1) Choose a large compound movement that requires you to turn on a large amount of muscle mass. Good choices would be things like squats, deadlifts, or bench presses. Once you have chosen which lift you are going to use then begin to do warmup sets by working your way up in weight. The ideal weight to use for this type of training is going to be around 85-90% of your max for 2-3 reps.
2) Choose a speed or power based movement. Good choices would be things like jumps, sprints, medicine ball throws, punches, or prowler sprints. After completing your heavy lift go immediately to the explosive exercise and do 1-3 reps as explosively as possible. The goal of the program is to activate the nervous system with the heavy lift so that you can move more explosively on your high speed movements. This is similar to a baseball player swinging a weighted bat. When you pick up your regular bat it feels lighter and like you are able to swing it faster.
3) Since the goal of this type of training is to get faster or more powerful you should make sure to take adequate rest between sets. This type of training targets the nervous system which takes much longer to recover than the muscular system. The typical rest period would be about 3 minutes between sets. You must make sure that you take enough rest to move as explosively as possibly. One of the biggest mistakes I have seen people make when using this type of program is that they try to turn it into a circuit.
4) Here are some sample programs
Backsquat 8 sets of 3 followed by 3 vertical jumps
Deadlift 8 sets of 3 followed by 2-3 10 yard sprints
Bench press 8 sets of 3 followed by 3 medicine ball chest passes
If you are looking to improve your speed and power contrast training is a great tool. Just make sure that you are matching your training program to your goals for your sport.
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