42 Things I Learned Leading Up To 2013 - John Welbourn

I found this post a couple days ago and I had to share it with all my followers. It makes a lot of sense but is also a humorous read. Enjoy

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Originally posted by John Welbourn

In early January I was working on a year in review, it got scraped it as it seemed much of the same content regurgitated in humorous ways. So, I decided to offer a different format. These are the 42 things I have learned leading up to 2013.

1. Know what you are training for.
We often sat at the seminars and my gym, “What are you training?” This translate into, you need a goal, a destination for your journey. Without you are left to wander, and this site is not called Kung Fu and you are not Caine. Pick a goal, chart a course, keep your head down and don’t come up for air until you meet it.

2. The squat is the foundation of any good program.
A program that does not involve the squat is incomplete. Any coach that tells you, you shouldn’t squat as it is bad for your back and knees, but if it is done you should not squat below parallel needs to be punched. Email me and I will send someone out who specializes in punching people who need a punch. And when I say squat, I mean the one where you put a heavy bar on your back. If I were talking about the front squat or overhead squat, I would have said front squat or overhead squat.

3. Be a performance whore.
Your only mark for progress should be performance and success. Don’t get caught up in dogma, realize all that matters is performance. Don’t get married to one philosophy or stuck in one circle. Look to expand your training arsenal and realize your only master is getting better.

4. “Know when to hold’em, know when to fold’em.”
When you start hitting the weights, certain days you feel like the weights are made of foam and you could lift the gym. Other days, the weights seem to be made of adamantium. Realize on the days when the weights are light, go for broke and set a new personal record regardless of what the program says. On the days when the opposite is true, all you need to do is survive and realize the weights will be there tomorrow.

5. Don’t fall prey to the Secret Squirrel Program.
This is what happens when late at night while scanning the internet you decided to hybrid CrossFit Football’s strength WOD with CFE’s running 2 days a week with CrossFit’s hero WODs and Outlaw’s Olympic programming just for good measure. All the while doing 23 hours a day of ketogenic interment fasting. If you think this secret squirrel program will help you become the fittest man on the planet you are delusional. All that will happen is you become a massive ball of injury, end up doing nothing but Mobility WOD for 2 years with the testosterone levels of a 14-year-old eunuch.

6. You need to warm up.
Warming up is key to raising core temperature and getting the muscles, tendons and fascia warm. You are warming up because you are preparing to train. Take the old boxing proverb to heart. “If you go into the ring cold, you come out cold.”

7. Use Lacrosse balls
If rolling out with a soft foam roller is painful, you have led a life of luxury and share the energy expenditure with a veal. Real athletes roll out with two lacrosse balls and Kelly Starrett sitting on your body part adjacent to it.

8. Static Stretching is great way to cool down. Period.

9. The first movement at the beginning of your training week needs to involve a heavy bar on your back.

10. All the machines and praying in the world will not build a physique like the one crafted from lifting free weights over 85% of your 1 RM.

11. Weighted Pull Ups can cure world hunger.

12. Isometric holds build stability and strength.

13. It is better to live like a farmer than a bartender.
Farmers go to bed when the sun goes down and wake when the roosters crow. Bartenders hang out with drunks, don’t go to bed till 3 or 4 in the morning and sleep all day. Be a farmer.

14. Heavy prowler pushes cleanse the soul.

15. Sleeping 8 hours or more a day makes you bullet proof.
Yes, if you sleep more than 8 hours a day, bullets will not harm you and you will be able to control the minds of those around you.

16. Shower in ice-cold water in the morning. Hot shower before bed.

17. Vitamin D is the most important vitamin of all, so go outside and get a tan. As George Robert’s dad once said, “Georgie, even fat looks good tan.”

18. The only proteins that count are the ones with faces, souls and a mother. I do not care how you process hemp and peas…it is not real protein.

19. Earn your carbs.
Don’t get lulled into thinking a primal or Paleo diet is low carb diet. If you are a hard charging athlete that lifts heavy weights, sprints and moves, eat some carbs. Low carb diets are for fat people and sedentary people with metabolic disorders. If you are training for the CrossFit Games, playing football or trying to run a hundred miles you have earned your carbs.

20. I don’t care how far or often you run, running slow will never help you get fast. The road to hell is paved with good intentions and marathon runners. I am not impressed that you finished a marathon in 5 hours. I am more impressed that it took you 7 hours to sprint 421 100-meter repeats.

21. Percentages are a waste of time for beginners.
Why you ask, because to efficiently lift a true 1 RM you need an extremely well training central nervous system. And efficiency in the CNS comes from prolonged training. Hence, how could a beginner have enough control over their body or their CNS to put forth the ability to lift a true 1 RM? They can’t. So don’t do it.

22. Every man should own a slow cooker and a grill that uses lump wood charcoal.

23. Meat from grass-fed cows should make up the bulk of your daily food consumption.

24. Drink water.
Anyone who tells you they don’t like to drink water needs to grow the fuck up. How much…at least 1 ounce per 2 lbs of body weight.

25. Dont let fear be your limiting factor.
Louie Simmons told me, “To master kung fu, the training must be severe.” What Louie means is, don’t take the easy way out. Winners and champions are forged in the crucible of competition and hard work. Don’t let fear of not meeting your goals be your limiting factor when it comes to training or success.

26. Full Fat Greek Yogurt is an excellent source of protein and probiotics. Anyone that tells you dairy from pasture raised animals is bad, should be pushed in the mud.

27. Have the talent to rest.
If you think taking a rest day is weakness, you have never really trained hard. And you definitely have low testosterone levels.

28. The Second Amendment was put in place to guarantee the First Amendment. Problems arise when we allow our leaders to suspend the First Amendment and many other rights given to us in the Bill of Rights because of fear. When terrible things happen in society, we are so quick to give away our rights so the government can protect us and make it so it never happens again. It is impossible to stop bad people from doing bad things, but you can train and prepare for the day when good men are called upon to stop evil men. That is Edmund Burke.

29. Guns are inanimate objects that can be used to do harm. Much like cars, airplanes and knives, all these things can be turned into weapons if someone so chooses. Banning the sale, use or ownership of inanimate objects will no better cure the world of evil, and then eating low-fat food will cure a fat ass.

30. Lift heavy and awkward implements.
The power from picking up and lifting awkward and heavy objects creates a strength not found in a weight room. Anyone that grew up on a farm or wrestled or played football with farm kids knows what I am talking about. We also call this Field Strong.

31. Having kids puts everything into perspective.
My wife and I had twin girls in late 2011; I just came up for air in late 2012. Kids put things in perspective. The things that mattered so much, seem small and unimportant. What is important is raising your kids, providing a positive role model and keeping your wife happy and loved so she doesn’t drive the whole train off the tracks.

32. Learn to cook.
Even if it just involves adding meat, water, salt and root vegetables to a slow cooker or burning meat on a grill. Learn to cook. Nothing is as unimpressive as someone who cannot or will not learn.

33. Stop posting on message boards. If you have more than 100 posts on any message board, kick your own ass.

34. Twitter rocks.
If you can’t say it in a 140 characters, it doesn’t need to be said.

35. Training Vs. Testing.
Learn certain days are training days other days are testing days. Have a plan each day and realize professional athletes don’t compete everyday. They save that for when the money is on the line and the crowd is in the stands.

36. Read. Real. Books.
In this Internet age, digital books, periodicals, websites and blogs consume us. I feel something is missing, hard copy books.

37. Bacon.
I started eating bacon in the 70’s. I am not sure when many of you found bacon, but if it was last two years, I am sorry. Up until recently for many, bacon has been a mystery. But upon finding it, it is all they talk about. I am proud of you for finding bacon. I am sorry your dad didn’t make bacon on Saturdays when you were growing up. I believe it makes you feel primal and talking about bacon on social media is your way of thumbing your nose at society, but enough. Welcome to the party and guess what? We are serving bacon.

38. I don’t care that you are 100% Paleo; if a friend offers you a beer, drink it. Nothing says “FU” like not accepting a drink from a friend because of a diet. Grow the fuck up.

39. Work the tissue.
Active Release Therapy. Graston. Deep Tissue Massage. Mashing. Do something to mobilize tissue and speed recovery.

40. Move the bar as fast as possible.
When lifting weights, you should move the bar as fast as you can at all times. Think compensatory acceleration. If you have never head the term “compensatory acceleration”, go google it now. I will wait. Slow reps are akin to the splinters in your ass from sitting on the bench watching the explosive guys play. The only thing moving slow did, was make me slow. Fuck slow.

41. Don’t be a cartoon character.
In today’s age of social media and virtual existence, people are not held to the same standards they were so long ago. Individuals are more cartoon characters than real people. Be a real person that can be depended on and does not take every opportunity to take advantage of those around you. Being a man involves more than growing a beard and drinking whiskey…even those things do help.

42. High testosterone levels = nice guys.
I read a study a while back that related mental wellness and all around nice guys having higher testosterone levels than their male dick head counterparts. Next time you meet a douche bag, instead of cursing the day he was born, realize he is a lesser male and just has low testosterone levels. Pity him, because there is nothing worse for a man than having low testosterone levels. If you are reading this and think you might have low test levels, go see a doctor.

Get Cozy Down There by Greg Everett - Catalyst Athletics Blog

Link to Article

Something I can’t stand is watching lifters with weak or inconsistent bottom positions in the snatch rush out of the squat and drop the bar partway up, even in power snatches (this applies to jerks as well). These same athletes will often also complain about missing big attempts that “felt so easy” because they can’t secure the bar overhead long enough to recover successfully.

This to me is such an obvious fix, that having to remind people drives me crazy. If this describes you, easily the best advice I can give you is this: From now on, until you never drop a snatch or jerk from overhead unintentionally, hold every snatch, power snatch, jerk, power jerk, overhead squat or snatch balance in the receiving position for 2-3 seconds before recovering. And when you do recover, hold onto the bar for a second before you drop it.

I can’t tell you what wonders this incredibly simple act will do for your lifts. You don’t have to add new exercises to your program or more than a few seconds to each workout. You’ll also find that this will expose a lot of instablity you may not have even known existed. So many lifters get in the habit of dropping lifts as they stand, and this masks imbalance or instability that then becomes extremely obvious when they’re forced to actually hold onto the bar. Nothing like going to a competition and getting three red lights for a lift you made easily because you couldn’t or didn’t hold it long enough to get a down signal.

This applies to power snatches and power jerks too (even power cleans, really). Often athletes want to begin standing from the power receiving position immediately, which can frequently mean before they’re actually done locking it out (or racking it in the power clean). This just makes it easy to get soft overhead and press these lifts out. Suck it up and make this tiny bit of additional effort, and I promise it will pay off down the line.

Okay, Here’s The Thing About Cardio

Article from Catalyst Athletics by: Matt Foreman

I’ve been thinking I should start doing some cardio.

My doctor told me I should. I think he said it would help me avoid death or something like that. But the whole idea doesn’t make any sense to me, because doing cardio makes me wish I was dead anyway. So what’s the point?

I probably wouldn’t need to do much of it. Absolutely anything would be an improvement over what I’m doing now. I could jog to the end of my yard and back, and that would be a dramatic increase over my current cardio routine. Jeez…that seems like a lot of work, now that I think about it.

There are a few reasons why I don’t do cardio, and they aren’t pain or laziness. I’m fine with pain and I’m sure as hell not lazy.

Cardio isn’t good for weightlifters, you see. Now, before you get your little twizzer tweaked, make sure you understand who I’m talking about when I say “weightlifters.” I’m referring to people who are full-time competitive Olympic lifters. I’m not talking about CrossFitters or strength generalists. These people generally do a lot of cardio, and that’s fine. It fits in with what they’re trying to accomplish.

If you’re an Olympic lifter, however, cardio shouldn’t be part of your training unless you’re in some kind of down-time phase when your squats and competition lifts aren’t going to be too challenging. Or if you’re trying to drop a weight class (which is rarely a good idea for a competitive lifter anyway), cardio might be a necessary addition. Aside from rare situations like this, cardio and OLifting don’t mix well.

I’m not just throwing out some random opinion, either. I’ve been an Olympic lifter for over twenty years and I’ve trained with several athletes who were world-level competitors, in addition to being a top national contender myself. I’ve never known a successful weightlifter who included cardio as any significant part of their program.

Cardio adds some fatigue to your body, usually your lower body specifically. Your squat workouts aren’t going to forgive this. Every step you run and every pound you shed when you’re doing cardio…you’re going to pay for it when you put your hands on that barbell.

Again, I’m not talking about people who are incorporating Olympic lifting into their CrossFit workouts or whatever. That’s a different situation entirely.

Some of you might be reading this and saying, “This is a bunch of crap. I go to weightlifting meets and see athletes who are hitting big weights, and I know they do cardio.” Yeah, okay. But you need to remember that you’re probably talking about local meets with local competitors. I’m not belittling anybody or disrespecting people who compete at the local level, mind you. I’m saying that when you move up to national-level meets (especially if you want to make a run at getting some medals at those meets), you have to do things differently.

Lifters who do cardio usually have a pretty close gap between their snatch and clean and jerk. I’m talking about guys who snatch 93 kilos and clean and jerk 115, something like that. Or 105/125 maybe. Since I’ve been going to local meets and seeing a lot of CrossFit guys competing over the last few years, I’ve noticed this quite a bit. A properly developed male athlete who trains specifically for Olympic weightlifting should have a minimum gap of thirty kilos between the snatch and clean and jerk. If you can snatch 110 kilos, you should be able to clean and jerk 140. If you can snatch 130, you should be able to clean and jerk 160. And thirty kilos is the minimum. It’s usually higher than that for elite lifters. You can look at national/world competition results and you’ll see what I mean. For women, it’s closer to twenty kilos. A woman who can snatch 60 should be able to clean and jerk around 80, etc.

You’ll see an occasional high-level lifter with a closer gap than this because some people are just much more talented in the snatch than the clean and jerk, and the lightest class lifters sometimes have smaller separations. But aside from these particular examples, the standard minimum gaps are around what I mentioned for full-time competitors.

If the gap between an athlete’s competition lifts is much closer than what I stated, it likely means they don’t have the strength level necessary for big clean and jerks. Snatches are a blend of speed, strength, and athleticism, so lifters who have these qualities can often snatch well. The clean and jerk requires these same traits, but it’s much more connected to plain old horsepower than the snatch is. You’ve gotta be a strong son of a buck to hit big clean and jerks. Lifters who devote a lot of attention to cardio just aren’t going to end up with the necessary lower body strength for this. Their lower body energy is going into running or biking instead of squatting.

Newbies and intermediate lifters don’t totally fit in with this analysis for two reasons: A) they’re going to make progress regardless of anything because they’re so new and B) they probably haven’t mastered the snatch yet anyway, so their snatch numbers will be down.

Am I dissing people who do cardio, saying that they’re not hard-working lifters with respectable lifts? No.

Am I saying it’s impossible to make progress in the OLifts while including cardio in your training? No.

Are there elite weightlifters anywhere in this world who include cardio as a significant part of their training? I don’t know, maybe. I’ve never heard of any.

At the end of the day, am I saying cardio is evil? No, not at all. I just think it’s something you have to avoid if you want to be an elite weightlifter. As I said, it all depends on the demands of your goals.

I figured this would be a timely post since Thanksgiving is coming up and we’re all going to eat until we hyperventilate. I guess that’ll be my cardio for the week…lying on my couch with a distended abdomen and sweat beads on my forehead, sucking in deep breaths like a carp on a sidewalk. Now that’s a workout I’m looking forward to.

Understanding the “Knees Out” technique

As shown in the videos below, many of the Chinese lifters and probably more countries use the (knees out) technique during their pulls. I’ve also heard them to be called “panda pulls”. But pay attention to how Lu Xiaojun forcefully pushes his knees OUT during the 1st and 2nd pull.

I suppose it’s a result of anatomy/preference/coaching/where ones strength lies (e.g. back/legs). I’ve focused on coaching my athletes/clients to push their knees out in the 1st and 2nd pull so that the hips stay more forward.

Keeping the bar from travelling as far backwards during the 2nd pull/reducing the distance my hips must travel forward to reach full extension
Reducing the time the bar is in contact with my upper thigh during the explosion/extension so that not as much forward work is applied to the bar
And the bar stays closer to what is considered an ideal path.

This is a VERY good video with MWOD which talks about “Finding Torque to Create a Stabile Low Back” by using the knees out technique. What I learned from this video:

By learning to push the “knees out” (more stable), our brain learns that “knees in” is unsafe ( less stable).
The UNLOCKING of the hips to soon is what causes several problems within the lower back region.
Allows to stay more stable in the hips, and a more upright torso for a longer period of time.

By watching this video I wonder if this is the secret behind the “knees out” technique. It’s all very interesting. ENJOY!

Olympic lifting and its relation to sport

Explosive power is the number one attribute required to be a good athlete. Having such power means one is capable of many things such as speed, power, strength, agility but one must be able to control these attribute in three-dimensional space. The ability to generate high amounts of force is necessary to the sport. Cleans, Snatches, and Jerk with their variations are all executed with high velocity, which make them excellent exercises for the development of power.

THIS IS POWER!!! - Chinese Weightlifter performing 2 reps of the Hang Snatch. Try to pause the video at the :02sec mark and notice the Hip and Knee extension. Then notice how FAST he drops under the bar while controlling the weight over his head.

Here is a list of the classic lifts I use in my program:

*Note – The technique of these lifts are VERY important, so my athletes perform these exercises with a stick, empty bar, or VERY light weight. Once I feel they are ready to progress I slowly load weight on the bar. I NEVER SACRIFICE TECHNIQUE FOR WEIGHT!!! There are to many bone- head strength coaches out there worried more about numbers than technique and keeping their athletes on the field. STOP IT!

-Snatch

-Clean & Jerk

-Clean

-Split Jerk

-Power Snatch

-Hang Snatch

-Hang Power Snatch

-Power Clean

-Hang Clean

-Hang Power Clean

-Clean Pulls (with pulls from different positions)

-Snatch Pulls (with pulls from different positions)

-Front Squat

-Back Squat

-Overhead Squat

-Push Press

-Press

These lifts are the meat and potatoes of my program, depending on the sport demand will determine how I design my program. Also this doesn’t mean all athletes are ready to perform these lifts when they first get to me. Due to mobility/flexibility issues there are major adjustments and prehab/rehab exercises that are performed. Also accessory work is performed (ex. Horizontal and Vertical Push/Pulls, Unilateral/Bilateral work just to name a few)

The three key elements of WHY Olympic lifts benefit sport

1. Explosive Power, which comes from the improvement of knee and hip extension

2. The improvement of an athlete’s ability to safely and effectively absorb force to decelerate. Basic strength work such a squatting variations can help with this element as well. But the receiving the barbell in the Olympic lifts is far more ballistic and more similar to the demands on ground-based athletes with regard to deceleration, changing direction or absorbing force.

3. Improvement of kinesthetic awareness, fundamental motor skills centered around the hips and legs, and also the precise and consistent control of the body in different positions and movements.

No other exercises provide training for these things to the same degree, particularly so efficiently.

Reference: Olympic Lifting for Sports - Greg Everett

Back Squat Programs From Around The World

Best Tips For Maximal Squat

The best tips on how to rapidly increase maximal strength in the back squat

by Charles Poliquin

Put two or more weightlifting or strength coaches in the same room and the discussion will quickly turn to shoptalk. Likewise, whenever I get a chance to meet a successful colleague, I always seize the opportunity to exchange training philosophies.

Because squat work is so critical for success in Olympic lifting and other sports, my colleagues and I are always exchanging thoughts on how to achieve maximal results in the squat. Here are some talking points from those discussions.

Singles Yes or No? Most weightlifting experts have evolved their thinking into abstaining from doing maximum singles on the back squats. Frank Mantek, who is Germany’s national weightlifting coach, won a bronze medal in the 1980 Olympics and coached many Olympic medalists, including 2008 super heavyweight gold medalist Matthias Steiner, 1988 gold medalist Ronny Weller and two-time Olympic silver medalist Marc Huster. Mantek is opposed to performing maximum singles in the squat.

Russias former world champion Anatoly Pisarenko clean and jerked a world record of 265 kilos and performed deep squats. Bruce Klemens photo.

I met Mantek last August during a seminar in Colorado Springs, and he stressed the idea that performing maximum singles in the back squat presents too great a risk of injury. While he had no problem going for broke in the front squat, where you can safely drop the bar in front if you get in trouble, Mantek was opposed to max singles in the back squat. Agapitov also endorsed this training philosophy when I met him. This begs the question “How do you determine your max squat?”

I believe the best approach, and the most practical, is to go for a max double. This is the type where your spleen touches the back of your left eyeball in the concentric range of the second rep. Take that result, add five percent, and you’ve got your max single.

How much and how often?

For most sportsmen a double bodyweight squat, ass to the grass, is plenty to compete at the Olympics in most power sports. You can achieve that norm by squatting once every 5 days. That being said, such results won’t do much for you if you want to step on the podium in a weightlifting event!

The top eight weightlifters in the world often full squat between 350 and 380 percent of their bodyweight, with the higher percentages being seen in the lighter weight classes. For example, Stefan Botev back squatted 370 kg at 110 kilos bodyweight, while his Bulgarian teammate did 404 percent of bodyweight in the 67.5 kg weight class.

Agapitov squatted seven days a week to become World Champion. But in order to get to that level of proficiency, weightlifters will often squat 9 to 15 times a week. The following chart illustrates this relationship.

200%————300——-350———-404%>

6 28 36 60

Before going any further in this discussion, consider that I am talking about a raw FULL squat. Not a powerlifting squat with the lower thighs at parallel and with various support gear – not that I’m knocking the sport of powerlifting, but their basic approach to squatting is to use techniques that enable them to lift the most weight within the shortest distance possible. Comparing the squats performed by weightlifters to those performed by powerlifters is like comparing apples to oranges…or perhaps Frank Sinatra to Eminem.

What are the best sets and reps to increase the back squat? This is one of my favorite questions to ask my successful colleagues, as there are many training protocols that will improve your back squat. The following are set-rep protocols recommended by weightlifting coaches of multiple Olympic medalists. (To avoid confusion, recognize that sets always come before reps, so that 2 x 5 means 2 sets of 5 reps, not 5 sets of 2 reps.)

Wave-Like Pattern 1

With this protocol, the trainee should be able to use more weight during each successive “wave” as the nervous system adapts to the workout. For example, a lifter might squat 150 kilos for 3 on the first wave, 160 kilos for 3 on the second, and 170 kilos for 3 on the third.

1 x 7, 1 x 5, 1 x 3, 1 x 7 , 1 x 5, 1 x 3, 1 x 7 , 1 x 5, 1 x 3

Wave-Like Pattern 2

This is simply a variation of the previous workout, but it’s designed for a more advanced athlete who is striving for maximal strength, especially relative strength.

1 x 5, 1 x 3, 1 x 2, 1 x 5, 1 x 3, 1 x 2, 1 x 5, 1 x 3, 1 x 2

Patient System 1

Choose a weight that is very challenging (but possible) to lift for 8 sets of 2. In every workout try to get to 8 sets of 3. Once you can do 8 sets of 3, increase the weight.

Max Double, Max Sets of 3 Method

Go for a max double, take off about 7 percent of the load, and perform as many sets of 3 as possible with that new load within a 50-minute time frame. The time frame starts as soon as the heavy double has been completed.

Chinese Method

This protocol consists of performing 4 sets of 4, followed by 4 sets of 5. None of the sets are taken to full muscular failure – you get the strength training effect from the sheer volume of high-quality work.

What are the best plateau busters? I have asked the following question to every single expert: “If the squat is not up to par, what do you recommend?” Here are some of the answers:

Squat more often (most common answer)

Lower the training intensity, doing more sets of 4 to 5 (also a very common answer)

Dead stops in bottom position

Eccentric snatch deadlifts on podium (do these when a lifter’s lower back strength is the limiting factor)

More hamstrings work as hip extensors, using exercises such as hypers, 45-degree back extensions, and various forms of semi-stiff-legged deadlifts.

Loaded drop jumps

Super imposed method

Increase regeneration: Depending of country of origin, my colleagues’ approaches differed: Increase Yin herbs, anti-inflammatory herbs, acupuncture (Chinese), laser to break down scar tissue, use methods such as frequency specific micro-current, manual therapies, and applied kinesiology.

It’s been said that the squat is the king of exercises, but to achieve maximal results in this great lift you have to think carefully about the pros and cons of each training method you could use. I hope you’ll try the ideas presented in this article because they are proven winners.

Power, Speed, Explosiveness!

The Foundation for Power?…STRENGTH!

Strength is very simple: it’s the amount of force that someone can produce. Newton’s second law of motion teaches us that force is created when you accelerate a mass (mass x acceleration = force). When your body creates enough force it allows you to accelerate your body’s mass fast!

Your body cannot produce force if it has no force to produce. Force production is the foundation of all movement. I will use surfing for example because I appreciate the sport and the skill that it takes. To be able to perform a skilled maneuver such as the cutback, or an air maneuver (see videos below) one must generate incredible force and acceleration to perform these with POWER and EXPLOSIVENESS. If we train our muscles to be strong enough to produce a certain maximum force in a given athletic situation, that means we can accelerate our bodies or an external object similar in mass faster and with more power.

(Professional Surfer Kelly Slater- Top, Professional Surfer Gabriel Medina- Bottom)

For those of you who are more experienced with weight training, you’re probably thinking “many of those qualities are affected by different training stimuli,” and you’re definitely right. Explosive Strength (power) and Reactive Strength (plyometrics) are used to fine-tune your neuromuscular abilities by focusing the Maximum Strength that you have just built.

Explosive Strength focuses on increasing the Rate of Force Development (RFD), or how fast your muscles are able to produce force. This type of strength is especially important for power lifting, Olympic lifting, shot put, weight throw, baseball pitchers, javelin, and discus, as these sports are expressions of maximal explosiveness. If you can create the same maximal force that you have developed through your Maximal Strength phase faster, this will translate into performance. This is expressed through high-load speed strength (moving heavier loads, like a snatch) and low-load speed strength (moving your body weight, or lighter loads such as in discus).

Reactive Strength qualities are beneficial to athletes who are dynamic in their sport. This applies to most team sports and individual sports, including hockey, rugby, football, baseball, golf, tennis, squash, etc. Reactive Strength is the muscle’s ability to apply force quickly, after completing a Stretch Shortening Cycle (SSC). The SSC is the transition from, yep… you guessed it: being stretched, to being shortened. If you’re a soccer player running one direction and the ball zips by to your left, you want to get there as quickly as possible. Instead of stopping, turning left, and starting to run, we simply crossover and push off with our right foot, propelling our body to the left. We don’t do a full squat and jump to the left. We plant and push off, wasting no time at all. And if your SSC is faster and produces greater force than the defender, I think we can figure out who gets to the ball first.

References Hales, M (2011) Evaluating Common Weight Training Concepts Associated With Developing Muscular Strength: Truths or Myths? Strength and Conditioning Journal; February; 33 (1); pp. 91- 95.

Hori, N; Newton, R; Nosaka, K; Stone, M (2005). Weightlifting Exercises Enhance Athletic Performance That Requires High-Load Speed Strength. Strength and Conditioning Journal; August; 24 (4); pp. 50 – 55.

Shelton Stevens

Servant of Christ | Strength & Conditioning Coach | Brother | Son | I am Second