This week I thought I would bring you some of the key messages from a blog post I've just read from James Baker at Proformance Strength and Conditioning. James has written a great piece on speed development and there are some really good take home messages.
I've not taken the whole article - just some of my favourite bits - check out the full article at www.proformance.pro
TAKE HOME #1 PIGS DON'T FLY
If your athlete is carrying excess body fat, you need to address this quickly. At this point in the words of Nick Winkelman 'your best speed coach is your nutritionist'. According to Ralph Mann for elite sprinters anything over 7% is hugely detrimental to sprint performance due to the fact it massively increases the vertical force production demands on the athlete.
TAKE HOME #2 NEWBIES AND WEAK - GET STRONG
Aim to improve strength relative to their body weight. Using basic strength exercises - squats, deadlifts, split squats, push and pull exercises, trunk strength (for effective force transfer).
TAKE HOME #3 STRONG ATHLETES - GET POWERFUL
Aaim to improve the rate of force production (power) using loaded jumps (squat jumps, trap bar jumps, Olympic lifts and derivatives), plyometrics (jumping, leaping, hopping, bounding), medicine ball throws.
TAKE HOME #4 RUN FOREST RUN (BUT DO IT QUICKLY!)
If you want to get faster you MUST run fast. Give your athletes an opportunity to sprint (start short and build distances over time). We use competitive sprints & timed sprints. Our timing system is out most weeks and it's seriously addictive, the athletes get super competitive with themselves and others. Start positions will vary depending on the weeks emphasis e.g. Linear or Multi-directional and the athlete's sport.
Check out the full article from James