"I never let schooling interfere with my education."

--MARK TWAIN

Common Questions About Dynamic Force Speed Training

1. How are training methods for Speed and Power different from strength training, power lifting, cardio-aerobics, or other current fad type training like “spinning”, “boot camps” or “quick-fix” products as advertised on television?
   1. We can quickly eliminate “quick fix” products [just in minutes a day] as advertised on television. All those products should be banned! They must think you and I are morons. There is no quick fix. Our body’s physiology does not provide a platform to quick fix anything, including a mosquito bite!
   2. Dynamic Force Speed Training has no argument with resistance weight training in any form, Power lifting, Body Building, Cardio-fitness training [Aerobics], Pilates, Yoga, Martial Arts, or faddish “Boot Camps”!
   3. Training for Speed and Power requires special knowledge of the variations in neuromuscular impulse rates, muscle motor firing rates and the differences in muscle fiber contraction rates. And our body’s nutritional needs to support those physiological elements.
   4. Type 2a fast twitch muscle fibers are almost never recruited in any of the above training methods, regarless of the training/lifting tempo. Am I sounding like a broken record? They contract 5 times faster than intermediate 2b fast twitch muscle fibers and 10 times faster slow twitch muscle fibers. Significant, rapid applied force is the only training method to recruit type 2a fast twitch muscle fibers. Repeated, they can convert 2b intermediate fast twitch muscle fibers to 2a fast twitch muscle fibers. Are you now understanding this critical dynamic for getting faster!

2. Why has there not been more recognition and application of training for speed and power?
   1. In spite of an early "cult like" movement in body building, a large majority of Americans were not influenced and convinced of the health benefits and prevention of degenerative diseases by exercise that elevated the heart rate to a certain level until the 1970-80's. Dr. Kenneth Cooper’s research and published book Aerobics provided the parameters for cardio-vascular conditioning and over-all fitness. Ironically at the time, Dr. Cooper didn't believe in the necessity of resistance weight training for optimum fitness. That is not true today!
   2. Literally decades of the overwhelming promotion and advertising of the training methods and supplementation products of body building was the thrust of resistance weight training. Interestingly, recent research using vatis medialis biopsies have shown that athletes in speed/power sports have about 60 % more fast twitch muscle fibers than marathon runners [not surprising], and 50% more fast twitch muscle fibers than body builders. Various training methods are all good but different depending on what the individual is trying to accomplish.
   3. In the mid 1980's-90's, strength and conditioning methods at the intercollegiate and interscholastic programs gravitated towards power lifts and olympic style lifting with the explicit intent on getting bigger and stronger. The “buzz words” were often multi-joint, functional strength. If speed and power were considered, it was assumed it would increase with power and olympic type lifts. Unfortunately, even today, most coaches and trainers do not have a working knowledge of the neurophyserological elements of training and therefore they are not applied. They are essential for speed and power!

3. What are the different training methods and techniques for speed and power training as opposed to traditional strength and power resistance weight training?
   1. The neurological system parallels the development of the muscular systems. Variations in neuromuscular impulse rates, muscle motor unit firing rates, and the differences in muscle fiber contraction rates are not a primary consideration or applied in traditional resistance weight training programs.
   2. The knowledge of "rapid, significant applied force" to recruit 2a fast twitch muscle fibers, and converting intermediate 2b fast twitch muscle fibers [not lifting tempo], maximum muscle tension and contraction [summation to tetanus], the timing of muscle fiber fuel systems [ATP], and the time for recuperation, repair and rebuilding as well as proper and timely nutrition.
4. Are there other important physiological elements that may be over looked if we want to train for increases in speed and power?
   1. Absolutely! In addition to what has been mentioned, traditional resistant weight training underestimates the value of Iso-Holds [isometric contractions] to produce immediate optimum force of a large magnitude, assisted Eccentric Action [contraction] for creating maximum muscle tension and contraction for optimum strength, all necessary to rapidly create significant increases in Speed and Power!