The following is the first in a series of articles directed toward the beginner lifter.

Congratulations on your choice to enter the world of strength sports. You’re in for a treat. The training is fun, the results are priceless, and the people are second to none. You’ll learn much about yourself, which will result in a better quality of life. However, unless you acquire the aid of an excellent coach, you’ll come to a point when you’ll have to make choices on program design, what methods to apply to the program, what exercises to put into the program, and how to optimize it individually.

This sounds easy. However, as you read more, network more, and become more conscious of different aspects of the sport, you’ll get confused and pulled in different directions. This is known as “paralysis by over analysis.” With the access we all have to so much information, it’s bound to happen. Only you can make the right choice.

Before we begin, it’s necessary to introduce some terms that will be used often:

  1. Repetition effort method (RE): Lifting a nonmaximal weight to failure. This can be modified many different ways such as three sets of 8–12 reps or one set of 25 reps using a light weight.
  1. Maximal effort method (ME): Lifting weights 90 percent or above such as a max squat attempt.
  1. Dynamic effort method (or speed work): Lifting weights fast and with good form to develop explosive power.
  1. Central nervous system (CNS): The CNS, in conjunction with the peripheral nervous system (don’t worry about what that is right now), is responsible for delivering stimulation to the brain and causing the brain to respond with the correct action.
  1. General physical preparedness (GPP): GPP defines how good of shape you are in to do the given task(s) at hand.

Beginners who eagerly search every article possible will eventually stumble upon Westside Barbell. Westside will eventually lead to learning the DE method. Along with ME work and RE work, speed work is one of the three methods upon which the Westside Barbell (or conjugate training split) is based. The principal for DE work is simple. Move the bar (usually loaded with about 60 percent of your best max in the squat, bench press, or deadlift) as fast as possible while maintaining good form. That’s simple enough. However, is this necessary for a beginner to incorporate? Is it even a good idea? It’s probably not a good idea unless you’re the exception.

Let’s look at the last four words in the description of the DE method—“while maintaining good form.” Most beginners have form that is less than fantastic when performing the ME or RE lifts and downright atrocious when performing the DE lifts. They squirm around under the bar while benching or drive through the bar so fast that their shoulders jump off of the bench. This is not a good thing. Whatever the specific reason for the spastic behavior, the bottom line is that the lifter hasn’t learned to stay tight on his own and has previously relied on the weight of the bar or the slow speed with which he pushes the bar to keep him planted firmly on the bench.

 

A similar scene often occurs when a beginner box squats for the first time. Relying on the box to stop, athletes drop down way too fast. After coming to a bouncing stop on the box, they shoot their butts off of the box as fast as possible completely forgetting that there is a lack of static strength in the abs and lower back to maintain an arch and drive through the bar. After doing a good morning to finish the movement, the descent begins and so do the problems. In addition to having a high risk of injury, this type of box squatting produces a learning pattern that becomes tough to break when athletes are introduced to the correct way to box squat. There’s no point in quickness if it’s being performed incorrectly.

However, just because the beginner shouldn’t perform speed work right away doesn’t mean that they should totally refrain from doing fast movements. The CNS should still be stimulated so that it can learn to fire as fast as possible. There are two ways to do this. The first way, which also enhances levels of mobility and flexibility aside from speed, is a dynamic warm up before any training session. Jumping jacks, explosive body weight squats, and explosive push-ups are just a few. If you can warm up, get mobile, and effectively stimulate the CNS before you get under the bar, the rest of your training will be much better.

The second way to do this is to add in some sprints, plyometrics, or box jumps once a week on your off day for a short duration of time assuming that you can execute these movements with good form. Add in some walking on the treadmill and you’ll increase your GPP. (Some readers may come from an athletic background and are already naturally fast. For those readers, this isn’t a big concern, but a dynamic warm up should still be performed.)

Eventually, through hard work and consistency, you will progress to the level where speed work can be introduced into the training. To sum up this lesson, here are the key points:

  • Skip a day dedicated to speed work and do some RE work. The reps should stay low, the sets high, and the weight challenging enough so that the athlete is breaking a sweat but maintaining good form.
  • Practice good form at all times.
  • Research the dynamic warm up, methods to raise GPP, and other ways to become more efficient in speed and at your sport overall.
  • Most importantly, get strong, big, and have fun!