Sheldon Dunlap and Jeff Howser on Oscillatory Strength Training for Speed, Strength and Power Development

Today’s podcast features sports performance coaches Sheldon Dunlap and Jeff Howser.

Sheldon Dunlap is currently serving as a Strength & Conditioning Specialist with MARSOC (Marine Special Operations Command). Previously, he has worked at the collegiate level coaching a wide variety of sports at UC Davis and Duke University.

Jeff Howser is a speed and performance coach with strong roots in track and field.  He spent 20 seasons as Duke’s speed and conditioning coach and has trained a variety of team sports and high-level track and field athletes.  Jeff was a world bronze medalist in the 110m high hurdles and a multi-time ACC champion.

When you look at all of the possible training variations out there today in strength and athletic performance, you realize that a great majority of our modern training has been done in some way, shape, or form, many decades ago.  One method out there that is more recent in nature is partial range, oscillatory repetition methods with barbells for the sake of improving athletic speed and power.

Sheldon appeared way back on podcast #131 speaking on his integration of oscillating reps, into the Triphasic system pioneered by Cal Dietz.  Sheldon originally learned the oscillating method from Jeff Howser (who also learned it from Cal’s influence).

On the show today, Sheldon and Jeff will be speaking extensively about the nuances of oscillatory strength training for athletics.  We’ll be covering repetition style, percentage of 1RM to utilize, integration into the rest of the program, seasonal aspects, tendon concepts, and much more.

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Timestamps and Main Points

3:00 – How Sheldon and Jeff first met, and where their training journeys have led them since our latest podcasts

7:30 – How Jeff got started with oscillating training repetitions and his origins with the methods

12:45 – Oscillatory training definitions, and then how Sheldon and Jeff use the method in athletic performance

26:00 – How Sheldon and Jeff bring in oscillatory training throughout the training year

38:30 – Coaching and execution styles of the repetitions in oscillatory strength training

42:30 – The quality of oscillating squat execution, on their athleticism and athletic ability

44:00 – Thoughts on individual factors in oscillatory rep training

47:00 – How oscillatory rep type work differs from simply putting a timer on a lift, as per how long it takes an individual to complete their repetitions

54:45 – How to integrate oscillating rep training into an entire training system, in light of other dynamic movements in a program, such as plyometrics

1:06:45 – Powerlifting

1:10:30 – The ratio of using oscillating training, versus more “health-based” lifting applications in a program

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Sheldon Dunlap and Jeff Howser Quotes

“The main thing for me is controlling the speed and distance of the oscillation and controlling the speed of the oscillation.  When I did it the oscillation distances were 6-9 inches, depending on the weight and how deep you were.  it’s not a controlled descent, you can take a lighter weight and make it a heavier weight by giving people time under tension activities” Howser

“Sometimes we’d go in a descending order, shallow, half squat deep.  Sometimes we’d go full squat, half squat, shallow.  Sometimes we’d go shallow, deep, shallow” Howser

“I’d usually do 3 bounces in the bottom, sometimes I’d go as many as 5.  If you do 5 bounces with a heavyweight, there is a good chance you are going to get stuck”

“I’d do 3-4 sets of 3-4 reps per set… each set would have 3 bounces… 3 reps with 3 bounces is 9 bounces at the bottom” Howser

“As you go from deep squats to half squats, you can make the oscillations much much quicker” Howser

“In basically 2 months, he went from squatting 13×135 to 34x165lb (using only oscillatory training squatting with 115lb)” Howser

“For military populations (the strength endurance) component is a (really valuable aspect) of oscillatory rep training” Dunlap

“Looking at an athlete with a young training age, we could do an oscillating goblet squat” Dunlap

“One of the things with oscillating is if you are only hitting the bottom 5 times with oscillating we are hitting 15 reps in that spot” Dunlap

“One of the things I’ve found (with oscillating reps) is the safety factor, you can make a lighter weight act heavier” Howser

“The value I’ve found is in shorter oscillations… jamming the force-time curve way to the left” Howser

“Being able to have that control/comfort factor… Jeff went through it using a lighter weight, I went through it using an eccentric phase first” Dunlap

“As fast as I want to go (with the oscillations), with weight is going to dictate as fast as I can go” Dunlap

“I’ve seen slow twitch athletes get much bouncier doing oscillatory training” Howser

“I think I’ve seen greater improvements in less elastic athletes, than elastic athletes with oscillatory training” Howser

“If you do oscillating activities early, then your plyometrics will be better later on” Howser

“Starting acceleration is greatly enhanced when you do (drop squat/oscillations)… (using the method) in a 20-meter acceleration some athletes improved .25 seconds” Howser

“(Regarding oscillating training and powerlifting) it made the transmission of force, more direct” Dunlap

“I did 6 weeks of heavy oscillating strength training in prep for my presentation, and afterward I felt it, I was tight, I was very strong, but everything was so tight, things became painful” Dunlap

“When I was training field teams (lacrosse, soccer, etc.) I trained oscillating lifts, and static lifts concurrently; as we approached competition, we begin to change the ratio, It was 2/3 to 1/3 slower lift to begin with, it turned into a 2/3 to 1/3 oscillatory lift… then it became oscillations and ballistics as we got closer to the competition season, then to maintain in the competition season, we would do one day of limited oscillations during the season” Howser

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Show Notes

Javorek wave squat

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About Sheldon Dunlap

Sheldon Dunlap, a graduate of Appalachian State University, is currently serving as a Strength & Conditioning Specialist with MARSOC (Marine Special Operations Command). Previously, he has worked at the collegiate level coaching a wide variety of sports at UC Davis and Duke University. Between his roles at the collegiate level, Sheldon served as an Assistant Strength & Conditioning Coach with the Orlando Magic, and as the Head Strength & Conditioning Coach for the Erie Bayhawks of the NBA G-League.

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About Jeff Howser

Jeff Howser is a human performance coach, who previously spent 20 seasons as Duke’s speed and conditioning coach.

A graduate of Duke, Howser was a six-time ACC champion and was named one of the ACC’s top 50 track athletes of all time in 2003. He went on to earn a bronze medal at the World Championships in the 110-meter high hurdles and was an alternate on the U.S. Olympic Team. Howser ran on the international level for 17 years and was a four-time U.S. Olympic Trials qualifier and two-time U.S. Olympic Trials finalist.

He served previously as the sprints and hurdles coach at the University of Florida, UCLA, N.C. State, Duke, and the University of North Carolina, and was on the British national staff for Track and Field from 2004-2008.

Howser also has coached a number of top-world ranked professional track athletes such as Anwar Moore (13.00-110m hurdles), Jason Smoots (6.51-60m, 10.01-100m),  Bershawn  Jackson (47.30-400m hurdles), Leonard Byrd (44.45-400m), Michelle Collins (50.00-400m,  22.18-200m indoor), Daniel Caines UK (44.98-400m), Crystal Cox (50.34-400m, 22.34-200m), Jordan Vaden (19.98-200m), Marion Jones (7.08-60m, 10.91-100m), and other athletes from Jamaica, Great Britain, Trinidad, Ghana, Bermuda, Finland, Barbados, and the Bahamas. He also has served as a consultant in training program design for several other top-ranked track athletes from various countries which include LaShawn Merritt, Tyson Gay, and Veronica Campbell-Brown. Howser also assists Athens 2004 Head Olympic Coach George Williams in coaching the Nike GW Elite Track Club. His coaching resume includes seventeen Olympians, five Olympic Gold Medalists, four World Championship Gold Medalists, and one World Cup Gold Medalist.

In addition, one of Howser’s athletes ran the fastest high school electronic 40yd dash ever recorded (4.25 electronic at the Nike SPARQ Combine), which is also the second fastest time in history.

He holds certifications from:

• National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) – Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS)
• US Track and Field Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) – Certified Speed Specialist
• US Track and Field Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) – Certified Sprint / Hurdle / Relay Specialist
• US Track and Field Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) – Certified Endurance Event Specialist
• US Track and Field Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) – Certified Strength and Conditioning Coach
• USA Track and Field Association (USATF) – Level III Certification Sprints / Hurdles / Relays…..National Coaches’ Registry
• National Sports Performance Association (NSPA) – Certified Speed and Agility Specialist
• National Association of Speed and Explosion (NASE) – National Certification Instructor / Certification Curriculum Coordinator / North Carolina State Director
• USA Track and Field Elite Athlete Coach
• USAW (USA Weightlifting) Level 1

During his time at Duke, Howser trained 275 All-American selections and has worked with 26 different teams that have won 33 ACC team championships and 6 NCAA national team championships.  He was the head strength coach for Women’s Lacrosse, Men’s Cross Country, and Men’s and Women’s Track and Field, and also implemented the speed, agility, and conditioning programs for Men’s Lacrosse.