Scott.P

Recently I was chatting with a colleague about training & the subject of training for explosiveness came up. They claimed that to train for explosiveness one must push a given weight harder. The training example that was given was Bench press at a weight of 315, essentially bouncing the bar off the chest to be "explosive". I could not fathom how this method of training could be productive and explained my point of view that I believed the most effective way to be explosive/"train for explosiveness is to train up to 405 (or something higher than 315). Logically if you can move 405 as a maximal load the speed at which 315 moves would be higher than it previously was with 315 being your max. Even letting say 405 was your max bench trying to push 315 "explosively" would to me seem to have even less use.

Another day the conversation was around "functional" training. I had said it was of no use either. Example throwing a medicine ball at a wall over your head. I said your time would be better spent doing shoulder press for upper body development instead of some bullshit ball toss cardio program disguised as weight training, the response was "depends on what your goals are I guess" Which is the response I get from most people when discussing starting strength methods. However most seem to do cardio disguised as weight training.

Through running a NLP I have seen far greater strength gains than I could have imagined. I recommend barbell lifts, & 5 lbs. a workout to anyone who will listen.

Am I correct in my above understanding of training?

Mark Rippetoe

What is the data showing an improvement in any explosiveness parameter using this type of training?

Brookfine

During the last month I wasn't able to run so I took my squat up to 385. Now that I'm sprinting again I want to figure out how to program things. I've just been adding 5 pounds a session and doing the 3x5 but I don't think I'll be able to recover if I just put the sprint on top of regular starting strength.

Will I still increase my strength if I do something like: Workout A, rest, Sprint, rest, Workout B, rest, Sprint, rest, Workout A ...

Is that too long of a gap?

Jason Donaldson

You're a month into the NLP, and you want to move to lifting every five days?

Standard questions and required reading apply: What is your age, height, weight, and sex, how long have you been training, and where are your lifts (weight and reps)?

The First Three Questions

The Two-Factor Model of Sports Performance

Who Wants to be a Novice? You Do

Brookfine

Rad, if I'm taking it that direction would it make sense to swap over to Texas Method and just put the sprints into the light day and push squats up 10lbs a week? Also, dumb question, but would I benefit from putting some extra volume work (e.g. 3 x 10 x 60%) at the end of the Monday workout to provide a longer stimulus or nah?

Mark Rippetoe

Practical Programming for Strength Training