Are weights good for building explosiveness?

[PunchDrunk]

In regards to the first post, lifting the weights up quickly does not help. It in fact hinders you. Weight lifting should also be slow in order to maximise it's effects.

I just read this part, which is such a blatant generalization that it's pretty much false. Especially concerning training for athletes.

Slow reps might be good for bodybuilders because of the whole "time under tension" thing, but for an athlete, what you want (for the most part, especially in boxing where gaining weight is "bad") is not hypertrophy, but increased strength through neural adaptations. In order for this to be maximized, you absolutely should lift the weight as "fast" as you can. The reason I put the " " around fast is that you don't necessarily lift fast per se, when you lift, say, 95% of your 1RM, but you'll want to activate as many motor units as possible, and force your neural firing rate as much as possible, and this is done by lifting as fasst as you possibly can.

For athletes - reps as fast as possible, absolutely!

[Hearnsz]

Guys I have a question about push ups.

I currently do 10 sets of 10 explosive pushups. (going down slow and exploding up), with a minute rest in between of each set.

Should I do more reps and less sets instead or? Is so, howmany?
Does it matter if I do say 5 sets at 5pm and do 5 sets more at 8pm instead of doing 10 straight away?

Also, I'm getting this resistance cord made for push up training soon. Do any of you guys have it? Howmany reps and sets do you do with it?

[Rob Pilger]

10 reps is way to many reps for explosiveness, explosive power is trained with fast explosive movements with far less reps to maintain that speed... The key is moving explosively.... Going slow eccentrically and exploding up doesn't make it a true plyometric power exercise either... The movements MUST be fast to be explosive. You must keep in mind that once your movement slows terminate the exercise... Stop cause that's what your programing in your CNS... You wanna be explosive, move that way, keep your reps between 1-5, and movements quick for explosive push ups, if not, they aren't plyometric and you will train to be slower.

Of course if you are a beginner to plyometrics you must progress into them as the high kinetic energy can and will if you're unqualified, cause connective tissue injury.

Rob Pilger
http://www.boxingperformance.com/

[j]

using weights and bodyweight related exercises are a must to stay in shape.

but for explosive power, you need to develope finer control of your body in relation to how you move.

as i mentioned in some other thread, explosive power could be defined by the amount of momentum transferred in the shortest amount of time possible.

the more momentum, the heavier the punch.

the shorter time that momentum is transferred into the opponent, the more concussive and explosive the punch will be.

it is also recommended to be stable will transferring momentum. this is why in my art we use a half step. it adds a key ingredient so that you don't "bounce" off a much heavier/solid opponent. and that is the grounding aspect of the punch. without it, it is like you pushing against a wall while standing on ice. you will go backward and not be able to transfer force.

[JayCoe]

In which case, I stand corrected Punchdrunk. Cheers.

[Hearnsz]

10 reps is way to many reps for explosiveness, explosive power is trained with fast explosive movements with far less reps to maintain that speed... The key is moving explosively.... Going slow eccentrically and exploding up doesn't make it a true plyometric power exercise either... The movements MUST be fast to be explosive. You must keep in mind that once your movement slows terminate the exercise... Stop cause that's what your programing in your CNS... You wanna be explosive, move that way, keep your reps between 1-5, and movements quick for explosive push ups, if not, they aren't plyometric and you will train to be slower.

Of course if you are a beginner to plyometrics you must progress into them as the high kinetic energy can and will if you're unqualified, cause connective tissue injury.

Rob Pilger
http://www.boxingperformance.com/

Thanks very much for the info. But after 10 sets of 10 reps I'm not really tired or anything. I would probably be even less tired if I wen't down faster instead of slow. So how will I tire myself by doing only 5 reps? Then I would be doing it like all day long?
Btw; I know I should do as many reps in a certain period of time. But howlong should going down take with a pushup then? like 1sec?

Thanks in advance!

[PunchDrunk]

Thanks very much for the info. But after 10 sets of 10 reps I'm not really tired or anything. I would probably be even less tired if I wen't down faster instead of slow. So how will I tire myself by doing only 5 reps? Then I would be doing it like all day long?
Btw; I know I should do as many reps in a certain period of time. But howlong should going down take with a pushup then? like 1sec?

Thanks in advance!

You're focusing on the wrong thing here. Training for explosiveness is not about getting tired. Doing this kind of training is all about quality not quantity. You want every rep of whatever exercise you're doing to be perfect, both speed wise and technically. Seems you're confusing this with endurance training, which, of course, is about training to the point of fatigue (and beyond). It makes sense, if you think about it. When you want to get different results from your training, it's only logical that you need to employ different methods as well.

[Hearnsz]

You're focusing on the wrong thing here. Training for explosiveness is not about getting tired. Doing this kind of training is all about quality not quantity. You want every rep of whatever exercise you're doing to be perfect, both speed wise and technically. Seems you're confusing this with endurance training, which, of course, is about training to the point of fatigue (and beyond). It makes sense, if you think about it. When you want to get different results from your training, it's only logical that you need to employ different methods as well.

At the fitness gym I have this routine that the trainer figured out for me and it actually gets really tiring. (its also fast reps and short sets) It just FEELS like I worked out hard, but doing these pushups with ultra low reps FEELS useless...
But then how is 5 reps still better than 10 if I can handle it?
And please, just give me a number of reps and a number of sets I should replace my current pushup training by (my current is 10 sets of 10 reps)
Also give me a description of the perfect pushup if possible. (howlong should the going down take, where should I place my hands, where is my butt to be placed etc...?)

Thanks in advance

[AndersonSilva]

do more sets if your not tired maybe like 20 sets of 5 try it out if you not tired go up to 30...40 etc......

[rufige]

wicked insight guys. you guys gave a lot of useful knowledge and some references i will definitely check out. much respect!