Build volume, increase your strength, and work on your performance! - Part 2

What's better than being big and strong? Being big, strong and powerful. In short, to be a man who can deliver top sporting performance and looks muscular.

However, there aren't many exercisers who fill all of these categories. Most people focus on size and strength, but outside of the gym, they are flabby turtles.

While maximal strength is important (it's the foundation of the other skills), it's still only one piece of the puzzle. For complete athletic development, you need to improve synergistically in strength exercises, power and speed. How to do this? You need to become a master of the strength and speed curve.

In part 1, we talked a little bit about building strength and speed. Today we'll focus on how to create an effective workout.

How to focus more on strength

If you're new or well equipped with speed, you need to spend most of the rest of your training time on the left side of the curve, where you'll focus mainly on strength. Below are a few tips for this.

Spend more time in the maximal strength zone.

It sounds simple, but a few sets of speed work replaced by max strength work may be all you need. You'll improve heavy weight management, intramuscular coordination, movement efficiency, and ultimately maximal strength.

Increase the number of reps.

A slight increase in reps, say between 3-6 for maximal strength and 6-8 for power-speed work, is a good way to pile on volume and improve hypertrophy, which is what most beginners and speed-equipped athletes need.

Stick with the same exercises for 6-8 weeks.

For weaker individuals, the basics are irreplaceable. Don't change your basic exercises every week like the Westside method, but stick with the same exercises for 6-8 weeks to track progress and improve strength.

Practice strength-based exercises with strength.

Modify exercises that have strength potential and start from a complete stop, such as jumps, sprints, and medicine ball throws, by adding weight using a rubber band or plyometrics.

Sample strength-oriented top workout

Samplelower body strengthtraining

How to focus more on speed

If you're big and strong but move like a snail, speed training will help you out of stagnation. Try the following strategies.

Slightly lose weight.

Try loading only 75% instead of training maxes, but move the weights as fast as possible. Axis speed will be very helpful.

Reduce the number of repetitions (or practice bulk sets).

Try 6x2 with the same weight on squats instead of 4x3 for example. The volume of work is the same, but the fatigue between sets is less, and the axis will be able to move faster.

Bulk sets (with mini breaks) work the same way.

Alternate exercises more often.

Maximal power is less linear than strength alone. Width of stance, grip, alternating resistance and load angles can help.

Modify strength-based exercises for speed.

Modify your jumps, sprints, and throws to focus on elastic strength and the stretch reflex. Incorporate rubber bands and use minimal (or no) load.

Examples for upper body are plyometric push-ups, plyometric push-ups with rubber, reactive medicine ball throws from the chest. Then for lower body, lunges from deep squat, lunges with rubber, and sprints with maximal effort.

Sample top workout focusing on speed

Sampletrainingforthe bottom focused on speed

For those who are somewhere in between, a balanced approach will work. One effective strategy is to start at one end of the curve and work your way to the other in some intelligently periodized way. Spend 3-4 weeks in each zone and it's good to work your way through the whole curve every 2-3 months.

And what about peak performance?

One of the zones of the curve is maximum power, but it's hard to adjust training to just this variable because a different approach is needed for each individual.

It's also hard to determine maximum power for exercises like jumping jacks with weights, sprints with sleds, or medicine ball throws. It is more practical to focus on other skills.

Conclusion

Getting the most out of the strength and speed curve is pretty easy. On a micro scale, it requires practicing multiple skills in each workout. On a macro scale, it takes moving across the entire curve on a weekly and monthly basis.

So the main idea of the article is that you have to combine different approaches to strength training and different methods of training for speed and maximal power. The result will be training the entire strength and speed curve and improvement in all physical skills.

Source: www.t-nation.com - Out-Lift the Big Guys, Out-Perform the Little Guys
By Charley Gould
Jaromír Uhlíř