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Seminar Preview: Developing Explosive Strength

Insight into the upcoming PICP seminar on developing more powerful athletes

“Speed Kills!”
“You Can Never Be Too Strong!”
Such are the mottos that often find their way to the backs of motivational T-shirts given out by strength coaches. And while both speed and strength are important, what also helps athletes win is the balance between strength and speed, an athletic quality known as explosive strength.

Developing explosive strength is key to achieving elite levels of sports performance, as it will improve jumping ability, start times, throwing velocities and develop more powerful kicks and punches. And because of the importance and interest in this subject, we will be offering Developing Explosive Strength as part of our “Special Consideration Training Series.”

This information-packed seminar will be held over two days, January 23-24, at the Poliquin Strength Institute in East Greenwich, Rhode Island. Because of the advanced nature of some of the material, the seminar is only open to those who have achieved a Level 1 PICP or higher certification.

The seminar will contain both lecture and hands-on training, focusing on developing skills that a coach can implement immediately with his or her athletes. Here are a few of the topics that will be covered:

• How to teach the novice to master an Olympic lift in just 20 minutes!
• The best drills to develop the power to overcome inertia
• All the variations of the snatch and clean and jerk exercises and their applications to sports
• The best loading parameters and methods to develop explosive strength
• How to periodize the development of explosive strength

Co-teaching the seminar with me will be Pierre Roy. In Canada, Pierre Roy is considered one of the most accomplished weightlifting coaches of the past several decades. Case in point: He coached two athletes at the Olympic Games in Los Angeles, one being Jacques Demers. Demers won the silver medal over Dragomir Cioroslan, who went on to become the head weightlifting coach for the United States. Pierre also coached several more athletes who competed in the World Championships, such as Denis Garon, who clean and jerked 490 pounds as a heavyweight, and more than 50 athletes who competed in the Canadian Championships.

Coach Roy is a very humble man, and that is why Eastern Bloc coaches always loved and respected him and had no problem giving him great coaching tips. I have stated this many times: “If I were an NFL team owner, or an English Premiership team owner, Pierre Roy is the first guy I would hire as a strength coach.” I am honored to have him as my mentor for Olympic lifting, and feel fortunate to be able to book him for this exciting coaching experience.

As a bonus, an exhibition will be performed by 2009 USA Junior World Team weightlifter Maegan Snodgrass. Maegan is the National School Age American Record Holder in the Snatch, having lifted 78 kilos at a bodyweight of just 63 kilos. Currently her best official lifts are 85 kilos in the snatch and 100 kilos in the clean and jerk. Maegan is currently attending Utah State University on a gymnastics scholarship. Here is a video clip of Maegan snatching 82.5 kilos.

Also attending the seminar will be Chloe Van Tussenbroek, a Level 10 gymnast and fitness model from West Jordan, Utah. Chloe has competed in the National School Age Weightlifting Championships, has a 27.6-inch vertical jump, and is currently entertaining many college scholarship offers. Last summer Chloe was an assistant coach at Hunter High School in Salt Lake City, working with a girls physical education class that had 12 girls power clean 135 pounds and nine girls vertical jump over 23 inches! Here is a video clip of Chloe performing the clean and jerk with five kilos over her bodyweight.

I have had the opportunity to work with both Chloe and Maegan, and these are indeed exceptional athletes that those in attendance will enjoy meeting.

Developing Explosive Strength promises to be a unique and valuable learning experience for PICP coaches interested in developing physically superior athletes. Don’t miss out!

(Note: At the time of this writing, only three spots remain for the January 23-24 seminar. If you are interested in attending, you should call The Poliquin Strength Institute as soon as possible at 401-398-7845 so you won’t miss out.)