The best athletes across all genres of sport are capable of performing with a high level of velocity. If it’s baseball, swimming, soccer, sprinting, basketball, generally the athletes whose names we know are the ones most capable of expressing velocity relative to the demands of their skill. This is particularly true for elite-level offensive line athletes.

In the past, the idea of the big, heavy, and plodding offensive line athlete was the archetype under which many players were developed. This lead to developmental programs rooted in the “Big 3” primary movements that could be heavily loaded – the squat, bench press, and dead lift. The three movements are, and should be, staples in any athletic development system; but within the culture of offensive line development, these movements are often viewed as performance solutions and not a mere part of the performance system. If players weren’t “good enough”, they probably needed to increase their 1RM in their squat, bench press, and dead lift. But, in return, we built stronger, slower, and less skilled players.

There needs to be an ideological shift within the culture of offensive line development. This shift begins with embracing the science of sports performance. The science and centuries of athletic performance shows us the role of force and velocity in top tier athletic ability. If we want our player’s to be better, they need to increase their capacity within the force-velocity curve.

The force-velocity curve demonstrates the amount of force or tension generated by a muscle group, which in turn creates a particular level of velocity (speed). Essentially, the more force required to execute a movement, the less speed that movement will be performed with. Inversely, the lesser amount of force required to execute a certain movement, the faster it will be done. If your max effort bench press is 300 pounds and there’s 290 pounds on the bar, you’ll need to generate a lot of force to move the bar, in turn, the bar moves slowly. But if your max effort bench press is 600 pounds and there’s 290 pounds on the bar, there’s a lot less force required for you to move the bar, thus more bar speed. This phenomena effects every aspect of your player’s performance.

Here are a few shifts in your thinking that will move the needle to towards a higher degree of athletic performance.

Think of yourself as an athlete.
Develop movement skills, first.
Acknowledge building strength is important, but not a solution.
Learn eating habits that will decrease body fat and build lean muscle mass.

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