Weight sleds, vests, and other objects are commonly used, along with uphill running. Assisted training pulls you at higher speeds using tubing, or downhill running to teach your arms and legs to turn over at faster speeds. Both are valuable additions to building straight-ahead speed, but are often misused to the point that they become counterproductive.
For resisted drills, running should still be done at full speed. If you are using too much resistance it will cause you to move slower, and interfere with your technique. More is not always better, and it would be wise to start light and gradually build up over time.
For assisted drills, these exercises should not interfere with proper technique either. To have your arms flailing all over the place while performing a tubing-assisted run will not help you in games. It may apply when running from a burning building, but that likely isn't what you're training for. Moderation is the key here, as well.
Start with light pulls, and strive to keep quality form while progressing to higher speeds. Speed comes from power, which can loosely be defined as strength generated quickly. Adding strength does transfer to moving faster, and some exercises are particularly helpful. One-leg strength drills are often overlooked, but are great for building speed.
You are always pushing off of one leg when running, and supporting your body on one leg requires strength and stability in many different muscles that do not get challenged in two leg drills, like squats and deadlifts. There are many variations of squats and lunges that you can perform to build one-leg strength. This is not to say that all two-leg drills are useless, because Olympic-style lifts like cleans can build tremendous amounts of power.
Plyometrics are also good to use, when performed properly. Two-leg exercises like these that help you absorb force will get you off the ground quicker with every stride.
One-leg versions of these drills can be problematic at first, because they can lead to overuse injuries like tendonitis fairly easily. Lower body training is not the only way to build speed in the weight room. Core and upper body strength help to maintain proper torso alignment. They also help to generate faster arm action, which in turn forces the legs to turn over faster to increase stride frequency.
It has been said that speed is a trait you build from year to year. More so than any other skill, it requires you to take the long view when it comes to seeing results. Impatient athletes who want to be faster overnight will quickly grow frustrated with the process. Unfortunately many give up too soon, not persevering to reap the vast benefits of proper movement training. In any season when you are not playing a sport full time, you should dedicate at least three 30 minute workouts per week towards speed development.
Acceleration should be the focus of winter workouts. Drive phase is mostly coaching. Speed is mostly talent. The drive phase is hard to teach.
Young runners want to stand up straight, spin their wheels, and start running. If they start in a three-point or four-point stance, they still get to an upright position as soon as possible and start spinning those wheels. The fundamentals of the drive phase will translate to block starts in track. The drive phase starts at velocity zero. Many athletes will try to stay in the drive phase too long. Their body is upright but they keep their chin down trying to see the track.
The drive phase is over when the shoulders are on top of the hips. If your drive phase is over after five steps, get tall and sprint. The drive phase may last between 5 and 35 yards based on the skill and speed of the runner. A little kid may have a two step drive phase. Sorry for mixing yards and meters here. If you want an expanded version of speed training, you can go to a blog I wrote last year, The Nuts and Bolts of Speed Training. Sprinting and jumping are like electricity and magnetism.
One creates the other. Sprinting improves jumping, jumping improves sprinting. For those of you who are not scientists … electricity can make a magnet and a magnet can make electricity.
Remember, a sprinter bounces off the track. Ground contact times need to be almost non-existent. I also use spreadsheets on Google Docs. Back in , I published rankings on a bulletin board in the main hallway of our high school.
Now I publish to seven billion people on the internet. I teach Honors Chemistry five times a day. When I simplify scientific method, I just tell my students that scientists measure things perfectly, then write it all down. I measure speed and write it down. Then I take advantage of the ultra-competitive testosterone-ridden personalities of high school boys by ranking their times, publishing their times, and celebrating improvement. Sprinters will not truly sprint unless they are being timed.
Quantified speed is the key to sprint training. We have over boys at Plainfield North who may not know their GPA but they definitely know their time and their meter fly time. Alex is the white guy shown in the pictures above. Improvement excites the athlete. Alex Ruscitti was the 6th fastest guy at Plainfield North last year. However, when Alex sees his measured progress, he can visualize what could happen his senior year. I rant against coaches who enslave their athletes 12 months per year.
I hate off-season traveling teams and AAU. When adults encourage kids to specialize, I want to throw up. Youth sports were never meant to be scholarship factories. Coaches are teachers, not celebrities. Money made in athletics should be used to lower tuition. Scholarships should be given to future engineers who have financial need. God, I hate college sports.
Having said that, I expect my sprinters to train every day year-round. Just kidding. Sprint training should never happen more than three or four days per week. Sprinters need to play multiple sports. I offer a two-week Speed Camp in early June. It is coed with 10 year olds training next to Big Ten football players. I encourage all my sprinters to play football. I think football forces kids to get tougher, more manly. Is that politically correct?
See Speed Kills. From November to February my sprinters train four days per week. They train on the track and in the weight room. I have a reciprocal relationship with our head football coach. The football program runs the weight room, the track program runs the sprint training.
Our kids love it. We train at full speed and measure everything. Winter speed training transitions into our indoor track season. After a much-needed spring break, we transition into our outdoor season. My sprinters have an opportunity to train nine months a year, year after year after year.
Most of my sprinters train at least half the year, but consistency means much more than that. We measure speed as a part of our training program. Quantification is not just diagnostic … it is motivational. Alex Ruscitti has been given a steady dose of encouragement based on his improving speed measurements.
My program values rest and growth with the same enthusiasm as we value training. Coaches who grind kids do not allow time for growth. My program values enthusiasm and love of sprinting more than all other things. I believe in lighting a fire, not filling a pail from the William Butler Yeats quote. If I was an English teacher, I would have my kids read what they love, not what is assigned. Reading Stephen King with enthusiasm is better than trudging through Dickens with a bad attitude.
By the way, Common Core sucks and Arne Duncan should resign and Barack Obama needs to reassess all he believes about education. Sorry for the rant. I believe in enthusiastic students and enthusiastic athletes. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts.
Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. More people are reading SimpliFaster than ever, and each week we bring you compelling content from coaches, sport scientists, and physiotherapists who are devoted to building better athletes. This exercise can be varied, depending on your current fitness level. You can start out by doing 10 sprints for 10 yards, with a few seconds of rest between. A more advanced athlete may want to run a full 50 yards each time.
Stand sidewalks to a wall, about 10 feet away. Then throw a medicine ball toward the wall as forcefully as possible. If you should suffer any shoulder injury or pain, a licensed physical therapist can evaluate and treat your injuries to get you back on track again as quickly as possible. This type of exercise involves quickly shuffling toward or away from the wall before throwing the ball again toward the wall. Again, make sure your elbows are in place to prevent shoulder injury.
This exercise requires you to either shuffle or crossover at the command of a coach or a trainer.
0コメント