How to Use Contrast Training to Be More Explosive

Ask nearly any athlete in any sport and they’ll tell you their goal is to increase their power output. There are a number of training strategies to accomplish this, but few are as easy to set up as Contrast Training. Sometimes called “French Contrast Training,” one of the primary mechanisms at play here is the concept of Post Activation Potentiation (PAP). 

Shown in the video linked here is a simple contrast set aimed at working similar muscles, one for max strength (Split Stance Deadlifts), the other for max speed (Kettlebell Swings). By first having Jalen (our basketball player in the video) lift a near max weight, he effectively maximally contracts his muscles, which creates a temporary full body response that heightens his ability to contract muscles quickly.

We utilize that momentary window to have him move as fast as he can with less weight (using the kettlebell swing), to train his fast twitch muscle fibers and overall hip explosiveness. The result, once recovered, is a heightened and increased capacity to produce force quickly.

This is essentially how you utilize contrast training.

The goal for Jalen is to increase the power produced by his hips, which will eventually prepare him for more specific jump training and plyometrics. This is all with the goal of getting him comfortably dunking a basketball (at 5’11 no less!).

After about 2 weeks of this, we’ll be jumping right into some plyometrics. Rather than blast right off, we did a small transition (2 weeks). 

A note on kettlebells: I often favor the use of Kettlebells for power training early in a training cycle, as the skill acquisition of swinging a kettlebell is far easier and safer than an Olympic lift, for instance. It also trains the rapid contraction and release that is so imperative for athletics, particularly what you find in basketball.

There have also been anecdotal looks at Olympic Lifting’s effects on power output in basketball players on force plates— and the results weren’t favorable. By using kettlebells, we can usually teach an athlete to explode through the hips easily, naturally, and get them making progress within the hour.

If you need help with this type of training, for basketball or any sport— feel free to reach out to us at any time.