VikingR Sponsor Clarence Kennedy

Dave85 said:I'm going to ask what might be a stupid question but how do you train to be that explosive?

Gingy said:
I'm going to take a massive gamble and guess that he's been involved in some kind of explosive sport for the better part of his adolesence at least.
I don't think it's something you can replicate except for, obviously, dedicating a good long time (years) to something like Oly lifting/ sprinting in a serious way.
I'm sure you can improve elements of your own explosion but Clarence's speed (and Tom Martins,HUGE_GUYs and Shaun Cleggs) is a result of years and years of only dedicated "explosive" training including a large portion done as they were growing.

Cuddles said:
I think a hell of a lot has to do with what you're born with too.
I've been doing a lot of athletics coaching for 11-14 year olds this year and some of the explosive power these kids have with no training is mind blowing.

Gingy said:
You see, I don't!
I think for every kid who's "naturally explosive" there's a back story to explain it. When you say they've got no training I honestly think that overlooks the countless number of hours they've had racing their older brother, jumping on things etc. or very often having done tumble tots or some similar program.
I think it is exceptionally rare for anyone to be naturally good at anything in fact, not merely in the realm of sport.

Cuddles said:
So what makes some of them better than their peers? They accidently 'trained' better between the ages of 5 and 10? Take 100 kids who have all done roughly the same volume and style of exercise in their formative years and get them to do 10 different track and field events, they will all be good at different events because of their natural physiology.
Hard work is the clincher for anyone, but I cant fathom the view that natural ability/genetics doesnt come into it.

Steve said:
I also think genetics is a huge factor. Not only are the lucky ones better to start with, they seem to react to training better. I'm sure you can improve your explosiveness to an extent, but largely I think it's something you are born with.

Steve said:
I also think genetics is a huge factor. Not only are the lucky ones better to start with, they seem to react to training better. I'm sure you can improve your explosiveness to an extent, but largely I think it's something you are born with.

Cuddles said:
So what makes some of them better than their peers? They accidently 'trained' better between the ages of 5 and 10? Take 100 kids who have all done roughly the same volume and style of exercise in their formative years and get them to do 10 different track and field events, they will all be good at different events because of their natural physiology.
Hard work is the clincher for anyone, but I cant fathom the view that natural ability/genetics doesnt come into it.

Gingy said:
I just have never seen anyone who's actually born to do something.
I teach maths and people make a very similar pitfall with their approach to the subject. Some think they're naturally good and some think they're naturally bad. Every single time this is not true. People who are good are motivated and have accumulated significant quality practice with good feedback. Those who are bad are poorly motivated and haven't done much practice. This is a truth that many people prefer to ignore because it gives them an excuse.
I find it fascinating that people think they're observing natural talent when person A happens to be better than person B on the first ever day they do something like in the case with athletics as you say. Of course, with some things height will help e.g. no one is going to be a jockey if you're 6 foot tall but there is no real evidence to suggest that person A can't be as explosive/mathematical as anyone else.
My main point would be that the average person has the capacity to be "world class" at anything and we should avoid implying that the reason someone like Clarence is so quick is because he's "talented". Quite frankly I think it's offensive to him, although I'm sure nobody means it that way.
Sorry for hijacking the thread, Clarence is a ridiculously good athlete who's worked exceptionally hard and smart to achieve the impressive lifts he has. I'm sure he's capable of much more as well!

Cuddles said:
I disagree with everything you aay apart from what you say about our man here Clarence so let's just agree to disagree

Cuddles said:

I disagree with everything you aay apart from what you say about our man here Clarence so let's just agree to disagree

Steve said:
Matthew Syed (the tabletennis player) in his book Bounce, make the point that when you look at child prodigies in sport, almost without fail they have put in thousands and thousands of hours practice to achieve excellence and it's not just something that comes naturally.
The only thing I wonder wonder is how many other children put in thousands and thousands of hours of practice not to be successful, or give up practicing because they fail to get results from their training.