Training for specific speed.As a high school strength and conditioning coach, I would appreciate any suggestions you have on helping my players improve their speed. - Rick Baldridge Baldridge may refer to:
Carey is located at (40.951978, -83.381673)GR1. Coaches use the term "speed kills" to describe how faster athletes usually beat slower athletes. The more suitable term is "specific-sport speed kills." And for a football player, it would be "position-specific sport speed kills." In football, as in most sports, too much emphasis is placed upon running in a straight line: example, the 40-yard sprint. Though straight-line straight-line adj. 1. Lying in a straight line. 2. Relating to a device whose linkage produces or copies motion in straight lines. 3. sprinting is critical in track, the key to success in most sports is specific-sport speed and quickness, not straight-line speed. Specific-sport speed to run the bases, cover a receiver, run a precise pass route, or dribble-drive to the basket is far more important than the ability to run fast in a straight line. Some athletes spend endless hours trying to run fast in a straight line. They'd be wiser to spend the time practicing the exact skills used to play their sport at high speed. Every year we cut players who run fast in a straight line but aren't good enough to play the game. Electronic vs Hand-Held Times Electronic timers accurately measure speed. Electricity doesn't lie. We've learned through the years that hand-held times are extremely unreliable in the shorter sprints. To assess the impact of training technique on speed, you must be capable of accurately measuring speed from one test to the next. That's impossible with a stopwatch. Inexpensive electronic timers are wise investments. To determine whether an activity has a positive impact on speed, you must get the athlete into great running shape. Have him lift, stretch, condition, and practice running fast. Periodically time him (electronically) and keep written records. Keep him in top shape until you are finished experimenting with your speed-improvement techniques. Speed improvement will eventually level off. The athlete simply won't be able to run faster, but he should be encouraged to continue with all the training that helped him achieve his top speed. At this point, you should add one new activity to his training regimen regimen /reg·i·men/ (rej´i-men) a strictly regulated scheme of diet, exercise, or other activity designed to achieve certain ends. reg·i·men n. 1. (example: jumping rope, depth jumping, bounding). Time the athletes (electronically) once a week. If the added speed-improvement technique works, you will observe an increase in speed over a period of time. If the new technique does not enhance speed, eliminate it and look for something else. Continue experimenting with one activity at a time. Incorporate any technique that makes a difference, and eliminate the rest. Coaching Points Anything that can improve your athletes' speed and quickness should be worked on frequently during the off-season and from the first day of practice through the last game of the season. Caution: You must remember that during the season most athletes are barely able to recover from games and practices, and you don't want to overwork overwork the condition produced by working a draft animal or working dog, an eventing or endurance horse too hard. See also exhaustion. them. Do not regularly perform an activity during the off-season that you intend to discontinue dis·con·tin·ue v. dis·con·tin·ued, dis·con·tin·u·ing, dis·con·tin·ues v.tr. 1. To stop doing or providing (something); end or abandon: during the season... when the athletes have to be at their best? If you believe in the importance of an activity, such as speed training, you must carry it over into practice during the season. We know that a poor start can cost a sprinter tenths of a second and that while a good start won't help him move his legs faster, it will decrease the time it will take him to run a short sprint. An athlete cannot alter his genetic pool or the physical characteristics inherited inherited received by inheritance. inherited achondroplastic dwarfism see achondroplastic dwarfism. inherited combined immunodeficiency see combined immune deficiency syndrome (disease). from his parents. The key lies in helping the athlete develop his potential by exploiting the factors he can manage. Following are the things that an athlete can control in developing maximum speed: * Eliminate excess body fat. * Use the weight room to strengthen the muscles used to run. * Develop the necessary flexibility. * Use an interval-running program to get into good enough shape to run his fastest. * Practice running fast. * Practice the skills used to play your sport at an all-out speed. * Develop sound running techniques Running is the most natural of all athletic activities in sense that most of us often start out running as a little kid and continue throughout the course of our lives. The beauty about running is that all you need is a good pair of shoes, shorts or tights and a t-shirt or a vest and . * Refine stance/start. Stance/Start One of the best ways of helping your athletes achieve max speed in by getting them to perfect their starts. We film our players while they practice their starts. We then immediately review the starts together and we critique their performance. Last year we had a defensive lineman Lineman or linesman may refer to:
v. shaved, shaved or shav·en , shav·ing, shaves v.tr. 1. a. To remove the beard or other body hair from, with a razor or shaver: a tenth of a second off his 10-yard sprint by adjusting his stance and practicing start techniques. Stance Some athletes develop their stance (linemen n. pl. 1. the football players who line up on the line of scrimmage. Noun 1. linemen - the football players who line up on the line of scrimmage , running backs, tight ends, sprinters, etc.) through many years of repetition REPETITION, construction of wills. A repetition takes place when the same testator, by the same testamentary instrument, gives to the same legatee legacies of equal amount and of the same kind; in such case the latter is considered a repetition of the former, and the legatee is entitled . Many athletes (quarterbacks, linebackers, defensive backs) will never get into a three- or four-point stance until they are timed in a 10, 20, 40 or 60-yard sprint. A good stance and a quality start are skills that must be practiced. A stance adjustment may help some individuals. The coach can experiment with one technique at a time and use an electronic timer timer, n radiographic timing device that functions as an automatic exposure timer and a switch to control the current to the high-tension transformer and filament transformer. The face of the timer is calibrated in seconds and fractions of seconds. [ILLUSTRATION FOR PHOTO 1 OMITTED]. This will enable the athlete to evaluate the influence (good or bad)that the new technique will have on his time. Following are the points of emphasis in teaching the sprinting stance [ILLUSTRATION FOR PHOTO 2 OMITTED]: 1. Assume a three-point stance The Three-point stance is a stance used by offensive and defensive linemen in American football as well as running backs. This stance requires one hand to touch the ground with the other arm cocked back to the thigh/hip region. . 2. Position the hips slightly higher than the head. 3. Place the feet less than shoulder-width apart. 4. Experiment with the distance between the front foot and the back foot. 5. Point the toes straight ahead. 6. Place the ankle of the front leg directly under the hip (roll the hips forward). 7. Focus the eyes on the ground approximately three yards ahead (don't look straight down). 8. Place the hand on the ground directly under the shoulder with most of the weight on the front hand and leg. If the athlete were to lift his hand off the ground, he would fall forward. 9. Opposite arm is bent at 90 degrees and is kept parallel to the torso torso /tor·so/ (tor´so) trunk (1). tor·so n. pl. tor·sos or tor·si The human body excluding the head and limbs; trunk. . Start An efficient explosive start requires several coordinated actions to occur rapidly and simultaneously. Since some athletes never get into a three-point stance, it may require extra practice to develop an effective start. Experiment with one technique at a time. Use an electronic timer to determine which, if any, prove more effective. It's possible for your athletes to shave shave (shav) 1. to cut at or parallel to the surface of the skin. 2. to remove the beard or other body hair by such a process. 3. to cut thin slices from or to cut into thin slices. hundreths of a second off their time with a good start. Following are the techniques we emphasize in teaching a sprint start [ILLUSTRATION FOR FIGURE 3 OMITTED]: 1. Step out of the stance, thrusting the down arm rearward rear·ward 1 adv. Toward, to, or at the rear. adj. At or in the rear. n. A rearward direction, point, or position. rear (scrape See scraping. the ground hard and fast), while simultaneously driving the bent arm forward and throwing the hand in the direction you are running. 2. Throw the body forward and gain ground on the first step (many athletes take a very short first step). 3. Step forward in a straight line on the first step. Do not step away from the center line of the body, as it will cost you time getting back on track. 4. Each succeeding step must be in a straight line (or you will waste more time waddling side to side until you eventually straighten out.) 5. Get up and out of your stance quickly, approaching the upright position Upright position or erect position, in a frequency-division multiple access multiplexer, means that a signal is upconverted to the multiplexer band without inverting the frequencies. See inverted position. by your second step. 6. Reach the upright position as soon as possible in order to begin taking full strides [ILLUSTRATION FOR PHOTO 4 OMITTED]. Conclusion Provide your athletes with information and activities that can help them reach their full-speed potential. Separate fact from fiction. Don't waste their time and energy on activities that will be dropped once they begin practicing and playing games. Emphasize functional sport speed. Skill-specific sport speed is more important than straight-line speed for most athletes. Don't complain about having too little time to practice. Use your practice time wisely. Practice fast! May the Power Be with You! |
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