Is Your Training Specific?
I hope you’ve all had a look at the graph I posted in my last blog (it’s below if you didn’t).
I was inundated with e-mails from you guys and gals over the weekend about that last blog post. Many of you seemed very excited to have been introduced to your new training friend.
It’s also great that you are finally realising that you can reach out to me and ask me questions.
If you ever want to do so, send them over to my email or post on my Facebook page or you can even tweet me on my Twitter page. Don’t be shy.
But, back to your new training friend. The Force-Velocity Curve
Now sport science is really good at complicating things and making them harder to understand when it comes to strength & conditioning. But, this beautiful little graph shows you the most important information related to the specificity (always a chuckle trying to hear people say that word!) of your training when working towards your goals.
The graph shows the relationship between the force exerted during an exercise (most commonly a barbell or dumbbell) against the velocity at which it is moved by you.
To further simplify that, it shows to train for maximal strength gains you must exert high levels of force. Whereas, to train for speed gains you must produce movements at a very high velocity.
To even further simplify that:
If you want to get strong, PICK UP HEAVY OBJECTS (such as doing heavy sets of deadlifts at 95-100% of your 1 rep max).
If you want to get fast, MOVE QUICKLY (such as performing sets of 60-100m maximal sprints).
You can further break this down into the bits in-between by changing the force:velocity emphasis of the exercises you perform in training. This is how you make your training really specific to you and your sport or activity.
- If you want to develop strength-speed attributes such a movements that allow you to exert high levels of force quickly (specific for tackling in Rugby or taking opponents down in wrestling), reduce the resistance and move the implement faster. Examples include performing sets of front squats at 75-90% of your 1 rep max.
- If you want to develop your ability to exert power (specific for changing direction in team sports or jumping in basketball), train with lower resistances whilst performing ballistic movements such as squats jumps.
- If you want to develop speed-strength ability (specific for kicking in taekwondo or punching in boxing), you should train performing resisted speed exercises such as olympic lifting variations of snatches or upper-body medicine ball throws, respectively.
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Therefore, the key to training for your specific goals in terms of competitions, sports or activities you may want to improve at, is the relationship between the speed of the movements and the amount of force they make you exert.
Specificity isn’t about performing exercises that look like what you’re trying to improve such as swinging a weighted golf club to improving your driving distance or running with ankle weights on.
Specificity is about the internal demands of an exercise such as training the ability of the central nervous system to send nerve impulses quickly to recruit muscle fibres in the same way it would when performing a task or movement in a sport or activity.
So, next time you are training for a performance goal have a think…
Am I performing this exercise at a speed similar to what my sport/activity demands from me?
Am I having to exert a similar amount of force to perform this exercise as I would need to in my sport/activity?
Remember, if you want to get strong, PICK UP HEAVY OBJECTS. If you want to get fast, MOVE QUICKLY.
A strength & conditioning expert will apply these principles and make you become a better athlete by programming for you so you develop all of what is required for your sport/activities without getting injured. They will make your mechanically more efficient so you can train safely and efficiently and get lasting improvements that will transfer into your sport/activity.
Until next time,
Joe Bullen MSc ASCC CSCS
