The Key To Maximum Strength
On the quest to gain strength, the general rule of thumb is to lift heavy with fewer reps and more sets. Strength is usually determined by the amount of force a individual can generate. Which is usually measured by the amount resistance one can pull or push. There is an important factor that most don’t consider when trying to reach their maximum strength potential. That factor is explosive power. Strength and Power are two separate things but both rely on each other. Strength is measured by how much force one can generate. Power is measured by speed x force. Just because a man is strong, that does not make him powerful. “A smaller man who can swing a baseball bat faster may hit as hard or as far as the heavier stronger man who swings slower.” Bruce Lee
To develop power and strength you will incorporate heavy weight training with explosive plyometrics. This is called Complex Training.
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The goal of the complex training routine, is to build strength and develop your fast twitch muscle fibers, which will increase your muscle speed, which will cause you to gain explosive power. This should help you lift beyond you maximum weight limits your were stuck on. Complex training is strenuous on your joints and should not be done more then once or twice a week. Take a least five days rest before working the same muscle group again.
Power is measured by force(strength) times speed. Power = Force(Strength) x Rate of Force(Speed). It is believed that since weight lifting tightens and tenses the muscles it makes it difficult for the muscles to move fast. Also having bulky muscle supposedly makes them slower as well. If all you do is lift weights and not work on lengthening the muscles through proper dynamic stretching, then this assumption is true. Weight lifting alone will increase your power and strength, but by integrating plyometrics and stretching properly with heavy weight training, you add the benefit of improving the rate of force(speed). Rate of force is the speed with which force is achieved in a movement. Increasing your power output will increase how much you can lift. But one does not increase power by just by lifting heavy weights. You must increase the rate of force(speed) that it takes to move the weight.To generate power one must develop their fast twitch muscle fibers which are responsible for exerting power. These muscle fibers are developed through anaerobic exercise(exercises that requires muscles to contract at high intensities for short durations of time. Heavy weight lifting and plyometircs are considered to be anaerobic.
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While strength is used to pull or push against resistance, by increasing the rate of force(the speed in which you apply strength) against the resistance, generates a burst of energy against the object, thus creating momentum which makes the object easier to move. On any kind of lift, right after the moment you pause to either pull the weight or push it, (example: when you stop 90 degrees on squats, or the barbell on bench press is touching the surface of your chest.) the faster you explode the weight towards you or against you, the momentum generated will give you a few extra inches before your to the point where your just using strength to push through the rest of the movement. Trust me when a say a few inches is a lot.
You will be performing core lifts, such as cleans, bench press, incline press, or squats. Each set is immediately followed by a corresponding plyometric exercise, which you will do for 10 to 12 reps. After you do the plyometric movement your muscles will start to feel fatigued. Since your lifting heavy and trying to increase strength and power, it is necessary to take long breaks between each set. Anywhere between three to five minutes should be sufficient. You want to be able to exert maximum effort on every set you perform. The corresponding plyometric movement that you will perform should mimic the lifting exercise. For example you will do jump squats after you do weighted squats, or clapping push-ups after bench press.
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