I thought we flushed the internet hype and nonsense and it seems that deadlifting for speed is lingering around and infecting messageboards like a bear flu. After finding out that one guru blew up an had an athlete deadlift 510 pounds with a snatch grip for combine prep and he was unable to attend the tryout I must stop the madness. I have seen world class performances (read faster than any football player) with very little weight training or numbers that are not impressive to film for youtube. The facts are numbers don’t lie but the context does. Pulling big numbers with your posterior chain usually means you use your low back to get the weight up (read chasing numbers) and the spinal erectors in running are not helping as much as the legs can. Weights are important but technique is king and those that have awesome technique and lift as much as they can safely without interfering with the track work always wins. Bolt, Gay, or Powell are not the fastest because they are the strongest so those chasing numbers are always wondering why they are not fast. Whatever you have left in the tank after your running put it into your lifting and focus on the skill of sprinting.
