15/06/2026
Experimenting with a fixed barbell 🧐
Lately I’ve been diving deeper into the Japanese strength and mobility world and testing some of their ideas in my own training.
Over the past decade, Japan has produced some incredible outlier athletes across baseball, basketball, volleyball, track and field, and endurance sports. While there isn’t a single secret behind their success, one thing that stands out is their emphasis on movement quality, tendon health, and long-term athletic development.
Many of their training systems seem to prioritise:
👉 Joint health and longevity
👉 Position ownership
👉 End-range strength and strength in stretched positions
👉 Repetition and technical mastery
Take Pro Baseball Pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto for example.
He doesn’t rely on carrying more muscle mass to throw harder.
He relies on mobility, separation, timing, and the ability to transfer force efficiently through his body.
More range of motion creates more displacement.
More elasticity creates more speed.
We’re starting to see a shift away from chasing constant stiffness and towards developing elastic stiffness - the ability to be both strong and spring-like.
Right now, this style of training still looks unconventional to many people. But I think give it a few years and it’ll become a much bigger part of how athletes prepare for performance, resilience, and longevity.
For now, I’m continuing to dig deeper, experiment, and learn.
What are your thoughts on the Japanese approach to athletic development?
