How To Gain Explosive Strength - A Guide On Exercises & Workouts

Myths & Misconceptions

• Do Many Repetitions!

One of the most frequent issues I've faced was people claiming that you need to do more than 10-20 repetitions, so for example, by doing 20 jumping squats.

In fact, you train explosivity to some extent, since you are performing the squats as explosive as possible. Still, it has been shown in several studies that fewer repetitions with higher resistance are far more effective.

So instead of doing 20 reps of a very easy exercise, instead add some weight or make the exercise more intense by doing high box-jumps instead of jumping squats.

By doing 3-5 repetitions, you will work with the optimal volume necessary to develop.

• Train it every day!

If you want to get injured or stagnate in your training, it would be good advice. But explosive strength training puts by far the most impact onto your body out of all types of training.

Even training for maximum strength (e.g., deadlifting at 90% of your max) will put less strain onto your joints & tendons than explosive strength training.

To avoid injury, you must rest at least one day but rather even two days before training the same muscle group for explosivity again.

Having two workouts that focus on explosive strength, each week is going to be more than enough for most people, while 3 workouts per week should be the max!

Besides the aspect of avoiding injury, your body needs a lot of time to develop the ultra fast-twitch muscle fibers, also known as Ilb muscle tissue. If you begin training before your muscles tissue has fully regenerated or built up again, you are going to lose explosive strength over time!

• Not everybody can develop ultra fast twitch muscles

Some people like to limit their potential by thinking they are the type of person that can't develop explosive strength. Actually, there is a point in this argument. Some people are born with a higher amount of slow-twitch, while others are born with a higher amount of slow-twitch muscles. Therefore some people might naturally be more explosive than others.

Still, this has nothing to do with you not being able to increase your explosive strength! With the right training, everybody can develop & build their Ilb muscles!

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• Slow twitch (muscular endurance)

• Fast twitch (explosive strength)

Every human has both types of muscle fiber, although the proportion varies a lot depending on your genetics.

Obviously, you want to have as much fast-twitch muscle as possible when it comes to being explosive. Furthermore, it is worth noting that there are two types of Fast-twitch muscle

• Fast-twitch oxidative

• Fast-twitch anaerobic/Ilb muscle

So what's the difference between the two?

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The fast-twitch oxidative muscle type lasts far longer than the Ilb muscle since they get their energy from different "places." The fast-twitch oxidative muscle is capable of using glucose & oxygen, which is being transformed into ATP (= energy for your muscle). This process is very effective when it comes to energy production, but it takes quite a bit of time.

On the other hand, the ultra fast-twitch muscle transforms glucose straight into ATP without any oxygen; this process is speedy but also produces lactate, which is why your Ilb muscles fatigue rapidly.

The conclusion is that you need short times under tension (less than 10 sec) if you want to train your ultra fast-twitch muscles. On the other hand, doing more repetitions will stimulate your fast-twitch oxidative muscles.

So if your goal is to jump further or higher, you should focus on your Ilb muscles, while the fast-twitch oxidative muscles might be more critical when it comes to team sports, where you have to jump on a persistent basis!

How to train for Explosivity

There are a couple of guidelines that you have to follow if you want to increase your explosive strength!

• Low Volume

Not only should you do only 3-5 repetitions in each set, but it is also important not to do too many sets. Taking 3-4 different exercises and doing 3-4 sets of each exercise will easily be enough repetitions in total to stimulate an increase in explosive strength.

• 70-85% Intensity

When training for explosivity, you should consciously think about choosing the right intensity. Being above 85% of your one-rep max will be way too hard for your body to perform the exercise rapidly. At this point, you would rather be training maximum strength instead of explosive strength.

At the same time, the intensity shouldn't be too low, so you avoid drifting towards muscular endurance instead. This combination of low volume without being at your max intensity often feels like you're not working out. 

But in reality, when working on explosive strength, you shouldn't feel very fatigued or out of breath, if you want your training to be beneficial.

• Fast Execution

It makes sense that the execution should be as explosive as possible when doing any of the exercises. Especially the positive part of the movement (where your muscles shorten) should be done as fast as you can without being uncontrolled. But still remember to do the negative part of the motion comparably slow (e.g., going down in a squat), since you won't get any benefits in terms of strength from going down quickly. In reality, it would possibly even get you injured!

• Long Rest (4-5min)

In every set, you need to have nearly 100% of your energy available; unfortunately, your ATP storage doesn't fill up within seconds but rather minutes. If you don't respect the periods of rest between your sets, your body will start getting the energy from the oxidative energy system. Therefore you will no longer train your ultra fast-twitch muscles but rather the "slower" type of fast-twitch muscles.

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Problems With Training:

So please don't do any "Ego lifting" when training for explosivity, as it is going to be counterproductive!

Besides that, it is essential to warm-up properly before putting your body under that much impact!

Any warm-up should be divided into two parts, which are

• Activating your cardiovascular system
• Warm-up the muscle group that you're about to train!

Sample Warm-up for Legs:

• 10 Minutes of Slow Running
• 10x Bodyweight Glute Bridge
• 20x Squats
• 20x Calf Raises

Note:

Focus on integrating exercises & movements that imitate the activities that you are doing in the workout. This will make sure that you warm-up all the essential muscle groups necessary for your training!

​Note: When doing drop jumps, find one box between knee & hip height. Stand on the box and drop down, then immediately perform a straight jump as high up as possible. Alternatively, you can place another box 1-2m away and perform a box jump. Above you can watch a video about the execution!

Conclusion

Training for explosive strength is profoundly different from most other types of exercise. Especially considering that it doesn't necessarily feel exhausting, you will naturally tend to increase the volume too much.

Since this can feel counterintuitive, people tend to have the wrong approach when training. But hopefully, this article helped you to gain a deeper understanding of how your body & muscles work!

If you're interested in a program that helps you to develop explosivity around your lower body within a short amount of time, you should check out my vert shock review.

Feel free to leave a comment below if you have any questions! Also, please share this article & knowledge to your friends to make sure they don't make the same mistakes that you've been doing!