Best exercises for explosive strength?

[mose]

I think clubbells are incredibly hokey. KB's however apear to be worth something. However, they're not worth enough to justify buying them. Make or buy an adjustable KB and get the whole set for 50 bucks or less.

i bought my KB's used and paid like 40 cents on the dollar plus no shipping, so it worked out okay...

they pop up used more than you would expect and end up being a good deal...

 

[Henry Swanson]

I've heard good things about PDA's products as well, but I've also heard that it's a pain in the ass to order their stuff from outside the U.S.

 

[BAS_FAN]

Whoever suggested doing deads and squats in order to be explosive is a moron. In order to be more explosive you need to do plyo's and alot of multi dorectional and quick change sprints. Add some shuttle steps with constant directional changes. Make the medicine ball and boxes your friend. If you want to learn to be faster and more explosive, just walk into any D1 college football weightroom and ask questions. (if you can get in) You need to train you muscles to contract as quickly as possible.....basically what alot of guys have suggested, doing oylmpic lifts. But not just cleans and snatches. Try doing variations of that same principle. Depending on how strong your core is, you might even wanna try single arm dumbbell snatches, single leg box jumps or single leg hang cleans. Just get creative.

 

[Ted-P]

Whoever suggested doing deads and squats in order to be explosive is a moron. In order to be more explosive you need to do plyo's and alot of multi dorectional and quick change sprints. Add some shuttle steps with constant directional changes. Make the medicine ball and boxes your friend. If you want to learn to be faster and more explosive, just walk into any D1 college football weightroom and ask questions. (if you can get in) You need to train you muscles to contract as quickly as possible.....basically what alot of guys have suggested, doing oylmpic lifts. But not just cleans and snatches. Try doing variations of that same principle. Depending on how strong your core is, you might even wanna try single arm dumbbell snatches, single leg box jumps or single leg hang cleans. Just get creative.

No, explosive weightlifting isn't without it's merits.

The Athlete’s Edge
‘Evo’lutionary training: Archuleta explodes past his competition
By Nolan Nawrocki, Contributing writer
June 19, 2001

Adam Archuleta
at the Senior Bowl
Working out in front of NFL scouts in Indianapolis this past February, St. Louis Rams first-round draft pick Adam Archuleta posted some of the most impressive results for a safety in the 17-year history of the NFL Draft Combine. The 6-foot, 211-pound Archuleta ran a 4.42 40, had a 39-inch vertical jump and bench-pressed 225 pounds 31 times.

The reason Archuleta was drafted with the 20th pick in the 2001 NFL draft was no accident. Archuleta’s numbers are the result of years of sweat and training in preparation for this opportunity. As a 172-pound high school junior, Archuleta became intrigued by an article written by Jay Schroeder, founder of Evo-Sport, and felt compelled to contact him.

Schroeder developed Evo-Sport based on a principle that is widely regarded in strength and conditioning literature but rarely practiced — plyometrics. Nearly every part of the program involves absorbing and rapidly propelling force.

Rather than perform a standard bench press, Schroeder teaches athletes to explode through the movement, release the bar from their hands at the top of the lift, drop their hands to their chests, catch and explode back into the bar as fast as possible. Schroeder keeps his hands ready at all times, watching athletes to make sure they catch the bar.

What impresses Schroeder about Archuleta’s ability to bench-press 530 pounds is not the sheer mass being moved, but that it is moved in 1.09 seconds. Force on the football field is the product of mass and acceleration. Traditional weightlifting programs concentrate on moving mass regardless of how much an athlete struggles to perform the lift. Schroeder emphasizes performing lifts quickly, which increases the amount of force produced and has turned Archuleta into a havoc-wreaking machine on the football field.

When Archuleta began the Evo-Sport program, he benched 265 pounds in 2.76 seconds in the concentric or ascending phase of the lift. He squatted 273 in 3.47 seconds, ran the 40 in 4.79-4.81 and had a 26-inch vertical jump. Today, his personal best in the bench press is 530 pounds in 1.09 seconds and in the squat, 663 pounds in 1.24 seconds. At an individual workout for NFL scouts, he ran the 40-yard dash in 4.37 seconds and jumped 39 inches vertically.

As a walk-on football player at Arizona State, Archuleta quickly earned a scholarship and became Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Year last season as a senior. In his five years at ASU, Archuleta trained with Schroeder in addition to completing the workout program the rest of his team performed.

"The will to prepare for success is more important than the will for success," Schroeder said. "If you want to be the best football player or the best safety or the best center or the best bench presser, then be willing to work that hard, not just put in the same work that everyone else is putting in."

Archuleta said he paced himself through ASU’s workouts so he could concentrate on Schroeder’s program.

"You could jump and you could exercise all day long, but that doesn’t mean you are going to get any better," Archuleta said. "Everyone squats and everybody runs and everybody jumps and everybody benches, but it’s the way that you do it. There’s no secret exercise. It’s the way it’s applied. And that’s where Jay’s expertise comes in."

While Archuleta was accustomed to receiving compliments for his football prowess in high school, Schroeder challenged Archuleta. Schroeder evaluated how Archuleta compared with other athletes and gave him a program to complete before he would agree to work with him. After Archuleta showed signs of progress over several months, Schroeder welcomed him into his gym. Not long afterward, he kicked Archuleta out for not working hard enough and told him not to come back. The next day, Archuleta showed up and waited in the doorway of Schroeder’s office while he completed office work. After ignoring him for more than an hour, Schroeder told him, "All right, let’s work out."

"He challenged me to come in here every day, and he really put me through some beat-down workouts," Archuleta said. "He really tested my intestinal fortitude and really taught me what it was like to work hard. He put me through a lot of tests and was constantly trying to teach me and mold me and get me to understand what it took to be a good athlete and what kind of sacrifices it was going to take."

A key component of Schroeder’s program is repetition. Typical football programs train each body part twice a week and allow ample opportunity for rest. In Schroeder’s program, athletes might train the chest 12 times a week. His clients usually exercise twice a day, six days a week. Football players use their muscles constantly during a week in practice and games. Why should their weight-room preparation be any different?

A typical chest workout for Archuleta involves 100-300 repetitions with weight varying between 225 and 275 pounds. Schroeder gives Archuleta a set number to perform, and he must perform the concentric phase of each lift in less than a quarter of a second. If he doesn’t explode fast enough, the repetition does not count toward the prescribed goal for that day. For every 15 reps he completes, he has to do one to three supermaximal reps from 500 to 600 pounds on his own.

Many strength experts would argue that Schroeder’s intense program neglects recovery time, decreases strength and increases injuries, all of which are symptomatic of overtraining. However, Schroeder says his program is specifically designed to overtrain an athlete.

"We try to overtrain to a 3 to 7 percent deficit on purpose," Schroeder said. "The longer we can maintain that level, the greater the supercompensatory effect is later on. If we go deeper in the overtraining than that, it sets us way back, but if we go at 3 to 7 percent, we maintain great results."

The game of football is played in 45-second spurts. On an average play, an athlete expends his energy fully for five to 10 seconds, followed by a 35- to 40-second rest. A series usually lasts anywhere from three to 15 consecutive plays. A long series of plays leaves most players gasping for air and eager to hit the sideline for water and rest. Compared to the stress placed on an athlete in Schroeder’s workouts, he believes a 15-play series is relatively easy.

Several NFL players have begun Schroeder’s program, only to leave the gym after 10 minutes and never return. Schroeder assumes they left because it was too difficult.

"It’s not for the faint of heart," Schroeder said. "It’s very difficult training, both the mental and emotional training. We’ll bench sometimes 12 to 15 times a week. People aren’t mentally and emotionally in tune to doing that. So just the sheer repetition of heavy, fast moving of loads is enough to make you tough. Someone like Adam, he can go out and run near his max speed many, many, many times even under duress."

While Archuleta’s strength coaches at ASU did not like him consulting professionals outside of their supervision, Archuleta is a firm believer in Schroeder’s program.

"(ASU coaches) didn’t like what we were doing and tried to make excuses that it wasn’t good for me and blah, blah, blah and whatever," Archuleta said. "The results don’t lie. And the kind of football player that was made doesn’t lie either. So people have egos, and people get jealous, but I mean, the bottom line is what’s happening. Am I getting results? Am I getting better? Am I a better football player? Am I getting less injured? Am I stronger? Am I faster? That’s the bottom line, and that’s all I’m interested in."

Archuleta is not the only athlete seeing results. Schroeder trains Arizona Cardinals WR Rob Moore and QB Chris Greisen, San Francisco 49ers TE Brian Jennings and Kansas City Chiefs TE Troy Drayton, in addition to many champion powerlifters, college softball players and other clients aged 4 to 82.

Upon seeing Archuleta’s successful results from Evo-Sport, his agent, Gary Wichard, began referring other clients to Schroeder. It took one visit to the gym to convince Rob Moore of the value in Schroeder’s program. As an 11-year veteran wide receiver, Moore has gained nearly 100 pounds on his bench press in five months and is now benching 425.

According to Wichard, Schroeder’s training is certainly evolutionary, as the title Evo-Sport infers.

"I’ve never seen anything as football-oriented as this kind of training," Wichard said. "Everything is done with speed. I’m talking about lifting 500 pounds with speed. Don’t give me pretty-boy bench presses that are slow. He doesn’t even count those. You have to explode. If you watch Adam’s game on the field, his game is about explosion and force, and that is what Jay is teaching."

While Schroeder’s program is innovative, the fundamental principle of his teaching will always remain the same. It is best demonstrated by the words of his protégé, Archuleta:

"I just try to go to bed every night with the attitude that nobody put in more time or worked as hard as me that day."

The Archives
2001 - 2002 Season

Online writers — features and columns by our PFW staff, columnists, national correspondent, AFC reporters, NFC reporters and contributing writers
College football — articles, college notepad, key college game previews, PFW's college top 10, Scouting Combine, Senior Bowl, top 25 predictions
Fantasy football — articles, injury reports, weekly fantasy tips, weekly matchups, The Fantasy Doctor, "In our opinion" daily fantasy columns, Fantasy spins
Free-agency — news and notes, updates and features
General features — Internet features, features from our print edition, MVP meter, Rookie meter, They said it, team reports, training camp reports
Handicapper's Corner — staff selections, games of the week, PFW Players of the Week, NFL standings, weekly handicapping columns, predictions, trends, tips and timely stats
"In our opinion" daily columns — opinions on general football topics
"PFW spins" — short-takes on current events
Joel Buchsbaum — college player evaluations, NFL player analysis, NFL draft coverage, NFL notepad, NFList, college game previews and other NFL articles by PFW's contributing editor
NFL Draft — player evaluations, printouts, feature stories, commentaries, draft recaps
Ron Pollack — articles and commentary by PFW's editor-in-chief
Season in review — the 2001-2002 NFL season

 

[Henry Swanson]

Whoever suggested doing deads and squats in order to be explosive is a moron. In order to be more explosive you need to do plyo's and alot of multi dorectional and quick change sprints. Add some shuttle steps with constant directional changes. Make the medicine ball and boxes your friend. If you want to learn to be faster and more explosive, just walk into any D1 college football weightroom and ask questions. (if you can get in) You need to train you muscles to contract as quickly as possible.....basically what alot of guys have suggested, doing oylmpic lifts. But not just cleans and snatches. Try doing variations of that same principle. Depending on how strong your core is, you might even wanna try single arm dumbbell snatches, single leg box jumps or single leg hang cleans. Just get creative.

He was asking about increasing explosiveness for judo throwing and wrestling. I'm not saying that he should neglect what you have suggested but the deadlift and squat will help with judo throws.

 

[CarnalSalvation]

I haven't read this whole thread, but I'm gonna kick in my three cents anyhow (that's right, my opinion is worth a cent more than yours BITCH).

If you're under the 4-500lb range on the squat/dl (depending on your weight/goals) you can still become more explosive/quick from increasing limit strength IMO, thus heavy lifting is good. Limit lifting on squats, pressing and pulling.

Also in terms of quick lifts, I actually agree with Louie Simmons that dynamic powerlifts trump the Oly lifts in terms of power development for athletes. Here's why:
As I understand it power is moving weight quickly, yes? And thus moving 200lbs at the same speed as 100lbs would cause the athlete to exert more force right?
Well obviously heavier loads are possible on the squat/bp/dl even if done at a % that allows them to be moved explosively.
Same speed, more weight=more power.

 

[Grendel Luke]

Best exercise i know for explosive strength is the medicine ball clean and thrust: place the ball at your feet then pick it up and clean it to the top of your chest, then squat down and explode up pushing the ball directly up and them catching it and returning to the ground.

Best sets and reps for this is either doing 50-100 reps for time (pick a number and time how long it takes) or 3 two minute sets seing how many reps you can do. I prefer the first.

 

[Mark Limbaga]

To develop explosiveness, plyometrics are still the best. When you have developed the basic explosiveness, doing band work, chain work and oly lifts will help you improve even more.

 

[krellik]

Plyos, medballs, sandbags, heavy powerlifting, oly lifting, kettlebells, practising the sport, sprints, and some other good stuff that has been posted in this thread. That actually sound like a good, varied and productive training program to me. Not just for power but for everything.

 

[SmashiusClay]

I am looking for exercises that will specifically build my explosive strength for Judo throws and Wrestling slams. Currently, I do deads, squats, and clean & jerks, but am looking for other ideas....possibly outside of the Powerlifting/Olympic Lifting realm (if there are any).

If you want to specifically increase your throw explosiveness the best way ive found is to use two training partners. You simply attempt to throw one of them while the other stands behind him and holds him down.

 

[yomon]

Wholy hell!

What a range of opinnions on this topic!

If by explosive you mean quick then i would say simple speed drills would be your best friend. i.e. Quick kicks on the heavy bag, punching the speed bag, punchouts etc... Use your imagination.

If by explosive you ment quick but powerful then your still going to do your regular limit strength routien, but you'll also want to add some Very low wieght speed exercises. I.E. see how many squats, pushups, and situps you can do in 20 seconds. Keep increasing the # you can do and guess what? your increasing your power at the same time as your speed.

Tabbata is a great way of doing this, but you may want to modify it so it doesn't go so many rounds at once. After all were trying to work power not endurance.

also i would think that just sparring and training at increased speed should help.

 

[hoffman_gavin]

do what quinton jackson does, throw your training partner around and slam him, get a heavy grappling dummy (make your own type in "fightraining grappling dummy 2" to google) and throw that around, pound it, put heavy sandbags on you while on your back and try to get up while your training partner pokes you in the head with a boxing glove on a stick (serious) , get a fat boy and try judo throwing him while he hits you in the face. This is real strength and power training.

Dont bother with spandex, lifting chalk and long bars with weighted discs

 

[cockysprinter]

after you learn the power lifts, go learn the oly lifts, its that simple. really people.

 

[wrestleon]

thanks

 

[BeRGLeZ]

This is just an idea, more a question, but what about say... dancing? lol
You see alot of people at trance clubs (often enhanced in some way ) and they move rather explosively and with experience seem to attain a somewhat mastery of controlling their bodys movement. I was wondering if it helps in anyway?
Im not suggesting to get on flairos and crap and start breakdancing, just that i dunno, it might be overlooked? Eitherway, techno/club dancing seems to add experience to moving your body ?

 

[OpethDrums]

i'd say cardio plyos rolling/sparring and medicine ball work

doing heavy deadlifts arent gonna give you "Explosive power" what you need is endurance, coordination and speed

 

[krellik]

This is just an idea, more a question, but what about say... dancing? lol
You see alot of people at trance clubs (often enhanced in some way ) and they move rather explosively and with experience seem to attain a somewhat mastery of controlling their bodys movement. I was wondering if it helps in anyway?
Im not suggesting to get on flairos and crap and start breakdancing, just that i dunno, it might be overlooked? Eitherway, techno/club dancing seems to add experience to moving your body ?

Best advice yet. It is a good thing that sherdog keeps me entertained during a night of frenzied writing for university.

 

[PariahCarey]

This is just an idea, more a question, but what about say... dancing? lol
You see alot of people at trance clubs (often enhanced in some way ) and they move rather explosively and with experience seem to attain a somewhat mastery of controlling their bodys movement. I was wondering if it helps in anyway?
Im not suggesting to get on flairos and crap and start breakdancing, just that i dunno, it might be overlooked? Eitherway, techno/club dancing seems to add experience to moving your body ?

Acutally there is truth to this. Hardcore dancing where i live has gotten unbelievably violent but alot of these kids can perform incredible acrobatic feats and can keep their balance while going at an incredible intensity.

 

[CarnalSalvation]

BASFAN IS A RETARDED FuCK.

That is all. As you were.

 

[Reakt]

Acutally there is truth to this. Hardcore dancing where i live has gotten unbelievably violent but alot of these kids can perform incredible acrobatic feats and can keep their balance while going at an incredible intensity.

yeh eccy's are awesome.