it depends on the athlete, but, in general, most people need "heavy explosive", since most people are weak.. always "as explosive as possible" with heavy weights.. max acceleration is a must, the descent can be controlled, but the transition from ecc to con has to be explosive as possible, accelerating all the way through to the top.. that's how you improve explosive strength to a greater degree than just lifting slow.
There was an interesting test I once read & it corresponds to guys I mentioned who lift light (Bruce Lee, Tyson Gay, Usain Bolt etc). Two groups were divided to perform squats. One group trained at a slow rate, and the other at a fast rate. The fast group took 2 seconds to perform each repetition, 1 second down and 1 second up. The slow group took 3x as long. Both groups were tested in their before and after abilities for broad jumping and the strength of the individual muscles of the legs.
The fast group increased their power output in their hips and ankles more so than the slow group, and more significant was the improvement in fast group's broad jumping performance. The slower group did gain more overall strength,
but the increase in power output was higher overall in the fast group.Guys like Bruce Lee, Tyson Gay, Usain Bolt etc train primarily for power NOT mass or incredible strength.
What I'm trying to say is, would you better off going 1 second down and 1 second up (increased power output at the hips)
as opposed to going "semi" heavy/heavy (more strength incremental based) lifts to increase your VJ?. So going to heavy seems to
decrease your power output when squatting.
It's like when you want to increase the speed of your punches by throwing out weight plates. You have to use a weight that offers resistance but at the same time the speed factor is majorly important. You can't go too heavy because you bury the speed element (power).
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