The connective tissues work in conjuction with the muscle. When your muscle encounters a heavy enough load at a moderate speed (such as “HUMAN MOVEMENT” in daily life) our connective tissues are able to handle the force upon the muscle with no problems. But when you try and move a heavier load deliberately fast it is very possible that those same connective tissues will NOT be able to accommodate the high forces that are now being placed upon them. You and anyone else that does this flirts with disaster. Force = mass x acceleration, Eric.

It doesn’t take a genius to figure this out. What the so called experts are saying is very much incorrect. And although I don’t have a fancy degree or credential after my name, I do know truth when I see, hear and read it. I believe it was Mike Mentzer that once said “I don’t have exhaustive knowledge on the subject, but what I’m certain about I’m certain about”. Well I am certain about this!

If a person wishes to compete in powerlifting or weight lifting they should alternate general strength training workouts with workouts focusing on the specific competitive lifts. The frequency would depend on individual recovery ability.

Pointing out that a supposed expert uses a particular method is not a valid argument for it. If the people you mention recommend explosive lifting speeds for anyone other than competitive weight lifters, I wouldn’t consider them to be experts any way. In fact, I’ve seen some of Mike Boyle’s training videos on youtube, and to call them idiotic would be a polite understatement.

I could name professional strength coaches and physical therapists who recommend not lifting explosively, but just because someone who should be an authority on the subject says something doesn’t make it so. It’s not who says it, it’s the evidence and reasoning behind what is said that matters. So you can keep saying that so-and-so says this, and so-and-so says that, but unless you can provide a good reason for it, I’m not interested.

Since there is no transfer of skill, including speed of performance, from strength training exercises to other activities, and since moving faster during exercise does not improve your results in any other way, there is no reason to recommend explosive lifting over slow, controlled lifting. However, since explosive lifting is more likely to injure you there is a good reason not to recommend it.

Survivorship bias is not a “free pass”, it is a common logical error – in this case making assumptions about the appropriateness of something for the general population because of the success of a few – in this case, avoidance of injury – while ignoring or failing to consider those who were not successful.

While many human movements are performed much faster than the speed of movement I recommend during exercise, this has no bearing on how you should strength train since there is no transfer of speed from one to the other. There is a big difference in the forces encountered between typical movements in daily living and sport and when performing movements holding a barbell or against a machine with a heavy weight selected. Fast lifting speeds do not provide any advantage over slower lifting speeds, but they do increase the likelihood of injury, which is why I don’t recommend them.

That’s great that you are able to train despite your spondylolisthesis, and I wish you lifelong health and functionality, but I would recommend against exercises like snatches and kettlebell swings.