Strength-Speed Work After Strength Work

[jskrabac]

It seems most athletic focused programming will always have explosive movements like snatch high pulls or power snatch at the top, followed by main strength work like a snatch deadlift after. Have you ever experimented with switching this order, and is it something you think can be beneficial? I’m just thinking there has to be a strong potentiation factor from the heavier work making the olympic movements feel effectively lighter. Or does this concept break down when we’re getting into ballistic movements?

Thanks for your time!

[Christian_Thibaudeau]

It is actually used fairly often by weightlifters in the earlier phases of their preparation cycle. Especially with the Bulgaria school of thought (which influenced a lot of top weightlifting countries like Greece, Turkey, Iran, Kazahkstan, etc.).

They would start their workouts with front squats then move on to the competition lifts. Then put squats last in the second half of their prep cycle.

I myself used this approach during olympic lifting focused phases with Crossfit competitors that I worked with.

BLOCK 1: The strength work was first, then assistance work and finally the olympic lift of the day
BLOCK 2: Strength work first, olympic lift second, assistance work last
BLOCK 3: Olympic lift first, strength work second, assistance work last
BLOCK 4: Olympics lifts then strength work (no assistance work)

Seemed to work very well. One guy took his snatch from 100kg to 130kg and his clean & jerk from 140 to 170kg over 16 weeks… the guy was a freak and an outlier, but several increased their competition lifts by 15-20kg.

My first mentor also used this approach with olympic rowers. Doing the explosive work last in their workout. His reasoning was that it allowed them to work on being explosive even in fatigued state.

As for strength-speed work in the form of the dynamic effort work à la Westside, I’ve had success doing the speed work last in the workout, but only with VERY explosive athletes.

With these guys, they are so explosive that speed work can become detrimental: they produce so much acceleration from the bottom that they actually decelerate for most of the concentric phase. If you create some fatigue, their initial drive is less explosive BUT they can keep accelerating for longer, often lead to a higher top speed, or at the very least, still accelerate for some parts of the second half of the lift.

[hankthetank89]

Dont most of the powerlifting stuff work like this? Wendler calls it “supplemental” work on the main lifts. When you are done with your main work, you will do, for example, speed stuff of 5x5 with like 65-75% etc.