other tools and the best upper body exercise variations for AEL 7) Different repetition schemes for AEL, moderating the influence on fatigue and why flywheel training is not necessarily AEL 8) Key aspects to programming AEL for athletes and factors that influence the time course of recovery for AEL 9) The benefits of keeping training simple for the vast majority of athletes and understanding the underpinning characteristics of how athletes achieve physical performances PEOPLE MENTIONED Jeremy Sheppard John Wagle John Hughes