Shhhh…KUH!

Draw back the bow string, pause, then listen as the shaft and tail of the arrow sing.

That’s how all the most powerful movements in sport happen. Dan John describes a discus throw this way. Greg Everett describes the snatch and clean this way. Every major league fastball looks this way.

Watched in slow motion, I find archery beautiful. It’s art in motion.

Watched at full speed, I find throws massively violent. They are the concentrated, directed impulse of an expert punch.

And what I love most in sports – specifically, in every explosive action in sports – is where art in motion meets concentrated, directed impulse.

I love the beautiful violence.

The setup, the stretch, and the BANG.

As a coach of speed and strength, all I really think about is how to improve setup, stretch, or bang. In the unique case of sprinting and hurdling, “BANG” is actually “BOUNCE”. Sports science suggests there is nothing more neuromuscularly stimulating than bounce because of its extraordinary coordination demand.

To bounce well, you have to be in position to “hit it hard”, meaning strike the ground powerfully, and rebound every unit of force you deliver to the ground. Because you have to create force and absorb force in hundredths of a second, you have to have appropriate joint stiffness and proper posture and a destructive intent.

Bounce is forceful.

Bounce is aggressive.

Bounce is violent.

My approach to develop setup, stretch, and bang in athletes is to make them smooth. We focus on posture and the strength to support it. We focus on technique and the self-awareness to maintain it. We strive in every rep to waste a little less energy. We strive to direct that energy only to propulsion. When you move with no wasted energy, when every unit of force you use goes into producing motion, you’re smooth.

And athletes that can bounce smoothly and consistently are beautiful when they move. We all know grace when we see it. Any athlete in an Olympic final has that grace, that effortlessness, that efficiency of movement which makes everything they do look easy.

It takes thousands of reps to develop that efficiency. The end state of being so smooth and being so refined…is simply that you can pour as much energy and focus and aggression into the movement.

You don’t push. You bounce.

Watching it, dreaming it, chasing it…that’s what I’m doing here in sport. It’s what I love about weightlifting. It’s what I love about track. It’s what I love about every movement that is obviously athletic: the dunk that finishes a fast break; the grab on a deep ball over top of a defender; a standing backflip.

It can’t be done slowly. It can’t be done gently. If it isn’t refined, it can’t be done at all.

It’s beautiful violence.