Strength Training for Speed and Power Athletes Cont.

Strength Training for Speed Athletes continued from the other day.

Rule #3: Stronger = Faster

Seems obvious right?

As you already know, greater speeds are determined, in large part, by an athlete's ability to apply greater amounts of force to the ground with each stride.

It makes sense that if an athlete wants to move faster, they must increase their physical strength.

At the same time, it is also dependent on increasing physical strength without significant increases in bodyweight.

Otherwise those gains in strength are neutralized by the fact that the athlete now has to carry that extra mass around with her.

The bottom line is this:

If you want your players to become faster they must lift in a way that maximizes strength gains without gaining a lot of extra mass.

You should have seen the other coaches when we maxed out in the weight room and I had a 17-year-old girl squat a legitimate 225 pounds.

By legit I mean she stayed back on her heels, kept her back flat and squatted BEYOND PARALLEL.

Anything else isn't a squat.

OK the truth is I was surprised too. But that is a true story.

By lifting this way, players will recruit and activate more motor units within the muscle with each rep. This develops greater degrees of applicable strength and power, making it much easier for players to move and control their bodies while competing.

Weight training isn't as complicated as it is made out to be. Simply follow the same teaching protocols, as far as technique and progressions that you do for every other speed training skill.

If you want to see exactly how we set up a strength-training program, the core lifts that we use and the specific rules we follow for creating huge gains in single rep max lifts in no time, you need to get your own copy of Complete Speed Training now...