Question:
Right, so previously you were questioned as to whether speed training could be used to increase your max. Your response was no, that it could not. It is just a tool for increasing rate of force development.
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To be honest, I disagree with this entirely. I'd like to explain why by applying simple physics.
Muscular strength is defined as maximum force a muscle can exert. The general equation for force is based on several parameters: mass, distance, and time. Consider this equation, Force = (mass x velocity)/ time. Therefore, I've directly linked maximal lifting potential (force) to speed (velocity) with this well known equation. Let me know your thoughts on this.
Answer
Frank, I appreciate your interest in the subject; however, despite the large forces, which of course must be specified in order to have a meaningful discussion, that are generated against sub-maximal barbell loads, via the DE method, you must consider the variables associated with improved intra-muscular coordination (rate coding, recruitment, and synchronization) and the percentages of Fmm that correspond to each respective neural factor.
More from Zatsiorsky:
In small muscles most MUs are recruited at a level of force less than 50% of Fmm; thereafter, rate coding plays the major role in the further development of force up to Fmm. In large proximal muscles, such as the deltoid and biceps, the recruitment of additional MUs appears to be the main mechanism for increasing force development up to 80% Fmm and even higher. In the force range between 80% and 100% of Fmm force is increased almost exclusively by intensification of MU firing rate.
What must be compared, then, is, considering the same lifter, the forces generated during DE training compared against the forces generated during Fmm attempts. Thus, the overload itself must be closely scrutinized. In this regard we must pay special attention to the fact that "there are no substantial correlations between Fmm and the force Fm in movements with minimal external resistance. The correlation is greater when the resistance is increased."(Zatsiorsky)
The critical factor, again, is the overload itself and this is why, from a coordination standpoint, the actual lifting and handling of maximal weights presents a different problem than the lifting and handling of sub-maximal weights; regardless of the speed at which they are lifted.
It is clear, then, why many of the lifters who subscribe more closely to the WSB method have in certain cases, over the years, increased the load (via accommodating resistance means) on the DE day; as the greater resistance more closely approaches the Fmm range and actually reduced the load on ME day to more repeated and sub-maximal efforts.
Or, from an alternative viewpoint, let us recall the advice routinely given to certain populations of lifters who are WSB influenced and experiencing plateaus on ME day and advised to reduce the bar weight utilized on DE day.
In either case, one may state that the DE method is effectively complimented by an additional training method as a second training session during the week- hence one of the fundamentals of the WSB method.
In the case of lesser percentages of 1RM used on DE day the ME training satisfies the training of neural factors which most positively correspond to the Fmm.
In the case of greater overload used on DE day (in the form of bands, chains or otherwise) the neural factors more closely correspond to Fmm and thus the second training day is more wisely designated for sub-maximal and/or repeated efforts.
What I'd like to point out is that I'm not taking the standpoint that the DE method of lifting barbells has no purpose towards maximal strength development; because it has been, and continues to be, utilized by many for this very reason; HOWEVER, let us acknowledge the capacity at which it is simultaneously utilized in the training along with the use of additional training methods; hence the conjugation.
Let us take note that the majority of lifts, accounted for over time and categorized into different percentages of the limit, fall in the sub-maximal range for the majority of high class powerlifters and Olympic weightlifters.
My message to those interested, then, is that the DE method of lifting barbells is not necessary for developing maximal strength. As a result, and due to the fact that it is simply a variation of the sub-maximal effort method (from the standpoint of the overload that is used), it is my suggestion to those who do utilize the DE method to replace it with the sub-maximal effort method (in which they cease to place value on bar speed) and enjoy the positive experience of continued strength gains at a lesser structural and neuromuscular expense.
I trust that I have explained myself well enough.
I've exhausted my interest in devoting any more time towards this matter and will no longer address any questions that relate to it in any way, shape, or form.