This past weekend Danny (my business partner), Tim (one of our part-time assistant coaches) and I traveled to NYC to participate in the DVRT Level I&II certification. Tim and I were going through the certification and Danny was assisting as he is a Master Instructor in the DVRT System.
So lets start off with, What the heck is DVRT?
DVRT stands for Dynamic Variable Resistance Training. In general it refers to the use of training implements that have an interior load that is not static. The key is a weight that is not static provides an unstable training implement to add another training stimulus to the exercise. It also adds another layer of progression to exercises without necessarily having to add weight. Also, because of the dynamic nature of these progressions and the implements that we utilize, in general, it will have a greater crossover into overall athletics compared to static resistance and metabolic training methods.
Lets break it down a little further.
DVRT stands for Dynamic Variable Resistance Training. In general it refers to the use of training implements that have an interior load that is not static. The key is a weight that is not static provides an unstable training implement to add another training stimulus to the exercise. It also adds another layer of progression to exercises without necessarily having to add weight. Also, because of the dynamic nature of these progressions and the implements that we utilize, in general, it will have a greater crossover into overall athletics compared to static resistance and metabolic training methods.
Lets break it down a little further.
Movement Over Muscles: This is not a new concept, but we still find it common to hear about body part training programs. If you are still working from a training program with "Leg Day" or "Arm Day" it is time to hop in your time machine and head back to 2015. The scary thing is most of the time I hear references to programming based off certain muscles when our observational students and interns talk about what they do in their workouts.
And I instantly think...
And I instantly think...
All joking aside, I had two big take away moments from this discussion in that there are usually two sides of this "functional" spectrum. One being using "functional" exercises that are too complex and have no progressions, and the other end being focusing on "hardcore" exercises to develop maximal strength without fully preparing athletes for these exercises. The take aways were not that the program here falls into one of those categories, but that are system can be improved using more DVRT concepts to fill holes in our exercise progressions and incorporate more development of the neurological system. In other words, we can create more steps as we move to more challenging exercises so we keep athletes from struggling with technique for to long of a time.
Progressive Overload: It was interesting going through the formal certification as I have been exposed to the DVRT system for over a year now. When I first started learning about the system from Danny this concept peaked my interest right away. Progressive overload is a fundamental principle in strength & conditioning stating that in order elicit a training effect the body must be overloaded by the training stimulus. In laymans terms, "if it doesn't challenge you, it doesn't change you". Until being exposed to the DVRT system this for the most part meant... add more weight. We could always move to a more challenging exercise but oftentimes with beginners that would be inappropriate. And also with beginners, adding more weight can be inappropriate when they are just being exposed to resistance training. Let me give you an example; say we have a young female athlete just beginning to strength train working with the bench press exercise. We start her with a 15 lb bar, after a session or two she is ready to progress, but by adding 2.5 lb plates to either side is the only option we have as far as increasing the weight. This does not seem like much, but it is a 5 lb jump in weight which is a 25% increase. If that is hard to grasp, imagine a high school male reaching 200lbs on the bench press and then next workout taking him to 250lbs, hardly appropriate. The DVRT system creates many new avenues for progression without adding more weight. Things like holding position, body position, plane of motion the exercise is executed in, or changing the stability of the implement providing the weight as well, can all progress and challenge an athlete without the demand of adding more weight.
Which Overhead Press is Harder?
Progressive Overload: It was interesting going through the formal certification as I have been exposed to the DVRT system for over a year now. When I first started learning about the system from Danny this concept peaked my interest right away. Progressive overload is a fundamental principle in strength & conditioning stating that in order elicit a training effect the body must be overloaded by the training stimulus. In laymans terms, "if it doesn't challenge you, it doesn't change you". Until being exposed to the DVRT system this for the most part meant... add more weight. We could always move to a more challenging exercise but oftentimes with beginners that would be inappropriate. And also with beginners, adding more weight can be inappropriate when they are just being exposed to resistance training. Let me give you an example; say we have a young female athlete just beginning to strength train working with the bench press exercise. We start her with a 15 lb bar, after a session or two she is ready to progress, but by adding 2.5 lb plates to either side is the only option we have as far as increasing the weight. This does not seem like much, but it is a 5 lb jump in weight which is a 25% increase. If that is hard to grasp, imagine a high school male reaching 200lbs on the bench press and then next workout taking him to 250lbs, hardly appropriate. The DVRT system creates many new avenues for progression without adding more weight. Things like holding position, body position, plane of motion the exercise is executed in, or changing the stability of the implement providing the weight as well, can all progress and challenge an athlete without the demand of adding more weight.
Which Overhead Press is Harder?
Strict Press 100lb Burly Bag
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Rotational Press 80lb Burly Bag
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1/2 Kneeling Arc Press 30 Power Bag
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One could surely make the argument that even though we are comparing different athletes, who are all overhead pressing, the press becomes progressively harder as you move through the pictures from left to right despite the decrease in implement weight.
Mixing Simplicity with Complexity: Training athletes is inherently different than training a general population fat loss client. Athletes need to build great efficiency with exercises so that maximal strength/power can be achieved. Fat loss clients fight against efficiency in order to maximize caloric/metabolic demand. Therefore a fat loss client requires much more variation in programming, and an athlete needs to hammer the basics to maximize certain qualities. But this doesn't mean athletes need to do the same thing all the time... enter the DVRT system. Sports and athleticism are dynamic and complex. This system allows us to maximize strength and power qualities in an environment that is closer to mimicking the environment of sports, but also ensures a safe training environment as one gains a firm understanding of the progressions within the system.
Addressing the Specific Needs of Clients: All athletes in our program come in with specific goals. These goals become our goals, but we also have to have our training programmed to allow for coaching efficiency. We can't have a group of 9 athletes all running around with programs that are all completely different. We control for that by using a program template that keeps our athletes executing our program efficiently so that they can be coached properly. This does not mean all athletes have to be doing the exact same thing. Take the overhead pressing exercises pictured above. Our template on Day 1 in the third grouping of exercises will say Vertical Press. If I have an athlete looking to maximize vertical pressing strength we can do a strict press looking to progress by adding a heavier sandbag/KB/Barbell. Conversely, if I have an athlete who struggles to control their pelvis from shifting side-to-side when they run, the 1/2 kneeling arc press will address their predominant need (core stability) while fulfilling the vertical press exercise in the template.
What if they need both pressing strength and core stability? DVRT System has us covered... a simple adjustment in body position to moving the feet right next to each other will increase the stability demands of the core to stabilize the body, with a narrow base, under the weight of the 100lb Burly bag.
Mixing Simplicity with Complexity: Training athletes is inherently different than training a general population fat loss client. Athletes need to build great efficiency with exercises so that maximal strength/power can be achieved. Fat loss clients fight against efficiency in order to maximize caloric/metabolic demand. Therefore a fat loss client requires much more variation in programming, and an athlete needs to hammer the basics to maximize certain qualities. But this doesn't mean athletes need to do the same thing all the time... enter the DVRT system. Sports and athleticism are dynamic and complex. This system allows us to maximize strength and power qualities in an environment that is closer to mimicking the environment of sports, but also ensures a safe training environment as one gains a firm understanding of the progressions within the system.
Addressing the Specific Needs of Clients: All athletes in our program come in with specific goals. These goals become our goals, but we also have to have our training programmed to allow for coaching efficiency. We can't have a group of 9 athletes all running around with programs that are all completely different. We control for that by using a program template that keeps our athletes executing our program efficiently so that they can be coached properly. This does not mean all athletes have to be doing the exact same thing. Take the overhead pressing exercises pictured above. Our template on Day 1 in the third grouping of exercises will say Vertical Press. If I have an athlete looking to maximize vertical pressing strength we can do a strict press looking to progress by adding a heavier sandbag/KB/Barbell. Conversely, if I have an athlete who struggles to control their pelvis from shifting side-to-side when they run, the 1/2 kneeling arc press will address their predominant need (core stability) while fulfilling the vertical press exercise in the template.
What if they need both pressing strength and core stability? DVRT System has us covered... a simple adjustment in body position to moving the feet right next to each other will increase the stability demands of the core to stabilize the body, with a narrow base, under the weight of the 100lb Burly bag.
Hopefully this has given you a good understanding of the Dynamic Variable Resistance Training (DVRT) system, and how we have implement the system so far. We look forward to implementing even more DVRT concepts into our programming as we are on a constant journey to provide the best training experience possible, and change the way sports performance is done!
A special shout to Mark Fisher Fitness, who hosted the DVRT Lv I & II in which we attended in NYC. This facility was truly unique, as you can see a small part of in some of the pictures from this blog. Being there you could just sense the client culture that had been built there, and how everyone felt at home in their gym environment. Great job Mark, and thanks again.
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