Do I need to get Stronger? Faster? Or more Powerful……?
When we start to work with new athletes there are many things that are important when deciding what type of program to build for them. Not everyone needs to get strong, and conversely not everyone needs to get fast. At times an athlete may need one or the other or anywhere in between. Two athletes may walk in the door who are the same age, playing the same sport and position but both may need completely different programming. This is why a one program fits all model does not work. Understanding the research, knowing how to test and assess properly and then most importantly knowing how to take this information and build the most appropriate program for each athlete is what sets Scienced Athletics apart from your average trainer or gym!
Today I am going to review a test called the Dynamic Strength Index. This test helps us to decide if an athlete needs to improve their strength, power or speed. We also use a second test called a force Velocity Profile (which I will review in a future post) which can give us a lot more actionable information but requires a lot of technical ability jumping with weight. The Dynamic Strength Index is a far simpler test to perform. We generally utilise this test with younger athletes and athletes with less experience in strength and conditioning. We decide which test maybe better for you during your complimentary consultation with our Strength and Conditioning coaches.
Dynamic Strength Index
In Simple terms this is a strength potential test. We measure two qualities on our Dual Force Plates. Firstly, we assess an athlete’s maximum force output in an Isometric Mid-Thigh Pull. From this we get a measure of an athlete’s maximum strength potential or in simple terms how big is their bucket! We then take the athletes peak force in a dynamic movement such as a countermovement jump or simply how much of their bucket can they fill. We can develop training requirements from this based on the ratio between these two measures.
Below are some examples of how we make programming decisions based on the Dynamic Strength Index.
Speed/Ballistic Requirement: The first bucket on the left represents an athlete with a max force output of 1000N and a dynamic force output of 400N. This gives them a DSI of .4 or basically they are able to utilize 40% of their maximum strength when moving dynamically. For this athlete it’s important to utilize more of what they already have, strength training is not going to do this for this athlete they need to move fast. Speed or ballistic type training should be the priority for this athlete.
We want to maintain max force while increasing dynamic force with training.
Power Requirement: The second bucket represents an athlete with the same max force output of 1000N but a better expression of this force dynamically at 700N. This gives them a DSI of .7 or they are able to utilize 70% of their potential. For this athlete, it’s important to hit both ends of the spectrum, strength and speed. We would prioritize Power development for this type of athlete. This can be done by straight power training or we can be creative in our programming and use something like an undulating program where we might work speed one day, power another day and strength another day with the goal of meeting in the middle.
We want to improve both max force and dynamic force with training for this athlete.
Strength Requirement: The third bucket represents an athlete again with the same max force output of 1000N but has an excellent expression of this dynamically at 900N. For this athlete they are utilizing almost everything they have. This athlete needs to improve the size of their bucket! To do this we need to improve their maximum strength.
For this athlete we want to maintain their dynamic force output and increase max force output.
Strength to Power Requirement: If we take the last athlete we spoke about and design a maximum strength program, we may work on this for anywhere from 4-6 weeks. Ideally what we would like to see is the final bucket on the right. We see the dynamic force output has stayed the same at 700N however the maximum force output has increased to 1250N. This now leaves a DSI of .72 or 72%. Going back to our previous examples this would now put the training requirement towards power development and this would then be out focus for this athlete next training block.
It’s Never That Simple!
Now don’t get me wrong there are many caveats to the text book explanation above. The sport demands and time of year are the two biggest factors that can affect how we program using the Dynamic Strength Index. For example, athletes in sports requiring a high degree of maximum strength such a props in rugby, and defensive tackles in football will need to be approaching a lower DSI score with a very high max force as they get closer to their in season however in their off season we can use the approach above to improve qualities that don’t always get emphasized during the season. Similarly sports and positions such as wingers in Soccer or athletes in various Martial Arts will need to approach mid-range to higher DSI scores as they get closer to their seasons.
Buyer Beware!
If you’re considering working with a coach or physio who uses tests like the DSI, it’s essential to ask questions about how they interpret and apply the data. Don’t just think because they have things like force plates that they know how to apply and interpret the data. Make sure they are using the data to inform what they do with you and not just using it to say “oh like I said the data says the same thing”. Unfortunately, this is happening more and more with physio clinics and training facilities that just don’t have the expertise to fully understand the underlying biomechanics (theory and practical) or the research in the area. If all your hearing is how high you jumped or what your power is! ASK Questions! I will share more in the coming weeks on this.
At Scienecd Athletics we employ Applied Sport Scientists whose sole role is to ensure the quality of our processes, translate testing data into informed and actionable programming for our coaches and clients and monitor progress and change over time. A physio specializes as a physio, a strength coach specializes and a strength coach, our sport scientists specialize in understanding and translating testing data for strength coaches and physios. Don’t miss this crucial step in your training and programming.
Summary
I hope this review gives you a first glimpse of how we utilize the research, and inform our programming through actionable recommendations from testing data. A one size fits all program from a strength coach or online coach will not work for everyone, maybe 1 in 3 if you are lucky.
We will be following up in the coming weeks with posts on other aspects of how we program for our clients. If you have any questions on or would like to learn more please feel free to reach out to us at info@scienced-athletics.ca, book a free complimentary consultation https://scienced-athletics.janeapp.com/#/discipline/10/treatment/21 or visit our Strength and Conditioning page.