Why You Should Lift Weights At Different Speeds

The easiest way to ensure you properly rehabilitate an injury, stay healthy and improve your performance is to lift weights at different speeds.

When we talk about strength training most people just think of going into the gym and moving heavy weights slowly.  But that should not be the case if you are any type of athlete or really just healthy adult that wants to stay active. 

Overall, the best athletes are typically able to produce really high force outputs in really short time frames.  This varies from sport to sport but whether it is running, jumping, throwing, hitting a golf ball, etc.  The best in the world can generate extremely high forces and really fast speeds. 

So in training should we train to produce more force? Or train to move faster?

As with most things, the answer would be C, all of the above. However, training for high force and training for high speed are inversely related.  If you think of your own experience lifting weights, the heavier the weight, typically the slower you move.  

This concept is called the force velocity curve. And in today’s podcast I go in depth trying to simplify this concept and explain why it is important to lift weights at different speeds as well as give specific examples of how to adjust exercises to train movements across the force velocity spectrum. 

I hope you are able to get a lot out of this episode if you are a competitive or team sport athlete that is rehabilitating an injury or looking to improve performance. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or on this page.

At Kinetic Sports Medicine and Performance we have the technology to assess this force velocity curve I discuss in this podcast as well as make recommendations on rehab or training programs to target improvement across this force velocity curve. You can contact us today to learn more.