Manny Pacquiao- SPEED KILLS

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By Teri Tom

SPEED KILLS

Actually, this column would be more aptly titled “Power Kills.”  When designing training—and nutrition—programs, it’s imperative to remember what you’re trying to accomplish.  Are you working out for

aesthetics?  Athletic performance?  General health?  Muscle gain?  It’s important to ask these questions because sometimes multiple  goals are at odds with each other and you need to prioritize.

This is especially the case when it comes to athletic performance because in most sports, power is the desired attribute.  Power, defined mathematically as work per unit of time, simply means you are able to do more work in less time.  Work is defined as the product of force and displacement.  Hence, the equation:

Power = force x displacement

time

In most sports, be it boxing, fencing, wrestling, baseball, basketball, or football, power—how fast and forcefully you can perform a given technique or play—determines the outcome.  And if you are training for a specific sport, you need to tailor your training accordingly.  Supplemental training can improve your game but only if you know how to go about it.

The most glaring example of this is weight training.  Nobel Laureate,  A.V. Hill demonstrated this in Hill’s Curve in which he depicted the inverse relationship between loads and velocity.  In other words, the heavier the load, the less speed.  In this case, you may develop maximum strength, but not power.  In a study of NCAA athletes, half were assigned ballistic-like lifting programs and the other half were assigned traditional maximal strength lifting programs.  The ballistic lifters saw a significantly greater improvement in vertical jump tests and 40-yard sprint times than their strength training counterparts.  (Hoffman JR, et al.  Comparison of Olympic vs. Traditional Power Lifting Training Programs in Football Players.  J Strength Cond Res 2004;18:129.)

There are many studies demonstrating this inverse relationship between strength and speed.  The point is that resistance exercise in and of itself does not necessarily improve athletic performance or speed but if the training is designed specifically to increase power, then improved speed will result.

In general, you are looking for a balance between 40 and 60% maximum load and speed.  (Baker D., Nance S, Moore M.  The Load that Maximizes the Average Mechanical Power Output during Jump Squats in Power-Trained Athletes. J Strength Cond Res 2001;15:92.) (Baker D, Nance S, Moore M.  The Load that Maxmimizes the Average Mechanical Power Output during Explosive Bench Press Throws in Highly Trained Atheltes. J. Strength Cond Res 2001;15:20.)

Next time you see Alex running Manny through a workout notice how there are no traditional high-load/low reps resistance training exercises.  It’s all box jumps, baseball swings, and speed and agility drills.  This keeps our guys fast and powerful and not too bulky.  If you’re training for size, that’s another story, but in the ring, speed kills.