Overview Power, speed, force and strength are all critical for athletic performance, in every athlete from every different sport. However their individual needs, alongside the sport needs, need to be assessed to establish the correct strength and conditioning programme for that particular individual. This article looks at one of those components “Rate of Force Development” and attempts to put it into perspective against another very import factor for most athletes, the strength component. What is "Rate of Force Development"? The rate of force development (RFD) is a measure of explosive strength, or quite simply how fast an athlete can develop force. Therefore the ‘rate’ of ‘force developme