Speed & Strength FAQ's

We find that our clients and potential clients have similar questions about our services.  For that reason, we've attempted to answer the most frequently asked questions here:

What is Explosive Mechanics?

Explosive Mechanics is sports specific training. We train our athletes to increase maximum strength, jumping ability, speed, and agility. For successful sport preparation strength training is imperative.  When you do explosive or plyometric type movement, you only use about 80% of your total absolute strength.  To become explosive you must increase your absolute strength levels.  Sadly many athletes do not know how to train for specific strengths, so they end up doing what they like or things they are good at resulting in stagnation, injuries, and poor performance. Athletes must train to develop specific strengths in the appropriate muscles if they want to be good in sports. We train our athletes to be very explosive and aggressive using very heavy weight, light weight, and no weight. Our athletes train according to sport and become stronger and more explosive -- GUARANTEED!!

Do you offer speed and agility training?

Yes!  We train our athletes for speed and agility by assessing the cause of the problem. Most speed training facilities group athletes of various sports and train them to run like track athletes. According to sport, you may not need some of the techniques being taught. Training for speed is more than just working on skills and technique. In fact, strength training is an essential part of speed training.  The more force we apply to the ground the faster we are able to move.  We have recently had baseball players and football players decrease their 40 yard times by 5 tenths of a second.

Is this just for individuals, or can I bring my whole team?

We offer group team training as well as individual. Teams that have trained with us are the Peachtree City Poison (Softball), Coweta Crush (Softball), Sharpsburg Stallions (Football) and Sandy Creek Volleyball. We also have individuals from the following high schools:  Sandy Creek, East Coweta, Newnan, Northgate, Whitewater, McIntosh, Marietta, LaGrange, Douglas County and Chamblee.

Female athletes should not strength train because it might give them a "manly" look, right?

Ladies, get in the weight room! Even with all of the positive research out there with regard to strength training and female athletes, I still get asked the same question all the time, “Will I end up looking like a man if I lift weights?”  The answer is “NO!” Much of the difference in muscle mass between males and females is attributed to hormones, specifically testosterone. On average, men produce ten times more testosterone than females. Unless you’re a female who is taking anabolic steroids or other male hormones, lifting weights will NOT make you look like a man! In fact strength training may be more important for females. Female athletes are six times more likely to incur an ACL injury than male athletes, but a well structured strength and conditioning program will actually improve the strength and integrity of muscle and reduce sport related injuries in female athletes. Another thing to remember about female athletes is that because they have less muscle mass, on average, than males, they are also more prone to detraining. That is why a female strength-training program should have the athlete continue to train during the competitive season. This is because the drop-off in strength is more dramatic for females when strength training is stopped.

Is strength training safe for kids?

Strength training actually decreases a child’s risk of injury in sport. Today’s clinicians and exercise scientist now agree that resistance training can be safe and effective. According to the National Strength and Conditioning Association improvements in selected motor performance skills such as the long jump, vertical jump, 30-m dash, and agility run times have been observed in children who participate in resistance training programs. Children as young as six have benefited from strength training. The most traditional concern about youth strength training involves injury to the growth plate. A growth plate fracture has not been reported in any youth resistance training program, and according to the NSCA even 1RM testing in children is safe. It amazes me that parents won’t hesitate to get their young children (6-7 years old) involved in sports such as football, gymnastics, basketball and soccer, yet they feel that participating in a strength-training program is damaging to their children’s bone health and will stunt their growth. The forces placed on the joints of children during sport participation may be far greater than those generated from resistance training. Parents who don’t let their children participate in resistance training are actually increasing their children’s risk for injury on the athletic field.