Speed Training

[bdog3741]

Who does your teams speed training during the off season. Your coaches or do they bring in outside "expert" instructors? Can anyone tell a difference in their program if they have done it both ways? Does 4 or 5 weeks in the summer really make enough difference that its worth the 3-5000 dollars it cost for an entire team? Give all the feed back you can.

Edited November 18, 2004 by bdog3741

[tlove13]

Who does your teams speed training during the off season.  Your coaches or do they bring in outside "expert" instructors?  Can anyone tell a difference in their program if they have done it both ways?  Does 4 or 5 weeks in the summer really make  enough difference that its worth the 3-5000 dollars it cost for an entire team?  Give all the feed back you can.

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surely to goodness, you all have a certified coach who knows the updated speed and strength techniques. like strength training, it's a year around process with flexibility, speed, explosion,etc. 4 weeks that late in the off-season process is a waste of money. use that money for speed equipment (chutes, resistant cords,etc.)

good luck.

[bdog3741]

surely to goodness, you all have a certified coach who knows the updated speed and strength techniques. like strength training, it's a year around process with flexibility, speed, explosion,etc. 4 weeks that late in the off-season process is a waste of money. use that money for speed equipment (chutes, resistant cords,etc.)

good luck.

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I agree on all parts with you.

 

anyone else have an opinion?

[bigchief]

Unfortunately, many high school's idea of a strength coach is an assistant football coach that sits at a desk and reads the paper while the kids do nothing but bench press and curl or whatever the workout in this month's Muscle and Fiction is. Then they go outside and run a mile and think that will make them faster. Many of the high school weight programs are an absolute waste of time. You get what you pay for. Invest in your program, and you will reap the rewards. I know that Hillwood has found that out. 21-2 over the last two years. The kids have to believe in the program as well. If they see you running the weight program in a half-$$$ manner, they will approach it the same way.

[bdog3741]

Unfortunately, many high school's idea of a strength coach is an assistant football coach that sits at a desk and reads the paper while the kids do nothing but bench press and curl or whatever the workout in this month's Muscle and Fiction is.  Then they go outside and run a mile and think that will make them faster.  Many of the high school weight programs are an absolute waste of time.  You get what you pay for.  Invest in your program, and you will reap the rewards.  I know that Hillwood has found that out. 21-2 over the last two years.  The kids have to believe in the program as well. If they see you running the weight program in a half-$$$ manner, they will approach it the same way.

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Who runs Hillwood's conditioning program? Coaches?

[bigchief]

It is designed by a non-football coach, but implemented by several.

[LEONARDSLOSERS]

This may sound crazy, but it works for good 40 times. Have your kids do 3- 1 minute speed burns on a stationary bike, every other workout day, or 2 times a week. The setting should be on a medium resistance. They need to pedal as fast as they can for as long as they can. Then peddle slowly but constently for the whole minute. This should be done every 15 minutes. It gets their leg motion going forward and up and down. They have to pedal as fast as they can for as long a time as they can though. It is the closest thing to running without pounding your knees and feet. They will build up endurance and get longer as the workouts go. 75% of athletes legs don't do straight turnover. This straight conditioned leg movement sort of trains their leg motion. It does not help top end though. It is strictly for take off and 20 to 30 yard stregnth. Many kids run with an akward motion. Oh well that is my two cents, take it for what is is worth.

[AlcoaBoi]

Alcoa has a very good strenth and conditioning staff. In the offseason they conmpleted a variety of tasks to improve on mobility, technique and quickness as it shows this season with both sides of the ball playing very well and most of the players play both ways. All high school weight programs isn't a joke.

[THSViking]

Our school has installed the BFS program for the entire athletic department this year. All athletes are now doing the same strength and conditioning program.

 

I don't know how it will go for an entire program, but it has shown great results for the football team who have been using the program for several years now.

[bigchief]

I didn't say that all of them were a joke. I said many of them and they are.

[bigchief]

BFS has some good qualities to it. The best part for most is that it is incredibly easy to set up and implement. The bad part is the coach doesn't have to actually think, just hand them their workout card. Many do not know how to properly teach the lifts. They also do not know how to adapt when changes need to be made to continue improvement. BFS is actually a pretty good program for the beginner because it focuses on the "big" core lifts and rotates rep schemes instead of just saying do 5x5, 3x10 etc. However, it does grow stale, just like any program with no adaptability, and that is where knowledge and background will have to come in. Also, it places way too much emphasis on the bench press, just like most high school programs do anyway. It is a good basic upper-body strength move, but that is it. The ground-based jammer will be much more beneficial for football than the bench. If you are laying on your back and pushing up then you just got pancaked. Closed chain exercises translate better to all fields of play. thumb

Edited November 18, 2004 by bigchief

[Grey Ghost]

I will attempt to address several points in the replies above. First off, it takes about 6 weeks to peak the speed of a conditioned athlete. So, there is plenty of time in the summer to develop speed if they already have a base level of strength. What I mean by base level of strength is that they have been squatting, cleaning, and lunging. All power comes from the hips. Your legs are your wheels, and your hips & butt is your engine. Your not going to put thousand dollar wheels and tires on a car with a 4-cylinder. That would be stupid. The winter off-season program should be focused on base level strength & flexibility. In the spring the program should advance to a developmental strength phase, including progressive core and agility/balance training. Linear speed training doesn't need to really be introduced until the summer as the peak power strength protocol is inserted. The game of football involves very little speed anyway. The 40 is not an assessment of speed, but rather an assessment of acceleration. The 100m measures speed. It takes 32-37 meters to reach full speed. Football is a game of acceleration and change of direction. Now, to train acceleration and speed, you must train with acceleration and speed. This is the importance of cleans. Cleans are a triple extension movement, just like coming out of the blocks or exploding off of the line of scrimmage. A single clean should be accomplished in 0.2-0.3 sec, as this is the time it takes our biomechanical system to develop peak power. Train speed with speed, and explosion with explosion. You have to match the biomechanical demands of the game with biomechanical movements in the weight room and on the training field. Running long distance will actually decrease power in your athletes, thereby making them slower. Your intermediate type IIA muscle (slow glycolytic) fibers are the only one that can be trained to become more fast-twitch or more slow-twitch. Your genetic code determines true fast-twitch to slow-twitch ratios, and you can't change this. But you do have control over the intermediate fibers. This is why it is so important to have ample rest between sets when training for explosion. Old school coaches think we should run 40 after 40 after 40 with only a few seconds rest between each one, but this just makes the athlete run slower. You must allow time for the regeneration of ATP-Creatine in the muscles, because this provides the immediate energy needed for anaerobic activities, such as sprinting and jumping. The athlete should fully have their wind back before every running the next sprint. If the athlete is not allowed enough rest between each drill to perform that drill at maximum effort, then you are not training speed and quickness, you are training endurance. For strength, balance and flexibility throughout the core and hips is often overlooked. Everything happens at the hips. Success in football and basketball is largely dependent on an athlete's ability to explode powerfully from the hips. Hips and legs create the summation of forces necessary for the upper-body to be powerful in a closed kinetic chain position in space. This is why Roger Clemens has been so good for so long. It is not because he works out his upper-body all the time. Nobody's shoulder alone can endure all the pitches he has thrown. Clemens creates this power from his legs, hips, and core. His shoulder and arm is just a result of these forces that have accumulated from the lower body. So much power has reached his shoulder by the time he's stepping of the mound that his arm doesn't have to endure much strain. His lower body does all the work and his arm is just the tool to let the ball go. But going back to what one guy said, it is true. If your kids don't believe in your program, it will falter, despite the fact that it may be the most scientifically advanced program in the world. Science means nothing on paper. It comes down to how it is implemented and applied in the athlete's lifestyle. I say lifestyle because that's what it must become. Coaches should be trying to instill healthy living habits. We want our physical training to transcend beyond the playing field. We are in the business of encouraging healthy lifestyles that becomes a naturally desired part of their person. Anyway, I could go on and on about strength and conditioning programs, but I can't give away too many of my secrets, ha ha.