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I’ve always liked Jimmy Radcliffe’s model of strength development and it provides one way of periodising your strength training. I’ve adapted it a little, and it goes something like this. To improve athleticism, you should progress these strength qualities:

1. Absolute strength – just get players strong
2. Relative strength – develop player’s strength per unit body weight
3. Dynamic strength – develop player’s strength per unit time – explosiveness – discussed in previous posts
4. Elastic strength – develops player’s reactive strength

For better players, progression needs to reflect movement competency, and exercise specificity should increase over time. Also, player progression should depend on player needs i.e. some players just need to get bigger, therefore Level 1 is where they spend most of their time. However, most athletes/players will benefit from improved elastic strength.

The analogyJimmy makes is that we need to change players from sponge balls to rubber balls. This area of elasticity, stiffness-compliance, stretch-shorten cycle, hysteresis, energy leakage, etc. is fascinating. Lots of thoughts to share with each other in ensuing posts, I am sure.