Nov 5, 2014
The most powerful experiences in sport are when you find common
ground with someone from another world. These insights enable a
much deeper, richer understanding of your own
craft.
One of the best examples I can think of features our guest this
week, Dr. Nicholas Romanov, the developer of the Pose Method of
running. He was participating
in a little back and forth Crossfit Journal interview with Greg
Glassman and Louie Simmons of Westside Barbell fame.
Without a doubt, the entire series is worth a watch. Knowledge
bombs abounds, friends. It’s refreshing to see such disparate
figures agree on so much, especially when it comes to training. One
of the more relevant points for most athletes and coaches is speed,
or as Louie would call it, “Perfect speed.”
Dr. Romanov’s take was that strength work was not enough on its
own, not for the athlete. If you were a high jumper, for example,
grinding away to increase the squat wouldn’t necessarily help you
jump higher, not unless there was a concurrent effort to improve
your rate of force development.
Strength on its own won’t do you any good. You need it right on
time, as close to instantaneous as you can get. That’s when you
perform at your best. You need to develop your maximal AND
explosive strength. It’s not enough to just complete the reps on
your work sets. Regardless of whether the load is heavy or fairly
light, move that barbell as quickly as you can possibly manage.
This will keep your nervous system fine tuned and ready for maximal
effort all year round. You’ll make the most out of your
training.
What was Louie’s idea of perfect speed? Well, when you lift you
must try to get from the start to lockout as quickly as possible.
Until the rep becomes instantaneous you have to keep fighting for
more speed. Always faster, faster, if you work at this you too can
become incredibly strong. You can jump higher, and run better.
Read more of Chris Moore's show notes here: http://