Explosive strength is the speed training

‘Speed strength’ is essentially the ability of the neuromuscular system to create the largest impulse in the shortest amount of time possible with there being two distinguishable parts to speed strength; the first being starting strength; the second explosive strength.

The definition of start strength is the overall amount of force generated in just 30ms from the start of the concentric contraction. To add to this, to define explosive strength would be to say that it’s the ability to carry on the force produced from the start strength, which lasts for in the region of 160ms. In short, explosive strength is the absolute maximum rate of force development (RDF) within an isometric movement. So that in a nutshell explains exactly what speed strength is, now you need to learn about training to improve your speed strength and what exactly this entails and why.

Benefits of speed strength

Speed strength carries many benefits to any athlete, especially power athletes who like to use a lot of weight and also those who rely on power and speed in their sports such as sprinters, rugby players and powerlifters. This is because what a good level of speed strength allows you to do in simple terms is lift more weight and possibly run faster over a short distance. As a result of increased strength speed you will begin to lift more and more weight as you progress and in turn this will indeed lead to a great rate of increase in muscular hypertrophy! There you then have the key benefits to speed strength, increased power, strength, speed and in turn an increase in lean muscle mass gains.

What exercises build your speed strength?

To begin with it is important that you understand which exercises are the most beneficial in developing speed strength. Traditionally Olympic lifts are extremely popular when developing speed strength, exercises such as the ‘snatch and clean.’ This is because it isn’t just strength which allows the lifter to perform this exercise, but more often than not it is their power which ties in with speed strength. However, smith machine bench press throws and jumping squats are also very popular exercises to develop speed strength and are in fact acknowledged as producing more power than the Olympic lifts.

How do you apply the exercises to build your speed strength?

The loading you use changes depending on which exercise it is that you are using at the time. If you’re using Olympic lifts such as the ‘snatch and clean’ you want to be looking at using in between 80-90% of your 1 rep max, with a repetition range of 2-4 per set. However, if your using the smith machine bench press throws then you can afford to use just 50% of your 1 rep max. Finally, jump squats need a loading of 40% of your 1 rep max; however, you must take into consideration the weight of yourself simply because your body weight is directly acting as a resistance throughout the entire exercise. As an example, if you weigh 100kg and your 1 rep max is 200kg, you have a total loading of 300kg! So what you need to do is multiply this by 0.4 which equates to 120kg. Therefore you would only actually need to use a 20kg resistance to perform jump squats, making the load specific for developing your speed strength.

Sample training routines to develop speed strength

Time Controlled Speed Strength Methods is simply a guideline on how to use the exercises stated above to improve your speed strength, in terms of rest periods between repetitions and sets. It is stated that between each working set you should have 5 minutes rest. The reasoning behind this is that when using 50% of your 1 rep max your body needs this amount of break to perform each of the 5 repetitions during the set. Take the smith machine bench press throws as an example. After the first repetition is complete you cannot perform the next repetitions with any less than 10% off the speed used on the first repetition, otherwise it becomes too slow and you are instead conditioning your muscle fibers more for muscular endurance which is not what you want when trying to enhance your speed strength. With all of this being said, it is concluded upon that for optimum results and performance during your working sets, that you are able to perform 5 repetitions with 50% resistance on the bar without any rest in between. As you increase the repetitions, you will need to add in rest periods between repetitions. For example, if you want to perform 6 reps then you will require 3 seconds between each rep, 7 reps will need 6 seconds and so on. As you can see there is a patter emerging, where for every rep added, 3 seconds extra rest between each rep is required in order to prevent your speed from decreasing any more than 10% from the first repetition.

Applying speed strength training into your training plan

So now you need to use the principles of periodisation to improve your speed strength and add into your training plan some new workout sessions. To effectively increase your speed strength you want to dedicate at least 2 short sessions a week, one for the upper body and another for the lower body. For example, your upper body workout would consist of smith machine bench press throws and ‘snatch and cleans.’ You would perform 4 sets of each exercise, which with the 5 minute breaks in between take you to 40 minutes per session. On your lower body day you will obviously use jump squats and you could also use regular squats with around 90% of your 1 rep max for 2-3 repetitions. Taking a leaf out of the Bulgarian and Russian approach to speed strength training, you could also add in light weight sets with the same exercises using higher repetitions. Studies have shown both of these approaches to yield the best results when combined with the conventional low rep work. In order to work within the principles of periodisation it is vital that you keep track of your progress and aim to up the resistance every 3 weeks or so in order to continuously improve your speed strength capacity.