It’s a common cue you might hear from a coach. “Load to explode!”
That’s because it is fundamental to many sports movements and involves two of the six types of athletic strength.
LOADING YOUR MUSCLES
Loading is what you see athletes doing in a countermovement or wind-up. It’s that pre-stretch in many movements that increases their power. It measures how quickly you are able to build up force doing in that counter-movement.
Scientifically we describe this as the rate of force development. It tells us how quickly you can turn on your muscles and build up force. In the STRENGTH SIGNATURE, we describe this type of strength as LOAD.
When people are talking about strength, they often mean an athletes ability to apply maximal forces. They are talking about max strength.
But to generate maximum strength, peak forces could take over a second to build up. In rate of force development, we are looking at time frames of as little as 50-200 milliseconds.
As an example, picture a player about to jump. They first bend their knees and hips and dip down in what’s called a countermovement.
That counter movement helps build up force levels in the muscles and store some elastic energy to use while they jump up.
LOAD is the strength ability to have a high rate of force development during that counter-movement.
Another example would be an athlete “winding up” to throw a ball or a punch. Or maybe a hockey player winding up for more power in their slapshot or a tennis player preparing for a big swing.
EXPLOSIVE POWER
Coaches and athletes often talk about explosiveness and power since these are qualities that athletes want. Jumping, sprinting, hitting, throwing, and changes of direction can be described in these terms.
But it isn’t always clear exactly how they are looking at it.
In physics terms power is how much work can be done in a period of time.
However, if we rearrange the formula for power, we end up with a formula that says Power = force * velocity. Basically that means power is strength multiplied by speed.
POWER = STRENGTH X SPEED
Power is a determining factor in athletic movements such as jumping and sprinting where time to perform is limited. It is often framed relative to bodyweight because that matters when an athlete in running and jumping.
The more power they can develop per pound of bodyweight, the more it will project their body forward.
Think of it as an engine and it’s power output. A big engine with lots of power might not move a large truck that fast, but put it into a smaller, lighter car and it flies. More power per pound.
In our STRENGTH SIGNATURE, EXPLODE is the average power an athlete can produce relative to their bodyweight.
Load To Explode
As mentioned earlier, that loading action, makes the following explosive movement more powerful. That’s why it’s so important in sports and we see it so much.
This combination of two types of strength in a coordinated athletic movement is a key part of performance training. We want faster loading, and more explosive power.
Training LOAD
Loading is trained when we put an emphasis on how quickly muscles fire, not just how hard. Two of the ways we commonly do this are through starting explosive exercises from a pause, and by overloading counter-movements.
Static Ballistics
Sometimes the way to force an athlete to work on a specific strength quality is to put them at a disadvantage. This means they will have to overemphasize it, thus stimulating improvement.
In Load, we are talking about the ability to turn on muscles quickly.
So we take away momentum and counter-movements. Doing explosive exercises like jumps or Olympic lifts from a static start can be a big help here.
Overloaded Counter-Movements
To improve the Rate of Force Development (LOAD) during a counter-movement, you can overload the counter-movement with added weight or movement speed.
For instance, in some plyometric or agility drills we have athletes use medicine balls, weight vests, or bungee cords to overload the “loading” portion before they explode.
This is a really effective way to not just build general Load ability but to work on the motor control for applying it to a specific movement.
Training EXPLODE
In addition to training Speed and Agility, we also develop an athlete’s power capability through weight training and plyometrics.
Plyometrics
Jumping exercises can teach athletes how to apply their strength quickly or can be used to overload it.
Through different types of plyometrics, we can train specific movement patterns that athletes need so that their EXPLODE qualities translate to improvements in their sport.
Olympic Lifting
One of the most effective ways to improve EXPLODE is with Olympic lifts. By their nature, these movements combine strength and speed.
Athletes don’t need to always do the full competitive versions of the lifts or be as technically perfect as an Olympic caliber lifter. Basic technique and variations of the lifts are useful tools for all athletes seeking increased power capabilities.
Train Your Ability To Load and Explode
It’s a key part of sport most athletes should be training. By training these two strength types you can increase the speed and power of many key athletic movements. When it comes to strength training for athletes, it’s not only about how heavy a barbell you can lift.
