How to train your muscles for explosive strength
Pro athletes train relentlessly to get insanely powerful and explosive movements. You could be watching the Olympics and see a gymnast pull a triple backflip and you’ll find yourself asking if gravity stopped working for that second. How do these athletes do it? Could you train your muscles to achieve that level of explosive strength, too?
SOURCES
IMAGES:
Bruce Lee’s one inch punch: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:One-inch-punch.jpg
שילוני, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Bruce lee portrait picture: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bruce-Lee-as-Kato-1967-retouched.jpg
ABC Television, restore by BevinKacon, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Bruce Lee statue: https://picryl.com/media/bruce-lee-hong-kong-statue-dc2dc3
Bruce Lee second portrait picture: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bruce_Lee_1973.jpg
National General Pictures, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Bruce Lee and Ip Man: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lee_and_yip_chi_sau.jpg
שילוני, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Pennation angle picture of muscle:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e3/Pennation_angle_of_fibers_in_pennate_muscle.png
Sharkbait517, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
RESEARCH PAPERS:
“Biomechanics of power in sport”
https://journals.lww.com/nsca-scj/fulltext/2012/12000/biomechanics_of_power_in_sport.4.aspx
“A critical evaluation of the biological construct skeletal muscle hypertrophy: size matters but so does the measurement”
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30930796/
“Muscle hypertrophy and muscle strength: dependent or independent variables? A provocative review”
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7582410/
“Skeletal muscle performance determined by modulation of number of myosin motors rather than motor force or stroke size”
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0092867407012895
“The increase in muscle force after 4 weeks of strength training is mediated by adaptations in motor unit recruitment and rate coding”
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6441907/
“Effects of isometric exercises versus static stretching in warm-up regimens for running sport athletes: a systematic review”
“Effects of mental imagery on muscular strength in healthy and patient participants: a systematic review”
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4974856/
“Physiological and Neural Adaptations to Eccentric Exercise: Mechanisms and Considerations for Training”
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4620252/
“The knowns and unknowns of neural adaptations to resistance training”
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7892509/
“The effect of plyometric training on the speed, agility, and explosive strength performance in elite athletes”
https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/13/6/3605
“Training to improve pro-agility performance: a systematic review”
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9808803/
“Effective speed and agility conditioning methodology for random intermittent dynamic type sports”
“Effect of different physical training forms on change of direction ability: a systematic review and meta-analysis”
https://sportsmedicine-open.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s40798-019-0223-y
“Experimental study on the effect of speed strength training on the special strikes of Chinese female boxers”
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9277168/
“Muscle fiber type transitions with exercise training: shifting perspectives”
https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4663/9/9/127
“The relevance of muscle fiber type to physical characteristics and performance in team-sport athletes”
https://journals.humankinetics.com/view/journals/ijspp/18/3/article-p223.xml
“Extraordinary fast-twitch fiber abundance in elite weightlifters”
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6436686/
“Are the hypertrophic adaptations to high and low-load resistance training muscle fiber type specific?”
https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/physiology/articles/10.3389/fphys.2018.00402/full
“Human skeletal muscle fiber type classifications”
https://academic.oup.com/ptj/article/81/11/1810/2857618
“Effects of increased loading on in vivo tendon properties: a systematic review”
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4535734/
“Tendinous tissue adaptation to explosive – vs. sustained – contraction strength training”
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6131493/
“The impact of fatigue on agility and responsiveness in boxing”
