One upping Mike Boyle - Squats, worst exercise for sports training?

[blowdpanis]

So I don't really have a question, but I thought you might be morbidly amused by the following video...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhVSo6de6q0

[Mark Rippetoe]

Who is this boy?

[stronger]

apparently improving strength has no effect on power, and the only type of athletic output involves quick contractions - aka a defensive lineman grappling with his opponent in a long exertion isn't actually doing anything useful.

[Mark Rippetoe]

He said that squats have no bearing on running, and this is the key: these convention wisdom physical therapy asshats think that all athletic activities derive from running, and that all athletes must be runners first.

[msingh]

Coach he says both running and jumping,

Squats performance training

the more weight you can lift the better athlete you are?

a heavy squat takes a long time to do (compared to say running in sports)

how can that be a method you use to advance someones athleticism?

"Once you've loaded the heel you're engaging a central nervous system pattern which is different from when you run and jump"

I'd love to see some of these answered by knowledgeable folks on startingstrength.com. I understand that in a sport like football which involves a test of strength that working with weights will have some amount of carryover. But what about other sports like volleyball or basketball or field hockey which involve mostly running or jumping?

[Platus]

I don't see how anyone could come to the conclusion that sports activities generate force primarily through the 'ball of the foot.'

In a study on the triple jump, researchers found that "the highest peak pressures were recorded under the heel and forefoot. The plantar pressure of the lateral side of the forefoot was highly related to the length of the triple jump" (http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~content=a713776317&db=all).

I know that googling abstracts isn't really 'research,' but does anyone else think that it is silly to conclude that since the ball of the foot is the last part of the body to transmit force to the ground during a jump it is therefore useless to train with weighted exercises that put the center of balance at midfoot or heel?

[WatsupHannity]

Went to his website... the headline of the page is:


Over 100 Original Sports Performance Training
Exercises & Workouts That You've
Never Seen Before...

And we add 10 new exercises &
workouts every month



...the "sneak peek exercises" are pretty LOL as well.

[ia1234]

That is some big eye-opener. We squat heavy and risk blowing off our patella tendon, when the same effect can be obtained by tossing rugby ball around while standing on one leg!

So much effort waisted...

[Thomas]

Back before you all were born, I was a pretty fair school boy sprinter (100 and 220 yard "dashes") in the "southern tier" of upstate NY. My biggest problem was lactate buildup at somewhere around 180 yards. One day, a boy I had left in the cinder dust over the first 100 yards or so began creeping up on me as I was starting to fade. He passed me around the 210 mark and won by a couple of strides.

Later as we were walking back to the starting area, I congratulated him on his win, and then asked him whether he didn't get "heavy legs" (didn't know about "lactate" in those days) towards the end of the race.

"Nah. Not at 220. Sometimes in the 440."

"What do you do? How do you practice?"

"Coach puts a barbell on our shoulders and makes us do 'deep knee bends.' You should try it. Really works."

Sorry to say, I never was able to try it, but it apparently did (and does still) really work for sprinters.

[ZKP]

Yes, since running is the end all, say all of human physical endeavor all movements must augment or improve running directly. Limit strength is not a dimension worth mentioning, nor is size. What I saw was a marshmallow who probably has a lousy squat, doesn't like training it and just got wet when he found out they where "bad" thus justified in not doing them. Rationalizing a preconceived decision based on individual failings....nice.