What you see in the videos/Instagram posts below is the stretch shortening cycle (SSS) in video form. I show both videos because it’s important to see the pitfalls you may encounter when training speed. See if you can tell which video is a better example of how to train the SSS before you read more.

You will see in the first video that with too long of an eccentric phase, Matheus Lutes (Marcelo Garcia Black Belt and professional jiu jitsu competitor) loses all his potential energy to concentrically create more force. Traditionally, if you hang out too long isometrically or eccentrically, you lose or diminish your potential energy. What happens in a sport like Jiu Jitsu though where you literally must go from deep isometric contractions to maximum acceleration? How do you train that or reconcile it? You have to train that way. And you CAN, you just have to set it up properly.

Background

One of the tough things about this is that the stretch shortening cycle, stretch reflex, or whatever terminology you associate with this mechanism, is best potentiated by specific movement. In this particular exercise, you have to setup a “sling shot” effect.

If you’re having trouble grasping the concept, think about a barbell deadlift. Most people remark that the second, third, fourth, etc reps are always better & easier than the first. Why is that? There’s a few reasons, but the two main ones are that eccentric movement that comes after the first concentric rep (first pull off the floor in other words) tends to really groove the body for what it’s about to do. But for many, their second and third reps on a deadlift come from a “loaded” posterior chain. In other words, many do not let the bar completely rest between repetitions. It keeps the muscles tight and ready to fire. Almost the same idea as the “sling shot effect.” When you dead stop the bar after each rep, you have to call upon and strain against your muscles all over again, breaking inertia and creating all new effort.

Louie Simmons has a saying that “strength is not measured in weight, but rather in time.” I sit and think about that statement all the time. For the record, I’ve had it clarified that he simply meant: if you take two equally strong people, the one who is faster is the strongest. Either way, it goes back to the equation of how you determine force in the first place (f=ma). Force is a byproduct of mass AND acceleration. You can and need to train both to produce more force.

Using terms you find from conjugate training splits, this is an example of an exercise you would use on a speed or dynamic effort day. This means that I am aiming to train Matheus’ max speed or acceleration of the load, but not his max weight. We essentially trained with “full effort” but we aren’t moving around big weight. I say “full effort” because we ended up doing somewhere around 35 reps total of the movement, moving it as fast as he could. The bands, plus the odd grip, make the exercise a chore on its own.

Execution

The bands create tension as he pulls upward, where eventually he’s cradling (isometrically) the weight at its heaviest point: which is another key to this as stated above: I need him to explode from an isometric hold: thus we train a fast eccentric and in turn, as fast as possible on the concentric phase. This is the goal of training this particular exercise: producing force from an isometric hold, much like a going from a tight behind the neck side control to explosively moving to your next position, for example).

Bands are really a key tool in training speed in movements that resemble resistance curves that are more resistant as you accelerate. If you think of the acceleration in a seoi nage or most hip tosses; you encounter progressively more resistance as you get through the technique. To simulate this (and also to overload you at the proper place), bands work very well.

I threw around a lot of terminology, but the end point/”tldr” is that strength is also a measure of how fast you create force, thus, it’s helpful to train not just with max weight, but also maximum acceleration. To understand the phases of movement and how to get the most out of them goes a long way. The end result you are seeing is Matheus utilizing a stretch reflex to create more force through rebounding and involuntary contraction than he otherwise would create on his own. You do this in sport practice, but you also can do this in the gym.

To give full credit where it is due: I saw this variation of the DB Banded Row first from Phil Daru, head S&C coach at American Top Team, and applied the timing based on Matheus and I’s training goal.

Concurrent periodization styles, sometimes called conjugate training in the powerlifting/strength sport world, utilize training of dynamic qualities concurrently with other training methods. If you’re interested in me elaborating more on this, leave a comment below and I’ll address in a future article.

Lastly, this was all in prep for Matheus and his appearance at Spyder Korea for what was an amazing event for him and for Jiu Jitsu. He competed as a brown belt against all black bells, ultimately losing one match short of the finals.

Matheus will soon be opening his academy Royal Jiu Jitsu in Mineola, NY. Check it out if you’re nearby!

Thanks for reading.

About the Author: Mark DiSalvo, CSCS

Mark is the founder and owner of DiSalvo Performance Training. He brings over a decade of experience training clients and athletes of all backgrounds and is the strength and conditioning coach to grapplers of all levels and disciplines: from youth to professional and Olympic-level. He is currently a purple belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu himself, with 10 years of experience in the sport. You can read more about him here.

A graduate of Northeastern University, he’s an NSCA Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) and Sports Performance Expert with a specialty in combat sports. He’s also a Steve Maxwell Certified Kettlebell Instructor (Levels 1 & 2).