Resistance Training

Want to get lean and strong?  Ditch the cardio craze and pick up some weight.  We focus on resistance training as a major part of our training philosophy because of the health benefits of resistance training, including improved everyday function (walking, sitting down and standing up, climbing stairs), increased lean body mass, increased resting metabolic rate (you burn more calories at rest), increased bone density and stronger connective tissues. Resistance training has been connected to improved insulin sensitivity, lower body fat, and lower blood pressure.  In addition to health benefits, types of resistance training contribute to increased rate of force development and increased application of force, allowing you to generate more power and thus increase work capacity.

Importance of Resistance Training protocols

Our assessments are designed to systematically progress an athlete through the strength continuum:

Absolute Strength → Strength-Speed → Speed-Strength → Absolute Speed

Absolute Strength slow, controlled resistance training. Think: deadlift, back squat, press, dumbbell presses, split squats, tempo

Strength-Speed incorporating power into our movement but still prioritizing strength. From a physics standpoint, power is inversely related to the speed of movement. The faster you go at a given load, the more power you are generating.  Think: kettlebell swings and beginning olympic lifting

Speed-Strength prioritizes the speed of the movement. The success of performing these movements is highly dependent on the speed at which they are performed. Think: olympic weightlifting, plyometrics (bounding, jumping)

Absolute Speed exclusive sprint and speed work.  Think: sprints, plyometrics   
We progressively introduce these elements of the continuum to ensure that absolute strength is built properly before introducing explosive, powerful movements.  If you begin performing explosive movements before building absolute strength, your explosive movement isn’t as effective and can actually lead to injury as the ligaments and tendons are not prepared for the torque and force production associated with plyometric and explosive movement. Think: strict ring rows before strict pull ups before kipping pull ups.