This Blog was thrown together after scrolling through Social media this past weekend and saw an overwhelming amount of "discussion", for lack of a better term, on the concept of Strength Speed which was being misunderstood and being stated as just "Speed". This was then being talked about as if this was speed and as the comments went further my jaw unraveled on the floor, further.

I would like to do my best to clear the air on this and I don't have to do very much to do so, I hope. The reason I do not have to do much is the hard work has already been done by teammates far greater than I on the research side of things. EliteFTS Columnist Bryan Mann made a fantastic article regarding this back in 2013 and the amount of "traffic" he got was comedically low for today's standards. Now, I cannot see the exact statistics of interactions that he got but in comparison to the discussions and overwhelming comments on this past weekends post generated I am calling Dr. Mann's post "low traffic", I digress.

Strength Speed: is Strength in the condition of Speed
you are moving Heavy Weight AS FAST AS POSSIBLE 60%
Velocity measurement 0.8 - 1.0 m/s

Speed Strength: is Speed in the condition of Strength
you are moving (yourself / bar) AS FAST AS POSSIBLE 25%-40%
Velocity measurement 1.1-1.5m/s

Speed vs Speed Strength

 

The majority of these strength means are being used WITH bands and chains which also drastically affects the stimulus on the body. I am guilty of screwing these concepts up, as recently as my last training cycle. 1-2 of my dynamic days in a three-week rotation were probably too heavy, next round I am going to make sure to keep within proper ranges to execute this properly in developing proper strength. If I am going to call others out your dang sure I was due to calling myself out as well.

I challenge you to take a step back from your "speed work" and really ask yourself are you being explosive. If you do not understand explosive think box jump explosive, strongmen throwing bag explosive, and Highland games throwing explosive.
- If you are not moving your "speed days" aka dynamic effort days like a thrower, you are doing it wrong.
- If you are moving heavy weight fast and do several sets with more than a 60 second break, it ain't speed work its repetition effort or strength speed work at best which DOES NOT give you the same strength qualities as DYNAMIC EFFORT
- if you are doing dynamic effort work and it "feels heavy that day" you are going to heavy and it ain't speed work.