SMASH Opponents with Special Repetition Types: “Rhythm, Drop, and Speed Sets”
Using special repetition methods to create high tension effects in training that improve speed & power
Contents:
“Tendon power” vs “Muscle power”
Hypertrophy reps vs “Special” reps
Coordination & co-contractions
“Tension through Load & Speed”
Exercise list and tutorials
Summary & Takeaways
Recap
This post is going over more advanced methods to increase explosiveness assuming you understand material in all the previous parts of the tendon training series.
One of the tendon training methods mention previously referred to speed & “rhythm sets“. This post will go deeper on two methods to increase muscle and tendon power using manipulations in length, speed & load together. As well as touch on a 3rd method focused on muscular effort > elastic/tendon effort.
Tendon Power vs Muscle Power
To keep things brief, “muscular power” comes down to the amount of total force a muscle can generate *onto* a tendon + bone and the rate at which it can do so. This is referred to as maximum force production and rate of force development/contraction speed. Muscular power is the combination of force + speed that a muscle can load a tendon with.
Tendons cannot be contracted willingly through the nervous system and thus their strength + power is reactive to the momentum placed on them by movement and muscle.
Physical actions like running, jumping, and throwing will be improved through general strength training - but rate of force development improvements (i.e. your ability to accelerate) will be further enhanced by forcing the body to actually accelerate heavier loads than bodyweight but that are still light enough to be accelerated to a higher velocity than truly heavy strength work.
This is because if a weight is too heavy then there is not a high “peak velocity” to accelerate to, but if a weight is too light we’re not developing as much total *force*. While peak velocity and peak force are certainly the most important qualities for us to develop for power athletes - the following enhancement methods will focus on the niche qualities of building power development through “dynamic effort” means and combining that with creating high tension on the tendons at specifically desired joint angles through performing exercises that force the muscle & connective tissue to accelerate and redirect weight repeatedly.
These are, effectively speaking, plyometrics that focus on moving an external weight rather than our bodyweight.
Rhythm, Coordination, and Training Qualities OUTSIDE of Hypertrophy
Before continuing, I think it’s valuable for any reader to understand some of the unique benefits of the following training methods.
None of that which follows is meant for “muscle gain“. Wildess doesn’t mean you could not get muscular size improvements from using them - The point is that we are more so training “invisible“ qualities such as tendon elasticity and neuromuscular improvements.
These gains are not only in terms of maximum power outputs but also in terms of coordination and what we call “Co-contractions“ & “muscle sequencing”.
One of the central elements to what we typically call “athleticism “and what separates the top natural athletes in the world from the rest is not just “horsepower” when they turn a muscle on but also simply the ability To coordinate a symphony of both gauging muscle *activation* and *deactivation*.
Simply put, the ability to turn muscle “on AND off” in the most rapid, fluid, and properly gauged manner sets their motion apart from the rest when it comes to efficiency & explosive output.
It is important to note that when training for dynamic performances (unlike powerlifting, bodybuilding, etc) it is essential to be able to both *contract* AND *relax* hard and effectively.
While I do not think that a bodybuilder is necessarily a poor athlete, I do think a significant factor that often prompts the phenomenon of the “stiff“ bodybuilder is that they spend all of their training and physical activity “contracting“ musculature as hard as they can and therefore have very undeveloped call contractions and muscle sequencing when it comes to dynamic movements that require the “elasticity, rhythm, and looseness”.
The exercises below will challenge your ability to contract your muscles as expensive as possible while also developing their ability to relax as quickly as possible followed by explosive “re-contractions“ and your connective tissue structures ability to withstand and produce those contractions/impacts.
Creating Tension with Load & Speed
As covered, just as muscles respond to tension placed on them with mechanical load and length, tendons respond to getting stronger and more elastic through load, length and SPEED. One of the methods mentioned in our last post was the use of