The Best Strength & Power Superset For Athletes

Contrast training is one of the best – if not THE best – ways to develop athletic strength and power in the gym. The premise is simple: perform a heavy strength exercise for 3-5 reps and follow it up by moving straight into a high-velocity movement that mimics the same biomechanical pattern. Say, pairing deadlifts with broad jumps, squats with vertical jumps, or heavy press variations with MB chest passes or plyo push-ups.

Its effectiveness is largely based on the phenomenon of post-activation potentiation (PAP), which refers to the acute enhancement of muscular contractions due to heavy lifting’s effect on the muscles and central nervous system (CNS). In other words, heavy lifting excites the body’s fast-twitch muscle fibers and provokes a strong CNS response, which then translates to amplified power production (“potentiation”) during subsequent high-velocity movements. As Yuri Verkhoshanksy put it, “PAP is like lifting a half-can of water when you think it’s full.”

Here’s the thing: contrast training is almost always associated with the big three lifts and their derivatives, but who’s to say that it can’t be applied to single-leg work?

Enter: single-leg contrast training, one of my favorite ways to develop unilateral strength and power. There are plenty of combinations that can fall into this category (SLDLs and single-leg broad jumps, heavy sled marches and unresisted sprints, split squats and spit squat cycle jumps, etc.) but this pairing in particular - RFE split squats and single-leg jumps - is one of my favorites.

Like the bilateral combinations, these single-leg contrast sets are an awesome way to develop unilateral power as they improve rate of force development (RFD) and increase the amount of high-threshold motor units that fire during high-velocity movement(s). They also have a positive impact on absolute strength as the high-threshold motor units that are recruited can translate to higher loading capacities. Plus, these same motor units have the most potential for muscle growth, which leads to the recruitment of more muscle while training and thus greater gains in strength and size over time.