Louie Simmons is one of the greatest strength coaches of all time. If you’re not familiar with him, just know that he is famous for creating top-level strength athletes year after year. For MANY years. He’s also responsible for several innovations in the lifting community, including the reverse hyper and band training for speed work.

This post is not about Louie Simmons or Westside Barbell. I had to give you that background so you realize how crucial this “opening” statement is…”give me someone fast and I can make them strong”.

[pullquote align=”right”]“give me someone fast and I can make them strong”[/pullquote]

Strength and sports are about speed. The ability to not only produce massive amounts of force, but to do it in as little time as possible.

Well, what if you’re NOT FAST?

Can you train for speed? Can you LEARN to be explosive?

YES. Yes, you can.

HOW??

Speed work, or dynamic effort training is one of the best ways to LEARN to be explosive. It’s also one of the best ways to build speed and explosiveness.

Using 40-60% of your 1RM for a given lift, you perform multiple sets (5-12) of 1-3 reps while focusing on moving the bar as rapidly as possible.

  • Upper Body: I like 6-8 x 3
  • Squats: 8-12 x 2
  • Deadlifts: 6-10 x 1
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This also a great opportunity to groove your setup and technique as you’ll have numerous sets (again 5-12) to “practice” and perfect this.

[media url=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSC4RK3IWkQ” width=”600″ height=”400″]

Later this week, in PART II, I’ll share with you my Top 3 tips for increasing your rate of force production…aka: SPEED!

In the meantime, hit “like” and post your questions below!