**7. Discussion**

The athlete and coach considered the 1RM increase of 11% after a four-week block of EOL training followed by six weeks of maintenance training (five weeks skiing with strength maintenance and a regeneration week) a good training result. This increase may have been greater if she had performed a 1RM test one or two weeks after the four-week SME phase. This particular athlete had performed squats for over 15 years, but through most of her career had not trained "heavy" (1–3 maximal repetitions). Coaches and sport scientists concur that maximal absolute strength is best trained with heavy weights and low repetitions [32–34], and her strength gains were largely due to the increased intensity.

The increase in intensity and volume was gradual; this athlete was not familiar with heavy squats. The training volume on 4 July was so high because one-legged squats were performed. The athlete felt tired physically and psychologically and did not want to perform heavy squats, so single leg squats were used. However, as she progressed in the workout, she managed to do two sets of EOL single leg squats with 90 kg. The coach must understand the psychology of an athlete lifting heavy weights. The intensity is always relative to the athlete and their personal 1RM. The last SME session had the highest intensity with relatively low volume. The athlete squatted 5 kg more than her original 1RM for three repetitions. In subsequent seasons, this athlete was using as much as 165 kg for EOL squats.

The athlete felt that the increase in leg strength with SME training had a positive influence on her skiing. She also believed that the heavier loads used for squats improved her core stability. Some coaches maintain that heavy squats are one of the best core exercises.

One problem with comparing leg strength with ski racers is that there is no benchmark test. Austrian ski racers are tested with a multi-joint isokinetic leg press, and some nations use a single joint isokinetic leg extension machine; others test with squats. The problem with squats is that technique and squat depth varies from athlete to athlete, and nation to nation. One conditioning coach working with world class female racers insists that his athletes use deep squats similar to weightlifters, in which the hip joint is much deeper than the knee, often with the thighs on the calves. This is often referred to as a full depth squat. Others use a 90◦ knee angle as the bottom position, but many refer to this as a half squat, because of the minimal depth. In the present case study, the athlete used a depth similar to power lifters, with the top of the thigh below the top of the knee.

The following is mainly anecdotal evidence, but there is very little published work on squats with alpine ski racers. Beate Amdahl (now Amdahl Skorpen) was a Norwegian female powerlifter. At a body weight of 60 kg, she increased her 1RM from 180 kg to 210 kg during two years of eccentric training [17]. It should be clear that as a powerlifter, her competitive goal is to lift as much weight as possible for one repetition in competition. Pernilla Wiberg, a very successful Swedish female ski racer, had a best squat of 170 kg at a bodyweight of 67 kg. The depth of this squat was slightly above the depth of a powerlifting squat. Norwegian scientists have stated that all female Norwegian World Cup ski racers during the 1990s could squat 2.2 times their body weight once (powerlifting squat) [17]. The conditioning coach of one of the most successful male ski racers ever, Andre Kjetil Ammodt, maintained that Aamodt could squat 220 kg at 85 kg bodyweight, or 2.6 times his bodyweight.

Ski racers are using eccentric training to ge<sup>t</sup> stronger. A meta-analysis [35] determined that eccentric training is superior for strength and mass gains compared to concentric training, possibly due to the higher loading in eccentric work.

Enhanced strength gains from eccentric training are related to the neural demands of eccentric work. Eccentric movements require less motor unit recruitment than concentric [36], so the recruited motor units receive much more stimulation [37,38]. Nervous system control of eccentric actions is more complex than that of concentric work [36]; thus, neural adaptations to eccentric training are greater than those to concentric training [39].

The increased central nervous system load during SME leads to greater strength gains, but coaches and athletes must be wary of overtraining. In the present case study, SME twice a week elicited satisfactory strength gains without adverse e ffects. Norwegian sport scientists have recommended that athletes train with SME only once per week [17].

The 1080 Quantum Synchro by 1080 Motion is a new device that also allows SME with a barbell, but in a Smith machine, so the athlete does not have to control the path of the barbell. This is an unnatural way to perform barbell exercises and the athlete does not have to balance the barbell. The 1080 Quantum Synchro can be used with the following forms of resistance: isokinetic, normal mass, isotonic and ballistic. It appears that the eccentric barbell movements are isokinetic, but isokinetic movements do not exist in sport. It has a maximum eccentric resistance load of 325 kg; the IML can be loaded up to 400 kg. The 1080 Quantum Synchro can also be used with a cable system to allow sport-specific movements. This device looks very promising, and has been used in research [40].

The IML allows an athlete to train heavy with EOL squats with just one coach or partner to control the IML. Eccentric training is becoming more popular in GPP strength programs for alpine ski racers, and the authors believe that this trend will continue.
