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Best functional lifts for speed/explosion

Sprinterguy4

Sprinterguy4

Member
There is usually a general consensus that squats are king. But you could argue that back extensions and hamstring curls are up there too, any others?
 
How in the hell would those two be considered functional in any way? Your body is braced and leg curls only work a small portion of the hamstring. GHR, good mornings, Bulgarian split squats, deads, etc. are far more functional.
 
The above mentioned movements along with properly programmed jump training would be far more functional than isolation exercises. The only isolation work an athlete should do would be to fix postural deviations.
 
Jumps of various sorts and whole-body medicine ball throws are great for developing speed and explosive power. Before you engage in jumps you need to make sure your body mechanics are correct (which requires not just proper coordination but also hamstring, glute, erector, and abductor strength relative to quad strength) and that you know how to land properly. By that, when you dip for a jump, your knees should not be caving in, and your back should be upright. The same applies to landing.
 
Yeah, I would think what the others have mentioned along with perhaps cleans or something with speed/strength and sled work ie: pushing or dragging.
 
acceleration out the gates comes from having strong legs. the more you can squat the faster your first couple steps are. i would skip iso movements. focus primarily on squats and variations of that.. hang cleans will help you work the hips and learn to fire your hips explosively.
 
capo180 said:
acceleration out the gates comes from having strong legs. the more you can squat the faster your first couple steps are. i would skip iso movements. focus primarily on squats and variations of that.. hang cleans will help you work the hips and learn to fire your hips explosively.
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Agree with the hang cleans, not so much on the squats.
Acceleration out of the gates (blocks actually) isn't about having strong legs, it is about POWER.
How you squat matters-piling on the plates and repping them out slowly is not ideal.
Traditional, full ROM heavy squats have their place, but jump squats and speed squats (and unilateral variations) have more transfer to sprinting.
 
scherbs said:
Agree with the hang cleans, not so much on the squats.
Acceleration out of the gates (blocks actually) isn't about having strong legs, it is about POWER.
How you squat matters-piling on the plates and repping them out slowly is not ideal.
Traditional, full ROM heavy squats have their place, but jump squats and speed squats (and unilateral variations) have more transfer to sprinting.
Click to expand...

Tell Ben Johnson he was wasting his time squatting 600lbs back when he was setting WRs. The human body undergoes forces at ~7x bodyweight while sprinting. If you're not strong, you're not moving too fast. I would argue that maximal strength and speed-strength are more important than strength-speed for sprinting.
 
Not entirely sure we disagree--I perhaps worded inartfully.

I simply meant to emphasize the need to prioritize power--technically, strength does not necessarily imply speed (from a biomotor perspective), but that is semantics
 
Not entirely sure that we disagree.

One cannot move a heavy weight slowly, but it is possible to be strong (capable of exerting great force) w/o being powerful, which is what I was trying to emphasize
 
I would think personally that the more you can squat ATG the higher you can jump.. The higher you can jump the faster you can sprint. Force and power are related (from a physics point of view). I dunno just thinking with my engineering brain lol.

But I also think that you don't have to work with maximum weight to build up force. You can use lighter weights 50-60% of max and go for maximum acceleration.
 
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