Day 346 - Methods of Developing Speed & Agility

Primary Method

Many skill-specific activities should be started slow so that proper mechanics can be learned. Once the proper mechanics begin to take hold, then an individual can increase speed to that, or exceeding that, of game speed.

Some mechanics we take for granted and may learn on our own throughout life, such as running or throwing a ball. Unfortunately, there may be flaws with the technique since some individuals may not have be given proper coaching on the specialized technique. In this case, proper technique can be introduced to the individual to help perfect form.

Secondary Methods

Secondary methods involve sprint resistance and sprint assistance:

Sprint Resistance - Also known as an overload effect, the idea is to use resistance in some form to improve explosive strength and stride length. Examples of resistance that can be applied in such a situation would be gravity (running up a grade like stairs or a slope) or such apparatus such as parachutes or weighted vests.

Sprint Assistance - By using assistance techniques such as running downhill or a high-speed towing apparatus, the aim is to maintain proper running form but increase stride frequency.

Tertiary Methods

Tertiary methods are broken down into mobility, strength and speed-endurance categories:

Mobility - Athletic tasks require specific ranges of motion (ROM). If an individual does not use their full mobility at a certain joint or limb, they can impact performance or even increase their likelihood of injury. For example, someone who is running, if there is not enough mobility at the hip joint, there could too much braking effect caused by the foot strike on the ground. Proper stretching and flexibility should be used by all to maintain proper range of motion.

Strength - In order for individuals to improve their speed and agility, their resistance training program should include explosive, quick movements. This does not necessarily mean that only light weights with high velocity should be used. Resistance training that targets a wide range of muscular fiber types should be employed.

Speed-Endurance - To train for speed-endurance events, athletes must use a wide variety of training styles including short-duration intense training as well as long-duration, less-intense exercises.

Quote of the day:
"It is better to travel well than to arrive." 
~ Buddha

Check out my new Website: tylerrobbinsfitness.com

Day 6 - Muscular Endurance and Athletic Performance

Below is a question I was asked recently regarding muscular endurance:

Question (paraphrasing):
"I was wondering what you thought of muscle endurance in which the value of very high rep (20-30) sets. Probably too much of an over-simplification on my part, but it seems like very high rep sets are more conducive to performance?"

Muscle endurance can be a great asset for certain athletes such as those that compete in endurance events where your primary energy source is aerobic in nature (eg. marathon runners). Do not confuse this with
other sports that may seem to be "aerobic" such as hockey, basketball, or even soccer. These sports and others similar to these actually consist of many different bouts of fast, powerful actions (anaerobic power). For that reason, to increase performance in MOST sports, power andspeed training should be the cornerstone of training.

Having said all of that, every athlete should include some sort of endurance training at some point in their
training periodization. Now when this falls into your actual training regimen, depends on what type of sport or event you will be competing in. Let me give you a few examples.

Every muscle in your body has a specific ratio of type 1 (aerobic), to type 2 (anaerobic) muscle fibers that is determined by genetics. This ratio will not change, however, you can train type 2 fibers to become MORE
aerobic in nature. The trade off for that is that they lose a bit of strength/power.

If you are an athlete that wants to train your muscles to be more powerful/strong, you can first train your muscle fibers to be more aerobic which makes them more efficient. When I say more efficient, I mean they are better at oxygen transport, utilization, waste removal, etc. this can benefit you when you then start to hit the heavy weights because your muscles will recover quicker so you can train more efficiently.

On the flip side of that coin, MMA fighters for example would want to first train their muscles to be strong and powerful but then have endurance properties because of the number of punches/kicks they could potentially throw in a fight.

I have actually experienced an example of this with myself recently. I am coming off of my mass phase, where I increased my muscular size and strength, so I have no problems picking up my son. However, my muscles aren't very 'endurance' trained, so my arms start burning after holding him for a pretty short amount of time.

By focusing on power and strength training, an individual's performance increase would be noticeable in the speed/quickness department. If an athlete would want to increase their performance so that they could race after a puck in hockey, for example, their training should focus on speed and power which would allow them to blow by the opposing player.

On the flip side of the coin, if their endurance lacks, then after a couple of 'sprints', their legs would be toast and they wouldn't be able to skate as fast towards the end of the game. That is where training structure and proper periodization come into play. Ideally, you want to have an even balance between performance (powerful, strong, explosive actions), combined with endurance (ability to perform for longer periods of time) to have the best of both worlds, and then vary each asset depending on your sport.

A defensive line in football, for example, would want to be VERY strong/powerful, but they dont need as much endurance because the plays are so short and they have long rest periods at times between plays.

Quote of the day:

"He who conquers others is strong. He who conquers himself is mighty."
~Lao Tzu

Methods of Developing Speed & Agility

Primary Method

Many skill-specific activities should be started slow so that proper mechanics can be learned. Once the proper mechanics begin to take hold, then an individual can increase speed to that, or exceeding that, of game speed.

Some mechanics we take for granted and may learn on our own throughout life, such as running or throwing a ball. Unfortunately, there may be flaws with the technique since some individuals may not have be given proper coaching on the specialized technique. In this case, proper technique can be introduced to the individual to help perfect form.

Secondary Methods

Secondary methods involve sprint resistance and sprint assistance:

Sprint Resistance - Also known as an overload effect, the idea is to use resistance in some form to improve explosive strength and stride length. Examples of resistance that can be applied in such a situation would be gravity (running up a grade like stairs or a slope) or such apparatus such as parachutes or weighted vests.

Sprint Assistance - By using assistance techniques such as running downhill or a high-speed towing apparatus, the aim is to maintain proper running form but increase stride frequency.

Tertiary Methods

Tertiary methods are broken down into mobility, strength and speed-endurance categories:

Mobility - Athletic tasks require specific ranges of motion (ROM). If an individual does not use their full mobility at a certain joint or limb, they can impact performance or even increase their likelihood of injury. For example, someone who is running, if there is not enough mobility at the hip joint, there could too much braking effect caused by the foot strike on the ground. Proper stretching and flexibility should be used by all to maintain proper range of motion.

Strength - In order for individuals to improve their speed and agility, their resistance training program should include explosive, quick movements. This does not necessarily mean that only light weights with high velocity should be used. Resistance training that targets a wide range of muscular fiber types should be employed.

Speed-Endurance - To train for speed-endurance events, athletes must use a wide variety of training styles including short-duration intense training as well as long-duration, less-intense exercises.

-Tyler Robbins
B.Sc. PTS