Stronger Athletes

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Use Common Sense In Exercise Choice And Speed Of Execution

November 19 "Life is a garden.. so dig it." -Joe Dirt

Coaches have long instructed athletes to perform exercises quickly thinking that this will be best to increase the athletes' power. The fact is that the faster the repetition the less productive in terms of developing power and explosiveness. It is obvious that if the weight can be moved quickly then the load is too light to develop significant power.

StrongerAthletes.com also finds it very interesting that none of these Olympic lifting advocates believe that contant muscle tension is an important factor in developing power. This ensures that the muscles are doing the work. Why is it that these coaches stay away from this issue?

Another issue that we have addressed before and will address again is the issue of safety in a strength training program. Studies do indicate the reps that are performed slow produce more force output and therefore more power.

That being the case, wouldn't the slower method be the choice for our athletes? This is another issue that StrongerAthletes.com finds incredibly surprising. We receive e-mails from coaches saying that the Olympic movements and their variations are actually more safe than the slow movements.

Huh?

Brainwashing has been very powerful the past 40 years. Coaches, think for yourself. Don't let others convince you that this is true. Common sense tells you otherwise.

Another comment that we receive from coaches, which relates to the topic of rep speed, "Take a look at [University Football Powerhouse], they haven't won but 4 games in the past 2 years. It's because they did away with power cleans 2 years ago". Huh?

There are many variables that play into a successful program and the lifting program is a part of it. However, if not doing power cleans was the sole reason than what happened to the thousands of high school and college programs that have similar losing records. They do power cleans as part of their program. So, that argument is mute.

The last example of ignorant comments we will address is that many coaches are convinced that teams such as Penn State, Michigan, Notre Dame recruit the best athletes in the nation and that is why they can get away with not doing power cleans and other Olympic lifts and variations. Huh?

These coaches must be kidding but unfortunately they are not. They also go on by saying that teams such as Nebraska always gets average athletes and the Olympic movements develop these athletes into great athletes. If that were the case what happened this year? Our point being... Doing power cleans and other quick lifts does not ensure victory any more than not doing them ensures failure.

Coaches, you have to come up with something better than that to convince yourself, and others, that training at a fast speed is best for athletes. If anybody has any comments about this article, let us know. If you have any ignorant comments made by people, send them our way and we will post-em up.