Recently, I noticed a few people at the gym, who trained in a way completely unknown to me. Whenever, when they were doing flat presses, squats or deadlifts squeezed the load very quickly. They are all powerlifters and train under the supervision of a coach, so they weren't doing it for fun. I have a question – what is this training technique?
It follows from your description, that you've seen people doing ballistic training in your gym. It is one of the most advanced training methods and, when properly used, can give excellent results in the form of increasing the strength of the muscles and its mass..
The technique is to focus all efforts on it, to speed up the positive repetition phase as much as possible, i.e. e.g.. squeezing out. So by training in this way you are not just shifting the load from point A to point B, but you try to get it done as quickly as possible, with a clear abuse of force.
As far as this technique is quite interesting and worth paying attention to, then you have to be careful, because the line between effective ballistic training and waving a barbell is very delicate and it is easy to confuse them with each other. The most important determinant, which you must always pay attention to in ballistic training is keeping the muscles tense at each point of movement. Even then, when the load due to the generation of a large portion of force will quickly move up, you must remember two things:
1. Maintaining the perfect form of movement. To, that you will try to accelerate as much as possible the pace of movement cannot mean, that instead of having full control and keeping an even line of motion, you will be jerking the barbell and swinging it in all directions. By taking care of the form of movement, you will not only ensure a higher effectiveness of training, but you will also reduce the risk of injury.
2. Systematic increase in speed. To achieve optimal results, you should try to accelerate the movement of the barbell at all points of movement, and not just at the very beginning.
Use will be a good starting point for this technique 60-70 % normally used load (not the maximum). For example, if you usually do bench presses with a weight 90 Kg, then when performing them, put the ballistic training technique on the neck of approx 54-63 Kg.