Sports Training for Speed Sports

The Best Core Training Program

2009-03-04T12:50:00.000-08:00

Any coach or trainer worth their salt knows
how important a strong core is in terms of
improved athletic performance.

Power is transferred through the core. The
ability to run, jump, throw, cut, rotate -

It's all dependent on a strong core.

Weak core = Poor Performance

It's just that simple.

I won't give you a big song and dance about
this program. You just have to check it out.

Ab and Core Training

It's not just a laundry list of exercises.

It's a progressive program of core development
covering every type of bad ass exercise you
could possibly want to use with your athletes.

We all know how important this stuff is. And
we all know how boring it can get to force
your athletes to do the same old exercises
over and over.

And the same goes for your own training.

I'm not even going to bother listing all the
different progressions, exercises and implements
that it covers. Because there are too many.

Core Training

I've already started working Jim Smith's program
into my own training and I love it. And my
athletes are going to get a heavy dose this
spring. You can be sure of that!

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2009-02-03T08:53:00.000-08:00

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Soccer Speed Training

2008-11-30T18:34:00.000-08:00

Soccer Speed Training

Soccer can be a tough sport to train for. Soccer athletes must have not only an endurance base, but also the ability to sprint at full speed for short distances. Training for soccer speed requires a mix of aerobic conditioning (i.e. distance running) and anaerobic power (sprinting).

A solid soccer speed training program should include speed-endurance, which is the ability to run at top speeds for extended periods of time.

Here is a sample three-week pre-season speed training program to help your athletes improve their speed before the season begins:

Week 1

Monday and Friday (sprint speed)
3X30m (45 second rest between reps)
3X60m (45 second rest between reps)
3X90m (45 second rest between reps)
Wednesday (speed-endurance)

Use a 3:1 Rest Ratio (ex. if it takes 30seconds to run 150m, then rest for 1:30 before the 200m)

50m-100m-150m-200m-150m-100m-50m
Repeat the pyramid one more time

Week 2

Monday and Friday
5X30m (45 second rest between reps)
5X60m (45 second rest between reps)
5X90m (45 second rest between reps)
Wednesday (speed-endurance)

Use a 2:1 Rest Ratio (ex. if it takes 30seconds to run 150m, then rest for 1:00 before the 200m)
50m-100m-150m-200m-150m-100m-50m
Repeat the pyramid two more times

Week 3

Monday and Friday
6X30m (30 second rest between reps)
6X60m (30 second rest between reps)
6X90m (30 second rest between reps)

Wednesday (speed-endurance)
Use a 2:1 Rest Ratio (ex. if it takes 30seconds to run 150m, then rest for 1:00 before the 200m)
50m-100m-150m-200m-250m-200m-150m-100m-50m
Repeat the pyramid two more times

General Warm-up
(To be used before each workout)
1/2 to 1 mile jog
Full Body Stretch
Warm-up Speed Drills
High Knees (3X30m)
Heel-Glutes (3X30m)
Carriocca (3X30m)
1/2 Speed Striders (3X30m)

Ryan Lee, MS, CSCS
For more information on soccer speed and strength training methods visit: Sport Specific.com

Skill Training for Sport

2008-11-24T07:42:00.000-08:00

Skill training is essential towards any athletes training plan. Obviously, if your athletes aren’t getting any better skill and technique-wise for their particular sport, then all of the other exercises that they do are pointless.

Speed training, power, conditioning, strength, etc. can be similar in the types of workouts that different speed and power sports perform but position and sport specific skills are what differentiate the sports athletes.

Skill training should be worked on each workout. It can be blended and mixed into each weeks workout plan. These exercises and drills act to bridge the speed, agility, and strength that were acquired during training into a more functional activity and performance for the particular sport.
When planning an actual training program for your sport, the strength and conditioning part are extremely important but will not help you if you do not focus on the skills required to excel and perform at your position and sport.

It might sound basic, but you would be surprised to see how many coaches actual under-estimate the value of skill development and do not spend a lot of time working on the tools, techniques and skill sets required to become better at their sport.

Training for Quickness

2008-11-21T08:06:00.000-08:00

Quickness training is on of the most underlooked areas of training - and often ignored.

Coaches often times feel that an athlete is either quick or not so they do not think they need to train this area. Although there is a certain genetic predisposition to how fast and how quick some can be, but it does not at all mean that that ability can't be improved.

Quickness is how fast someone reacts to a stimulus. Reation time is a part of someone's quickness and can be trained. Agility training is already in your sports training program so start adding some quickness training drills to enhance your program.

Here are some training drills you can use for quickness development:

-Ball Drop
Your partner holds a tennis ball out in one hand. You start in an athletic stance and when the tennis ball is released/dropped, you sprint to the ball and snatch it before it bounces more than once. This is a great drill for first step quickness training.

You can change the distance that you partner stands away from you, you can hange the height of their arm (how high it is raised), and also change your starting position stance. All of these can help you change the difficulty and challenge of this drill.

- Dodge Ball
The old american game of dodge ball is a great game to work of quickness and reaction time. This game can be played with all ages and levels of athletes.

-Partner Mirror Drill
This is like the shadow game that you use to play as kids. This drill is performed between partners. One partner starts moving and the other partner follows and doesn't allowed to be juked. You need to try and mirror the movement and match each reaction.

These quickness training drills with help your athletes become faster and should be added to every sports speed training program.

Imporatnce of Speed Training for Soccer Athletes

2008-10-15T04:47:00.000-07:00

Soccer players, like all athletes, depend on their bodies for success. The importance of fitness and the attempts to minimize the toll exacted by injuries has given rise to companies specializing in the health of athletes. Teams use these programs to gain any edge they can.

While still playing catch-up with the world in many regards, the U.S. is at the forefront of athletic training and speed training. Yet soccer also retains intangible elements that cannot be broken down into scientifically measurable parts.

Some might believe fitness training is a rudimentary science that is more or less similar the world over. Soccer is mostly running and kicking, and that doesn't seem to lend itself to a specialized approach that overcomplicates those basic elements.

Yet, as Forsythe points out, on the elite level, even those fundamentals need to be at their peak almost constantly.

"Speed and power are what the players need most," he explained.

After running a battery of examinations on players, the A.P. trainers design individual plans for each athlete to maximize those two components. With the trials and follow-up assessments that are run on players, it's also possible to identify those who are slacking on their fitness goals or not fully committing to the program.

"The biggest cause of injury is lack of strength," Forsythe said. "Generally, it's just a matter of being a little bit unstable, relying too much on one leg. You need to be symmetrical. We run a series of tests on every guy on the Galaxy to identify any lack of symmetry, and then we target it. The major thing soccer players usually have is a very unstable dominant kicking foot."

Ultimately, exercise science is only one aspect of the overall picture. The skill displayed by teams like Brazil is another, and the U.S. still lags in developing such technique. If other teams, like Germany, begin making inroads in the areas where the Americans have traditionally led, the time might have arrived for the U.S. to find some outside experts of their own to improve those missing elements.

Click here to see the entire article>>>

Speed Training for Football

2008-10-07T07:59:00.000-07:00

Speed, especially acceleration, is extremely important for football players. For football speed training, there have even been some coaches that say that speed at the skill positions is even more important than strength.

I do think that there is too heavy of a significance placed on running the 40 yard dash in the football combine, but speed is critical to a players success.

As part of any coaches planning for their year long training, speed must be addressed in each training period (pre-season, in-season, off-season). A running program is set up immediately and started right when the players come in for their pre-sesaon work. A short to long type of running program is introduced and acceleration development should be the focus.

Football specific training plans will significantly improve your game by creating blazing speed while also improving your players strength & power. Work on your straight ahead speed first, develop acceleration and starting speed and become a much more explosive football player.

To get the little known secrets to developing an effective speed training program for your football players go to Football Speed Training Secrets Revealed!

Importance of speed training for football

2008-07-23T15:21:00.000-07:00

With football training camps about to start, one thing that many coaches are going to be working on is speed training. Sure they will make sure that conditioning is going to be a major aspect and strength is being developed, but speed and agility training are going to be on point.

Here is a quote from an athlete on the Deer Creek football team:

“We’ve learned how to run faster,” Gower said. “Coach Smith and Coach Laverty have done a great job with these guys in their workouts. Coach Laverty will be running a speed training program over the summer. There are two areas that are tougher in 5A than 4A. In our district last season, there haven’t been too many weeks that were easy, but its even tougher in 5A, and then the speed level of the game.”

No More Speed Training

2008-07-07T08:01:00.000-07:00

Tyson Gay will not be performing any speed training workouts for at least 2 weeks. Gay who suffered a left hamstring strain as he tumbled to the track during the US Olympic Track and Field Trials.

"He's making preparations for the call in Beijing. I'm very confident he's going to be in place when they say, 'On your marks,'" said US men's Olympic athletics coach Bubba Thornton.

Gay will be resting for about 14 days than will head out to Europe to get a couple of meets in and tune up before heading to the Olympics. His rest will be more of an active recovery before starting up his full training where he will continue his top speed training.

With world record holder Usain Bolt and previous world record holder Asafa Powell already running fast, Gay needs to be 100% to be able to contend for the gold or even the bronze. the question is right now, how much did the muscle strain set Tyson Gay back?

Speed Training and Acceleration Development

2008-06-23T09:48:00.000-07:00

Use the speed drills for acceleration running development makes sure that your athletes are getting the most out of them by not sacrificing form in any of the drills.

Ground contact times (the amount of time each foot spends on the ground) are another important factor to consider during acceleration. During the earliest parts of acceleration, especially the first two steps, you are trying to overcome (inertia) the weight of your body by moving it forward as quickly as possible. This takes a great deal of strength and power. The stronger and more efficient you are, the more you can extend your acceleration phase.

An example workout would be hill running. Hill work is perfect for acceleration development as it puts the athlete in proper acceleration mechanics naturally without any tools or cues. You are bringing the ground up to them as they will be driving out and running in the 45 degree angle to the ground.

Since high intensity sprint work involves recruiting specific groups of muscle fibers improves the efficiency of neuromuscular firing patterns, sprinting is taxing to the central nervous system. Once the CNS becomes fatigued, workouts quickly lose their effectiveness. Any type of speed work must be done with full recovery. Generally speaking, that means approximately one minute of rest for every 10 yards that you run. Sprinting is a highly technical activity. Without full recovery, both your muscles and your central nervous system will begin to fatigue quickly, reducing the short and long term effectiveness of your training. For this reason, acceleration should not be trained with fatigue present. To optimize your success, full recovery must be adhered to both in your individual workouts as well as your weekly plan. It takes roughly 36-48 hours to fully recover from a speed workout.

Speed training drills give us an opportunity to teach cues. We use speed drills to break down certain aspects or parts of the whole body of sprinting. For example, I use cue like: 'drive down' during a speed drill in practice. This gives the athlete a frame of reference to use when I need them to make adjustments to their form while sprinting. This will help the athletes carry over the theory of what needs to be done so they can apply it when performing high speed sprinting.

Lateral Speed and Agility Training

2008-06-18T20:04:00.000-07:00

Today we're going to talk about agility training.

'Agility' is one of those words that cover a variety of skills. When people talk about agility, most often they are talking about an athlete'sability to make cuts and quickly change directions.
The way I see it, the primary component to improved agility is through the development of COORDINATION.

Before you start putting team through complicated drills that have them going in ten different directions over the course of a 30-second time period, you must take a step back and address their level of coordination.

In my experience, even the best athletes have coordination problems that are so bad that it even makes me blush just to think about it.

The thing about coordination and agility is this:

The earlier you address it, the better the long-term results. If your football players don't begin developing their coordination until their mid-teens, they will be limited in the amount of progress they can make.

That's why I like to get kids started as early as possible, preferably before they hit puberty.
I'm not saying a 17 year old can't improve her agility and coordination to a significant degree, but then if she started when she was 8, she'd be much better off.

Just something to think about for those of you working at the youth levels.

OK, here is what to do...

STEP 1: Improve your teams coordination

My favorite way to both expose an athlete's lack of coordination and also develop it is through the use of an agility ladder.

You can do an infinite number of drills that focus on single leg movement, double leg, linear, lateral, backward movement, change of direction - The list goes on and on.

All of these movements will help address the types of movement they may see in their competition.

As we get those down, we implement the traditional cone drills that allow for more instruction on movement patterns that are more applicable to game situations.

But like everything else, technique is the most important skill to both teach and learn.

As I've said before, I even use agility work with my field (straight ahead speed training) athletes during the preseason as well.

Why?

When players are uncoordinated, in order to maintain balance and keep the athlete from falling down or getting hurt, the brain has to work harder.

In order to compensate for all the extra math that the brain must do instantaneously and on the fly in order to coordinate the movements of all the active muscles in the body, the body must slow way down.

This is why players often look like they are stuck in the mud during agility drills.

Well, sprinting is a highly technical activity as well. So if your players don't improve coordination and agility, their brains will have to slow the limbsdown during sprinting to compensate.

So, like with flexibility, athletes aren't being held back because of some innate lack of ability, but simply because they are only operating at 50%of their true ability.

By applying these (and all the other skills we've gone over so far) they can operate at a much higher percentage of their true ability.

Rule 144 Specialist

2008-06-18T09:11:00.000-07:00

In wealth management, a Rule 144 Specialist is someone who knows what the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for sales on securities.

Rule 144 was adopted in 1972 by the SEC. Rule 144 is an important federal securities law which dictates when, and under what conditions, a person or entity may sell shares of restricted stock into the public marketplace.

Security sales must meet a series of conditions, including filing paperwork with the SEC and compliance with regulations that address when, how and how much restricted or control stock may be sold. Failure to comply with Rule 144 can lead to sanctions by the SEC.

You need to find a Rule 144 Specialist to help you navigate your sale of restricted or control stock under the Securities and Exchange Commission Rule 144.

With so many restrictions, regulations and rules regarding certain sales of securities, it is always safer to just find a Rule 144 Specialist.

Secrets of Power Training and Plyos

2008-06-03T05:09:00.000-07:00

Here is a video that goes over and discusses power and plyometric training that you should be using with your athletes:

For more information on plyometrics and to discover how power training should be used in your sports training program for your athletes go now to Complete Speed Training

Lacrosse Training - Running Drills to Improve Speed

2008-05-25T08:29:00.000-07:00

Speed training is important, and some players are naturally faster than others, but you can improve your speed through conditioning and strength training.

For conditioning, set a goal of running one to two miles three times a week, ideally throughout the year but definitely three months before the start of your season. If you haven't been running frequently, I wouldn't try to make a time in this range the first time out, but it is a good milestone to gradually work toward.

Sprinting drills are extremely important for developing quickness, agility and fast feet. Set two cones or pick two landmarks 10 yards apart, and sprint back and forth between them as many times as you can in 30 seconds. Rest 30 seconds and repeat.

Lateral drills, such as pushing side to side off one foot to another while running forward, will help develop muscles needed to execute a good dodge or maintain good positioning as a defender.
To strengthen your legs, deep-lunge walk for 15 yards.

As for dodging defenders, practice split or face dodges using a trash can as an imaginary defender.

For the rest of the article on Lacrosse Speed Training click here

Allyson Felix Runs Faster Than You

2008-05-23T12:44:00.000-07:00

Eyes On The Olympics: Allyson Felix

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be the fastest person in the world?

What would it be like to be able to say that you could out run any other person?

There are a lot of fast people in the world, but only one person is the fastest. Could you imagine being that person? Imagine what that would feel like: You’d crouch down, get your stance ready, and then with a burst of energy propel yourself forward. The wind would fly across your face so forcefully that tears would begin to run down the side of your face - your legs dancing across the ground. Bystanders would surely stand with jaw-dropping expressions, as you raced by, an indistinguishable blur.

Of course I’ve never felt this incredible speed (I was a mediocre high school track athlete)… the closest I’ve come to experiencing such a rush came when I decided to drive with my head stuck outside my car window.

While most people, like me, can only envision what it would be like to have that raw explosive ability, one recently graduated college student, Allyson Felix, need not imagine. In a few months Felix will be able to say that she is the best, the fastest in the world. She’s competing at the upcoming Beijing Olympics; her eye is on the gold.

Tons of college students are heading to Beijing to compete in the Olympics this year. Allyson Felix, a 22-year-old USC alum and world class sprinter, is one of them. Look for her to score the gold in August!

For the rest of the Allyson Felix sprint training article Click Here

Plyometric and Power Training Guidelines

2008-05-08T21:06:00.000-07:00

So let's get into how to effectively introduce plyometric training in a way that will result in positive growth in the area of strength, power, coordination, body awareness and, of course, speed...

The underlying principle behind teaching plyos is simple. The concept is something that you've heard me preach over and over again:

Start with simple movements and progress to more complex movements ONLY when players have mastered the basic ones.

With my teams and groups, I let athletes 'graduate' to the next drill in our progression once they meet the criteria required for advancement.

In fact, players get pretty intense when it comes to 'graduation'. They all want to be the first to move on, but more importantly they don't want to be the last.

So using 'graduation' as a reward is a great way to get players to focus on the task at hand.

Remember, only do plyos on your speed days. They tax the same energy system as speed work and the weight room. So don't have your players do explosive plyos on your recovery days.

Here are the principles to follow when doing your plyos:

STEP 1: Start with basic stabilization exercises that begin and end using both feet.

Athletes must learn to control movements off of both feet before advancing to the more demanding drills.

Additionally, be sure to keep the number of ground contacts (total number of times the feet hit the ground) low until player learn to handle the increased load.

You can see the specific plyo progressions that we've found to generate the best results by getting your own copy of Complete Speed Training.

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Step 2: Emphasize soft landings.

When doing plyos, players must learn to land softly. Cue them to absorb each landing with the muscles in the legs, not with joints, bones, ligaments, and tendons.

Each foot strike or impact should make a minimal amount of noise. Athletes can't graduate to the more 'fun' drills until they can learn to land softly.

If you cave in and let them graduate early, before they have acquired the necessary skills, then their ability to learn the new drills and avoid injury will be greatly reduced.

Here are some tell-tale signs that your players are not performing the drills correctly:

* Loud slapping sound with the feet upon landing
* Landing on the balls of the feet, with the weight forward and heels
off the ground
* Taking off with one foot instead of both feet
* Landing on one foot instead of both feet
* Inability to maintain/loss of balance upon landing

Once basic drills are mastered, and these common mistakes have been eliminated, players can start the bounding drills that people traditionally equate with plyometric training.

*************
Step 3: Use medicine balls.

When athletes have a tough time with 'regular' plyos, I'll often back off and use medicine ball throws.

This will teach them many of the same explosive elements, but can be easier to master the movements. It also takes some of the pressure off of trying to succeed in the more difficult drills.

Of course, I use medicine ball throws for the more skilled football players as well. As always, make sure that the football players are doing the drills with perfect form.

The main flaw that I see with these drills is that athletes will throw the ball with their arms. The arms are a guide for the weight and shouldn't be the primary mover.

*******************
Plyometric workouts require a coach's close attention.

Hopefully I've given you some useful ideas on introducing these valuable exercises into your program. The temptation to skip the basic elements will be great, but I implore you to force your football players to be patient.

Get started today...

Power Training and Plyometrics - What not to do

2008-05-05T07:28:00.000-07:00

Today we need to address how to develop the explosive power of your players by using plyometrics.

Now, plyos are one of those touchy subjects that some people don't have a very good understanding of.

So, the first thing we have to do is get a working definition of what plyos actually are. Otherwise, we can't be sure we're doing them correctly, if at all.

Plyometrics are defined as movements that cause a rapid change from eccentric contraction (lengthening a muscle) to concentric contraction (shortening a muscle).

In fact, the very act of running fast is a plyometric activity, as it trains for the storage and release of elastic energy. And elastic energy is required for faster running.

You can develop the ability to store and release this elastic energy by having your team engage in a variety of activities such as hopping and bounding drills, box jumps, hurdle hops, medicine ball throws, etc.

But there's a catch.

These movements require a healthy degree of strength, coordination and balance.

My point?

You can't just decide that tomorrow you want to do hurdle hops or single leg bounds with your team.

Plyometrics are a SKILL that take a great deal of practice if your expectation is that players are going to do them correctly and actually get something out of it.

Ok, it's story time...

Last year I was at an area high school gymnasium helping a friend of mine while he conducted practice for the team that he coached.

On the far end of this gymnasium a football team was lined up in front of a row of 8 plyo boxes that were of various heights between 24" - 48".

So I decided to watch, hoping that I was going to see an impressive display of athleticism brought about by some coaches who had taken the time and effort to learn how and why certain activities are performed before having their football teams perform them.

Well it turns out that my wish went unfulfilled.

These football players started doing their box jumps (jumping up onto the box), then went right into depth jumps (dropping down off of the box) trying to negotiate 8 boxes of different heights.

So, like clockwork, the line of kids began to lose focus. Their form, this was already terrible, began to fall apart. This was not geared to improve their speed training at all.

Then it happened.

One young athlete, during a depth jump, landed awkwardly and began to fall forward. But instead of stopping or bailing out of the drill, he tried to jump up onto the next box.

For a number of reasons, that didn't work. He clipped the front of his toot on the box, fell over the box, and landed on the floor in a heap, clutching his leg.

The result?

The kid broke his ankle in three places.

Needless to say it wasn't pretty.

Don't let this happen to your athletes.

Strength Training for Speed and Power Athletes Cont.

2008-04-29T15:01:00.000-07:00

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...

Strength Training for Athletes

2008-04-27T12:17:00.000-07:00

So, what are the rules of the weight room as it relates to speed athletes?

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Rule #1: Learn right....Start light

I know that it is very difficult, especially for boys, to go into the
weight room and put anything less than 45-pound plates on the bar.

That's why I have a motto that I have to repeat over and over and
over again: No Egos in the Weight room.

Most players' strength training technique is so bad in the weight room that they are rarely
more than a lapse in focus away from a career ending injury.

I can't stress how important it is, especially with football players brand new to weight training, that they start with very light weights and master the technique of the lift first.

At the beginning, complete forget about 'heavy' or 'light' and just go for good form. With your 'veteran' lifters, back them up and reteach them how to lift with perfect form.

As you'll see in a minute, effective weight training for sports is dependent on a player's ability to get the most out of the precious few reps they will be doing. So if their form is crap, then that's just what their workouts will be.

In this instance, I apply the 'graduation' game with their weights. I allow them to gradually increase the number of pounds on the bar once they prove to me that they can do it with good form.

I suggest you do the same. Of course, I'm assuming that you have learned how to teach, correct, and identify perfect form with the fundamental lifts.

And no, your experience as a high school or college athlete 15+ years
ago does not qualify you.

If you'd be 100% comfortable correcting and instructing your football team
in front of me, then you qualify.

*******************
Rule #2: Speed athletes are not bodybuilders

With very few exceptions, it isn't going to help an athlete's speed if
they are in the weight room doing lifts that are going to add useless
bulk to their bodies.

Players should only be doing multi-joint movements that address multiple muscle groups at once and can have a positive impact on athletic performance.

For example, there are certain core lifts that we use in all of our strength
training programs.

None of them involve a machine.

There are supplemental exercises that can be added to these core lifts, step-ups for example, but they must follow the multi-joint movement
philosophy.

Now, here are some popular weight room exercises that are great for getting players to look good at the beach, but have no athletic value:

Bicep curls
Hamstring curls
Leg extensions
Chest flies
Tricep extensions
Most machine exercises

On top of that, Smith Machine squats and leg press are what I consider leg exercises for athletes too lazy to do squats and dead lifts and coaches too lazy to teach them.

If you want to learn how to teach and perform explosive weight training lifts that will make faster athletes go to:

Complete Olympic Lifting

How to Run a 4.2 40 Yard Dash

2008-04-25T07:03:00.000-07:00

In the NFL Draft, where potential is prized above all, objective measurements like 40-yard dash times can count as much as stacks of game tapes. Times like East Carolina's Chris Johnson's have a special power because they were taken at the combine, the annual gathering where NFL teams put top college prospects through their paces -- and where 40-yard times are measured indoors with an automated system. (The legendary 4.17-second 40 Deion Sanders ran at Florida State in 1989 was measured by stopwatch.) Jeffrey Foster of National Invitational Camp Inc., the firm that runs the combine, says Mr. Johnson's mark is the fastest at the combine since records have been kept.

Despite being one of the NCAA's active leaders in career all-purpose yardage and the MVP of the Hawaii Bowl, Mr. Johnson knew pro scouts were wary of him because he hadn't played at a powerhouse school. He figured his only chance to crack the draft's upper echelon was to run a scorching 40. "If I had run a 4.30, I would have been upset," he says. It all comes down to speed training.

Only days after his college career ended, Mr. Johnson packed his bags to spend eight weeks with NFL speed guru Tom Shaw, who runs an independent combine-preparation camp near Orlando, Fla. Mr. Shaw's clinics consist of two-a-day training sessions and cost about $750 a week, plus room and board. He has trained 94 first-round NFL picks, and in 2007, his trainees ran four of the top five 40 times at the combine.

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Strength Training for Speed and Power Athletes

2008-04-24T06:45:00.000-07:00

Today I'm going to talk to you about the importance of strength training.

For some reason, the majority of programs simply do not consider this important enough to make it a regular part of their preseason and in season training.

The only sport that I see using weight training with any regularity is American football and most of the time they're not doing it right.

It's true.

For some reason, in the United States, we have adopted a 'bodybuilder' mentality when it comes to strength training for sport.

Let me give you another example:

I used to coach at a high school. Whenever I'd be in the weight room with my athletes, I would obviously watch all the athletes lift.

OK, the only other athletes in the weight room besides mine were the football team. Literally no other team in the school used the weight room.

Shameful, but not surprising.

Anyway, it became a running joke with my athletes because whenever we'd be in the weight room, the football players would be doing some crazy stuff!

What do I mean?

I can count the number of times on one hand that I saw a workout that consisted primarily of leg exercises and contained rep schemes that were less than 8-10 reps.

On top of that, coaches didn't instruct anyone on how to do the lifts correctly (the football team started coming to me for that - and their coaches would just give me dirty looks).

Plus, many of the lifts they did were, well, useless for sports.

Next time I will go into some weight room rules.

Warm-up Drills and Protocols for Athletes

2008-04-22T20:31:00.000-07:00

OK, let's get to the basic principles behind the warm up. But I will warn you - once you read this you have no excuse for using static stretching or a sloppy, unorganized dynamic warm up with your team. Your warm-up should be done before you perform and speed or agility drills.

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1. Progress from slow, simple movements to faster, more complex movements.

Think back to my 'cold car' analogy. Your players have to start with movements that aren't going to put muscles in a position to pull or tear because they aren't fully warmed up.

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2. A good warm-up will have your players slightly out of breath and lightly sweating.

Anything less than this and they aren't ready to go at full speed. This means that on a speed day, the warmup should take a good 20 minutes.

Remember, our goal is to make your team faster. You can't cheat the warm up and expect your team to achieve their goals.

How you decide those numbers depends, again, on your training goals for that day.

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3. Make sure your players do the drills with perfect form every time!

You'd think this was a no-brainer, but in my experience that couldn't be further from the truth. The majority of the time, even in programs that claim to use a dynamic warm-up, the player's technique is so sloppy that it is almost counter-productive.

I'm serious!

In addition to being a great warmup, these drills also work on running mechanics, coordination, and flexibility. If your team just goes through the motions by doing the drills half-assed, then they're only setting themselves up to become injured.

Show your team how to do each drill correctly and get on them when they're not putting in the effort. I've kicked kids out of practice on more than one occasion because they didn't focus on their drills. If that takes too much effort to do correctly, then how can I expect them to properly execute in the workout or the competition?

There is no excuse for telling your athletes to do a certain type of drill if they don't know how to do it right and you can't tell them how to fix any mechanical problems.

I can't emphasize the importance of this fact strongly enough!

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4. Don't do the same warm-up every single day.

Your team will quickly get bored doing the same old warmup. That means the drills will be sloppy, they won't be warmed up correctly, and they set themselves up for injury. Variety is one of the keys to getting the most out of your team.

If the warmup gets monotonous, kids will go through the motions. So you should switch up your warm up routines a few times every season so that athletes don't get bored and lazy before practice even starts.

If they're lethargic from a warmup they've been doing every day for the past two months, what do you really expect to get out of them in their speed workout?

My experience tells me not a whole lot.

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I hope this gives you some ideas on how, where and when to modify your warmup. You can't get more out of your players without making this the first issue you address.

If you are looking for more warm-up exercises to go along with your speed training drills you can see more at Warm up Drills for Athletes

Warm-up for Sports

2008-04-20T07:59:00.000-07:00

Many coaches claim to use a dynamic warm-up, but in fact, it's just a series of poorly taught, poorly executed drills that aren't set up with any rhyme or reason. Although better than only using the static stretch warm-up, this is still a terrible way to prepare your team to run as hard and fast as they can.

Here are some of the many benefits to the athletes I train, that I attribute to our implementation of a dynamic warm up:

- Muscle strains and pulls have been almost completely eliminated because entire muscle groups have been activated through various progressive movements.

- More points and better marks are being scored earlier in competitions because the players aren't spending the early part of the game or meet trying to get loose.

- Players are running at faster speeds, making sharper cuts and exploding off the line with ease, again, because they're fully warmed up before they have to start moving at full speed.

- Late-season and post-season productivity has increased significantly. Players aren't getting burnt out at the end of the season because, among other things, they're avoiding the muscular and cellular trauma that comes with forcing cold muscles to move at speeds they aren't ready for.

Here's a quick analogy to prove my point...

When you start your vehicle on a cold morning, what do you do?

You let it warm up for a few minutes before trying to drive it. Otherwise, acceleration is terrible and you risk seriously damaging your engine because oil and other fluids haven't had the chance to heat up parts that make your car run efficiently.

Well, think of your football players like a car.

If you try to get them to run at full speed before they are properly warmed up, their acceleration will be terrible and you risk a serious muscle pull or tears because blood hasn't had a chance to heat up the muscles that allow the athlete to run quickly and efficiently.

Does that make sense?

The most glaring evidence I have in support of a good warmup is the behavior of the athletes that I coach.

They'll come to me from their sports having primarily used static stretching to warm up. If they did do some type of movement based, dynamic warm up, it was sloppy and followed no particular pattern.

After working with me, not only do they run much faster and feel better, but they couldn't imagine warming up any other way! When I go watch their competitions, I see them out there with their teammates using my warm-up!

Listen, the warm up doesn't have to be complicated. It just has to follow a few basic premises.

But before I list them I will say this...

In my experience, if you've been using static stretching at the beginning of practice, you shouldn't just stop cold turkey. Most players have been doing this at the start of every practice, for their entire lives.

It's hardwired into their heads that they need to do it to warmup properly, even though it is not true. Therefore, I don't cut it out completely. Instead, I'll give them 5 minutes to stretch out alone before own before we start our full warm up. This way they feel like they got a 'pre-stretch' and it gives them a chance to see what their tight spots are.

For more sports training information, on audio, go now to:

Sports Training Interviews

Sports Training - Warm-up Speed Drills

2008-04-17T12:57:00.000-07:00

If you really want to make your team faster, the first step you must take concerns the very first thing that they do each day at practice - The Warm Up!

I know it doesn't sound too glorious, but if you don't show your athletes an effective dynamic warm-up, you're asking for some serious problems!

What do I mean?

I still know A LOT of programs that are using static stretching as the primary form of warming up. You know what I'm talking about. Players will jog a lap or two around the field, get together in a circle and do those stretches where you hold one position for 8 or 10 counts.

I know YOU wouldn't use that as your primary method of warming up, but sadly some of your colleagues and competitors still do it.

So let me ask you a couple of questions...

How many sports can you think of that involve, at any point, holding a stretch for 10 seconds in order to be successful?

That's right, none. So is that an effective way to get ready to compete or practice?

In fact, studies show that static stretching can reduce power output by up to 20%. Don't you think that might have a negative effect on the speed and performance of your players?

Here is a quick warm-up presentation:

Complete Speed Training is a great source for speed drills for warming-up and more importantly how all these exercises go together.

Static stretching impairs sprint performance in collegiate track and field athletes

2008-04-13T10:53:00.000-07:00

The purpose of this study was to establish whether the deleterious effects of static stretching (SS) would wash out the performance enhancements obtained from the dynamic warm-up (DW). Eleven males and 11 females, who were athletes of a NCAA Division I track team, performed a DW followed with either a SS or rest (NS) condition. After warm-up was completed, speed training was performed, three 40 m sprints were performed to investigate the effects of the SS condition on sprint performance when preceded by DW. Time for the NS versus the SS group was significantly faster.

The results of this study suggest that performing a static stretching protocol following a dynamic warm-up will inhibit sprint performance in collegiate athletes.

Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 2008, 22(1), 13-9

Winchester JB, Nelson AG, Landin D, Young MA, Schexnayder IC

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