Dynamic Effort Method Q

[liquidboi69]

Hello,

I'm 21 years old, about 165-170lb. My goals are to gain size and strength. However, most people lose a lot of speed and explosiveness with added mass. So athletes often do Plyo's and incorporate Dynamic Effort lifting into their programs.

However, I was watching one of Joe DeFranco's clips, and he said for younger people...you probably don't need to worry about this. He said that adding size and strength alone would give you more speed and power when young.

Does anyone have any input in this? I'm currently only doing Maximal Effort and Repetitive Effort method. I'm also training on a linear periodization program, with a 6 week mesocycle.

Also, I read on some forum that dynamic effort method is pretty useless unless you're an athelete, and is just stressed due to famous gyms like Westside Barbell and DeFranco's making them known (as they train athletes who need speed.)

Do I need to need to worry about incorporating dynamic effort method into my lifting since I'm young? What about when I'm older? Also, is linear periodization a good strategy? Would doing 1-week microcycles instead of 6-week mesocycles give me both strength and size, without a drop in one or the other?

[Oz-]

Are you following DeFranco's WS4SB routine?

Personally, I started to incorporate Dynamic effort once I got my strength base up. This meant 3-4 months of working on strength with ME and RE days. When my trainer started to incorporate the DE days into my routine, it was with 50-60% of the 1RM weight and it was all about speed. I didn't understand the speed portion of this until I saw Big Jim Laird post a video about his speed bench day. The 185 with doubled mini bands works out to I think 300ish at the top, might be more but I don't work with bands.



The reason I started training DE days? Well it helped get my 1RM up for PL and allowed me to break through the sticking points on my lift by being fast off the chest/hole/floor.

PS - Unless you stop seeing progress or doing specific training, why over analyze? If you start like this now, over analyzing will be your downfall. Just lift the weights, the size/strength will follow.

[liquidboi69]

^ So DE did end up helping your 1RM on PLs? I was under the impression it was more for speed and did not really help for 1RM's.

If I do hit a barrier I'll throw it in thanks! I just was unsure of incorporating any DE stuff because I was unsure of it's helpfulness (in terms of my goals). I was also informed to do slightly more than WestSide's 60% 1RM on DE. I'm thinking of doing 65-70% maybe if I do need it.

I'm not really doing WS4SB's routine, but I do incorporate some of their stuff into my routine. Thanks for the input!

[Oz-]

I didn't use DE lifts until I had broken the 400/400/300 (deadlift/squat/bench) weights. Personally, I wouldn't throw it in for you until you start to see progression slowing down. If you are progressing don't over-analyze and switch things up.