Generally Health

Time to maximum force

I am reading a great book called ‘Science and Practice of Strength Training’. It’s a classic text and I’ve had it for probably over five years, but only just getting around to reading it. The first part is theory, second part application.

An interesting fact in the theory section, is that muscles take, as a between-person average, around .4 seconds to produce their maximum possible force. There are many implications of this.

Take two fictional athletes, Bob, who can produce higher force overall, and Jim, who is stronger in the first .4 seconds of movement (called the deficit zone, if I remember correctly). Just for the sake of comparison say this holds true for all muscles and all movements. Now say they have an arm wrestle. Bob should win, because an arm wrestle last longer than .4 seconds, which is enough time for Bob to exert his higher maximal force. But say they have a vertical jump contest, or a punching power contest. Jim would win these, because although he is weaker overall, these exercises take place fully in the deficit zone.

Also, it is impossible to exert maximum muscular force in a punch, because again it is faster than .4 seconds.

If an athlete’s sport takes place mostly in the deficit zone, which is most sports, there is only so much that can be gained from maximal force training. After a certain point it becomes more efficient to focus on exercises that build up the ability to produce force quickly.

It’s obviously common knowledge that say, a boxer trains differently to a wrestler, but it’s interesting to know the science and principles behind it.