On Episode 75, I sat down with Luis Mesquita to discuss many different interesting concepts relating to athletic development and performance. We start out by discussing the different zones of strength and how the training of this quality extends well beyond conventional lifts when preparing field or team sport athletes. Luis breaks the quality of strength into three distinct qualities, Max strength, Explosive strength, and strength endurance. Max Strength is what individuals commonly think of when they mention strength and is the maximal amount of force production irrespective of time domains. Many times in the conversation Luis extended the line of logic that athletes at higher levels reach a point of diminishing returns where any increases of these generalized qualities do not potentiate more dynamic expressions of strength. The second zone is explosive strength and this can be defined as the maximal amount of force that can be produced in a limited amount of time. After describing each of the zones Luis shared how he utilizes loads between 70-80% with great success to potentiate and drive neural adaptations in athletes whose sports occur outside  the weight room. Maximal intent helps to mimic motor unit recruitment similar to lifts exceeding 90% while providing a stimulus that is less fatiguing over all.  Many of the concepts from the first portion of the conversation tie nicely to the concepts of intra and intermuscular coordination and this is again another area that displays the role of specialization within training means. This extends the line of rationale for bringing in larger portions of development directly related to skill for higher level athletes, as Luis shared the rationale that it is the effortless display of skill that separates those at the highest level.  The second portion of the conversation veers into the area of Injury and how to properly align elements in training and beyond that allow for athletes to remain healthy while building resilience. Injury is multifactorial but a good place to start the examination of risk for injury is by the usage of the analogy of extending the roof by lowering the floor. Luis shares how we as practitioners can extend the roof through proper training exposure, nutrition, education, and other recovery metrics. At the same time Luis shares how we can lower the floor firstly by following well thought out load management protocols.  This line of logic was extended to our last major talking point where Luis shared how small sided games are very good for skill and decision making abilities directly correlated to the game. Luis shares how small sided games do not provide the context for athletes to gain exposure to high intensity sprints. Luis shares how micro dosing high intensity sprints in the warm up session allows for consistent, high quality exposure to this stimulus can be achieved in a chaotic in season setting.  In the market for quality supplements? Thorne's got you covered, whether you want to build or maintain muscle, increase cognitive capacity, or increase your overall health or longevity. Thorne has things organized in a manner that make finding the supplements you need for your desires easy, Save 20% by clicking on Thorne above.  Head over to From the Ground Up . Com to check out the write up tied to this Episode, and while you're there sign up for Ground Level the monthly Podcast Recap.  Instagram  Twitter BTgap.org