Williams Sport Training’s philosophy is based on the principle of training the Central Nervous System (CNS) to fire at a faster rate. This increase in firing recruits more muscle fibers, making our athletes more explosive with every movement on the field. We accomplish this by placing heavier loads on the body and using bi-lateral lifts such as deadlifts and bench press (we use bench press because it is the easiest way to place the heaviest load on our athletes for upper body). Our trainers emphasize proper technique before progressing to max effort core lifts. In other words, our athletes need to do it right before they do it heavy. This type of training not only makes our athlete’s nervous system recruit massive amounts of motor units (strength) but provides the incentive to work hard. The ultimate payoff being a more powerful athlete. By alternating our core lifts every two weeks, our athletes can continually break their own records in different exercises and ultimately boost self confidence on and off the field. In addition, this consistent change prevents burn out of the athlete’s nervous system of our athletes. This system makes our athletes more and more explosive every session they do with us. The WST system works!
Experts in the field, such as Tudor Bompa, state how heavy lifting enhances the CNS it in their writings.
Here is an expert, Tudor Bomba’s opinion on our training philosophy:
In terms of weight training to improve explosive power, Bompa’s philosophy is that repetitions are the key training variable in the fight against CNS fatigue. He advocates low numbers of reps, but with very heavy loadings in excess of 90% of 1RM (one rep max) in order to develop strength that will boost speed and power and optimize the contribution of the CNS. Recovery times between sets of 1-3 repetitions could be as much as six minutes!
Crucially, these loadings create a higher level of excitation and receptor/effector flow, more motor unit recruitment and greater neural stimulation. These loadings and recoveries are also recommended on the basis of their contribution to maximum power and strength expression, and also because they do not produce a large increase in muscle mass, which could be detrimental to an athlete’s power to weight ratio.
Sited in: Periodization Training for Sports, Bompa T et al; Human Kinetics, 2nd edition 2005
Article written by: Mark Williams
