The term "explosive lifting" is relatively new, but the concept goes back to the glory days of American weightlifting when Tommy Kono and the George brothers (Pete and Jim) reigned supreme on the international scene. Concentration and intensity were critical to awakening those fast-twitch muscle fibers essential to winning Olympic and world championship medals. Tommy still employs explosive concepts, synoptically termed "acceleration" and "mental conditioning," in his Weightlifting Olympic Style and Championship Weightlifting, and Pete has often emphasized the importance of strong mind to muscle commands to activate as many fibers as possible for maximal performance. It was Bob Hoffman, however, who propagated the idea that the strength and skills developed in Olympic weightlifting would lead to proficiency in virtually any other sport. Bill Starr, his renegade editor at Strength & Health, later pooh-poohed this notion as fanciful, but the subsequent spread of resistance training and strength coaching to virtually all colleges and high schools in subsequent decades speaks for itself. It is within this historical context that this thought-provoking essay by Harvey Newton and Simon Jenkins is set.
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