I was first introduced to oscillatory work as a peaking method through Cal Dietz’s triphasic training. This method can be used during any block but it’s mainly used during peaking blocks. The idea is much like isometrics, it is used to improve strength, power, or speed qualities at specific joint angles. This type of training is probably at the edge of what is pragmatic and justifiable based on our understanding of current research. It represents a lot of tinkering on Cal Dietz part, I have run with it and adapted it, to make it work with my athletes. This probably makes up maybe 5% or less of my approach which for the most part, is meat and potatoes style strength and conditioning.
The question of weight room speed is a hot one, with higher velocity barbell exercises giving way to ballistic and plyometric, or in the case of the field athlete giving way to sprinting and COD drills. But here’s the thing, maybe 20% of the athletes I work with are field athletes. The bridge of transfer for them is less clear. One of the tools I implement, have tinkered with, and been exploring for some time are oscillatory type movements.
Oscillatory Training
When I first saw oscillatory work, I was utterly perplexed. It looked like something someone would do to garner attention on social media and this was before the modern scourge of clout chasing with wacky exercises.
But looking into the contract-relax relationship it started to make much more sense. The idea of this is to get the muscle to contract and relax very quickly, changing between an eccentric and a concentric contraction as quickly as possible. Dr Matveyev found through his research that the difference between elite athletes and great athletes was not the speed at which they could contract the active muscles. The difference was in the athlete’s ability to relax the opposing muscles.
The athlete who could relax the opposing muscles the quickest performed with more speed and therefore performed better. The idea being that reciprocal inhibition brought about by this oscillating increases levels of neuromuscular activation. These three methods are underpinned by this idea, in varying respects, they are trying to achieve this outcome.
The Oscillatory Method
Key points
Dietz talks about 2 types of oscillatory movements.
The oscillatory method works very well for the upper body due to the higher innervation and motor control. It can be used for the lower body, but the movements used need to be selected based on the needs of the athlete. For instance, a more strength dominant lineman would use more advantaged positions for peaking but for specific strength development use they would use disadvantaged oscillatory work.
Examples are
Bench Press Oscillatory
Squat Oscillatory
Row Oscillatory
Generally, deep squats are not implemented much as this position is not very specific to any athletic requirements, except maybe a few instances. Also, the contract/relax rates tend to be slower in this position which defeats the purpose of the exercise, but in the right context, it can still be implemented. There are more oscillatory exercise variations than one can count over on Cal Dietz YouTube, many are joint-specific, so I suggest checking those out.
Sets are implemented in mainly 2 ways. Total time oscillatory sets and oscillatory pulses. Total time sets mean the oscillatory position is maintained at the desired specified position for a timed set of usually 5-10 seconds, this can then be followed by a full rep, written as 4 x OC 5sec +1 for example. The pulse is an oscillation for 1-3 pulses at the desired range followed by a full rep or reps, usually written for example as 4 x 5 + OC2.
The beauty of this approach is it can be performed with existing conventional equipment such as dumbbells and barbells.
AFSM Method
Key Points
Meaning Antagonistically Facilitated Shock Method. This is a near cousin to oscillatory training, this method is used during high-velocity low force blocks before a competition. We use this type of work along with jumps and ballistic to help with high-speed peaking. Outwardly, it is probably the most unusual looking method we employ.
Many often see similar approaches usually at late-stage hamstring rehabilitation, either kicking a band or swiss ball. We do not see this approach much with the upper body. The aim is the same as the oscillatory method, trying to employ the rapid contract-relax mechanism, tapping into the stretch-shortening cycle.
The idea is that we are exploiting what is known as Sherrington’s Law of Reciprocal Inhibition: For every neural activation of a muscle (agonist), there is a corresponding inhibition of the opposing muscle (antagonist). So, if I contract my quad, my hamstrings must relax at the same time and vice versa.
We set it up in a fashion that allows for a rapid contraction from the antagonist muscle groups, so bands are useful for applying a rapid eccentric. The feeling should be one of a rapid push-pull but over a greater range of motion than oscillatory exercises. The rapid pull with antagonistic muscle is where the ‘shock’ comes from. Requiring a rapid reversal of muscle action.
AFSM Row
On the row a band is placed across the chest from above, to remove some of the cheating from the hips which slows down the whole movement, the idea is that we want to target the back, not the hips.
AFSM Bench Press
This strange-looking set-up is so that movement becomes both a push and a pull and requires deceleration at each end of the movement, unlike a lightweight bench which demands you decelerate every rep thus slowing everything down. A partner holds the hips down to stop the athlete from coming off the bench, due to the violent nature of the movement.
AFSM RDL
This requires a band strung across a rack usually with a handle (kettlebell works well) and a focus on rapid push and pull, allowing the band to rapidly pull you down and then explode back up again.
AFSM Squat
The key action here is using the hip flexors and hamstrings to rapidly pull you into the movement then explode back out again.
Application
Applied as timed sets, usually under 10 seconds, because the ability to perform this type of high-velocity work is limited largely by the Alactic energy system. This is done to keep the quality high and to avoid it becoming a muscular endurance task.
Because of the low-cost nature of these exercises, we often program them as double and triple sets with non-competing exercises.
Reflexive Trimetric Method (RTM)
Key Points
Where I began implementing them was with combat athletes, particularly MMA. This came after much observation of how combat athletes actually use the floor. Here are the important points; they are unshod, the playing surface is often soft, and many have pronounced navicular drop, something noted by the UFCPI. This common midfoot collapse means that the athletes do not use the ground as a field sport athlete would. I’ve tried adding spring ankle complex drills in the past, but many hours every day of unshod training cannot be fixed by a few drills performed for a few minutes a day. So robbed of ankle dominant SSC, the athletes generally stick and strike, using kinetic linking and what Stuart McGill calls the double pulse to generate striking force. The RTM method was a great fit for a bridging and peaking standpoint for these athletes.
Dietz also suggests that it can be implemented with athletes that are strong in utilising the SSC in the ankle complex but perhaps could get more out of their hip and knee complex. Discernment of which come from monitoring athletes if they have compensation patterns of using primarily hip or knee to drive jumping.
Pick your RTM exercise based on the sports needs, functionality and how they express their jumping pattern. So, a knee jumper should focus on an RTM exercise that engages hips and a hip jump uses squat-based RTM exercise. The other difference between this and the other methods is that it can be used during heavier complexes and not just peaking.
Application
Dietz suggests sets of 3-5 reps, but I have also used time sets of 5-7 seconds. Any more results in slow down and diminishment of the training effect.
This approach requires a weight belt a fixed anchor point and a lot of heavy bands, a handhold to facilitate the rapid push/pull is also useful. So, this setup will not be very viable in a busy commercial gym.
Watch the athlete closely, the key to execution is that the athlete’s heels do not come off the floor, ideally, we are trying to train the hip and knee complex, not the ankle.
French Contrast Style Squat RTM For Strength
Here an athlete performs RTM exercise as a French contrast complex, performing the RTM in place of what would typically be a loaded jump of some sort.
Ascending Correspondence Single-Leg RTM For Peaking
Here the athlete who is hip dominant is using single-leg RTM knee focused exercise to potentiate subsequent ballistics with the final exercise being the med ball throw. The aim of this particular setup is to improve GRF from ground to hand.
Making it work
This approach is additive, so you can take your current peaking approach and look to implement, Oscillatory, AFSM or RTM as you see fit. Matt Van Dyke suggests organising AFSM/RTM and Oscillatory work on different training days, however, they can be mixed. Below is a suggested 3-day block and a mixed 5-day block. The RTM method is best applied as an AFSM method.
The question of weight room speed is a hot one, with higher velocity barbell exercises giving way to ballistic and plyometric, or in the case of the field athlete giving way to sprinting and COD drills. But here’s the thing, maybe 20% of the athletes I work with are field athletes. The bridge of transfer for them is less clear. One of the tools I implement, have tinkered with, and been exploring for some time are oscillatory type movements.
Oscillatory Training
When I first saw oscillatory work, I was utterly perplexed. It looked like something someone would do to garner attention on social media and this was before the modern scourge of clout chasing with wacky exercises.
But looking into the contract-relax relationship it started to make much more sense. The idea of this is to get the muscle to contract and relax very quickly, changing between an eccentric and a concentric contraction as quickly as possible. Dr Matveyev found through his research that the difference between elite athletes and great athletes was not the speed at which they could contract the active muscles. The difference was in the athlete’s ability to relax the opposing muscles.
The athlete who could relax the opposing muscles the quickest performed with more speed and therefore performed better. The idea being that reciprocal inhibition brought about by this oscillating increases levels of neuromuscular activation. These three methods are underpinned by this idea, in varying respects, they are trying to achieve this outcome.
The Oscillatory Method
Key points
- Targets specific joint angles, choose on an athlete needs basis
- Peaking exercise
- Very rapid ‘pulse’ to movement
- Simple to set-up
Dietz talks about 2 types of oscillatory movements.
- The most mechanically disadvantaged position
- The most mechanically advantaged position
The oscillatory method works very well for the upper body due to the higher innervation and motor control. It can be used for the lower body, but the movements used need to be selected based on the needs of the athlete. For instance, a more strength dominant lineman would use more advantaged positions for peaking but for specific strength development use they would use disadvantaged oscillatory work.
Examples are
Bench Press Oscillatory
Squat Oscillatory
Row Oscillatory
Generally, deep squats are not implemented much as this position is not very specific to any athletic requirements, except maybe a few instances. Also, the contract/relax rates tend to be slower in this position which defeats the purpose of the exercise, but in the right context, it can still be implemented. There are more oscillatory exercise variations than one can count over on Cal Dietz YouTube, many are joint-specific, so I suggest checking those out.
Sets are implemented in mainly 2 ways. Total time oscillatory sets and oscillatory pulses. Total time sets mean the oscillatory position is maintained at the desired specified position for a timed set of usually 5-10 seconds, this can then be followed by a full rep, written as 4 x OC 5sec +1 for example. The pulse is an oscillation for 1-3 pulses at the desired range followed by a full rep or reps, usually written for example as 4 x 5 + OC2.
The beauty of this approach is it can be performed with existing conventional equipment such as dumbbells and barbells.
AFSM Method
Key Points
- Antagonistically facilitated shock method
- Peaking exercise
- Exercises need to have a rapid push-pull component
- Drive the movement in both directions
- Move as fast as possible
Meaning Antagonistically Facilitated Shock Method. This is a near cousin to oscillatory training, this method is used during high-velocity low force blocks before a competition. We use this type of work along with jumps and ballistic to help with high-speed peaking. Outwardly, it is probably the most unusual looking method we employ.
Many often see similar approaches usually at late-stage hamstring rehabilitation, either kicking a band or swiss ball. We do not see this approach much with the upper body. The aim is the same as the oscillatory method, trying to employ the rapid contract-relax mechanism, tapping into the stretch-shortening cycle.
The idea is that we are exploiting what is known as Sherrington’s Law of Reciprocal Inhibition: For every neural activation of a muscle (agonist), there is a corresponding inhibition of the opposing muscle (antagonist). So, if I contract my quad, my hamstrings must relax at the same time and vice versa.
We set it up in a fashion that allows for a rapid contraction from the antagonist muscle groups, so bands are useful for applying a rapid eccentric. The feeling should be one of a rapid push-pull but over a greater range of motion than oscillatory exercises. The rapid pull with antagonistic muscle is where the ‘shock’ comes from. Requiring a rapid reversal of muscle action.
AFSM Row
On the row a band is placed across the chest from above, to remove some of the cheating from the hips which slows down the whole movement, the idea is that we want to target the back, not the hips.
AFSM Bench Press
This strange-looking set-up is so that movement becomes both a push and a pull and requires deceleration at each end of the movement, unlike a lightweight bench which demands you decelerate every rep thus slowing everything down. A partner holds the hips down to stop the athlete from coming off the bench, due to the violent nature of the movement.
AFSM RDL
This requires a band strung across a rack usually with a handle (kettlebell works well) and a focus on rapid push and pull, allowing the band to rapidly pull you down and then explode back up again.
AFSM Squat
The key action here is using the hip flexors and hamstrings to rapidly pull you into the movement then explode back out again.
Application
Applied as timed sets, usually under 10 seconds, because the ability to perform this type of high-velocity work is limited largely by the Alactic energy system. This is done to keep the quality high and to avoid it becoming a muscular endurance task.
Because of the low-cost nature of these exercises, we often program them as double and triple sets with non-competing exercises.
Reflexive Trimetric Method (RTM)
Key Points
- Removes the ankle as a rate limiter for the hip and knee for rapid force production
- Move as fast as possible
- Feet must stay anchored
- Requires a heavy banded set-up and anchor point
- Not viable to commercial gyms
Where I began implementing them was with combat athletes, particularly MMA. This came after much observation of how combat athletes actually use the floor. Here are the important points; they are unshod, the playing surface is often soft, and many have pronounced navicular drop, something noted by the UFCPI. This common midfoot collapse means that the athletes do not use the ground as a field sport athlete would. I’ve tried adding spring ankle complex drills in the past, but many hours every day of unshod training cannot be fixed by a few drills performed for a few minutes a day. So robbed of ankle dominant SSC, the athletes generally stick and strike, using kinetic linking and what Stuart McGill calls the double pulse to generate striking force. The RTM method was a great fit for a bridging and peaking standpoint for these athletes.
Dietz also suggests that it can be implemented with athletes that are strong in utilising the SSC in the ankle complex but perhaps could get more out of their hip and knee complex. Discernment of which come from monitoring athletes if they have compensation patterns of using primarily hip or knee to drive jumping.
Pick your RTM exercise based on the sports needs, functionality and how they express their jumping pattern. So, a knee jumper should focus on an RTM exercise that engages hips and a hip jump uses squat-based RTM exercise. The other difference between this and the other methods is that it can be used during heavier complexes and not just peaking.
Application
Dietz suggests sets of 3-5 reps, but I have also used time sets of 5-7 seconds. Any more results in slow down and diminishment of the training effect.
This approach requires a weight belt a fixed anchor point and a lot of heavy bands, a handhold to facilitate the rapid push/pull is also useful. So, this setup will not be very viable in a busy commercial gym.
Watch the athlete closely, the key to execution is that the athlete’s heels do not come off the floor, ideally, we are trying to train the hip and knee complex, not the ankle.
French Contrast Style Squat RTM For Strength
- Squat x 4
- Hurdle x 4
- RTM x 4
- Accelerated Jump x 4
Here an athlete performs RTM exercise as a French contrast complex, performing the RTM in place of what would typically be a loaded jump of some sort.
Ascending Correspondence Single-Leg RTM For Peaking
- RTM Squat x 5s
- RTM Jammer Throw x 5
- RTM Med ball Throw x 5
Here the athlete who is hip dominant is using single-leg RTM knee focused exercise to potentiate subsequent ballistics with the final exercise being the med ball throw. The aim of this particular setup is to improve GRF from ground to hand.
Making it work
This approach is additive, so you can take your current peaking approach and look to implement, Oscillatory, AFSM or RTM as you see fit. Matt Van Dyke suggests organising AFSM/RTM and Oscillatory work on different training days, however, they can be mixed. Below is a suggested 3-day block and a mixed 5-day block. The RTM method is best applied as an AFSM method.
