Taking Human Performance to the Next LevelDennis Keiser discusses the limitations and risk of injury placed on athletes by traditional weight training and asks if a more innovative approach would yield greater results.

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W e can’t take human performance to the next level until

we are willing to question everything we do. I recently spoke to a professional strength coach and asked him a couple of the questions below, and when he couldn’t answer them, I asked him why he trains with iron. Frustrated with my questioning, he answered “Tradition”. Traditional thinking is comfortable. If everyone is doing it, it must be right. Unfortunately, ‘Traditional’ thinking will not take human performance to the next level.

Stuck in the Iron AgeHave we reached the point of diminishing returns lifting iron? How many more ways can we lift a bar or swing a kettlebell? To answer these and the questions below we must understand the resistance produced by iron or any mass acted upon by gravity.

The iron used in training is a mass acted upon by the Earth’s gravity to create a force. It has been a simple and effective tool that has served us well for centuries, as did the wind for sailing the seas and the horse for getting us from point A to point B on land. Today, neither the wind nor horses serve a commercial purpose for transportation, and haven’t for over 100 years.

We’ve all felt the extra force needed to get iron weight moving and the momentum when trying to slow it. Newton’s Second Law, Force = Mass X Acceleration, suggests that if we want to move the

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weight faster, we have to apply more force. Once we’ve got it up to speed, we now have to slow the weight to a stop before we reach the end of our Range of Motion (ROM).

What Newton is telling us is that the Force is highest when we start the weight in the upward direction and lightest when we begin to slow the weight when approaching the top end of our ROM. The faster the speed, the greater the Force

required to start the weight moving and the less resistance at the end of the ROM, due to momentum. For most of our basic exercises like the Bench Press, Shoulder Press, Leg Press, and Squat, this is exactly the opposite force we want. We are weaker when we are most flexed, i.e., bar at our chest in a chest press or in the squatted position in a squat. The flexed position is also typically the point in the ROM where we are more vulnerable to injury.

Dennis Keiser is the Founder of the Keiser Corporation. For over 35 years, Dennis, along with his innovative training equipment, has worked with elite athletes from across the globe and spearheaded a NASA project to build a multi-function exercise device for astronauts.Dennis Keiser has never wavered from his goal and passion of “Improving human Performance”.

Dennis Keiser

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is reasonably effective and safe at slow speeds.

Why are we concerned about our athletes being hurt in the weight room and why do we associate speed of movement with danger?Many coaches recognize the importance of explosive strength, but know the faster they move a mass (iron) the greater the risk of injury due to high forces. This contributes to many of the injuries we see in the weight room. This is also why we associate speed of movement with danger, both in sports conditioning and rehab. It’s not the speed that is the problem, but rather the forces that result from moving the iron at faster speeds.

Why do we build a strength base first in rehab?We build a strength base first in rehab because we don’t think we can begin any speed work in the early stages of rehab. We need the strength base to prepare for the types of impact loads that will be encountered later in the rehab when we begin to step up the speed of movement. We’ve been conditioned to think this way because of the use of iron and the impact loads due to acceleration.

Why are we fixated on strength despite there being two parts to a movement, the force we produce and the speed at which we produce it?We tend to ignore what we can’t measure or train. We focus on strength, because it is easy to measure. Even before iron, we picked up

We are strongest when we are extended.

To summarize, for basic lifts like the Bench Press, Shoulder Press, Leg Press, and Squat, the resistance from iron produces the highest forces when we are in our weaker position. This is also the position where we are most vulnerable to injury. Where we are strongest and where we play the game (0 to approximately 30 degrees

of flexion) the resistance is lightest. The higher the speed of movement, the more exaggerated the resistance changes become.

Now that we understand the tool we’ve been so accustomed to using, we should be able to answer the following questions.

Why do we train slowly to play a fast sport?We train slowly, because iron

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stones of various weights and lifted them. He who could pick up the heaviest stone was the strongest. It hasn’t changed much since then.

Why do we tend to think speed is genetic, and therefore, focus on recruiting fast athletes and making them stronger?Since iron wasn’t conducive to improving speed, the focus remained on strength and speed was considered to be genetic, hence, our focus on recruiting fast athletes and making them stronger.

Why do we think Olympic lifts are powerful movements?Given the limited range of motion of the basic lifts, like the Bench Press and Squat,

Olympic lifts are powerful. When you consider the basic lifts, and the fact that the lifter has to intentionally begin decelerating the bar within 30cm of beginning the lift, it is extremely difficult to generate the speed necessary to produce great power, unless you are able to release the bar at the end of the ROM. Olympic lifts are the only lifts that allow the lifter to continually lift through nearly the full ROM while gravity takes care of slowing the bar.

While the Olympic lifts are powerful compared to the basic lifts, they pale in comparison to a Squat performed, not with iron, but with a resistance that can be moved at maximal speed throughout the ROM.

Returning the Focus to the AthleteThe Coach can no longer look at the resistance system and say, “How do I take that resistance system and improve my athlete’s performance?”

“It’s finding and building the right balance of strength and speed to optimize the Power needed in any given sport and any position played within that sport.”

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The focus, in this case, is on the resistance system and not the athlete. The Coach has to look at the athlete and say, “How do I improve my athlete’s performance?” and then choose the resistance system to do so.

Once the Coach puts the athlete first, ahead of the resistance system, the Coach becomes a Performance Coach and the chief mechanic for these high performance engines we call athletes. Yes, engines. We humans are engines. We take in fuel and oxygen and produce power, just like an automotive engine. Anyone who has ridden a bicycle knows this. As the chief mechanic for these high performance engines, it is the Performance Coach’s job to build the right engine for the race.

The emphasis we have put on making athletes bigger and stronger is like putting a big diesel truck/lorry engine in a Formula One car. Likewise, a Formula One engine wouldn’t work in a truck. Trucks and Formula One cars serve totally different purposes, and therefore, require different engines. Likewise, so do athletes. Life was simpler for the Strength Coach when all the coach had to do was make the athletes stronger today than they were yesterday.

This will not be the case in the future. A thorough understanding of the game and the demands on the athlete will be a must. We will need to know the angular velocities and forces

required to change direction in soccer, to come off the line in the NFL, to pitch or swing a bat in baseball, to improve vertical jump in basketball, and to propel a long jumper nine meters when his foot hits the board. Data like this will be the basis for the training protocols of the future. It’s not enough to just focus on Power; it’s finding and building the right balance of strength and speed to optimize the Power needed in any given sport and any position played within that sport. They all require different engines.

What if we had a Resistance System:• That would provide a

concentric and eccentric

resistance like iron, but without the shock loads due to acceleration?

• That could provide the proper variable resistance throughout the ROM, being light when the muscles, joints, and connective tissue require it and heavy when the muscles, joints, and connective tissue need it?

• That could be used at any speed and the force curve remains consistent?

• That would allow for maximum acceleration and speed throughout the ROM without the fear of injury due to acceleration forces?

• That could take human performance to a higher level and do it safer?

Perhaps we already do.

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