Physics of Catching a Falling Load vs Traditional Lifting:
☄️When an athlete catches a falling load, they’re exposed to a rapidly increasing force due to gravitational acceleration and momentum. Unlike a slow, controlled tempo lift (which maintains relatively constant tension), a falling object increases in velocity as it drops…meaning:
Force = mass × acceleration
So, even if the load’s mass is the same, the net force at impact is higher due to increased acceleration (Newton’s Second Law).
⚡️This creates a high eccentric impulse, which taxes the tendon-muscle unit, requiring rapid force absorption and joint stabilization; demands not typically present in standard resistance work.
⬇️⬆️Catching a falling load also introduces high jerk (the rate of change of acceleration) which increases the mechanical demand on tissue and the precision of neuromuscular control. The body must respond to a sudden spike in load velocity, enhancing the CNS’s ability to coordinate fast, high-force reactions. This is especially important in explosive sport tasks.
🧠Catching loads requires reflexive neural control, improving:
* Rate of force development (RFD)
* Motor unit recruitment speed
* Proprioceptive sensitivity
This type of reactive training trains the stretch-shortening cycle, enhancing neural drive and dynamic stability; relevant to athletic tasks like sprinting, jumping or cutting.
📝Supporting Research:
-Suchomel et al. (2016) noted that eccentric overload improves RFD and high-threshold motor unit recruitment.
-Wilson et al. (1991) found that high-velocity eccentric training enhances power output and neuromuscular adaptations.
-Cormie et al. (2010) emphasized the importance of eccentric-specific neural adaptation for athletic performance.
-Mizrahi & Susak (1982) linked high-jerk movements to increased neural responsiveness and motor control demands in biomechanics.
🔥Comment or DM “program” to learn more about implementing this type of work. Programs also available via link in bio.
This is not where one should begin their training. I’m happy to provide more insight if you’re curious.
🧬Tissue-level differences between long-duration isometrics vs. high-velocity movements:
⏳Long-duration isometrics (tendon remodeling and collagen synthesis)
Primary target: tendons and extracellular matrix (ECM).
Mechanotransduction: Long isometrics (30-60 seconds or more) apply sustained tension to the tendon, which signals fibroblasts to increase collagen synthesis and improve the tendon’s structural integrity.
Stress Shielding Prevention: Sustained loading ensures that collagen fibers throughout the tendon (both superficial and deeper layers) experience even strain, preventing some fibers from overworking while others go unused; a process known as avoiding stress shielding.
Tissue Response: Increased collagen turnover, enhanced tendon stiffness and improved tissue health; essential for injury prevention and force transmission.
-Baar, K. (2017). Minimizing injury and maximizing return to play: Lessons from engineered ligaments. Sports Medicine, 47(5), 891-903.
⚡️High-velocity movements (tendon stiffness and reflexive elasticity)
Primary target: neuromuscular system and tendon stiffness.
Mechanotransduction: Rapid, high-velocity loading (like plyometrics) causes high strain rates across the tendon, emphasizing tendon stiffness and the ability to store and release elastic energy quickly.
Tissue Response: The tendon adapts to become stiffer and more reactive, enhancing performance in sprinting, jumping and cutting, however this is less effective for collagen synthesis and overall tendon remodeling compared to isometrics.
-Kjaer, M. (2004). Role of extracellular matrix in adaptation of tendon and skeletal muscle to mechanical loading. Physiological Reviews, 84(2), 649-698.
*As always, this is a very concise explanation; there are many ways to apply these concepts and principles in training.
*DM or comment “PROGRAM” to get some examples of how I do so. Programs also available via link in bio.
*Continued in comments…
Oscillatory training is a method involving rapid, smaller-range movements around a joint’s position to enhance neuromuscular efficiency and athletic performance. This type of training promotes the ability to generate force quickly and efficiently by accelerating the relaxation of antagonistic muscles (therefore maximizing rate of force development).
The concept of oscillatory training has its origins in the work of Dr. Mel Siff (as well as Verkhoshansky and Yessis) particularly within the book Supertraining, where he introduced the Antagonistic Facilitation Method (AFM). This method focuses on improving the rate of force development by facilitating the relaxation of opposing muscle groups. Cal Dietz expanded upon Siff’s principles, integrating oscillatory movements into his Triphasic Training system to enhance athletic performance.
I often speak of oscillatories as one of the means to train the physics concept of jerk. This is something profound that I’m unaware of any other coaches expanding upon. In physics, jerk refers to the rate of change of acceleration with respect to time. In oscillatory training, athletes repeatedly accelerate and decelerate as they oscillate between different movement phases. These rapid changes in acceleration correspond to high jerk values, reflecting the dynamic nature of oscillatory movements and the quick rate at which athletes transition between movement extremes. To me, this is where oscillatories have yet another great benefit: injury prevention and increasing tissue robustness.
Not many scenarios in the gym can be/are executed at “game speed” or with all relevant constraints present. Oscillatories help us fill some very vital gaps within the performance spectrum; these move us closer to the crucial dynamics involved in live action.
DM or comment “OSC” for programming.
Audio from podcast with Cal Dietz
#strength #flexibility #mobility #power #agility #speed #muscle #stretch #movement #core #workout #fitness #calisthenics #fitnessmotivation #crossfit #yoga #olympicweightlifting #gymnastics #bodybuilding #aesthetics #powerlifting #physique #nike #niketraining @niketraining@proteanutritionmen@triphasic_training
💥This pendulum apparatus creates a mechanical environment most training tools never replicate: a load actively accelerating away from you, forcing the nervous system to solve problems sport regularly demands but gyms rarely train.
⚡️The Reactive Catch drives a rapid stretch-shortening cycle (SSC) under shear and torque at end-range positions. Critically, it engages titin (the sarcomeric spring protein that stiffens under pre-activated lengthening and contributes force beyond actin-myosin capacity alone) a largely undertrained quality.
🚀Beyond that, the slack-to-loaded transition introduces jerk (rate of change of acceleration)- a distinct mechanical variable that smooth, predictable resistance profiles don’t engage. There is emerging discussion in sports biomechanics that jerk tolerance is a real tissue quality; relevant to collision sports.
🧨The Concentric Override against a load with opposing momentum demands peak rate of force development (RFD); widely considered the most sport-relevant strength quality (in this case, to reverse a moving mass, not just lift a static one).
💣Overcoming Isometrics provide near-maximal motor unit recruitment and RFD priming. Tillin, Bishop, Haff and others confirm isometric training transfers well to dynamic force expression at trained angles. Sequenced before the pendulum work, they create post-activation performance enhancement (PAPE), acutely elevating cross-bridge sensitivity and motor unit readiness.
⚔️End-Range, “Moderate Tempo” Bodyweight Work: drives mechanotransduction and collagen remodeling at the ranges that matter, while desensitizing the Golgi tendon organ (GTO) to reduce protective inhibition- so when the pendulum loads those positions at higher velocity, the tissue has a map and a nervous system that doesn’t flinch.
🧠Together, these form a great sequence: recruit maximally → express reactively under chaos → increase bandwidth of expression.
🗣️Dan Fichter
‼️THIS WEEKEND ONLY: all programs are 25% off! Comment or DM “PROGRAM” to get my Reactive Catch Guide and much more at a discount!
🧠 The Intention Behind The Isometric Changes Everything
🚀Most athletes think an isometric is just holding a position. It isn’t. While most movements in the gym are externally loaded to produce stress/stimulus, intention provides the “internal load” and overall intensity during isometric training.
Level 1️⃣- “Passive Hold”: Resist gravity- hold position. Motor unit recruitment is low, primarily targeting slow-twitch Type I fibers. GTO inhibitory threshold goes largely unchallenged. Useful for tissue hydration, initial rehab post-injury, synovial fluid distribution and introductory tendon loading.
Level 2️⃣- Active Irradiation: Now you’re pulling deeper into the position; front heel pulls through the floor, front hip flexor actively drawing you lower, rear glute extending the back leg deeper into position. This triggers irradiation (Sherrington’s law; where intense muscular effort in one area radiates neural excitation through the entire system), recruiting agonists across multiple joints simultaneously. Intra-abdominal pressure rises reflexively. The mechanotransductive stimulus on every tendon crossing those joints amplifies dramatically. The GTO’s inhibitory ceiling gets challenged in a way passive holding never achieves.
Level 3️⃣- Co-Contraction Override: Pulling deeper and “braking” at the same time; agonist and antagonist firing simultaneously. This deliberately overrides reciprocal inhibition- the nervous system’s default setting where one side relaxes so the other can contract. Forcing both sides to fire concurrently produces:
⚡Dramatic joint compression and capsular loading
⚡Simultaneous tendon tension on both sides of the joint; a loading environment no single-direction training replicates
⚡Amplified inter-muscular coordination demand- the nervous system must manage competing motor commands; driving a significant update to the Bayesian motor prediction model
⚡Increased metabolic demand compared to previous levels
💣@antoniosaccinto is going through a Level 2 example here
🧨Comment or DM “PROGRAM” to get my Isometric AND Oscillatory Programs PLUS an educational guide that provides further information and programming suggestions!!!
🧠⚔️ The neural case for violent intent:
Slow, controlled movement is governed by the motor cortex issuing deliberate commands. Ballistic, reactive movement recruits subcortical and cerebellar circuits that operate faster and with less conscious involvement. These are literally different parts of the brain and you cannot develop one by training the other. This is part of the logic behind triphasic sequencing.
🧬💪🏼The eccentric phase rebuilds tissue; myosin-actin crossbridge remodeling, sarcomere addition and structural density. The isometric phase reinforces it; tendon stiffening, vascular adaptation and lowering the nervous system’s self-imposed ceiling on output. The concentric and peaking phase then asks the system to express everything that was built at higher velocity.
📊💪🏼Rate coding versus recruitment:
Most coaches understand motor unit recruitment (the number of motor units activated). What gets less attention is rate coding (the frequency at which those units fire). At maximal intent and velocity, the nervous system increases firing frequency dramatically, sometimes producing doublet discharges; two spikes in rapid succession at the onset of contraction- which produce disproportionately large force transients early in the movement. These doublets are essentially absent in slow, controlled contractions (Van Cutsem et al., 1998).
🛡️🗡️Training with violent intent specifically develops this high-frequency discharge capacity. It is one reason why an athlete can become more explosive without necessarily becoming stronger in a conventional sense; the nervous system learns to fire what it already has, faster.
📊⚡️Research shows that simply intending to move explosively recruits motor units differently than intending to move slowly- even when the actual movement looks the same. This is why tempo prescriptions matter so much in training.
🪩🕺Also, this is the debut of my latest movement creation: The Omni Row…more on that soon…
🗣️Cal Dietz
💥Comment or DM “PROGRAM” to get my Elite Athleticism and Aesthetics Program, which is built upon these philosophies.
🔺Most athletic programs are built around moderate-tempo, concentric-dominant work. What they systematically underload is the transition- the moment between receiving and expressing force; the isometric phase that governs every sprint contact, every cut, every collision. In addition, most programs never train the nervous system’s ability to switch (contract/relax)- to go from maximum tension to zero and back at the speed sport demands.
💥Isometric training builds angle-specific force, drives tendon collagen synthesis, increases tendon stiffness (the factor that determines how fast force transmits from muscle to bone during movement) and reduces cortical inhibition (lowering the nervous system’s self-imposed ceiling on output). Research even shows acute pain relief in tendinopathic athletes, making it one of the few tools you can train through tissue irritability with.
⚡️Oscillatory training targets the temporal side; rate of force development, reduced electromechanical delay and the speed at which the nervous system cycles between maximum contraction and full relaxation. It trains precise agonist-antagonist sequencing rather than co-contraction, producing athletes who don’t just produce force- they express it faster and more efficiently under sport demands.
🧠Sustained, high-tension isometric holds tend to increase co-contraction (simultaneous activation of agonist and antagonist). While co-contraction is essential for joint stability, it can impede speed and efficiency. This is where the power lies between isometrics and oscillatories- oscillatories then train the nervous system to sequence agonist/antagonistic contractions precisely.
🏆This is the foundation of my Elite Athleticism and Aesthetics program. I’ve also created individual Isometric and Oscillatory-specific programs, which you can now purchase in a bundle for the price of one! This is available for a LIMITED TIME ONLY! This bundle deal also includes an educational guide to assist in your understanding of the science behind this training as well as how to properly implement it.
🗣️Cal Dietz
🚀Comment or DM “PROGRAM” to get two programs and a guide for the price of one!
🧑🚀🛸Super-gravity loading before contact: The band accelerates you into the ground faster than gravity. The stretch velocity at contact is higher than any unloaded jump can produce. Higher velocity = greater spindle Ia firing rate = larger monosynaptic reflex amplitude = more motor units in the push-off than voluntary effort accesses.
💥🚀The release before contact: This is the detail most people will miss entirely. By releasing the band before ground contact, you are not receiving band assistance during the propulsion phase (such as assisted plyos that aim to reduce ground contact time). The band’s job is purely to amplify the eccentric loading stimulus; to sensitize the spindles and open the disinhibition window. The concentric expression is entirely yours. This is pure reflex exploitation- not assisted jumping.
⚡️🧠The mid-air motor reorganization: The pivot between loading and landing means the nervous system must simultaneously process the incoming force, reorganize the motor pattern and prepare the appropriate muscle groups for a different force vector; all within the flight phase. This is coordinative demand stacked on top of a reflex demand. It is training the nervous system to sequence reflexive output across a change of direction, which is the exact neural event that sport requires.
↕️⚖️Compliance/stiffness balance involved: The athlete must be stiff enough at contact to capture elastic energy in the tendons and fascia rather than collapse but the pivot means the joint angles at contact are different from a standard landing. The nervous system has to calibrate stiffness in a novel position.
🎛️🔊Amplified motor pool access: The band-amplified stretch creates the disinhibition window. The push-off that follows (onto/over the bench) is happening with temporarily expanded motor unit recruitment. The sprint and agility work on the field that follows the weight room session is then performed in a state of residual neural arousal. The athlete is carrying an elevated reflex sensitivity into the velocity-based work of the day.
🗣️Dan Fichter
🥇🏆Comment/DM “program” to get reflexive, jacked and athletic with my Elite Athleticism and Aesthetics Program
🚀Elite athletes in reactive sports do not simply have stronger muscles; they have nervous systems that have been systematically recalibrated through years of training exposure. Their GTO thresholds are higher. Their spindle sensitivity is greater. Their elastic systems are stiffer and more efficient. Their supraspinal timing is refined.
⚡️This is why an elite sprinter’s ground contact time is shorter than a recreational athlete’s- not because they are stronger, but because their nervous system processes and responds to the ground reaction force faster and with less inhibition. They have, through the mechanisms described throughout my Reactive Catch Guide, earned a higher “ceiling” or calibration for output.
🧠Strength is not the ceiling. The nervous system’s willingness to express available strength is the ceiling. Reactive catch training is the most direct intervention available to raise that ceiling; by systematically exposing the system to high-quality reflex stimuli, building tissue capable of tolerating higher thresholds, and earning permanent upward recalibration of inhibitory circuits.
☄️I’ve added more content to my Reactive Catch Guide offering! Due to a large influx of interest and questions, I felt this was necessary. In addition to video demonstrations, set up considerations and scientific perspectives on this work- I’ve added a document (7 chapters) that thoroughly covers many topics of interest, including the neurophysiological processes involved in this work.
🗣️Steffan Jones
💥Comment or DM “PROGRAM” to get 25% off of this exclusive Reactive Catch content now!
🧠🔓The Neural Governor and How to Bypass It:
Your nervous system imposes a protective ceiling on muscle output; not structural, but neural. The Golgi Tendon Organ (GTO) acts as a circuit breaker; firing inhibitory signals when tension approaches thresholds it perceives as dangerous.
💥🚫Even during maximal voluntary effort, you’re not accessing everything available. Electrically stimulated contractions consistently exceed voluntary ones- that gap is withheld output, not absent capacity.
🚀↗️The GTO is calibrated by experience. Trained athletes can produce forces that would injure untrained individuals partly because progressive loading has negotiated the inhibitory threshold upward over time.
☄️⚡️The Catch Mechanism:
The GTO operates on a polysynaptic (slower) pathway. Reactive catching exploits a faster one: the monosynaptic stretch reflex. When a loaded catch arrives with momentum, muscle spindles trigger an immediate excitatory contraction; before the GTO’s inhibitory counter-signal engages. This creates a brief window of disinhibited contraction, recruiting motor units inaccessible through normal voluntary effort.
⛓️💥🔐Residual Disinhibition:
That window extends beyond the rep. The nervous system registers that high-tension loading occurred without tissue damage and temporarily raises the inhibitory ceiling. In this state:
✅Voluntary output feels easier
✅Movements feel fluid and powerful
✅Motor unit recruitment is genuinely expanded
🪟The Training Opportunity
Performing a skill or strength pattern immediately after reactive loading means practicing it with a larger motor unit pool than normally accessible. Repeated exposure may permanently recalibrate the inhibitory threshold upward- not by overriding protective mechanisms, but by earning a higher ceiling through tissue adaptation.
🚨Comment or DM “program” to begin preparing for and implementing reactive catches for superior adaptations with my Reactive Catch Guide! Guide is complete with neurological/scientific explanations, set up guidance, videos demonstrations and more!
🚨TODAY ONLY: 50% Off Custom Training Programs!🚨
Every program I create is individualized from the ground up; designed around how your body moves, adapts and responds. My approach pulls from a versatile toolkit, ranging from:
🔥Mobility and isometrics to develop robust tissue integrity and joint control
🏋️♂️Strength and conditioning to broaden your foundation
⚡️Advanced methods like reactive catches, reflexive eccentrics and oscillatory training to access levels of neuromuscular output that conventional training simply doesn’t reach
🧠The goal isn’t just to make you stronger or more athletic- it’s to primarily train your nervous system so the adaptations are deeper and more significant.
If you feel like:
📉Your progress/performance has plateaued or decreased
🚀You need something more specific to your interests
⛓️You have constraints or current limitations that need more attention
🔭You would like to explore a more unique training approach to create new adaptations
💥This is the opportunity! All programs include a consult call and are delivered to you via templates that include video demonstration.
🚨DM or comment “PROGRAM” to take advantage of this offer!🚨
