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Get Fast and Agile!
Welcome to the Speed, Agility and Quickness Homepage! We'll cover speed and agility training for all sports. Follow these programs and you'll be faster in no time!
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Lessons From Sprinting With the Elite
Matt Delaney
Two Years ago, I had the pleasure of training every day and sometimes multiple times per day with 2008 Olympian in the 110 hurdles, Hector Cotto, and his coach Carl Valle. It was an awesome experience from which I learned so much on speed development and being in great shape. At the time, I already had a great strength base from Olympic lifts, and could clean 300lbs easily weighing only 170lbs, but I had no idea what I was in for. On a daily basis and sometimes multiple times per day, I was sprinting, reading material provided by Carl Valle, and watching a world class hurdler on a daily basis. It was an awesome experience and one I couldn't put a price on. Here are a few lessons I learned. . . .
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Should Sprinting and Jumping Athletes Do Plyometrics?
Keats Snideman
Probably one of the most commonly used (and abused) methods of performance-enhancement for sprinters and indeed all running and jumping athletes is "plyometrics." Plyometrics can be defined as movements that involve fast eccentric muscle actions followed by dynamic and explosive concentric actions (aka, the stretch-shortening cycle). The best example of a plyometric drill that comes to mind is the classic "depth jump" exercise where an athlete drops off a box or step of some pre-determined height. Upon hitting the floor the athlete concentrates on explosively jumping into the air as high as possible. The purpose of this method is to "shock" the body and nervous system to produce higher levels of muscle tension and force than would normally be possible without the preceding drop. In fact, the "father" and creator of modern day plyometrics, Yuri Verkoshansky of Russia, originally named the plyometric method the "shock" method. To understand how such a system of exercises could be beneficial or detrimental to sprinting, jumping, and indeed all athletes, let's take a closer look at basic muscle function during movement. . . .
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Treadmill Testing
Michael Boyle
I often get questions about the treadmill fitness tests we use with our athletes. Basically we have two tests that we like. Both tests are difficult "run to exhaustion" type tests. These are for athletes or highly trained individuals and should not be used to evaluate beginners. . . .
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Should Sprinters Squat? Part 1
By Rob Williams, MS, CSCS, PES
Over the past few months there has been a lot of controversy around the back squat and it made me do a lot of thinking, this was shortly after I recorded a PR (personal record) in the back squat, 405lb bare foot with no belt at 200lb, I felt like I was starting to get strong, based on the strength athlete standard of you're only strong when you can squat 2x's your bodyweight. Then a respected strength coach named Michael Boyle put out a video suggesting that back squats should be removed from all strength training programming based on the fact that the primary weak link is the lower back. To make matters more interesting internationally respected strength coach and physical therapist Gray Cook also argues that the back squat is only useful for lifting as much external load (weight) as possible but for athletics the focus should be on function. . . .
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Does It All Come Down to the First Ten Yards?
Michael Boyle
I have always been a ten yard dash proponent. When we test speed, regardless of sport we test the ten yard dash. In fact, I wrote an article previously that questioned whether we really ever tested speed in most team sports. If we choose to be specific, what we really evaluate with tests like the 40 yard dash is acceleration. The best sprinters in the world accelerate for up to sixty meters. That means that each ten yard split continues to get lower up to sixty meters in a world-class sprint race. A forty yard dash is a test of acceleration ability, not speed if we want to get our physics right.
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The Introduction of Closed System Drills to Improve Initial Accelerative Sprint
At Springfield College.
Dan Liburd
My interest in investigating sprint training techniques for field sports was mainly influenced by two separate incidents: an article in the New York Times on speed movement titled, "The First Step for the Knicks: Learn the Right Way to Run" and my recent coaching experience with a DII Field Hockey program. The author reports on how New York Knicks Strength and Conditioning Coach Greg Brittenham employed sprint training exercises to educate his NBA athletes on correct running form. Coach Brittenham provides insight into coaching philosophy by explaining the importance of sprinting in basketball. He offers an example of where good sprint mechanics are necessary in the game of basketball. He states: . . .
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Reactive Agility Training
Tyler Fagan
Reactive agility may be the most underrated and underused training method for athletes. Think about it, how often in a game does Allen Iverson or Ladanian Tomlinson know where a defender will be, how fast they will be attacking them, and from what angle? The answer is they don't. They rely on their gifts of instinct and reaction to their environment to make a highlight move. Moves like this cannot be taught, you either have it or you don't, right?
Wrong! . . .
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The ONE and ONLY Way to Improve Your 40!
Mike Boyle
Tips and Drills on how to improve your 40 from Mike Boyle - the person who established the concept of the 'combine camp'. One of his athlete, Mike Mamula, is produced the greatest single day performance in Combine history jumping him from 3rd round to 8th overall pick! . . .
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