Strength-Speed vs Speed-Strength. Know the difference?

​Did you know that Strength-Speed and Speed-Strength are two completely different training traits?

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Strength-Speed refers to moving relatively heavy loads as fast as you can. An example of Strength-Speed would be the functionality of the front row in rugby when pushing in a scrum.
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Speed-Strength refers to moving at very high speed with the maximum load possible. Examples of Speed-Strength are Olympic Lifting or in field events such as the shot put or hammer throw. 
 
Although these traits sound similar, and for some of you, you may have not even heard of these two terms before, they have completely different meanings. This blog will firstly help you to define the two traits and secondly, it may even encourage you to perhaps include these traits into your programme cycles. 

Strength-Speed

​The typical speed targets to develop this trait should be from .75-1.0m/s. There is a Strength constraint on a heavy load and there is a Speed goal trying to move the resistance at very high speeds.

Speed-Strength

​The typical speed targets to develop this trait should be from 1 to 1.3 m/s. This can be achieved by training at lower percentages of 1 Rep Maximum (RM) therefore resulting in an increase of movement velocity. For this you will need to take into account a valid speed constraint whilst conduct very fast movements trying to lift as heavy as you can. An example of this would be during a snatch as it is very difficult to make it under the barbell if it moves slower than 1m/s. 

Maximum Strength

Both of these traits are directly linked to Maximal Strength, this is usually tested by conducting a 1RM test. There are endless and very interesting research articles, blogs and opinions out there, which aim to highlight the correlation between Max Strength and Power.

An increase in Max Strength will not necessarily result in an increase in Power. If an athlete is really strong but produces maximum force slowly, he/she will lack power.
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I shall be following this up in one of my next blogs, where I shall cover Velocity Based Training (VBT) and the importance of this to increase Strength and Power.

Wrapping Up

​From reading this short blog, you now know the difference between Strength-Speed - where the training loads will bring about a reduction in the movement velocity as the goal is to move maximal loads as fast a possible. Compared to Speed-Strength - where there should be a large focus on keeping the movement velocity high. This is important as you are now trying to move as fast as you can with the maximum load manageable.
 
You're probably already going through some ideas in your head, right? Tell me how you plan to include Strength-Speed and likewise, Speed-Strength in your own workout. I'd love to help out!..