Warrior Within Athletics:
To optimize athletic ability, not only is individual training protocol necessary, but specialized focus in force production is equally important. Dr.Brad DeWeese defines Optimization as "Training seeking to achieve an ideal performance capability rather than simply increasing or decreasing some characteristics." This calls for critical analysis of a sport to define what the parameters of the sport are and how to directly train for the performance requirements. Power development is critical to enhance explosive ability for sports such as football, baseball, basketball, softball, track and field and many more.
In order to truly understand how to apply this knowledge within your training protocol, one must understand what POWER truly means. Power is not only how much weight you can lift, but also the combination of how explosively or how fast you can (CORRECTLY) lift a particular weight. Not that overall strength is insignificant; however, "Rate of Force Development" should be emphasized when increasing athletic performance.
There are several ways to target this attribute. The most well supported and superior method is the use of weightlifting movements such as the snatch and the clean and jerk, as well as the derivatives of those lifts in a strategic fashion known as periodization. When applied correctly, the athlete will peak their performance when necessary and create supercompensation or a state at which your abilities increase due to programmed design. There is a fine line between Overreaching, which leads to supercompensation, and Overtraining, which leads to decrease in abilities or Central Nervous System Fatigue. The best way to achieve this "optimal zone" of long-term training is to use a modern Periodization method.
Periodization is defined by Dr. Mike Stone as "a logical phasic method of varying training volume, intensity factors, and exercises in order to optimize training progress. Thus, periodization is a nonlinear method for planning the training process." In other words, you need to know what your are doing, when you are doing it, and most importantly WHY you are doing it? This is a great reason to have your training program properly designed by a CSCS professional.
The principles of this article are better stated and explained in further detail by Dr. Gregory Haff and colleagues in their articles, "Training Principles of Power" in 2012 and "Roundtable Discussion: Periodization of Training Part 1 & 2" in 2004, both published in the National Strength and Conditioning Journal.
Search these on Google Scholar:
Part 1:
Part 2:
Jordon Kestner CSCS
Release your inner warrior with scientifically supported training programs by
Warrior Within Athletics
WarriorWithinAthletics.com