I thought I'd share this with you all..

I recently bought a book to read about plyometrics and elifts. The author is a gent who trains track athletes, but the principles can be applied to all sports. I emailed him a question and he was polite enough to mail me back the same day.

The book: http://www.readysetgofitness.com/

Our email string:

Hi Phil,

for e-lifting, to develop fast twitch muscle is it better to use more weight or less weight than a "regular" lift? I seem to have somehow missed that point in the book. My thought is that if you use as much weight as you normally would, the sheer load would prevent the fast twitch muscle from ever really engaging. Therefore, if I were to guess, I would say elifts should employ lighter loads. Am I correct? And if so, how much lighter?

My question is in reference to developing "fast hands" for boxing. While routine weight training is regarded as bad for hand speed (obviously since the fast twitch is left out), I've been taking a 12 lb medicine ball, tucking it in my arm (much like carrying a football), and doing one-round (3 minute) sets of uppercuts as fast and powerfully as I can. Another drill is where I shot-put it as high and hard as I can against the gym wall. Catch it and do it again (for 90seconds). Does this sound like a good idea to you? Obviously the load of weight isn't great but it's working the fast twitch far better than routine curls or shoulder presses, no? My concern is that if you don't work the muscle fast enough, the fast twitch fibers won't engage and you really won't be developing speed or explosiveness.

His Reply:

After warm up, the load for E-Lifts is typically 30% less. However, the intensity is still as high as using heavier weight. For example, on a set of ten reps, the first 8 reps fatigues the muscle so you get something out of the last couple of reps because the intensity is produced from the amount of static resistance. When you add velocity to the intensity formula, and push a static weight away from the body as fast as you can on each rep during the set, intensity varies and should slightly drop (with the velocity slowing) on each rep so the intensity should be near max on every rep during the set. Slowing the velocity will also increase intensity, but since fast-fiber is not there for endurance, a good sign would be that the muscle group being worked will fatigue faster than expected (after the first set or two).

You are on target. Half my work is with fitness and the other half is teaching athletes to run faster – www.40speed.com – and you are thinking right!!! There’s a study about discus throwing that is good for your question because discus throwers perform the identical the same move every time and to a degree this gives us a way to measure the best way to improve performance with loading and speed work. Just using a heavier disc doesn’t improve performance, but using one that is 10% heavier AND one 10% lighter produces good improvement.

The key is to think in terms of training the SPECIFIC movement for your sport, uppercuts, jabs, etc, and training the slow, fast, and super-fast fiber that propels the movement, AND the nervous system that fires the process. The body always sends the slow fiber to do perform the task first and when the nervous system reads the faster velocities, it recruits the fast fiber to help out. So you want strong, slow, fast and super-fast fiber. Since some of your movements involve incline press, shoulder press and tricep press down type movements. I’d consider experimenting with E-Lifts for some of these movements for the over-load aspect and use your current program for the over-speed aspect. And maybe look for ways to move even faster. With sprinters for example, we pull them on bungee cord to make them run faster than they have ever run before for a few steps. Endurance athletes can do over-speed training with intervals, but sprinters and athletes needing to improve their 40 yard sprint time, need that short, quick burst type of training to get their nervous system firing faster and faster.
Phil

My follow up:

Great info! Thanks a lot for your reply--I really appreciate it!!

The one bit you mentioned seems to confirm an idea I had. Do one set of heavy uppercuts (18lb ball, say), one with the 12lb ball and one with my arm free of any weight. That way nothing is left out. Also, if you can run downhill (or aided by wind or bungee cord) and improve speed, why not punch "downhill" to improve hand speed (and your CNS)? Boxers use bungee cord to resist their outward motion, but how 'bout bungee cord to PULL your punch AWAY from you???

Hi Reply:

PERFECT thinking. And it really works--10% overload and 10% overspeed gets great results on running speed and I think the same would be true for hand speed. One college football team did my speed/strength program for five weeks had 66 of their 88 athletes that went thru it dropped their 40 time by 1.5 to 2.5 tenths. The only issue is too much of a downhill grade can mess up good technique so the idea is to train the nervous system (and fast twitch) with overspeed (with perfect technique). So the 10% may be a product of technique rather simply be than 10% faster. I’d suggest using Overspeed at a rate fast as possible as long as you can keep good technique.

Thanks Von interesting, couple of no noes there but interesting.

what don't you like? I won't do it.

Von, The punching down theory doesnt work the recoil is slower and your altering muscle response and memory. Throwing the medicine ball against the wall high and catching the rebound is giving the body and eyes to much to remember as regards technique is concerned what you dont need in speed work is to analyse hence the saying parralysis by analysis regards

ok. thanks.

I'll quickly take adversary to help myslef understand....


what abuot shotputting a med ball against a wall EXACTLY how you'd throw a punch? surely that helps power and speed.... no?

Also, in using rubber bands for resistance, you're adding a counterforce that ends up AIDING recoil, then without it, you're hand would automatically go limp and no recoil since subconsciously the band was doing it fFOR YOU before.

Thoughts?

Thanks!

A little thing we do which we can, because we make our own. Is we put a loop in the middle loop it over a ring post then you do it in reverse punching with elastic that is. but muscle memory doesnt work like that it works from response and memory of response