Here is some food for thought to spur you thinking:
It is relatively easy to get strong
It is very easy to make someone slower
I am interested in your comments, before I post mine. This is how I began my presentation to
the Throws group at USA Track & Field Podium Education program
Tim
Some athletes get paid lots of money to be strong and slow. Their job description is; slow down the pace, protect the zones and intimidate.
William Wayland
I was always told “great maximum strength and the inability to express it quickly is the sign of a 1 dimensional strength program. Find a smarter coach.”
Mark Day
The nervous system is a complex system but keeping in mind that anyone can become weight room strong it does not necessarily make things fire more quickly. Training slow creates powerful muscle memory patterns that can be hard to overcome, but then so are genetics. If you want to be fast, you had better train to be fast.
Ernie Eagle
BS. Who get’s paid to be slow?
Darius
Getting (or being) strong is relative. Different types of strength can be obtained at different paces; also not two people will adapt at the same pace. So to answer the first question I would say ‘it depends’. As far as getting an athlete slow goes, well you are what you train to be. I would say improper programming will handicap performance.
Mike Kemp
Better question…is it really strength without speed? When you are at the”Throws group at USA Track & Field Podium Education program” why don’t you get the biggest guy in the room to shot put in slow motion. The put will feel like nothing to the athlete but without speed it will go exactly nowhere. Then get the skinniest distance runner you can find and get them to shot put as fast as they can. The put will feel heavy to the runner and they may not throw the put far but his/her effort will eclipse the throwers. Point being that speed is by far the largest component of a successful throw.
Just an aside…I may not be trying hard but I can think of only one sport where you can ‘move slow/depend on strength’ and move faster, and that is cycling. Pesky gearing ratios and crank lengths….