Does Explosive Lifting Build Muscle?
Sep 21st, 2007 by Mehdi Posted in Weight Lifting
Recent discussion on SoSuave Health & Fitness:
“You can go your whole life without doing explosive strength training and have the greatest looking physique on the planet.
But no matter how much explosive training you do, you’ll never achieve a bodybuilders physique unless you incorporate bodybuilding training and diet. Compare Mr. Olympia Coleman with Olympic Weightlifter Rezazadeh.”
“Pyrros Dimas, three times Olympic Gold winner, does explosive training. But I bet he’s not strong enough to curl or press the same weight or reps as an amateur bodybuilder.
His explosive training made him good at lifting heavy resistance from the floor overhead in a static hold. But he lacks upper-body muscle conditioning for training using reps. At least not as well as a body builder.”
Coleman & Rezazadeh. First. Coleman can have his physique. I’d never want to look like that. And he doesn’t look like that 12 months a year neither.
Next. Rezazadeh doesn’t care about looks. He cares about lifting weights. The +110kg class he competes in doesn’t have an upper limit. The more mass the more strength. He could drop weight, but then he’d lose strength.
Explosive Training & Muscles. Strength training builds muscles and you should lift explosively. Period. Muscle definition depends on diet.
I agree you’ll never achieve a bodybuilder physique through weightlifting. But the physique you’ll build will make most of us happy. All muscles work during Olympic lifts:
- Calves. Full extension of the pull where you get on your toes.
- Legs. Pull & squat movements involve your legs.
- Lower Back. Pulling from the floor is a modified Deadlift.
- Core. Keeping the weight overhead works your core.
- Traps & Upper-back. These are the muscles pulling from thigh-level.
- Shoulders & Triceps. The Jerk is an explosive Overhead Press with a dip.
Chest & Biceps are not worked directly. But of course, your body works as one peace. Try an Overhead Squat, the catching position of a Snatch, and tell me if you’re not tightening every muscle, including chest & arms.
Here are some weightlifters & their physiques. I don’t know their names, but I’m sure Brent will recognize them.
Explosive Training & Strength. Who cares if Pyrros Dimas can not curl as much as an amateur bodybuilder? He did a +200kg clean & jerk. You need power, speed, strength & technique for that. Don’t compare it to a biceps curls.
Here’s a video of Pyrros Dimas’ training. Check the intensity of his workout. Might inspire yours.
I stood next to Coleman and he is a short, muscle bound cartoonish-looking freak. (He may be the nicest guy in the world, I’m just commenting on what he looked like to me). While Coleman can probably bicep curl more than Dimas, I seriously doubt that he can press more overhead. Take Dimas off the platform and Coleman off the posing stage, who is the functionally stronger athlete (or human, for that matter)?
I would take Dimas, hands down.
That said, I would take an equivalent gymnast over both of them in a heartbeat. Functionally, very strong and great physiques.
Different strokes for different folks!
i’m not sure who the first guy is, but the Chinese lifters are (from left to right) Le Maosheng, Zhan Xugang, and Shi Zhiyong … actually i think a lot of the Chinese national team “bodybuild” as a side hobby to competitive weightlifting, the Chinese have a much more holistic approach to weightlifting than most other teams
but yeah, most weightlifters (69-94k classes) don’t have the v-taper or x-shape that some bb enthusiasts are crazy about, but i think they’ve got a unique physique, exaggerated traps, large legs, and thick abdominals that make the athlete look like a rectangular block of muscle
i think it’s pretty cool
I combine both explosive lifting and bb-type training in my regimen.
I have a thick physique that is functionally strong. Plus I play rugby so I utilize that power in the rucks, mauls, scrums, lineouts and my conditioning is good.
Any “normal” lifter should do the same as a good body isn’t worth it if you can’t use it for something.
great video. Amazing raw power!
Brent. I saw the 77kg Weightlifting World Championship yesterday. Winner Ivan Stoitsov had great physique.
And I agree with Jay. Looking good is great, but being weak is not.
So what can I expect from the beginner program? Correct me if I understand this wrong: Lifting will build muscle and diet will determine definition and general physique?
So what are the key aspects of a diet that will allow fat reduction during muscle gain? caloric neutral and low carb (with loading) - AD?
Lifting builds muscles, as well as proper nutrition. You need protein for your muscles to recover/grow.
But if you’re fat: you won’t see the muscles. Best example is Rezazadeh pic above. If he’d lose fat, you’d see the muscles. But again: it’s probably not his priority.
Check this post, it should answer your question on building muscle while losing fat.
The first guy seems to be wearing an Indonesian flag, he looks Indonesian too, but I don’t know who he is.
Anyway, Jay is one of the stronger bodybuilders around since he came from a powerlifting background, so probably not that good a comparison. The original person who commented is just missing the point. Only a small percentage of people reading this blog aspire to be My Olympia, and likewise, only a small percentage of people reading this blog aspire to weightlift at the Olympics. Strength training is but a tool to make you more functional, stronger, and look better. It just depends on which end of that triangle you wish to be at.
As for explosive lifting, it’s commonly known to recruit more muscle fibers, especially fast twitch ones, so I’m baffled at why anyone would NOT want to lift explosively. More recruitment of type II muscle fibers = better.
Galapogos. It’s called myths. There’s that slow lifting movement still going around pushed by gyms who don’t like you making noise by throwing weights around. It’s also bad for the machines if you lift explosively. So the advice is to lift slow “to feel the muscles better”. Been there, done that. Explosive lifting is the way to go.
An also Coleman uses a LOT of drugs designed to build muscle…weightlifters have a more problematic dope control…so, they cant use A LOT, and if they use it, those drugs ain’t intended to build muscle…the target is to get as much strength as possible with the less weight. Why? cause if you are not in the heaviest category, you should keep your bodyweight as low as possible…
Great article Mehdi!
Thanks Victor.
Don’t forget Li Hongli…
There seems to be a fairly limited conception of strength in operation in the article (even if I don’t think this was Mehdi’s intention given the point of the article) and in Galapagos’ comments. Explosive strength is certainly important, but I think to be truly strong as opposed to being competitive in Olympic lifts one needs to be both strong in the explosive sense but also able to be strong over a longer period of time. This is especially true if you want to engage in many activities, whether they are sports or life activities. For instance, the defensive lineman (U.S. football) wants to blow past the offensive lineman in a burst of power, but if the offensive lineman is equally strong in an explosive way to stop the defensive lineman, then it may be who can maintain their strength longer who gets the better of the other (or still be able to explode at the end of their struggle when an opening arises). Similarly, the wrestler needs to be explosive, but also be able to overpower their opponent in a protracted fashion. The middle distance athlete may need to put that burst of strength to use at the end of their event. I might need to be able to safely carry a load of shingles up a ladder and onto my roof.
Just like with what gets called cardiovascular training needs to attend to all the energy paths/systems (a couple anaerobic plus aerobic energy paths) to achieve good fitness, I think strength training needs to attend to multiple aspects of strength and not be limited to a single kind of strength unless one is truly training for a specific event that dictates this (& even then, I’d bet some diversity in training would be helpful in the long run). The strength of this article is that it makes clear the difference between looking and being strong (not that they are mutually exclusive, of course). I’d push it one step further and note that I’m equally impressed when I see Dimas snap the weight around like it is a toy as in the video and one of these big strongmen haul some ridiculously heavy object around, or the elite gymnast on the rings. You might want to define this latter type of strength away as strength endurance or some other term, but I want to be strong in all these ways.
Now this isn’t to say that training explosively wont have some important gains in enduring types of strength, but it is also true that if I spend a period doing some higher rep work that is difficult to do explosively because of form and injury problems toward the end of the set can aid in one’s explosive strength training. I agree that barring a specific sport that benefits most from more strength endurance, that the emphasis should be on the type of explosive strength training.
On Galapagos’ comment wondering why someone wouldn’t want to lift explosively, I can think of a couple reasons if you mean that to be training only in an explosive fashion. The first is that which muscle fiber types are best is a somewhat relative opinion not an objective fact. For someone who wants to excel in a sport that requires endurance (& I’m talking anything that is beyond a spring or a single max effort, not just distance sports), focusing too much on type II fibers can actually interfere with performance especially when it is done in a way that causes some switching of the twitch. Even those who participate in sports that require some endurance will benefit from explosive lifting, but this has limits and is best not done exclusively. So type II fibers = better only if you are focused on strength in one way or in some specific athletic or lifestyle activities, but this doesn’t hold up for many others.
Regards,
Dave
Great post David. What you call is strength-endurance indeed. The ability to exert force for long periods of time. First book that made me pay attention to this, not so long btw, is Steve Justa’s Book “Rock Iron Steel”. He points out to have both strength & strength-endurance.
I really feel that strength-endurance is neglected by a lot of people. Including me. I’ve trained for a long time doing only low reps. Past months I’ve been including more high reps work. 20 & 10 reps. Even on explosive movement.
Powerlifting will never appeal to the general public with all the equpment. Olympic lifting will always exist because it’s so beautiful & impressive to look at. But strongman is coming strong: strength, power, speed & strength-endurance.
Btw: it’s possible to do high rep work for explosive movements. Dymas does several reps in a short amount of time in the video. I’ve been doing sets of 10/20 for power cleans. Alexiev also did some kind of circuit training where the bar didn’t left his hand for 3 mins straight. It’s not easy, but you can do it & it’s very challenging. Mentally & physically.
I’d be interested in hearing more about doing explosive lifts at the higher reps, as it has always seemed extremely difficult to maintain one’s form to do the lift well toward the ends of the set at that kind of speed. Obviously, something not for the beginner, but definitely worth an article when you can get around to it. Thanks for the heads up on the Justa book, I’ll have to add that to my every growing pile of fitness and nutrition reading.
Not much to write about, you just do explosive lifts at higher reps
Technique is hard to maintain indeed. And rest between reps is greater than with other exercises, as you have to reposition yourself. However it’s great to build confidence, it gets easier as you’re doing more reps for some reason.
Btw, justa’s book is very different from what most books advise. He has a very different approach to training. You can’t apply anything easily, but there are things that you will learn from for sure.
>>>>
Lifting will apply pressure on the accelerator, but the car won’t move if there’s no gas in the tank.
Nice way to put it Bartolby
could a typical body builder lift as much weight as pyrros dimas did as explosively as he did? i think not.. especially at his body weight. just like in every other sport, speed kills! olympic weightlifters are stronger than they appear. bodybuilders are not as stronger as they appear.. nuff said!
Do you really know what it takes to be a Olympic weightlifter??? You seriously can not compare this art to a fucking bicep curl. If you compare the sports powerlifting, gymnastics, bodybuilding and olympic weightlifting I can tell you that athletes like Pyrros Dimas would eat the competition raw. Why? - weightlifters have about the same strenght as powerlifters but are far more powerfull, weightlifters are second in flexebility only to gymnasts but is far more strong, powerfull, and athletic, weightlifters are not as big or as muscular as bodybuilders but for example Rezazadeh would beat every Mr. Universe and bodybuilder in every sport on the planet. Only by being a olympic weightlifter or coatch(yes I am) you will ever understand what kind of superhuman this sport really makes you
Alonso. I hope you realize that’s what we all agreed with here
Dear Mehdi - I hope you c that not all agree with that here, some people for example say that other sports give better functional strenght, I really think you should read through the discussion again and realize that
it good.
thnks
i love that b’ze am just here in uganda,Africa
i ma a weak and thin boy .i want my body and muscle havvy jast 4\6 months.pls give me tips or muscles Drugs name.
[...] of Mr. Olympia Ronnie Coleman and Olympic Men’s Weightlifting gold medalist Hossein Rezazadeh, pictures side-by-side here — arguably the strongest-looking man in the world and the actual strongest man in the world [...]