explosive power training

Discussion in 'Health and Fitness' started by Infinity, Feb 8, 2011.

  1. Infinity

    Infinity -Invincible-

    how many sets and reps and percent of weights for power training. im doing the fast powerful movements
     
  2. Socrastein

    Socrastein The Boxing Philosopher

    That depends on what you need. For some people, explosive movements are the key to increasing their power production. For many, many others the issue is a lack of maximal strength. It doesn't matter how quickly you produce force if you can't produce much in the first place. If a weak guy does explosive movements he'll go nowhere, and if a slow guy does lots of strength work he'll go nowhere.

    Without knowing where you fall on the spectrum, it's difficult to know what to prescribe.
     
  3. icefield

    icefield Valued Member

    as said above depends on where you lay

    Becoming faster/ more explosive comes down to two things. First, the nervous system must be developed to contract the maximum amount of muscle as rapidly as possible and the connective tissues must be trained to use elastic energy effectively. This will result in stronger, more explosive muscular contractions. Second, the energy producing properties of the neuromuscular system must be developed to fuel these explosive contractions using the alactic energy system to the maximum of its ability.

    The alactic energy system also known as the creatine system or the ATC-PC system, is the most powerful of the three energy systems – though this also means it also has the shortest duration as well., so to properly train it you need to keep your sets short and allow full recovery. First strength levels and explosive strength must be increased, we do this by lifting heavy weights and striving to move them as quickly as possible Once we have increased our strength levels (always trying to move the weights as fast as possible) we then work on the CNS ability to respond using short sets with long rests using either indirect drills: sprints, squat jumps, bounds, box jumps, cleans, snatches throws, BW push ups, medicine ball passes and slams, or direct drills: hitting the pads, the bags, drilling takedowns or throws etc

    The key is very short sets, long rest periods to fully recover, and use correct technique at all times, we are working on speed/explosiveness NOT explosive endurance and the methods used need to reflect this

    sets are normally 6 to 10 per exercise, 3 or 4 exercises a session, 1 or 2 sessions a week, all sets should be under 10 seconds, and rest between sets should be 3 to 5 minutes at least, its power you are after not power endurance
     
    Last edited: Feb 8, 2011
  4. Infinity

    Infinity -Invincible-

    i do strength training now and want to do some explosive poer training tell me the sets and reps i need to do and the percent of weights
     
  5. Infinity

    Infinity -Invincible-

    icefield you dont say the rep and amount of weights use for explosive power training
     
  6. Socrastein

    Socrastein The Boxing Philosopher

    No more than 5 reps for power training. Use 40-80% of your max weight for weighted compound movements. If you use jump squats use about 25% of your max squat. It's almost always better to go a bit too light and accelerate the weight more than to go a bit too heavy and lose the ability to accelerate the load.

    I don't recommend resting upwards of 5 minutes however. The most important component of explosive training is learning to achieve and sustain a very high level of neural activation, and the easiest way to kill your activation is to stand around for 5 minutes losing focus.

    You should learn to auto-regulate yourself and experiment with how long you need between sets to maintain performance. This could be between 10 seconds and 2 minutes, depending on your explosive work capacity, the exercises being used, the intensity of the weight, how far you are into the workout, etc.

    There are too many variables to give precise recommendations, so I'll say rest the minimum amount of time required to give 100% effort on your next set. It will take some time to learn what that is for you and what it feels like, but it's well worth it in the end.
     
  7. liero

    liero Valued Member

    what do you guys think of active recovery between explosive sets, such as shadow boxing or footwork?

    Also. When performing weighted jump squats what's the best/safest method? Front, overhead with barbells, hands down the side with dumbells?
     
  8. Freeform

    Freeform Fully operational War-Pig Supporter

    Well... theoretically power work uses the ATP/ATP-CP energy pathway and theory states that recovery should be 'rest'. In practice I find it's not that simple. Though... if you have performed more than 1/2 repetions you're most likely out of this region and into the lactate zone, so moving around is fine as active recovery, but bare in mind that you are 'resting' and that just walking around is probably the correct intensity.

    Back squat is safest. Overhead is just plain dangerous, side with dumbells will probably lead to poor posture thus injury. Front squat is probably open to debate, but IMHO it's to much risk for the returned benifit.
     
  9. Fish Of Doom

    Fish Of Doom Will : Mind : Motion Supporter

    what about a weighted vest? how would it compare in terms of balance and of spinal compression?
     
  10. seiken steve

    seiken steve golden member

    I was thinking this, i'm a little concerned about a barbell on my shoulderd when jumping.

    If you squat 100kg or below then could hugging a plate work?

    this thread makes me realise how lacking my training is in explosive work, mainly consists of medicine ball and BW plyo drills.
     
  11. Patrick Smith

    Patrick Smith Tustom Cuser Uitle

    Infinity, look up Joe Defranco's Westside for Skinny Bastards program. It seems to be a good one, if you're just looking for something to tell you what to do.
     
  12. Socrastein

    Socrastein The Boxing Philosopher

    Just make sure you engage your lats and pull the bar down into your upper back, as though you were doing a behind the neck pull-down. This will keep it from bouncing up and cracking you in the back of the skull, as well as creating more stability in the spine, as the lats are actually a very important core muscle.

    Whether you're doing regular squats or jump squats, you should always pull the bar down hard into your traps.
     
  13. seiken steve

    seiken steve golden member

    We were always told, "try and bend the bar" which sounds similar.
    I was more gloomy about the impact and shock travelling through my spine but I guess that exists however the weight is distributed.

    Thanks a bunch mate.
     
  14. Socrastein

    Socrastein The Boxing Philosopher

    Yeah, bending the bar is the same concept: that's a good coaching cue. You're right that the impact can be potentially damaging. Same goes for just bodyweight jumps and broad jumps. I tell everyone to "land like a ninja" and then I demo by jumping up really high and landing with a soft *pitter*. Just try to land softly and absorb your weight. If you can't land without making a *thump* then I'd recommend lowering the weight a bit.
     
  15. Kuma

    Kuma Lurking about

    Stay light if you're doing weighted jump squats, and only do them if you have a solid squatting base to start.

    A good medicine ball will help you in just about every single aspect of developing power for martial arts. You shouldn't need too much else.
     
  16. icefield

    icefield Valued Member

    Very true, basic jumps:vertical and especially broad jumps and bounds, added to medicine ball throws are about all you need, of course other exercises are useful but its not like you wont devlop explosivness unless you a bar on your back and start jumping with it
     
  17. Frodocious

    Frodocious She who MUST be obeyed! Moderator Supporter

    What weight medicine ball would you recommend using for explosive training?
     
  18. seiken steve

    seiken steve golden member

    I'm about to make my own so it'll be whatever weight it comes out at!
     
  19. righty

    righty Valued Member


    I'm interested in both of these.

    Which weight to choose.

    And how to make your own medicine ball. Going to google now but I'm interested in what method you used and how heavy it ended up being.

    I'd considered borrowing one, but if I can make one that's awesome. And it doesn't make dents in the floor when you throw it around (drop it) like weights or kettlebells.
     
    Last edited: Feb 14, 2011
  20. Frodocious

    Frodocious She who MUST be obeyed! Moderator Supporter

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