-: Alright, now we're gonna move into Increasing Motor Units
but for the goal of speed rather than maximal strength.
So, you know, maximal strength work is going
to be both applicable to performance based goals
as well as improving your trainability
and any of the other face.
So right, obviously, if I can contract more fibers
I can expend more fuel in a metabolic phase.
I can contract more tissue, get more tension based stimulus.
Create more mechanical damage in a hypertrophy phase.
It's just gonna make everything more efficient right?
So that's one of the main reasons
that we do neurological training.
Is to potentiate our other phases
by just making us better at contracting muscles.
When we're looking at speed training,
this is gonna be more of a performance based goal, right?
So, there's not a lot in terms of metabolic
or hypertrophy training that's gonna benefit from us.
Necessarily contracting at maximal velocity.
'Cause it's just not something we really do in the gym.
That being said, we're gonna cover it
because you may have a client with a performance goal.
The other thing is that the better you are at
controlling muscles under fast concentrics and eccentrics.
And that's always happening like, if one side
is going through a fast concentric the other side
has to be going through a fast eccentric.
You look at like sprinters, you know,
sprinters pull hamstrings a lot.
Why?
Because the hamstring couldn't go
through the eccentric fast enough.
Not because the hamstring had a hard time
doing the contraction, it had a hard time doing
the eccentric portion, I should say.
Alright, so that's usually where the tear comes right?
So it's like it didn't go through the eccentric fast enough.
So, there is an injury prevention component
and there's a, you know, just general
lifestyle quality component to being able to be safe
if your muscles function well under high speed.
That being said, for body composition goal
this probably isn't gonna be a priority phase.
For an athlete it may be very, very important.
So, our goals.
First, we need to establish what are we going for?
Are we going for performance based adaptations?
In that case those lifts need to carry over to that sport.
Doesn't do us any good if our goal, you know,
for a 100 meter sprinter to be very fast with biceps, right?
We need to be focused more on the stuff
that translates to those movements.
Okay?
Neurological adaptations if we're
focusing on increasing trainability.
That's, you know,
not a huge factor.
But, then those lifts need to be focused more on the muscles
because that's really all we care about.
Is we just care about getting the
muscular adaptations where we want them.
You know, so then we don't need necessarily lifts
that correlate to a specific activity or sport.
When we're doing this training,
okay, it's the absolute opposite of maximal strength.
We need sub maximal loads that we can basically allow,
like generate the highest possible speed.
So, we need loads that allow for higher
velocity contractions because we're training speed.
Not maximal strength but speed.
And when we're training our body to be good
at continuing to contract and coordinate those muscle fibers
at those higher speeds, right?
So, if we use to heavy a load,
what happens is the reps are slow,
we don't get the speed effect.
Essentially we just end up having
low intensity strength training.
If we want speed training,
there has to be the speed component.
So, we need to be able to get to
those maximal voluntary contraction speeds.
Alright, oftentimes with this,
when we're programming exercises.
We tend to overlap speed work
with the next couple of things.
So we, like explosive strength or starting strength.
Which is gonna be the next two that we get into.
So, in the context of this most of the time
it's gonna be like in the same program with another benefit.
'Cause oftentimes if you need to work on speed
you also need to work on either acceleration
or you're improving your starting strength.
Not just your straight speed.
You could, like an advanced athletes', periodize those out.
But we're not getting into like,
you know, sport specific training here.
And this we're kinda keeping this
marginally in the context of general training.
When we look at exercise selection
we need to build that exercise around
the effect that we want.
So if we're looking at, you know, sports specific.
It needs to match that.
It needs to match at least the movement, right?
So if it's sprinting, it doesn't
have to look like somebody's running.
But I'm looking at training hip extension, right?
And posterior chain movements, right?
Or maybe I'm looking at, you know, maximal voluntary.
You know, even quadriceps movements
and stuff like that, right?
So I'm looking at trying to get those hip extension,
knee extension based movements, okay?
Load and Resistance Profile need to allow
for that maximal speed of contraction, like I said.
And then when we are loading that.
Depending on whether or not I'm looking for,
we'll say like, in a sprint I need to be able to like,
okay, I'm going maximal velocity, I need like super things.
In a throw, like a shot put throw or something.
They need maximal velocity but do they need
maximal velocity at that terminal end point right?
So if for instance, like, if you look at
a thrower or a sprinter or whatnot.
So, a sprinter, his technically has to
decelerate his leg at the end of each of those strokes.
Whereas a shot put thrower doesn't have to.
Like, basically he's trying to push all the way through.
And then his arm is basically
catching itself at the very end.
So, depending on like the type of speed development
and what happens at the end of that stroke
or the end of that contraction.
Sometimes what we'll do, and sometimes it's just
for a safety reason, is that we will have
something that decelerates at the end.
So we use a sub maximal load.
So, let's take for instance, I will do this for people
that are working on improving their bench press
for power lifting and they wanna incorporate a speed phase.
Is what we will do with that sub maximal load
is we will put a band on there so that as they explode up
they get to maximal velocity but
the accommodating resistance comes on just enough
to kinda like give 'em a little cushion.
Almost like a soft stop at the end.
Instead of them going (jarring sound) and then, you know.
'Cause, you should be going at maximal speed.
And if you've generated all that momentum
and there's nothing to slow it down.
What happens is this becomes part of the training.
This like jerking your joints forward.
So adding some resistance, just at
the very end to decelerate that.
Could make these exercises, one,
more beneficial for the sport that you're going for.
But two, much easier on the joints.
Much easier for the nervous system to not get fatigued.
Because if it's gotta deal with
the shock and that jerk at the end.
We'll that's gonna take away.
You're gonna have to rest longer
and you're gonna get much less volume out of the workout.
So, having something that does a little bit
of deceleration at the end can be
extremely valuable for doing maximal velocity training.
So, bands are awesome for this type of work right?
When we're looking at exercise selection.
So lighter loads with Bands and then
throws are the other thing I like.
So, if you look at medicine ball throws, cowbell throws.
Like, anything where the resistance comes off completely.
We're gonna have some of the same benefit and then like.
So if I throw something, that weight leaves my hand.
It doesn't carry my hand with it.
So you think of the shot put thrower.
When he throws, the shot leaves.
If the shot was attached to his hand,
it would be like (pulling sound).
And then it would yank his shoulder right out.
So he only has to decelerate the arm at then end.
So if we can do throws, we can take some
of that stress off of the joints as well.
And then we can do that maximal velocity contraction
throughout the entire range without any deceleration.
And not have to worry about as much of an impact
on the joints or the antagonistic tissue getting damaged.
Tempo, should be pretty simple for this right?
It's gotta be an X right?
Maximal speed.
If it's not max speed, your not training it.
Just like maximal intensity, if you're
not contracting as much as you can.
Doesn't really matter right?
You're just kinda doing something else
at that point in time.
Alright, eccentric should be
minimal or eliminated if possible.
Well, in this case we're using sub maximal loads.
So obviously if we explode up when we go controlled down,
we're not doing that much work on the eccentric.
'Cause we're not like, overcoming that inertia.
So, as long as we don't drop it
and then have to stop it, we're good.
So, sometimes people think speed training
(jarring sounds) like this.
And like you're having a seizure.
No.
Like, the eccentric is not the explosive part.
I'm not training that speed in this particular phase.
It should be (bump sound) and then controlled
(bump sound) and then controlled, right?
Because I'm trying to minimize
what's going on in the eccentric.
And also I'm trying to make sure that when
I do my contraction that I'm using the right stuff.
If I'm flying around, it's very hard.
Say, a lot of times you'll see people doing speed bench
and their just like bouncing it off their chest.
And some of 'em look like this, some of them look like.
It's all over the place, okay.
That's not making you better because
none of those reps look the same.
I need repeated, right, exposure
to get neurological adaptation.
So control the eccentric but doesn't need to be accentuated.
It just needs to be controlled, right?
So you don't have to do it longer.
If I can eliminate it?
So for instance, in the throws,
I eliminate the eccentric altogether.
Even better right?
Or you can do all sorts of stuff where it's like, alright.
And you can do these exercises coming from a dead stop.
You could do like, you know, squats from pins.
You know, all of your Olympic lifts where you're dropping.
We eliminate the eccentric altogether.
And then, this bottom one kind of a repeat.
Consider if you are overlapping
with Starting or Accelerating Strength goals.
Then your Tempo may be effected by that.
So obviously if I'm focusing more on an accelerating thing,
my resistance profile's gonna be a little bit different.
Which we'll talk about.
So my intent will be a little bit different.
And then starting is gonna be a little bit different as well
because our focus is just at the very beginning.
Not necessarily the velocity thereafter.