What if, without knowing it, we were all limited by ‘’blockages’’ in our nervous system?
What if, in the meantime, there was some techniques to get rid of those ‘’blockages’’ quickly and easily?
We could, for instance, gain a lot of force, which we could observer with manual strength tests…
Introduced to the world of training over a decade ago, agility ladders were initially a great success, but have come in for some harsh criticism in recent years. Today, people have varied opinions about them, with some using it often and others having abandoned it altogether. Between the two, we can find some reasons to use ladders from time to time, while being aware of both their advantages and their limitations.
In the training world, machines are up to debate. Sometimes considered to be reserved for novices or for people returning to training after a long period of inactivity, they couldn’t stimulate the « stabilizing » muscles in the same way as free weights (barbell, dumbbell, kettlebell…), they would allow less freedom of movement than those kind of weight, they could be less « functional », less « specific », and would be of use only to learn the basics of a movement or to target specific muscles.
Like stretching and squatting, weightlifting is a common practice in strength & conditioning. Developing explosiveness through a powerful triple extension, improving coordination by sequencing the lower and upper body together, working on mobility, stability or dynamic balance, many are the arguments put forward to justify the use of the main movements or their derivatives.
In many sports, vertical jumping is a valuable athletic quality to have in your arsenal if you want to perform at your best. To develop it, weight training is often recommended, with the loaded Back Squat at the forefront. Although at first glance, the use of this exercise to help jump higher seems obvious, a closer examination leads us to question the real link between squat strength and vertical jumps. This article seeks to shed light on some of the answers.
