Well thanks, hits
Thanks
Guys, I did want to point out a few things since I’ve noticed so many people are doing DE type training.
I’m aware that WSB almost seems to make it a foregone that DE training will be benefit EVERYONE’S absolute strength. Assuming that absolute strength IS your goal and we are not talking about vertical jumps or something there are a few things to consider.
The first is that a significant increase in absolute strength is a foundational requirement to develop speed. If you take a person who already has achieved a great deal of strength then that person will not derive too much benefit, in speed terms, from more max strength work or anything of slow velocity. But for a person who is starting out with low or average absolute strength, then strength training including max strength training develops speed, i.e. rate of force development or explosive power…up to a point. What this means is that there is a time in your training that speed work will derive very little ADDITIONAL benefit for you YET. We must assess what we are doing. You can figure out pretty easily whether you are relatively slow or fast at different intensities and that can tell you a bunch.
The DE training at lower intensities is not a BAD thing of course. Hell, for one thing it is a perfect “technique” practice. So really what I’m getting at is don’t use a sledge hammer to drive a nail.
As an example, if you are an intermediate or more beginning lifter engaged in the business of developing absolute strength (this is assuming that is you one goal and you are not a power athlete) and you put 50% of your 1RM on the bar for DE training only to find that you are lightning fast and are practically sending it into orbit…well…your speed has for the time being improved and coincided with your strength development in general. This is just like it is with everything when first starting out…general adaptation. Fast is fast. On the other hand if 50% (or maybe even 40% depending upon the movement) feels very slow and on par with much higher intensities in terms of speed…well you can figure that out. Likewise with greater and greater intensities moving up the continuum from speed-strength, to power, to strength-speed.
I’ve read many times people just making simple absolute statements like “strength training increases maximal strength but does little to change the rate of force development”. But my point is that depends on how much max strength you’ve already developed. At first just lifting a weight increases rate of force development. And I would point out, since we are talking about strength, that you never INTENTIONALY lift a weight slowly anyway…like a bodybuilder might. Intention does count and it has been shown that intentinally lifting in an explosive a manner as possible REGARDLESS of the intensity does improve it….
Also, don’t neglect SSC (stetch shortening cycle) training. Which is why I mentioned that yes, box squats and Anderson squats are great, but DE free squats, or banded de free squats, and squat jumps and things like that are very valuable. Remember that when you do an actual short you need to be able to quickly decelerate the weight, store that potential energey in the muscles, and use it to help explode back up. You can’t do this with box squats or the like.
BTW, I want to emphasize that I really mean it, that imo, INTENTION is more important than actual speed when developing absolute strength. And yes, there is actual study evidence to back this up. Don't let anybody tell you that if the bar doesn't move as fast as you'd like it's not doing you any good. As long as you TRY to move it as fast as possilbe then all sorts of good adapations are happening. Increase in muscle tension, etc...
I know many won't agree with this but you have to consider what really happens more than what people TELL you will happen
. Basically, what some of these studies seem to show is that increased intramuscular tension, rfd, etc...can be gained by simply intending to do an ISOMETRIC exercise with more explosive force for a period of time and then have those increases actually produce increases in contractile movements. So, in this case, not only is the speed of movement the key, since there is no movement, but simply the intention. Not to say that you don't want to increase you speed.
According to Steven Plisk ,this is known as Full volitional effort - a deliberate attempt to maximally accelerate the resistance, even if it’s too heavy to move rapidly, and it yields the greatest neuromuscular excitation and subsequently adaptive response. This quote is taken from "Conditioning for Strength and Human Performance" by T. Jeff Chandler and Lee E. Brown.