This week’s guest is Dr. Bryan Mann of the University of Missouri (Mizzou). Dr. Mann is internationally renowned for his work in the autoregulation of strength training, specifically with Velocity Based Training and the Autoregulatory Progressive Resistance Exercise method (APRE).

I’m really excited to have Dr. Mann on the show today. You could say that this podcast can really be whittled down to one ideal: the development of athletic power. Within the realms of developing power for the field of play, the intelligent utilization of barbell velocities is certainly something to invest one’s time in, given the time many athletes spent in the weightroom in modern physical preparation.

In discussing bar speed from different performance specialists, from track and field, to powerlifting, to strength and conditioning, you’ll get different opinions across the board. On one end, you have the thought that athletes get all the “speed monitoring” they need out on the track while sprinting and jumping, and don’t need the added “intensification” of monitoring the weightroom as well. On the other hand, a good number of truly elite coaches who are producing gold medal athletes (for example, Rana Reider) enjoy using barbell tracking in the weightroom. On the show today, I was excited to get Dr. Mann’s take on these variables in building top-end speed and jumping ability.

Bar speed and VBT certainly isn’t the only area of sport performance Dr. Mann is an expert in, and on the show today, we talk about a large number of sports performance topics, such as the neural and muscular adaptations to power training, muscle fiber types and adaptations, squat depth, training and athlete’s strength vs. weaknesses, and more.

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