For athletes looking to up their performance through gym work, there’s a strong reason that the interesting, fun and flashy exercies on Instagram and Tik Tok hits it big and catches the eyes of athletes everywhere:

WE DON’T KNOW WHERE TO GO FROM JUST LIFTING WEIGHTS

Most, if not all athletes have no idea what lies beyond the realm of squat, bench, deadlift and curls.

SO…WHERE DO WE START?

**Learn Jumping/Landing Mechanics** (Tall Landings, Squat Jumps, Pogo Jump, Box Jump, Countermovement Jump. Hurdle Jump, Consecutive Hurdle Jumps)
**Learn to Squat** (Goblet Squat -> Front Squat -> Back Squat)
**Hinge** (RDL -> Trap Bar/Barbell Deadlift)
**Horizontal Push** (Push-Up, Bench Press etc.)
**Horizontal Pull** (Bench Pull, TRX/Ring Row, Bent Over Row)
**Vertical Push** (Landmine Press, Half Kneeling DB Press, Military Press)
**Vertical Pull** (Pulldowns, Chin-Ups, Pull-Ups)
**Train the Trunk/Core** (Anti-rotation: Pallof Press, Anti-extension: Hollow Hold, Plank, Anti Lateral Flexion: Side Plank, Overhead Pallof Press, Rotation: Band Chops, Landmine Rotations)

I know, you might find getting bigger and stronger boring, so here’s why you need to nail the above:

You don’t get as much from power training if you skip the fundamentals
It will offer you an improved capacity to deal with the rigours of long and busy training and competitions. Remember, not all training is to improve your vertical jump, it can also improve your work capacity so you can work longer and more effectively, mitigate injury risk and improve your longevity in your athletic career
It will form a huge role in injury prevention and longevity in your career

There’s the fundamentals covered, NEVER FORGET IT

Now, onto the fun stuff…

So, you’ve gained solid strength, you got some size to go with it and you might even get more looks at the beach…Nice work!

WHAT NOW? USE THIS BASE TO BUILD POWER AND SPEED. HERE ARE SOME CHECKPOINTS WE’LL GO OVER HOW TO TRAIN THESE QUALITIES JUST BELOW:

**1. STRENGTH-SPEED:** Moving heavy weight quickly
**2. SPEED-STRENGTH:** Moving moderate-light weight quickly
**3. SPEED:** Moving light weight quickly
**To get the most out of this training you will require the following:**
**- Maximum intent:** move the weight as FAST as possible
**- Consistent and effective TECHNIQUE:** imagine doing a set of squats with every rep looking different and using your back more than your legs…silly and completely missing the point
**- Awareness:** the goal is to move weight quickly, if you feel extremely fatigued, don’t hesitate to go down in weight so you can continue moving the weights quickly enough to train the desired quality

PICKING A WEIGHT TO TRAIN WITH

Here at Ethos Performance we’re lucky to have devices that tell us exactly how fast you’re moving so you we know exactly how heavy you need to go. If you don’t have this technology, as part of laying your strength base, build up to a 1 rep max (as much weight as you can lift for 1 rep) in your main lifts (SQUAT, BENCH PRESS, TRAP BAR DEADLIFT, BENCH PULL) so you can use percentages to guide the load on the bar. Once you’ve done this, the following table offers a fantastic guide for percentages and the corresponding qualities you can expect to be training:

Now this table might seem like a lot, but let’s break it down. At the top of the table, you have the exercise, on the left you have the percentage (your 1 rep max is 100%), in the middle you have the speed of the bar in metres per second (relevant only if you have a device which can tell you the speed of the bar, but I’ve included it here for reference), and on the right you have the quality you’ll train.

HOW TO USE THE TABLE

So, if you don’t have a fancy device, this is your key for how much weight to put on the bar. We’ll get into what speeds to pick in a moment, but let’s quickly touch on the ‘how’. For example, if you want to train Strength-Speed (moving heavy weight quickly) on a Squat your first step is to find the percentages that sit in the Strength-Speed block (65-80%), multiply your 1 rep max by the percentage (e.g. 100kg 1RM x 0.65 = 65kg) and off you go! Now, let’s talk

**What to train, and when**

I’d say we’ve covered the formalities by now, why we should train power and speed , how to pick a weight to train with, but now we’re missing something. **We now have a whole bunch of weights we can use but which ones do we pick?** First world problems am I right?
What you’ll train will depend on a few things:
**Season Phase:** In-Season, Off-Season, Pre-Season. Far away from season, you’ll focus more on qualities like muscle size, strength, work capacity and endurance, but your first step into speed and power work will likely be strength-speed, following this over a period of 4-8 weeks, followed by speed-strength. In-Season, it’s worth moving in and out of each type so you can transition between both qualities and add layers to these training tools.
**Your strengths:** if you’re lucky you can get testing from a sport scientist (you know where to find us) and get a thorough assessment. If not, you might have to work off your best guess. Do you tend to out-muscle people with your strength or out-run people with your speed? Do you play a position requiring high strength (forwards in rugby league) or high speed (play on the wing in rugby league)?
**Your position:** Regardless of your position on the field, being able to create high forces as quickly as possible is important. A big, strong guy who can run faster at their target will hit harder, no questions asked. But if you’ve spent a lot of time getting very strong and moving heavy weight, you might want to spend a bit more time on the faster end. Conversely, if you’re someone who’s spent less time in the gym and more time sprinting about like a cheetah, you might benefit quickly from starting with strength-speed work on the heavier end in order to improve your overall power output before optimising your innate strengths.

There may a couple more things to base your decision on what quality to aim to improve, and this is not a complete list, but it gives you an idea on how to filter your thoughts. There is no ‘correct’ way to pick a weight, what matters is that you have an effective thought process that can justify your training decisions. In honesty, many strength & conditioning coaches with the same education (and super contribution…if you get it you get it) might arrive at different conclusions. So whatever you pick, as the father of Matthew McConaughey once said, “don’t half-ass it”.

HOW MANY REPS/SETS AND HOW OFTEN?

When training, the goal is to send a clear message to the brain. For this type of training, the goal is to send a speed and power message, which means we need to move quickly in each of our lifts:

Moving heavy? The body gets a strength message, you’re telling the body that we want to get good at lifting heavy weight
Doing many reps? The body gets an endurance message, you’re telling the body that we want to get good at lifting for a long time
Moving quickly? The body gets a speed message, you’re telling the body that we want to be good at moving quickly

So, when training the goal is simple, move quickly and accumulate training at these speeds so you can send more clear messages. Here are some general recommendations:

Strength-Speed: 2-8 sets x 3-6 reps
Speed-Strength: 2-8 sets x 3-8 reps
If you’re training speed-strength, pick a variation where you will leave the floor:
- Back Squat = Barbell Squat Jump (jump from a static pause) = Barbell Countermovement Jump (no pause)
- Trap Bar Deadlift = Trap Bar Jump (start from floor) = Trap Bar Countermovement Jump (start from standing)

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PRESCRIBING POWER TRAINING ON YOUR OWN: HOW THE TEAM SPORT ATHLETE CAN GET FANCY IN THE GYM PROPERLY