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Why Skill-Based Lifting Beats Generic Strength Work – with Emily Neff episode artwork

Sep 17, 2025 16 min

Why Skill-Based Lifting Beats Generic Strength Work – with Emily Neff

from Evidence Strong | Weightlifting Science

🏋️‍♀️ Extended version of this interview: https://www.patreon.com/posts/olympic-for-with-136970718 🏋️‍♀️ Coach, are you balancing power gains with ACL injury risk in adolescent female athletes? Emily Neff explains a simple, two-session-per-week system that boosted jump height by 129.7% in eight weeks and kept ground reaction forces steady. She details a phase-based progression rooted in motor learning and real-world coaching, not just percentages. Learn practical steps to implement an Olympic weightlifting-based program with your female athletes. Emily Neff is the Owner and Program Director at Relentless Athletics, a female-focused strength and conditioning facility that has operated for 10 years, training adolescent athletes. She holds a Ph.D. in Kinesiology with a research focus on female athletes, Olympic weightlifting, performance, and ACL injury rates. Her work translates lab findings into practical coaching tools, emphasizing neuromuscular training and skill-based lifts to reduce injuries and boost power in young female athletes. Enjoy! Original thesis: Neff E. Effect of Olympic Weightlifting Training on Power Output and Landing Forces in Adolescent Female Athletes: A Quasi-Experimental Study. https://digitalcommons.csp.edu/kinesiology_doctorate/35/ ❤️ Join Evidence Strong Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/evidencestrong ▶️ Watch the episodes on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9L-_m0WGD_7xV0sf87Zy7oMVDdtqR3bG 🖼️ Weightlifting research infographics: https://evidencestrong.com ✉️ Follow Emily Neff: 🔹 https://www.instagram.com/relentless_athletics_ 🔹 https://www.instagram.com/epappas.neff 🔹 https://www.linkedin.com/in/emily-pappas-neff-ph-d-0250a129 💪 Follow Evidence Strong: 🔹 https://www.instagram.com/evidence_strong 🔹 https://x.com/EvidenceStrong All the content is for informational purposes only and is not intended as medical, nutritional, coaching, or financial advice, nor does it substitute for advice from your health care professional/provider. Any actions you will take, changes you will make to your nutrition, training or health care, are on your own responsibility and not mine.

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Why Skill-Based Lifting Beats Generic Strength Work – with Emily Neff

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This episode was published on September 17, 2025.

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