Carl
Interesting post, again. You and Vern have posted a lot of theory-type posts about seeing things a certain way, capturing movement, and sometimes I think to myself, “what can I take away from this?” Usually it is a great mental stimulator, but I often get confused, maybe its just me. But when you put specific examples such as this post, I definitely benefit immediately…please keep em coming. A couple of thoughts I would love your opinion on-
1. Charles Poliquin versus Vern Gambetta- CP says isolate muscles (ex hamstring curls) in order to integrate them. VG- never isolate, train movements (ex. hamstring curls and knee flexion training is evil) – one strength coach friend of mine working at the D1 level ( i know that means nothing) said, “well who has had more success with their athletes, look at where VG is coaching now” -this type of contrasting philosophies from two top coaches can be very consfusing to young coaches.
2. Relative strength- is it really that magical for vertical jump and acceleration. When tested for correlation, it doesnt always correlate that the strongest pound for pound jump the highest and accelerate 10-20 yards the fastest. But to get an individual better, it seems that in the real world, getting someone stronger for their bw is the best way to improve standing vert and accel ability. In other words, dont worry about structural differences that cause the lack of correlation in tests, look at what makes most individuals improve. – is relative strength that important, or relative power, of course its power. But a lot of people just arent that strong to worry about power yet beacause they arent strong. Ben johnson= 3xbw squat. Mo Greene 2.5 at least bw squat. Reggie Bush, 2.5 at least bw squat. Seems like most people just need to get much stronger before worrying about their dynamic squats and olympic lift numbers. Taking it a step further, med ball throws and sand bag tosses (or along the lines of your blog post, one arm push jerks) becoming an even bigger waste of time. Thoughts?
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