There's More Than One Way to Build Explosive Power in Athletes!

One of the biggest concerns of strength coaches and athletes (whether they know it or not) is known as "rate of force development." Essentially this means, how quickly can an athlete activate their muscles to achieve maximal force output.  This amount of time can be shortened through training.  An offensive or defensive lineman can be trained to explode off the line of scrimmage faster, a runner in baseball can reach top speed on the base path quicker, and a basketball player can change directions and reach max height on a jump at a faster rate, if they are trained properly.

Usain Bolt--Triple Extension of the left leg

In most sports that require explosiveness, the lower body, especially the hips, are responsible for generating most of the power.  Therefore, the most important aspect of generating power and force is known as "triple extension."  Triple extension is the simultaneous extension of the ankles, knees, and hips, which is one of the most common and important movements in all of sports.  Consider this:  When a linebacker wraps up a running back to make a tackle, he is taught to shoot low and drive from the legs by exploding through the ball carrier.  When taught properly, the linebacker should extend at the ankles, knees and hips, and drive the ball carrier through the ground.  When a basketball player jumps, whether it be for a 15 foot shot, a layup, or a powerful drive and dunk, they bend at the ankles, knees, and hips, then forcefully extend all three, producing the force that allows them to leave the floor.  For that matter, what is running?  If you watch a world class sprinter, each step is an explosive extension of the ankle, knee and hip of the individual leg.  The point is, triple extension may be the most important movement to develop in sport!

Olympic Snatch--"The Finish"

1) Some strength coaches will tell you the only way to truly improve rate of force development through triple extension training are the classic olympic lifts.  These include the snatch, the clean, the jerk, and their variations.  There is no doubt, the olympic lifts will build incredible power and improve rate of force development.  The problem, and its a HUGE problem, is that the olympic lifts are extremely hard to teach.  They are unbelievably technical.  If you read enough interviews with world-class olympic lifters, you'll begin to see that even they admit, after decades of practicing these techniques every single day, that their technique still needs work.  So, with that in mind, I think that depending on the athlete, there are better ways to work the triple extension.

Elliott Hulse--Atlas Stone Loading

2) One such way to do this, is odd object training.  Some might call this strongman training.  Essentially, you take an odd object, like a heavy stone, atlas stone, sandbag, kettlebell, or other object, and perform exercises like loading, shouldering, or a variation of the olympic lift.  These are great because they force the athlete to adjust to the odd object which will improve grip and athleticism.  They are also much easier to teach than the classic olympic lifts.  Some of my favorite odd object exercises are kettlebell snatches, sandbag shouldering, and stone clean and press.  They build full body explosive power and muscle and it's just goddamn fun to throw around heavy shit!

3) Another way to build power is through throws.  Medicine balls are a great tool to build explosive power and speed.  Before your strength training, or on its own, medicine ball throws force the muscles to activate quickly through resistance.  However, the biggest advantage to medicine ball training is that you don't have to decelerate the resistance.  Anytime you're using a barbell, a sandbag, a rock, a kettlebell, a dumbbell, or any other object that will be staying in your hand or hands the entire movement, you have to decelerate the object even if its just slightly at some point.  That forces you to control the object which compromises power output.  With a medicine ball, there is no deceleration.  You throw the damn thing as hard as humanly possible!  Some of the best medicine ball throws are overhead medicine ball slams, broad jump chest passes, underhand backwards medicine ball throws, underhand forward throws, and twisting throws for rotational power.  Check out the world-class athletes at the great Defranco's gym training explosively with medicine balls!

4) The final, and most controversial way to build explosive power, is plyometrics.  Plyometrics is a big buzz word in the fitness industry today.  Everyone wants to do plyometrics, and the world of Crossfit has encouraged people to use plyometrics as a conditioning tool.  However, plyometrics ARE NOT FOR EVERYONE.  Originally developed by the Soviets, plyometrics are intended for well-trained, high level athletes, who already possess athleticism and a high level of technique in basic strength exercises like the squat.  Please, for the love of God, if you have been out of training for awhile, or are new to training, don't start by doing depth jumps, where you jump off one box and immediately onto another!  Now that I got that rant out of the way, here are the positives.  Simple jump training for athletes, or plyometric training for advanced athletes, is a great way to improve rate of force development and triple extension.  You can't jump slowly.  Try hard as you want, you have to contract your muscles quickly and explosively in order to jump. If done properly, jump training can be extremely beneficial for developing speed and explosiveness in athletes.  Some of my favorite jumping exercises are box jumps, hurdle hops, broad jumps, and kneeling jumps.

Ridiculous Triple Extension on the Broad Jump

In my opinion, variety is key here.  Athletes should be able to explosively lift odd objects, throw medicine balls, perform jumps with just their bodyweight, and perform SUBMAX olympic lifts with good form.  This will provide a basis of overall athleticism and power through triple extension of the ankles, knees, and hips.  If you want to improve your speed, athleticism, and explosive power on the field or the court, you need to be training this way.  Learn to properly train the triple extension and watch your athletic performance improve like never before!