In the technology driven society that we all live in today, social media rules the roost. One thing that I love about social media is that it has popularized powerlifting. However, I have an issue with that. A lot of trainers and strength coaches (especially self-proclaimed gurus)  are now indirectly forcing athletes to become powerlifters by training them as nothing more than a powerlifter. When it comes to utilizing powerlifting as a way of improving an athlete's performance, always remember that as a strength coach your job is first and foremost to create a better athlete rather than just a powerlifter. As stated in a previous article, you can be strong and not explosive, but you can't be explosive without being strong. One method that many powerlifters utilize to increase explosive strength is the Dynamic Method. However, everyone assumes that this means you need to use bands or chains. To put it briefly, the Dynamic Method can be effective by simply working with weights as low as 50-60% of your max without bands or chains. Although this method works, it's not always necessary when working with high school athletes. High school athletes have crazy schedules and are lucky to consistently train 2-3 times per week. While strength is never a weakness, just know that they are better off focusing their limited time in the gym on increasing force output as opposed to just maximal strength.

In today's day and age, I hear parents constantly complaining about their kids being glued to their smartphones and completely disconnected from the world around them. I see kids, mostly teens, lack basic social skills yet when these same kids are on social media, they're complete "keyboard gangsters." What does this have to do with fitness? Give me a few minutes and you'll see what I mean.

You can be strong and not explosive, but you can't be explosive without being strong. At Overdrive Fitness, we work to make all of our athletes strong AND explosive. We make sure that are our athletes are not only increasing muscle mass and absolute strength, but also relative strength.