When it comes to training for speed, jumping ability, and overall

athleticism, Kelly Baggett is in my opinion, one of the most knowledgeable people on the planet. He delivers results, plain and simple. Kelly works as a performance consultant designing programs and providing guidance for athletes and people who participate in various sports and activities throughout the world. His clients include athletes in football, basketball, boxing, volleyball, powerlifting, and bodybuilding, as well as plenty of people who just desire to look better. He has a website called Higher Faster Sports where you can find his infamous Vertical Jump Bible. I recently had the great fortune of picking his enormous brain, so enjoy:

1. A lot of coaches talk about the importance of having high levels of relative strength for athleticism. What is your definition of relative strength?

Kelly Baggett: Well strength is really just the ability to exert force. Movement in sports is all about force. The more force you exert, the faster and more forceful your movements. Honestly though I’m not really concerned about the “relative” part of relative strength. Relative, or strength per pound of bodyweight, infers the notion that an athlete should be as light as possible. My general recommendation for most athletes is get as muscular as possible within reason while staying fairly lean. Do that and the relative strength will take care of itself. Hell,  Lebron James weighs 260-270 and runs  and moves like an alien cross between a greyound and a pit bull. Put on a tape of an NFL game from 10 years ago and take a look at the receivers  then compared to now. You’ll see bigger, more muscular receivers who are also a lot more explosive, and that’s largely due to their dedication in the weight room.

2. You have mentioned that the Olympic lifts are not necessary for non-olympic lifting athletes. Often times jump squats are said to be a replacement however, the pull phase of the lifts seems to have unique qualities due to the reliance on the posterior chain (glutes and hamstrings) to generate power. Do you feel that the pull phase of the olympic lifts is unique? Or are jump squats or any other exercises you have in mind a viable alternative?

Kelly Baggett: I don’t think there’s anything really special about the pull phase of the 0-lifts for the posterior chain and here’s why: From a standing position the muscles of the posterior chain are primarily designed to propel the athlete horizontally. In other words, when you’re standing up you’re fighting vertical forces and the gravity in an o-lift is pulling on the bar vertically. Thus, trying to optimally engage the posterior chaiin is difficult and requires a lot of technique…In other words, engaging the posterior chain from a standing position with a bar hanging from your hands is sorta like standing up vertically with a barbell and doing a horizontal bench press from that position and trying to engage the pecs. The resistance is coming from the wrong direction.

So, if you wanted a more physiological correct no brainer exercise for the posterior chain, put the body in position where the posterior chain has to naturally work against gravity. Figure out ways to load the posterior chain when you’re either on your stomach, on your back, or you’re using a device that requires you to work against horizontal force. Thus reverse hyperextensions, barbell hip thrusts (popularized by Brent Contreras), or sled towing/dragging/marches are better exercises for the posterior chain for the average trainee IMO. I’ve always been a big fan of reverse hypers and I thought the general indsutry movement to phase them out the last several years was a mistake.

Having said that, if you can do the O-lifts with correct engagement of the posterior chain they’re viable. That requires some technique though. There has to be some horizontal movement of the hips. The hips have to move back and explode forward. The Romanian deadlift is basically a slower o-lift. Done correctly it should target the glutes. However I’ve always thought it is the hardest exercise in existence to teach and do correctly. I pretty much gave up trying to teach it to my training clients. There has to be some emphasis on pushing the hips back and pawing back on the ground from that position (like a bull pawing the ground), even though the feet won’t move. The average trainee doing o-lifts and RDLs uses way too much back and not enough glute.

One good way I’ve found to get good posterior chain engagement with o-lifts is doing them from the hang in rhythmic fashion for fairly high reps (~8-10 or so). Some people call these speed cleans or speed snatches. I’ve always thought of them as “rhythm” cleans or “rhythm” snatches because in order to do them rapidly you have to use the correct muscle groups. If you don’t you lose your rhythm and the weight won’t go up. Kettlebell swings are also pretty good.

“Well if the muscles of the posterior chain are primarily designed to propel the athlete horizontally and the resistance in a squat is vertical doesn’t make the squat a useless exercise too?”

Well in the squat the hips have to go back and at the bottom the glutes get stretched. Therefore they have to contract to blast you out of the hole.

3. There have been contradicting studies about the benefits of using of resisted sprinting for training acceleration. What is your experience with the results of using resisted sprinting?

Kelly Baggett:I LOVE resisted sprints and have seen great results in athletes using variations of them Not just resisted sprints, but resisted sled walks, marches, car pushing, truck pushing, you name it. Anything you can do where you’re on the ground working against horizontal resistance is good IMO.

Recently I even had a pro BMX racer experiment with some ideas I had for using sleds attached to his bike and he reported great results.

I like to separate resisted sprints used for strength and those for speed. A sample training cycle I’ve been using recently with speed seeking athletes looks like this:

Phase 1: 3 weeks (do twice a week)

Sled Pull x 150-400 lbs x 20 meters x 2 reps followed by Sled sprint x 45 lbs x 2 reps – Go thru the series 3 times for a total of 12 sprints

Phase 2: 3 weeks (do twice a week)

Sled sprint x 45 lbs. X 20-30 meters (or enough resistance to cause about a 10% drop in times) x 2 reps followed by bodyweight sprints x 20-30 meters x
2 reps. Repeat 3 x

Guys are really boosting their acceleration with that 6 week cycle.

Sled pulls are more of a “pull” then a sprint. You should be able to move, but not really sprint. How much weight you use depends on your strength. Experiment with the poundages and don’t be afraid to load it up.

4. There are so many sources on diet and nutrition that all seem to claim to have the answer to increased health and athleticism. Two philosophies making sound arguments that seem to be at odds are the Paleolithic Diet (theory based on eating like our ancestors) and the Metabolic Typing Diet (theory based on the fact that each person is different and must find out what foods work for them, in other words some are carbohydrate types while others are not). Where do you weigh in on this issue?

Kelly Baggett: You’re exactly right and I could literally write for days this topic, but in general either diet will have you eating more of the foods you know are good for you and less of those you know are bad. If you wish to get away from pigeon holing yourself into any specific group, simply eat more good stuff and less bad and everything will tend to take care of itself.

If your heritage is mainly darker skin or naturally bigger muscles (pacific islander, african, eskimo etc.) you probably do better with more fat in your diet.

If your heritage is mainly lighter skin or smaller muscles you can probably get away with more carbs. (european, asian, hispanic)

6. You have stated that long limbs athletes will express strength gained in the weight room more efficiently on the field or court than shorter limb athletes. For the shorter limb athletes, in order to get very strong I am assuming this means they will have to develop much larger muscle mass than longer athletes. Can you elaborate on this concept?

Kelly Baggett: Well shorter limbed athletes tend to naturally have more muscle mass than their longer limbed counterparts and they also tend to be stronger. In general though they need more strength to get the same results of longer limbed athletes, because longer limbed athletes “leverage” their strength better. In terms of the difference, it helps if you think like a hitter in baseball. Imagine if you had 2 Mark McGwires. One has to hit with a 16 inch bat and one has to hit with a 32 inch bat. Their strength is the same, but which one is gonna hit the ball further? Logically the one holding the 32 inch bat right? Now, how can the one with the 16 inch bat hit the ball just as far as the one with the 32 inch bat? He’ll need to have a lot more power going into his swing, so he’ll need to be that much stronger. But for each unit of strength the one with the 32 inch bat gains he’ll be able to leverage it better into hitting performance. Which helps explain why for absolute levels of speed and jumping ability longer limbed athletes tend to excel.

Sticking to that same example, there obviously becomes a point where longer bat length doesn’t help hit the ball further and in fact hinders hitting
distance. Which also explains some gangly long limbed people in sport. Think of Manute Bol or Chuck Nevitt. You’ll rarely see guys like that flying up
and down the court and jumping over buildings because they’re too weak for the length of their limbs.

7. What are you thoughts on the barbell thrusters popularized by Bret Contreras on T-nation? http://www.tmuscle.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance_interviews/glute_boy_speaks_an_interview_with_bret_contreras

Kelly Baggett: I’ve corresponded with Bret and I think he’s done a lot of good things for “glute awareness”. One thing I like about his EMG studies on the glutes is he’s really verified my feelings about the effectiveness of the reverse hyper exercise. His EMG studies on glute recruitment have reverse hyper variations rated ahead of every other exercise. It’s funny but over the years I’d actually experimented with quite a few of his funky exercises at some  point just messing around in the gym. He took it to another level though so kudos to him. I’ve added his barbell hip thrust into my arsenal. That one’s a good one IMO for those who don’t have a reverse hyper bench. I think he’s spot on when he says that the posterior chain (and the hamstrings) are more
important for the sprints then the vertical jump. However, the glutes are still very important for the VJ. Although they don’t contribute as much as in the sprints, I’ve yet to see a study that showed the quads contributing more than the glutes in the VJ. More importantly though is how being “glute dominant” influences the optimal posture and recruitment patterns needed for VJ success.