Every top notch athlete needs to be explosive and there are many ways to achieve this quality. Being explosive simply means having the ability to exert as much force as possible in a given amount of time. Maximum strength, in and of itself, is a highly sought after capability in athletics, but possessing incredible strength and the ability to produce it rapidly are quite different. Merely being strong does not necessarily mean that one is also fast. In most sports, it is far more important to display force quickly rather than to just display as much force as possible. Athletes usually don't have enough time to develop maximal force in actual sporting movements, and success often depends on the rate at which force is developed. 


A classic example is the shot put event in track and field. Shot putters tend to be large and very strong athletes, many of which having bench presses of over 400 pounds. The force required to move a barbell that heavy is far greater than is required to throw a 16 lb shot put, and takes considerably more time to produce. The time it takes to throw the shot is significantly less, and the implement would be out of the athletes hands long before the force required to bench press 400 pounds would be achieved. The most critical aspect is how much force can be developed during the short amount of time that the shot is in the athletes hand. This does not mean that the development of maximal force cant aid in throwing the shot, but it will be limited. The rate of force development is the most important quality in training for explosive sports. But remember, power is simply an expression of ones strength. Without strength, there is no power. Basic strength training should be utilized first to build the necessary structural integrity and stability of an athlete. There may not be such a thing as excessive strength, but there comes a time when training for more strength is not as important as more speed, increased rate of force development (RFD), MORE POWER!  


Athletes and coaches have been experimenting with many different approaches to training this quality. These methods have often included weightlifting, which has much support in both research and practice. However, these lifts are far from the only methods available for developing explosiveness and, depending on the circumstances, other methods can prove to be much more effective. These circumstances include, but are not limited to, amount of time the athlete has to devote to developing enough skill to perform the movements effectively, the coaches ability to teach, the athletes lack of strength, posture, mobility or flexibility to attain proper positioning and mechanics to effectively train the lifts, and available space and equipment. If an athlete has reached a higher level of performance in their respective sport without meeting all of the specific physical requirements to perform a properly executed snatch or clean and jerk, chances are that taking the time and effort to learn these movements from a beginner level will not improve their sport performance that much more than any other type of explosive training. 

For the rest of the article and tons more training ideas, programs, tutorial, articles, Q & A's and more, visit The Consummate Athlete today for a one week free trial and see how we can help you become a more dominate athlete. 

Is what you're doing necessary? Is it sufficient? Is it safe?  Considering these questions will help you program more effectively and benefit more from your personal training. Knowing how and when to make adjustments could help you excel quicker than ever.

For many more videos and tutorials be sure to check out our membership site, The Consummate Athlete. We are constantly updating information, adding to our exercise index, teaching progressions and helping people be the most badass they can be. Check out The Consummate Athlete for a week for FREE and see what we have to offer and find out how we can help make you more dominant in life.


CLICK HERE FOR A FREE TRIAL MEMBERSHIP

The Strength Shop introduces "The Consummate Athlete," a private membership area for becoming the most dominant athlete you can beIt takes a tremendous amount of courage to realize and admit that you might need change or a little help to learn something new or different. 

The fact that you are reading this means that you are different than most of your competition, you are ready to accept change and make a huge impact on your life and training. 

Join TSS private membership area, The Consummate Athlete, today and get instant access to...

-Daily training program- take the guess work out of your training and follow a proven system for developing insanely powerful, lightning fast, and crazy strong athletes that dominate their competition in all facets of the game. If you desire strength, speed, explosiveness and everlasting stamina, this is all you need to get you on top of your game.


 -Instant access to your coach, Matt Wichlinski- it's a hectic world out there, and with increased popularity, it is becoming more and more difficult to stay in contact with everyone that emails and tries to connect with me daily. I do my best to answer everyones questions, but sometimes emails and messages just get lost in spam folders, etc. As much as I would love to talk personally with everyone who asks for my help or opinion, it is becoming increasing more difficult and time consuming. When you join The Consummate Athlete, you will always have instant access to me and other coaches because The Consummate Athletes are my number one priority, nothing gets lost in spam, you get straight to the source. 

-Guaranteed results- thats right, if you follow my system, I guarantee you will see increased strength and performance the first month and every month of your training. 




-Athletes only private tutorial videos demonstrating all of our exercises with form tips to ensure safety and increased performance. The exercise list grows daily as there are so many out there, but to be honest, the majority of our training is kept exclusive to the most effective exercises known to man. You may already know what they are, but are you performing in a way that is helping you dominate?

-You get access to all of the training that we are doing at The Strength Shop and use it to annihilate your competition. -There is so much more that you will have access to once you become a Consummate Athlete, such as exclusive articles, nutrition tips, daily motivation, instant answers to your questions, videos, interviews, and tons more new information added regularly. I have such a vast circle of friends in the strength and conditioning community that I share ideas and stories with that you will certainly benefit from the amount of knowledge that gets shared between us. 

-If you trained with me it would cost many times what the price of this membership is. You get all the info without having to travel to train with me. You can continue down the same path you are on and probably get the same frustrating results, or you can make a change and gain access to The Consummate Athlete and become the most dominant athlete you can be, creating an unfair advantage over your competition. Prepare to be hounded constantly about what the heck you are doing differently from all the others in your area when your physique and ability makes a drastic change for the better in record time. 

Let yourself be just a little more awesome than you already are! If you have questions and concerns about strength and conditioning, we have your answers, and I am here for you, I want to help. For pennies a day you have complete access to my brain, and that my friend, can make you awesome, just look at the picture above, AWESOME. 

I used to do all kinds of crazy shit in the gym, looking for a better way to get big, get strong, and dominate my competition. Unfortunately, there is no magic exercise, and no crazy drills that are going to turn you into some wizard of the field in a day. What there is, however, is proper application and execution of the basics exercises and drills that have produced beasts forever. With a few tweaks to your program and your execution, you could enhance your training tremendously. Smitty from the Diesel Crew and I are holding a workshop based on kettlebell technique and application, barbell exercise for strength and power, bodyweight training to feel and perform better, and more. This will surely be a great workshop with tons of knowledge being delivered. 

If you want to get more powerful

If you want to increase your stamina and explosiveness on the field

If you want to train yourself and your clients more effectively

This is the workshop for you. We will deliver and guarantee a great day of training. No doubt, one of the best training days of your life! Don't miss out!

I am very excited right now for many reasons. I have been back home in Virginia for a few weeks now and have been enjoying the summer. I have been getting some serious training in with my compadres at TSS. I have a serious goal in my training because I recently registered for the North Carolina State Weightlifting Championships in Winston-Salem in September. I'm not sure how this will go, due to some recent shoulder issues from the football season I just played in Poland, but I shall do my best and I will surely meet some awesome people. It will be an amazing learning experience and I will share that with everyone, especially those who might be interested in competing in something similar in the near future. Also, the membership area on my website is steadily growing and more info is going on there daily. If you want several months worth of training for a nominal price, it is truly a great resource. But, most importantly and most recently, James Smith, from The Diesel Crew, and I have announced our soon to come training workshop, Back To Basics - Bars, Bells, Bodyweight and Better Movement, to be delivered at The Strength Shop on August 20! 

Over the years I have attended many seminars and have been inspired by all of them. I always come away with something that takes my training to new levels. It might be a game changing tweak in my movement, additional exercises in my repertoire, or a fix in my programming. Regardless, I always learn something that I apply and make myself better at what I love. I have had the amazing opportunities to train and learn from guys like Dave Tate from Elite FTS, Zach Even-Esh, the Underground Strength Coach, Jeff Martone, a world reknowned kettlebell instructor, Olympic level weightlifting coaches, and many more. Needless to say, I have learned a tremendous amount of training information over the years and I am constantly learning more everyday.  It is absolutely mandatory to do so in today's fitness industry or you will get left in the dust.

In just a few short weeks, Smitty and I will deliver this awesome, jam packed workshop full of info to get you feeling better and training more effectively.  This is a great opportunity for anyone who trains themselves or trains others for performance enhancement and general fitness. We are cutting through all the bullshit and getting back to basics. Too many people are looking for gimmicks and following the fads and trends and find themselves spinning their wheels, or worse yet, injured. In the most extreme cases, we have even witnessed some well intentioned but misinformed trainees and coaches actually murdered in their own gyms by fitness nazi unicorns when performing exercises with poor movement patterns. This is a total shame and could have been avoided if they only knew how and why to perform the proper exercise progressions to get them as awesome as possible.

I hope to see you at the workshop on August 20! If you're curious about the info on the workshop, check out this link below

                Back to Basics Workshop

Don't just take my word for it, listen to what others have said about my previous workshops...