as always – ash is on the money – its like trying to follow the footsteps of a giant!
One reason some coaches have promoted the idea of heavy lifting followed by speed/power work is the concept of postactivation potentiation – basically if you load a muscle with a decent amount (85% 1rm or greater) and give it time to recover its next contraction (and therefore speed/power) will be faster.
Its a good concept – but like all theories its limited – not everyone shows this potentiation and everyone varies in how much recovery time they need. In welsh rugby players a recent study suggested recovery time between the heavy training and the power increase took anywhere from 3 to 12 mins (12 min is a long time to hang around waiting!)
The above two individual variations could be why it works for some and not for others – best bet – experiment!! Progress comes from being brave but combining that with being analytical. Incidentally if you compete play around with this concept relative to your warm-up and the time between the heavy part of the warm-up and your lifts …. (even if you do have down time – stay warm – very warm ….. elevating your muscle temperature 1 degrees gives you around 50Watts extra power …. hope on an erg bike if you wnat to see what 50W looks like!)
Remember – the brain is a muscle that can move the world – it can sure change yours if you use it right!!!