The general principles for building a superstructure can be applied to children, seniors, men and women. Exercise protocols that stimulate improvements in muscle hypertrophy and strength also appear to stimulate bone growth. Research has shown that resistance trained individuals, of both genders and varying ages, have higher bone mineral density than their sedentary peers. However, coaches and trainers should be aware that specific training variables such as exercise selection, rest, load, reps, volume, frequency, and tempo may need to be modified depending on the exact population of participants.

Age

The process of truly building a superstructure can begin as early as preadolescence. However, biological age and training age must be considered when beginning a resistance training routine. The strength of bone, connective tissue, and muscle should be optimized during early adulthood to prevent conditions such as sarcopenia, osteopenia, fibrosis, and osteoporosis in later adult years. That does not mean older adults cannot benefit from resistance training. However, as we age, our main resistance-training goal is more about preventing age-related atrophy than it is about peak strength.

Fitness Level

We know that beginners experience greater incremental adaptations in various aspects of fitness compared to more advanced athletes. Bone mineral density can even be improved in athletes with already high levels of bone mineral density if progressive overload is achieved. This can be tricky with an elite athlete for three reasons. First, as athletes get stronger, they have to achieve a higher intensity of exercise in order to forge continued improvement. In other words, athletes must overcome a higher minimum threshold of intensity if they expect to improve. Secondly, as with other aspects of training, there is a rate of diminishing returns as an elite athlete approaches his or her “genetic ceiling,” so to speak. Finally, with elite athletes, there is sometimes a very fine line between progressive overload and overtraining.

Therefore, an activity such as running may be intense enough for an untrained individual to achieve this minimum threshold and begin building a superstructure. In contrast, an elite athlete may need to utilize more high-impact loading activities such as plyometrics or Olympic weightlifting.

Gender

While exercise programs for men and women can be similar if not identical, there are three major considerations with respect to programs designed for women. First, postmenopausal women are at higher risk for osteoporosis due to decreased estrogen levels and impaired calcium absorption. Interrelated factors such as disordered eating, poor nutrition, severe overtraining, and amenorrhea can also lead to osteoporosis. This is known as the Female Triad and treatment requires a multidisciplinary approach. Secondly, women are more susceptible to knee injuries. Therefore, proper mechanics and alignment of the knee in relation to the foot and pelvis must be emphasized during closed-chain lower body exercise. To facilitate proper mechanics, any existing muscle imbalance must be corrected, especially between the quadriceps and hamstrings and the hip adductors and abductors. Finally, women may need to pay special attention to improvement of upper body strength.

Superstructure Principles

No matter the population involved, an exercise routine must satisfy certain requirements in order to build a superstructure. Ultimately, an exercise plan must achieve Minimal Essential Strain (MES). This is the minimal stimulus that would force the body, particularly bone, to adapt to the demands of exercise. It is also thought to be 1/10 the amount of force needed to fracture bone. To achieve MES, essential components of mechanical loading such as magnitude of load, rate of loading, direction of force, volume, frequency, and exercise selection need to be considered.

Exercise selection is the most important factor because if the correct exercises are selected, those exercises can potentially be done with both a high magnitude and high rate of loading. The proper exercises will also result in the desired direction of force. Thus the proper exercise selection can help satisfy a total of 4 of the aforementioned 6 requirements.

The exercises selected should include structural exercises. Structural exercises are weight bearing, multi-joint movements, usually with an external load, which send force vectors through the spinal column and pelvis. Essentially, the axial skeleton is loaded and at least part of the appendicular skeleton will also be loaded. Thus structural exercises are truly full-body exercises. Plyometrics and the Olympic lifts are examples of structural exercises done at a high rate of speed.

As bone and connective tissue respond to structural exercises, adaptations begin to occur in the five major areas listed below.

1. Periosteum of bones
2. Junctions between tendon and bone, and ligaments and bone
3. Within the body of tendons and ligaments
4. Cartilage Matrix
5. Network of fascia within skeletal muscle

Bones have to resist forces that could potentially bend or compress them because they are being “sandwiched” between the ground and the load being lifted. Gravity pulls down on the load and ground reaction force pushes back up against the load through the body. If this force is intense enough to meet MES, osteoblasts migrate to the bone surface and begin bone modeling. Osteoblasts produce and secrete protein, mainly collagen, and place them between bone cells to increase bone strength. This forms the bone matrix and eventually mineralizes as calcium phosphate crystals. Ultimately this allows the diameter of bone to increase and allows bone to become denser. Sustained forces are then spread over greater area, thus allowing bone to exhibit more strength.

Bones can also get stronger via another mechanism. As muscles contract, they pull on bone directly through their tendon insertion point. Furthermore, as muscles get stronger they obviously create more force. Frequently, high forces will cause an increase in bone mass and fibrous cartilage at the tendon-bone junction, which increases the strength of the insertion point. This makes athletes less susceptible to injury at this site, such as an avulsion fracture. This adaptation is yet another reason why exercise selection and exercise variety are important. Structural exercises require co-contraction of many agonist and antagonist muscles. Using a variety of exercises increases the pool. Many different muscles contracting and pulling on bones at different sites will make the bones even stronger throughout.

Tendons, ligaments, fascia and cartilage are the critical links that transfer force from muscles to the bone allowing human movement to occur. That is why they are collectively known as connective tissue. Like bone, the foundation of strength of those structures comes from their collagen content. Increased collagen will cause connective tissue to grow and get stronger. Growth is proportional to exercise intensity because connective tissue must increase their functional capabilities in response to increased muscle strength and hypertrophy. Collagen fibril diameter will increase as will the number and packing density of the fibrils. However, the true strength of collagen comes the strong and increasing chemical bond cross-links between collagen molecules.

Cartilage is unique in that it must depend on diffusion of oxygen and nutrients from synovial fluid because it lacks it own blood supply. This is a weakness of cartilage in that it does not easily heal after an injury. The fact that articular cartilage depends on synovial fluid is what links joint mobility to joint health. Full pain-free ranges of motion at different planes maintain joint health. This movement creates pressure gradients within the joint capsule to help diffuse nutrients from synovial fluid to the cartilage.

A Superstructure Routine

Many ambitious lifters often hurt themselves because they worry too much about lifting impressive loads before they've built the structure to support those loads. The consequences of a mistake could result in a deformation of a bone, ligament, tendon, or fascial compartment. This could set someone back for months to years depending on the exact nature of the injury.

Muscle hypertrophy requires four to eight weeks, while new collagen formation takes eight to 12 weeks, and bone mineralization can take three to six months. This explains how muscles can adapt ahead of connective tissue and bone.

The good news is that muscle hypertrophy, muscle strength, and bone/connective tissue density programs have many common and overlapping qualities, because a lifter will experience blended secretion of both testosterone and growth hormone from loads as light as 10RM—so there is no need to rush into using extremely heavy loads. Individuals can progress gradually to allow connective tissue and bone time to catch up to the increasingly stronger muscles.

To elicit the adaptations described above, a superstructure routine must meet the following basic requirements:

1. Load = 10RM or heavier
2. Rate of Loading = varied, plyometrics & Olympic weightlifting,
3. Direction of Force = sagittal, frontal, transverse
4. Volume = multiple set protocol
5. Frequency = 2 or 3 sessions per week
6. Exercise selection = structural, weight-bearing, compound, multi-joint

Complex Training, supersets of traditional resistance exercise and explosive resistance exercise can be utilized to satisfy the principles and requirements outlined above. The exercises listed below qualify as structural, weight bearing, compound exercises. Such exercises can utilize a load of 10RM or heavier. The first exercise in each superset should be done with a traditional, controlled tempo of 2 seconds concentrically and 3 seconds eccentrically. The second exercise of each superset is done explosively. This combination satisfies the need for varying loading rates. The assigned rest periods and alternation of lower body and upper body supersets will allow for multiple sets while minimizing the risk of performance decrements due to fatigue. Finally, all three planes of motion are involved in the plan below.

Complex training requires at least 48 hours of recovery between sessions and should only be done two to three times per week. Rest 60 to 90 seconds between individual exercises within the super-set. Rest two to three minutes between supersets. Precede the workout below with a general warm-up and dynamic flexibility movements including D1 & D2 upper and lower body PNF Patterns. Follow the workout with flexibility training and self-myofascial release. The routine below is just one example of complex training. Thus, specific design variable such as load, reps, rest, volume, and exercise selection may be modified based on the participant population.

1A. Front Squats, 2 Sets, 10 RM
1B. Medicine Ball (MB) 180-Degree Jump Squats with Diagonal Chop*, 2 Sets, 6 Jumps

2A. Dumbbell (DB) Bench Press, 2 Sets, 10 RM
2B. Weight Vest Plyo Push-Up, 2 Sets, 6 Reps

3A. DB Alternating Lateral Lunge, 2 Sets, 10 RM
3B. MB Alternating Lateral Lunge Jumps, 2 Sets, 6 Jumps

4A. Lat Pull-Down, 2 Sets, 10 RM
4B. Weight Vest Kipping Pull-Up, 2 Sets, 6 Reps

5A. DB Backward Lunge, 2 Sets, 10 RM
5B. DB Cycled Split Squat Jumps, 2 Sets, 6 Jumps

6A. Standing DB Arnold Press, 2 Sets, 10 RM
6B. Barbell Push Press, 2 Sets, 5 Reps of 75% 1RM

*For the 180-degree jump squats with diagonal medicine ball chop, begin in a quarter squat, athletic position, with the medicine ball off to the right hip. Jump up explosively while bringing ball across body and over left shoulder while turning whole body 180 degrees in the air. Land softly in a quarter squat, athletic position, facing the opposite direction, while diagonally chopping the ball to your left hip. This should be done in one smooth movement as if jumping up for a rebound and pulling the ball down away from your opponent. Repeat in opposite direction.

In conclusion, a truly strong superstructure is built from the inside out. The principles outlined in this article need to be understood so that a superstructure routine can be properly designed to optimize strength, power and performance while minimizing the risk of injury.