[quote]jtrinsey wrote:
You can wave-load your power exercises by going from less intensity to more intensity. For instance, doing depth drops from a 40" box one set and 48" the next set.[/quote]
Whoops, that’s wrong. It should actually go from higher-intensity to lower I believe. Correct me if I’m wrong.
What determines how much power u can put into the downswing of the countermovement jump? is it how fast your CNS allows you to dip down? or does eccentric strength have anything to do with it?
[quote]RonnieM wrote:
What determines how much power u can put into the downswing of the countermovement jump? is it how fast your CNS allows you to dip down? or does eccentric strength have anything to do with it?[/quote]
How quickly and fully you can release the tension in your muscles and then how much power you can quickly stabilize, absorb and reverse. Generally, descending faster is going to improve your vertical, but at a certain point you will exceed your force absorbtion capabilities.
RonnieM~
Eccentric strength lies at the heart of the whole force continuum… the ability to quicly decelerate, couple, and accelerate has a ton to do with strength…but only as the foundation.
In a countermovement jump, traditional strength plays a bigger role than a more reflexive jump…
But remember that all strength is rate specifc. If we put most westside guys on a leg curl apparatus moving at a slow rate, they would crush a sprinter in terms of total force applied (many times over)… but if the cam arm is moving very rapidly the sprinter can produce more force…
So the ability to lower a big weight slowly (MASSrate) is vastly different than being able to absorb large amounts of Power (RATEmass)… much like pure strength, the actual muscles lie the foundation, but the neural firing is where the goodies really exist…
This is why overspeed depth jumps do far more to improve reflexive jumping than throwing on a eight vest… Rate, rate, rate.
But, a strong foundation must be built as plantarflexor stiffness and reactivity is progressively brought about… strength is never a bad thing as long as it lies the foundation and isn’t the entire focus… for speed-strength based sports…
J
jumanji,
Good post. One thing I’d ask is if you have any good methods for improving plantar flexion strength, especially as a warm-up/cool-down exercise?
I do barefoot walks on my toes holding a 45# plate (god, I sound like I’m trying to be “functional” haha) and some calf raises. I know stiff-legged ADA drops are often used, but I feel plantar flexion is not as much of a weakness as overall power absorbtion-type stuff so I don’t neccessarily want to address it in the main phase. I’m just looking more for stuff I can do to prevent it from becoming a problem.
Thanks.
In regards to a training block focusing on power, how can i best mantain my strength without access to EMS?(f me, i used to have access to one) I ask this because i’ve read that absolute strength training can interfere with the development of the qualities i’m already deficient in. I was planning on doing sets of 3RM squats for a couple of weeks to finish off my strength training block and maybe get my squat up to around 400. I realize this wont really impact my explosiveness much, but it would be more added strength and a nice goal achieved.
The problem is if i mix these with say REA squats in one workout, then have a companion workout of say depth drops, and other speed strength exercises, am I confusing my CNS in terms of firing patterns, and ultimately doing more harm than good?
Would a 2 week phase of 1 ME lower body day followed by a companion session later in the week of like depth drops, be more effective than just mixing REA squats and back squats together? After this mini max strength block, i’d move into strictly Power training.
I may be rambling, but I’m basically trying to increase my explosiveness using the best possible guideline, while not losing the strength gains of the past 6weeks. I realize increased power can ultimately lead to increased strength, so I probably should just say f it and move onto strictly strength-speed and speed-strength work.
You can definitly keep heavy strength work with explosive work. Just remember that you only have a certain amount of adaptive reserves. So the more effort you put into maximal strength, the less you can put into power training.
[quote]BCpowder wrote:
Guys, I need help. I’m 150 lbs I squat 450 and my vertical leap is 38". That’s not very good how can I make it better?
Just Kidding!![/quote]
This is a great thread.
By the way I love your avatar.
Jtrinsey,
Yeah i worked out today following this type of template:
A. Backsquats
i worked up to 345X2,but i dont think i was warm enough and could have gotten in another rep otherwise. But since I didn’t get 3 reps i assumed i felt like i coulda done 335 for 3, and dropped 20lbs to 315 for my working sets. The problem was it was taking me too many sets to drop off and i felt like 315 was getting easier each set, so around the 5th set i put on 325 and was doing those for 3reps. Even then i got like 4 on the final set, and decided to call it a day. I’ll try to do a better job of calculating my 3RM and desired drop off next time.
rest 3mins
B. REA squats
waveloading with 135 and 165 every other set, they felt pretty good at first and were less springy at the end of the workout
rest 3mins
repeat
[quote]RonnieM wrote:
Jtrinsey,
Yeah i worked out today following this type of template:
A. Backsquats
i worked up to 345X2,but i dont think i was warm enough and could have gotten in another rep otherwise. But since I didn’t get 3 reps i assumed i felt like i coulda done 335 for 3, and dropped 20lbs to 315 for my working sets. The problem was it was taking me too many sets to drop off and i felt like 315 was getting easier each set, so around the 5th set i put on 325 and was doing those for 3reps. Even then i got like 4 on the final set, and decided to call it a day. I’ll try to do a better job of calculating my 3RM and desired drop off next time.
rest 3mins
B. REA squats
waveloading with 135 and 165 every other set, they felt pretty good at first and were less springy at the end of the workout
rest 3mins
repeat
[/quote]
That’s pretty good… but your drop-offs would be a little off.
The more accurate way to do it would be:
Rotation 1:
1.)Backsquat initial
-rest
2.)REA Squat @ 165
-rest
3.)REA Squat @ 135
-rest and repeat until you hit drop-off with the backsquats-
That is, unless you want to make one exercise a priority, then you could do all the sets of that, then the others. However, your fatigue estimation will be off so it’s harder to AREG. Also, don’t worry if it takes a few sets to drop-off. An athlete with good work capacity at a certain exercise might take as many as 10 sets to drop-off.
Also, keep this in mind. Using AREG, your work capacity and absolute performance should both go up, but not neccessarily together. Often you will see a work capacity increase, then a absolute performance increase and so on and so forth. Once your work capacity has been built up (it could be that way even now), you can switch to the pinnacle method of drop-off. In that, you will drop-off by repetition. For instance, on a 3RM, you will keep the load the same, but continue to do sets until 2 reps is maximal. There’s a few different ways to do it, but don’t be afraid to build your work capacity. Increased work capacity is a good thing, especially for an athlete and (in the long run) will parallel an increase in absolute performance.
JTrin~
Sorry it took me a bit to post.
I actually do mostly strength endurance type stuff for the PF region, although I do include heavy Eccentric Calf work, along with doing many standard movements with the heels raised… not far, but definitely raised.
For strength endurance work, I do what most do: linear and lateral PF walks with a barbell or dumbells, basic calf lifting as an auxillary, barbell skips, etc… Nothing fancy…
The real key is to really harness the correct rate of eccentric contraction… which is really what stiffness is IMO… the ability to absorb force nearly instantaneously…
For that I work through a progression that starts with basic depth drops and decelleration mechanics, along with low level hops, etc. The whole time watching for heel dip… naughty.
Then the progression builds, as complexity and force is added… I basically have four levels that an athlete works through, testing slong the way to positively identify readiness to move on…
Strength Coach Update: Yesterday I spent my early afternoon watching 2.5 hours of a DI Football Program’s agility workout. This program was a bowl contender last year, so you know the level of competition. In the 2.5 hours, not once did the S&C guys correct any faulty movement patterns, discuss PF action desired, angles of force vectors involved in the movement, etc…
Now, there were some nice athletes out there, but even the most gifted had glaring movement pattern issues…
Just kidding, the program actually has 125 kids who move perfectly, like 250 Barishnakov’s, explosive and graceful, like cats… Yeah right!!!
To the S&C department’s defense, there were a few comments on hand placement for the O-Line guys as they did backward shuffles… (holding the hands ready to deliver a blow).
Oh well, I am sure these S&C guys all squat and bench alot, so why should we expect any coaching, or understanding of on-field performance?
They look the part though… as long as they don’t have to move…
It was literally sickening to think of the hundreds of thousands of dollars being spent to bench and squat more…
For that I work through a progression that starts with basic depth drops and decelleration mechanics, along with low level hops, etc. The whole time watching for heel dip… naughty.
Would you provide an example with coaching points. I find this PF “stuff” interesting. Not much emphasis is placed on the “equipment” that absorbs force first in lower body movements.
Chuck~
It is basically a carryover from what higher level track coaches have known for decades… that calf strength is different than calf stiffness.
There are many differences between a guy who can calf raise a house, but sticks to the floor when he bounds, runs, jumps, etc, and the guy who (relative to bodyweight) has comparatively weak calves, but seems as though he literally bounces off the ground.
Watch most football guys who merely use a huge dose of squat / bench / dead, etc, and unless they have naturally stiff claves they will always dip in the heel area when they move…
So, at the start of the 40, the heel dips almost to the ground… when they land, the heel dips again… and so the story goes…
The issue here isn’t strength (it could be, but usually isn’t), but rather it is usable strength. The muscle doesn’t isometrically fire fast enough, holding the tendon taught, so the tendon can function as it is supposed to: as a rubber band…
The issue that arises is when the body senses a flat tire so to speak, it shuts down the big engines: the hips, gluteals, and quads… the body won’t let all that strength be displayed if it is going to cause another bodypart to operate at the risk of injury… the calves are strong enough, but the firing pattern and rate is too slow for its own good!!
Now, when landing on all of these little hops, depth landings, etc, the hips should be back, back straight to arched, and the foot should land on the forefoot… not the balls of the foot, not the toes, not whole footed…
By landing either whole footed, or heel-toe, you forego loading the calves and achilles with force…with pre-stretch… you miss out on reactivity.
What you should always be looking for is the athlete’s ability to “bounce” back, or to land with a very quick cessation phase, and basically no heel drop…very little. The heel will drop some from the achilles and calves absorbing force, but not like an athlete who is unprepared.
Also worth noting is that the athlete who is not dorsiflexed and reaches for the ground will not be rewarded with the very fast absorption that a dorsiflexed athlete experiences. I do not overemphasize dorsiflexion, but, rather it is a learned state from drilling with knees and toes up.
Remember that how quickly the athlete is able to display force is the key.
An athlete should be contacting the ground as close to directly under the center of gravity as possible. For those of you who have watched the Parisi 40 yard dash video, Martin states that the athlete who takes the first fewest steps in the first 10 will be the fastest… this is true only is all of the athletes are footstriking under the COG. A footstrike out in front causes deceleration, and will dampen the amount of force absorbed by the PF area (I will let you picture the structure in your own head and picture why this is… simple really). So the fewest steps is actually created through force generated, not reaching… very key point.
In all of the PF drills, I really watch for the athlete to be contacting the ground under the COG, for the frontside mechanics (if they exist) to be very good (knee up, toe up), and for the athlete to be back off the ground within 20-25 degrees (thigh to pelvis ratio). Remember that in drive phase the hips will be angled with the athletes, so this must be accounted for… and remember that the more explosive the athlete, the deeper the drive phase angle can be!!
So go try this: do the age old buttkicker drills. I usually don’t use these much myself, but they are the easiest to understand. Go do buttkickers, and see if you can learn to bounce when doing them… literally get to where you land in a dorsiflexed position, and expend ZERO energy to bounce back up. Just isometrically hold the calf, and spring…yeah!!
This is where it all begins.
That firing pattern must be learned… since the calves truthfully don’t contribute a whole lot to push-off. (Try doing a vert with locked knees and no arms!!)
The calf is actually, IMO, one of the mechanical flaws in humans… which is why many animals really just forgoe (sp?)this muscle altogether… I think. I don’t really see one on my dog, and I wish I ran like her!!
Just a long tendon, a short foot lever, and hammies, glutes, and hips musculature!!
Sign me up!!
OK, so then we can watch for heel dip in everything the athlete does… it is easy to assess once you start looking for it.
Now, just begin your athletes from ground zero, progress them from simple / little force to complex / great force… and you will have an explosive athlete with great body control… simple.
All of this other lifting stuff just underpins the above process… vital, but certainly not the whole picture.
I just moved and am working to secure training with the local soccer / basketball / volleyball clubs, plus am still doing consulting work. After I am OK again $$ wise in this new area I will work on pulling everything together and writing something for the site, a book, etc. I have all of my progressions, but just haven’t fomalized everything. When I do, you all will be the first to know.
J
[quote]Jumanji wrote:
Chuck~
It is basically a carryover from what higher level track coaches have known for decades… that calf strength is different than calf stiffness.
There are many differences between a guy who can calf raise a house, but sticks to the floor when he bounds, runs, jumps, etc, and the guy who (relative to bodyweight) has comparatively weak calves, but seems as though he literally bounces off the ground.
Watch most football guys who merely use a huge dose of squat / bench / dead, etc, and unless they have naturally stiff claves they will always dip in the heel area when they move…
So, at the start of the 40, the heel dips almost to the ground… when they land, the heel dips again… and so the story goes…
The issue here isn’t strength (it could be, but usually isn’t), but rather it is usable strength. The muscle doesn’t isometrically fire fast enough, holding the tendon taught, so the tendon can function as it is supposed to: as a rubber band…
The issue that arises is when the body senses a flat tire so to speak, it shuts down the big engines: the hips, gluteals, and quads… the body won’t let all that strength be displayed if it is going to cause another bodypart to operate at the risk of injury… the calves are strong enough, but the firing pattern and rate is too slow for its own good!!
Now, when landing on all of these little hops, depth landings, etc, the hips should be back, back straight to arched, and the foot should land on the forefoot… not the balls of the foot, not the toes, not whole footed…
By landing either whole footed, or heel-toe, you forego loading the calves and achilles with force…with pre-stretch… you miss out on reactivity.
What you should always be looking for is the athlete’s ability to “bounce” back, or to land with a very quick cessation phase, and basically no heel drop…very little. The heel will drop some from the achilles and calves absorbing force, but not like an athlete who is unprepared.
Also worth noting is that the athlete who is not dorsiflexed and reaches for the ground will not be rewarded with the very fast absorption that a dorsiflexed athlete experiences. I do not overemphasize dorsiflexion, but, rather it is a learned state from drilling with knees and toes up.
Remember that how quickly the athlete is able to display force is the key.
An athlete should be contacting the ground as close to directly under the center of gravity as possible. For those of you who have watched the Parisi 40 yard dash video, Martin states that the athlete who takes the first fewest steps in the first 10 will be the fastest… this is true only is all of the athletes are footstriking under the COG. A footstrike out in front causes deceleration, and will dampen the amount of force absorbed by the PF area (I will let you picture the structure in your own head and picture why this is… simple really). So the fewest steps is actually created through force generated, not reaching… very key point.
In all of the PF drills, I really watch for the athlete to be contacting the ground under the COG, for the frontside mechanics (if they exist) to be very good (knee up, toe up), and for the athlete to be back off the ground within 20-25 degrees (thigh to pelvis ratio). Remember that in drive phase the hips will be angled with the athletes, so this must be accounted for… and remember that the more explosive the athlete, the deeper the drive phase angle can be!!
So go try this: do the age old buttkicker drills. I usually don’t use these much myself, but they are the easiest to understand. Go do buttkickers, and see if you can learn to bounce when doing them… literally get to where you land in a dorsiflexed position, and expend ZERO energy to bounce back up. Just isometrically hold the calf, and spring…yeah!!
This is where it all begins.
That firing pattern must be learned… since the calves truthfully don’t contribute a whole lot to push-off. (Try doing a vert with locked knees and no arms!!)
The calf is actually, IMO, one of the mechanical flaws in humans… which is why many animals really just forgoe (sp?)this muscle altogether… I think. I don’t really see one on my dog, and I wish I ran like her!!
Just a long tendon, a short foot lever, and hammies, glutes, and hips musculature!!
Sign me up!!
OK, so then we can watch for heel dip in everything the athlete does… it is easy to assess once you start looking for it.
Now, just begin your athletes from ground zero, progress them from simple / little force to complex / great force… and you will have an explosive athlete with great body control… simple.
All of this other lifting stuff just underpins the above process… vital, but certainly not the whole picture.
I just moved and am working to secure training with the local soccer / basketball / volleyball clubs, plus am still doing consulting work. After I am OK again $$ wise in this new area I will work on pulling everything together and writing something for the site, a book, etc. I have all of my progressions, but just haven’t fomalized everything. When I do, you all will be the first to know.
J
[/quote]
Thanks for the generous explanation. On the subject of dorsiflexion… My cue is to pull my toes up when running, hopping, jumping or landing?
a parralell squat of 160kg isnt big at all, what do u weight ? if 80kg, you need at least 160kg FULL BACK SQUAT if you wanna say “ok i’m strong enough to stop focusing on my strength” altough there is no such thing as “strong enough” you are never strong enough
BTW, whats running vert… ? you mean you take off with 1 leg… ?
Chuck~
That is correct, but don’t overdo it… it will come with time…
The big thing is to sway from reaching for the ground… when your leg swing contacts the ground, let it… don’t stomp or reach…
B drills help to prep the hammies for this reactive absorption of pawing force, but I also like Prime Time runs… much like the stiffness in calves, hamstring stiffness and reactive ability is why so few runners never get away from being push runners… I actually start with reactive work on the GHR and move to more rate dominant stuff like Prime Times… (work all the way down the force curve…eccentrically and concentrically)
You can leg curl all you want, but as you probably are now starting to realize, it isn’t strength that allows the body to paw and absorb / display great force, raqther it is rate of strength… or stiffness…
Hope this all helps, and opens up a new line of performance investigation for you…
Once you get out of the squat rack, and really start to analyze what is happening, it all falls into place.
BTW, as far as the squatting 160kg at 80kg, I believe that Carl Lewis squatted about 2X his bodyweight.
So that poster is correct, if running a 9.9 100m, and long jumping 28 feet or so isn’t good enough for you, then you better get stronger…
Of course he displayed max power at 80-90% of his Max, where a normal person displays it at 50-70%…
So you have two choices, teach your nervous system to display max power at a higher % of your max, or add quite a bit to your squat… up to you…
If it were my choice, I would rather get punched by the 220 pound guy that benches 600 than Mike tyson at 220 pounds who has taught his system to generate multiple times as much force…
If you need more raw horepower, add it to your car… if you need a more proficient system at using power get a chip for your car, or add turbo…
Up to you…
J
[quote]Silencer23 wrote:
a parralell squat of 160kg isnt big at all, what do u weight ? if 80kg, you need at least 160kg FULL BACK SQUAT if you wanna say “ok i’m strong enough to stop focusing on my strength” altough there is no such thing as “strong enough” you are never strong enough
BTW, whats running vert… ? you mean you take off with 1 leg… ?[/quote]
I said it wasn’t big. I weigh about 160.
As far as athletics goes, there is a point where max strength isn’t gonna bring about much improvement unless other qualities are addressed. Running vert in this case is off two feet, but it can be either one or two legs, although two legs allows you to use more strength because of longer ground contact time
J,
Great posts. I learn something every time you post. I was getting worried that I’d have to keep re-reading the old DB posts on here for new nuggets of information.
If I have one question for you, it would be how do you determine the extent of training assigned to each quality, especially as you work down the force curve.
I assume you start with the basics, slow force absorbtion and production working to heavier weights, then down to power absorbtion and production and finally to displaying that power as quickly as possible
I guess what I’m trying to ask is your thoughts on maintaining specific qualities and how you address that. I know that linear periodization gets shot down a lot, but yet it seems to me hardly any different than what a lot of the highest level track guys are doing. Obviously the level of preparedness of an athlete makes a huge difference, so feel free to be as general or specific as you care to be.
Also, how do you determine how much time an athlete needs to spend in a given phase, especially with athletes with relatively low preparedness? That is, what if they athlete could benefit from maximal strength training AND reactivity training at the same time?
I’m throwing a lot out there, but I respect your insight a lot so I’d love to hear more.
JTrin~
OK, first off we will start with the low level athletes. They need to get in shape… I know this is obvious, but so few really understand it. I would recommend that you get C Francis’s 2004 Vancouver Seminar. He does a very good job of explaining the difference betwen a low level 100m runner, and an elite 100m runner, and that most performance is gained through being in shape… now, this is particular to the 100m and 200m, but the point is carried over.
Lower level athletes can make great gains using linear, concurrent, and cojugate training… basically any training.
I use a number of different approaches to maintaining MaxS, the best is obviously EMS, but few have access to such tools. EMS will not maintain MaxS forever, but helps to prolong the heightened levels.
I would recommend using a block system as CT prescribes where the main emphasis gets most of the loading, then you can use a two weeks of bulgarian sequencing (MaxS - MaxF - MaxP - MaxRate, or the inverse), then decide what the next block should be… this is an easy way out really, but has worked for me in the past to help prolong maintaining strength.
If you classify the curve as follows:
MaxS - MaxF (WEIGHTrate) - MaxP (weightRATE) - MaxR
The what I do is on any training session I rarely hop the fence… meaning I rarely do MaxS and MaxR in the same workout…
But you could do a split of:
Heavy MaxF - Low MaxP (Day1)
Heavy MaxP - MaxR (Day2)
For MaxF I use heavy Olympics if I am there, or use Force Drop Absorptions with the higher end of the MaxForce, then onto fully reactive squats.
Low MaxP days would be jump squats (Single Response SR or Multiple Response MR) with light weight, or medicine ball work, etc…some classify this as true Plyo work also…
Another way to go is to use Contrast training on one day, using a 3rm for one rep, then doing some sort of plyo work or jump squat. This work well also.
There are a few things to really remember:
Westside guys train MaxS and MaxF on different days. They do not train with very much CNS intensive volume because they can wreak havoc on their CNS far worse than most of us can…
Think of it this way: When Dave Tate is squatting, it is as rough on his CNS (maybe rougher!!) as when Ben Johnson runs a world record 100m.
Elite athletes carve very deeply into their CNS reserves, and therefore the volume is much less.
Also, Westside uses a number of great mass building exercises… you may need these, you may not. I do not know.
Personally, I don’t train for any more mass, as I am heavy for my goals (Speed and explosion). Most track guys are 160 - 180 pounds, as are soccer players. I struggle with whether I should blow up to 230 (which I could do easily), or get back down to 190… I am in between now. For jumping, 190 is better, for showing off in the weightroom, obviously 230. Since my FB days are past, and I find myself kicking the round ball, I will probably succumb to being little.
Joe Kenn’s Tier system book is another great read, although I am apparently too dumb to understand all of his programs at the end of the book…LOL. I need some tutoring.
He will train more than one CNS intensive quality per day, but with varying emphasis (volume and intensity).
This can be a good way to go until you really need to overload a quality to make gains (elite level).
The other thing to remember is that not only must you assess what your body craves in terms of training, but also look at what are the easier gains…
I ragged the guy who suggestion strength work previously, but if it would be easier to add 50-100 pounds to your squat than to add reactive ability, then you may jump into that… I know Hammerites just balked, but it is true. Then your body will really crave the other training.
At the below elite level, it is very easy to bring up your squat by using Iso holds, Slow Eccentrics, Chains, weight releasers, etc…and I always use a final set of 20 reps… I know crazy (try to add weight every week)… the growth response seems to help me… I know Dave would kick my ass for using releasers when I only squat 2.5X my BW, but I am fast enough to keep a good distance…
OK, enough rambling.
I thing ColCoolJ is a great resource on this also. He has made great gains over the past year or so, and I actually want to hear what he has to add. He is a diehard Hammerite who has found great success switching from being strength dominant to being for more rate and reactive dominant.
ColCoolJ?
J
J,
I really like where this thread has been going lately, a lot of good stuff being thrown around.
A few quick questions:
You said you don’t “hop the fence” (MAG barrier if you want to use that term) in one training session, but I assume that you DO cross over it in a microcycle (over the course of a week or an 8-day micro)? How much do you buy into the “neural confusion” that gets thrown around a lot when discussing training different points along the force curve in the same training session or microcycle. Is this another thing that is going to parallel the athlete’s preparedness? I feel like it might be, simply because the thresholds for developing a certain quality are going to be lower for less qualified athletes. That is, working at 70% of his or her max will still develop strength in a beginner, but will also allow them to work long enough in a set to be tapping into the range for growth hormone response (“hypetrophy” zone) and as well as getting into the anaerobic reserve for muscular endurance.
I too feel like the block approach is very effective, even for beginners. If I’m understanding what you’re saying it right, you would go through a 4-6 week emphasizing one quality, and then a 2 week “mini-block” where you use the Bulgarian style complexes, split into 2 session. Something like:
Block 1- MaxS emphasis
Mini-block
Session 1- MaxS and MaxF
Session 2- MaxP and MaxR
Block 2- MaxP emphasis
I think this kind of correlates with the concept of “smoothness” that CF advocates in that it is important to transition seamlessly from one training block to the next so as to prevent the “stiffness” (and not the good PF kind) that results from a major change in training parameters. Do you buy this concept for non-track athletes who generally have a much broader needs base, thus possibly the effect of “stiffness” would not be as great or as noticeable?
Do you use this transition mini-block as a chance to evaluate the athlete and do some diagnostics on them to determine their next phase? I know you have said that the best way to see what an athlete needs is to seem him or her in a maximal effort (not ME in Westside terminology, but any effort that they are just trying to do to the best of their ability). It seems to me that letting them “cut loose” a little bit in this transition block might be a way to analyze their strengths and weakness across the entire force curve and from a biomechanics standpoint (pf stiffness, pc strength, posture, etc).
Kind of a few scattered thoughts here, anything you want to throw back at me would be appreciated.