Here are two variations of a speed and agilitydrill we use with the athletes who train at our facility. Both iterations of this drill focus on acceleration, deceleration, change of direction, and foot speed.
In this drill, our athletes start with a five-yard sprint; lateral (side-to-side) slalom-shuffle five yards (cones placed one yard apart); sprint five yards; lateral slalom-shuffle five yards; and finish with a five yard sprint.
In this drill, our athletes start with a five-yard sprint; linear (forward-backward) slalom-shuffle five yards (cones placed one yard apart); sprint five yards; linear slalom-shuffle five yards; and finish with a five yard sprint.
Your thoughts?
WE BUILD STRONGER ATHLETES!
We provide motivated athletes with a simple, customized training plan to help them improve performance and reduce injury risk.
There is a positive correlation between vertical and horizontal jumps (standing long jumps) and muscular performance in athletes, according to research from the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research (JSCR).
At our facility, we favor contrast training — a strength exercise immediately followed by a power (explosive) exercise; for example, the squat followed by the squat jump. Our athletes perform vertical and horizontal jumps, and plyometrics as the preferred modes of lower-body power training.
In the JSCR study, both vertical and horizontal jumps showed a significant correlation to sprint speed. Bilateral and unilateral (single-leg) countermovement jumps, drop jumps, and squat jumps improved muscle architecture and sprint performance.
Unilateral jumps appear to have an even larger correlation to sprint speed than their bilateral counterparts.
Based on this information, strength and conditioning professionals can further improve their athletes’ performance by incorporating horizontal jumps — including unilateral jumps — into their training regimen.
Your thoughts?
WE BUILD STRONGER ATHLETES!
We provide motivated athletes with a simple, customized training plan to help them improve performance and reduce injury risk.
Strength and speed development start in the weight room. Stronger and faster is the foundation for athletic performance improvement.
But you can’t do it all in the weight room. What you do outside the weight room will also have an impact on your performance. Speed and agility training, sport-specific skill development, nutrition, rest and recovery, and mental preparation also complement and play an important role in your development as an athlete.
Strong and fast is important, but it won’t help you overcome weak ball-handling and shooting skills. Regardless of the sport(s) you play, skills practice — with proper technique and lots of repetition — will be critical to your progress and success as an athlete. Time spent on the court, in the batting cage, etc. should focus on quality, and a knowledgeable, experienced coach or trainer can be a valuable resource to make the developmental process more efficient and effective. Video is also a great tool for performance development (the camera never lies).
Eating the right foods — quantity and quality — is important for two reasons: energy and recovery. Before you exercise, practice, or play, your nutritional choices help to ensure that you will have adequate energy to perform optimally. Afterward, the proper balance of nutrients helps with your body’s recovery process, preparing your body for next time. You should aim to get most of your nutrients from whole foods, and nutritional supplements (multi-vitamin, protein) can also be helpful — especially since active individuals and athletes have a considerably higher need for nutrients to support an active metabolism.
When it comes to strength and speed development, more is not necessarily better. The goal should be to avoid burnout and injury caused by over-training, doing as much as you need to do to reach your performance goals, and not necessarily as much as you can (please note this does not mean do as little as you can). Since training places physical and metabolic stress on your body, rest and recovery is necessary for your musculoskeletal system’s regenerative process. Generally, there is a correlation between the intensity of your training and the amount of rest required by your body to continue to perform at an optimal level. Make sure you allow for adequate rest during and between workouts, and get a good night’s sleep.
In addition to preparing your body, you’ve got to prepare your mind. Elements of effective mental preparation include goal setting, visualization, focus, confidence, and commitment. Be a smart athlete — a student of the game. Be positive and adaptable, and utilize positive self-talk as a motivator. Expect success and prepare accordingly.
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WE BUILD STRONGER ATHLETES!
We provide motivated athletes with a simple, customized training plan to help them improve performance and reduce injury risk.
In 2008 — after a 20-year career in the pharmaceutical industry — I began pursuit of a dream. My dream was fueled by my four children, all capable student-athletes. I wanted to help them train for their sports and improve their performance; teach them the value of working toward a goal; and help them develop a competitive edge. I expanded my reach to their friends and teammates; interacted and learned from other trainers, coaches, and administrators; and got to work providing evidence-based Strength and Conditioning for anyone interested, willing, and committed to improving their athletic performance. That was the beginning of what has now become my passion; working with hundreds of athletes in pursuit of stronger, faster, and better. That was the birth of Athletic Performance Training Center (APTC).
Having recently expanded to our fourth facility, the APTC dream continues to grow. We work (and have worked) with several hundred athletes as young as age 5, professional athletes, and everyone in between. We are fortunate to have the opportunity to work with so many dedicated clients.
Over the past 15 years, APTC has helped prepare athletes for the “next level” whether that is high school, college, or the pros. We have been called upon to prepare athletes for college and professional pro days and combines. If you are an aspiring athlete, and looking to go to the next level, here is some advice — stuff that I’ve learned over the past 8 years in the industry. There’s more to athletic performance than you think.
It’s More Than Just Hard Work
It’s important to work hard, but you’ve also got to work smart. Most athletes believe if they work hard — in the weight room and on the court or field — they can be successful. Unfortunately, this antiquated way of thinking is probably not going to get athletes to the top of their game. Working hard in the weight room won’t get you far if your plan — including exercise selection, intensity, sets, reps, rest intervals, etc. — is not aligned with your goal. Likewise, you can practice your ball-handling and shooting in the gym all day; but if you’re practicing with flawed form, mechanics, and technique, your improvement will be limited, at best. And, of course, in addition to physical training, factors like nutrition, rest, and mental preparation will have a considerable effect on your performance. This is where a knowledgeable strength and/or skills coach can be an asset by providing quality guidance and direction.
It’s More Than Just Off-Season Training
Training is not a “sometimes” thing; it is an “all the time” thing — it’s year-round. You need to train during the off-season, pre-season, and in-season (with appropriate intensity, frequency, volume, and rest along the way); and it’s important to have a periodized, progressive plan to address each stage of training. This can become somewhat complicated when athletes play multiple sports throughout the year (and claim not to have the time), but a knowledgeable trainer can develop an effective plan to address each cycle to ensure optimal performance. If athletes are not training, they are not improving. And if they are not improving, they are compromising their potential. During the season, it’s important to incorporate one or two lifting sessions per week to maintain the gains they made in the off-season. In-season training helps athletes enhance recovery from their sport practices and games; protects against getting “worn down” over the course of the season; and helps keep muscles and joints strong to prevent against injury.
It’s More Than Just the Bench Press and Bicep Curl
Don’t get me wrong, the bench press is a great upper body exercise, but your training shouldn’t revolve around your chest and arms. Strength and power — for any sport — emanate from the core, specifically the lower core. The hips, quadriceps, and posterior chain — lower-back, glutes, and hamstrings — are crucial to your performance. If you are strong throughout your core, you have the potential to be a strong, fast, and powerful athlete. If you are not strong throughout this area, there’s nothing you can do to compensate for it. Weakness in the muscles of your core and posterior chain also puts you at a greater risk for injury. Squats, deadlifts, glute-ham raises, and Romanian deadlifts are excellent exercises for the core and posterior chain musculature.
Warmup is More Than Just Stretching
Prior to every strength and/or speed training session, make sure you warmup properly. That means more than just a quick lap around the track or a few quick stretches. The best, knowledgeable athletes, trainers, and coaches know that performing a dynamic (movement-based) warmup — before training, practices, or games — is the way to go. Dynamic warmup involves movements that mimic and reflect the demands of your workout or sport-specific activity. It increases temperature of and blood flow to working muscles; improves mobility and range-of-motion; and decreases the chance of injury. Static stretching is an outdated mode of warmup that has been found to reduce strength and power production in the short-term; relax and elongate working muscles (thus not preparing them for force production); and it does not reduce the incidence of injury, nor does it help minimize post-workout soreness. If you absolutely insist on static stretching, do it after practice and training.
Speed is More Than Just Running
Speed is a skill, and speed development starts in the weight room. Speed requires strength and power training. The stronger and more powerful you are throughout your core and lower extremities, the more force you can generate against the ground, which translates to speed, agility, and vertical jump ability. Additionally, technique is a vital component of speed. When speed training, athletes need to perform exercises and drills with perfect form and mechanics. Head position, arm action, leg drive, stride frequency, and stride length are all factors that influence running speed. Without an understanding of the right way to approach speed and agility training, it will be difficult to achieve your potential as an athlete.
It’s More Than Just You
Finally, if you are committed to being the best you can be, you won’t be able to do it without some help. In addition to the support of your family and friends, you should look to find competent, qualified individuals with experience and expertise in the areas of strength and conditioning, and sport-specific skill development. It’s important to have a plan, and equally important for your plan to be aligned with your goals. There’s a big difference between activity and productivity; all movement is not progress.
Your thoughts?
WE BUILD STRONGER ATHLETES!
We provide motivated athletes with a simple, customized training plan to help them improve performance and reduce injury risk.
There are many factors that affect force production (the amount of force produced in a muscle, or muscles). Improvements in force production can optimize sport-specific skill performance, including running, jumping, throwing, and hitting/striking.
Lift Heavy
Lifting heavy weight (e.g, 65-80% 1RM) produces greater tension in the muscle which, in turn, leads to greater motor unit (neuromuscular) recruitment, which affects force production. The number of active motor units is directly proportional to the amount of force production. (It should also be noted that heavy lifting and explosive concentric training [see below] have the potential to activate more fast-twitch muscle fibers)
Preloading
Preloading is the tension developed in the muscle before you move the weight. When you bench press, deadlift, or squat, you can’t move the bar off the rack or floor until sufficient force is developed in the muscle to overcome the inertia of the barbell.
Overload Eccentric Training
Use very heavy resistance (≥ 100% 1RM) to perform “negatives,” which emphasize the lowering phase/movement of a lift. For safety reasons, it may be advisable to use a spotter (or spotters) for certain exercises, such as the bench press, to assist in returning the weight to the original (up) position.
Explosive Concentric Training
When training for explosive concentric movements — where the goal is generating velocity — use relatively light resistance.
Plyometrics
Plyometric exercises exploit the stretch-shortening cycle to generate maximum force in minimum time. This involves “prestretching” a muscle immediately before a concentric action to enhance force production during the subsequent muscle action.
Rest
It’s important to incorporate rest days into your training regimen in order to allow muscles time to recover and repair.
Your thoughts?
WE BUILD STRONGER ATHLETES!
We provide motivated athletes with a simple, customized training plan to help them improve performance and reduce injury risk.
When aerobic training is added to the training of anaerobic athletes (those who participate in sports whose demands are primarily anaerobic), the resulting process can be termed combination training.
And, although lots of athletes who participate in strength and power sports also engage in some type of aerobic training, they may want to reconsider (please refer to, Why Are You Still Jogging?).
Certainly, some sports have more of an aerobic component than others, but virtually all sports integrate alternating intervals — short bursts — of high-intensity and (relatively) lower-intensity activity. Characteristics of anaerobic training include:
Absence of oxygen
High intensity
Short duration
Develops force
Burns calories even when the body is at rest
Aerobic training may reduce anaerobic performance capabilities, particularly high-strength, high-power performance (Hickson, R.C. Interference of strength development by simultaneously training for strength and endurance. Eur. J. Appl. Physiol. 215:255-263. 1980). High-strength, high-power performance incorporates explosive, “all-or-nothing” movements, including sprinting, jumping, hitting, throwing, kicking, blocking, and tackling.
Not only has aerobic training been shown to reduce anaerobic energy production capabilities; combined anaerobic and aerobic training can reduce the gain in muscle girth, maximum strength, and especially speed- and power-related performance (Dudley, G.A., and R. Djamil. Incompatibility of endurance- and strength-training modes of exercise. J. Appl. Physiol. 59(5); 1446-1451. 1985).
Apparently, it does not appear that the opposite holds true; several studies and reviews suggest that anaerobic training (strength training) can improve low-intensity exercise endurance (Hickson, R.C., et.al. Potential for strength and endurance training to amplify endurance performance. J. Appl. Physiol. 65(5):2285-2290. 1988. Strength training effects on aerobic power and short-term endurance. Med.Sci. Sports. Exerc. 12:336-339, 1980. Stone, M.H., et.al. Health and performance related adaptations to resistive training. Sports Med. 11(4):210-231. 1991). In other words, endurance athletes can benefit from and improve performance by strength training.
As strength and conditioning professionals, we should be careful about prescribing aerobic training for anaerobic athletes/sports. An athlete’s training should be designed to reflect the demands and movement patterns of his or her sport. Aerobic training may be counterproductive in most strength and power sports.
Your thoughts?
WE BUILD STRONGER ATHLETES!
We provide motivated athletes with a simple, customized training plan to help them improve performance and reduce injury risk.
Ideally, the purpose of an agility drill should be to develop the athlete’s proficiency in as many of the following skill areas as possible:
Acceleration
Deceleration
Change of Direction
Reaction
Foot Speed
Here are two of our student-athletes — both high school sophomore football players — demonstrating an agility cone drill, performed both laterally and linearly.
Improvements in athletic performance begin with lower-body strength and power development. Hip/quad exercises, like squats and leg presses, are great but, if you’re not working the muscles of your posterior chain, you’re only doing half the job. (please refer to, Don’t Neglect Your Glutes and Hamstrings)
Your posterior chain includes the muscles of the glutes and hamstrings. Your glutes are responsible for hip extension, while knee flexion is a function of the hamstrings.
Why is it so important for athletes to perform exercises that focus on the glutes and hamstrings? Here’s the deal: The glutes are a primary muscle group involved in virtually every sports movement — including sprinting, jumping, throwing, kicking, and swinging. The hamstrings are important for eccentric muscle movements, like decelerating when you slow down, stop, or change direction; or land after jumping.
Glute-ham exercises should be incorporated into your training regimen, every time you workout. Working these two important muscle groups can help athletes improve speed and power; enhance balance and stability; and reduce the risk of injury.
Two of our favorite glute-hamstring exercises are the Glute-Ham Raise (pictured) and Romanian Deadlift (RDL). We like our athletes to perform them as an agonist-antagonist paired set (superset), combining them with a hip/quad focused exercise like a squat or deadlift.
A typical superset might look something like this:
Barbell Back Squat, 4-6 reps at about 80% 1RM
Body-weight squat jump, 4-6 reps (more advanced athletes can hold dumbbells at their sides when doing this exercise)
Body-weight Glute-Ham Raise, 4-6 reps (focus on lowering movement; lower body to a 4-second count; assist to upright position; this exercise can also be weighted, for more proficient athletes)
All three exercises should be performed consecutively, with little or no rest between them. Rest for 10-15 seconds between sets (after Glute-Ham raise). Perform 3-4 sets.
Your thoughts?
WE BUILD STRONGER ATHLETES!
We provide motivated athletes with a simple, customized training plan to help them improve performance and reduce injury risk.
One of our preferred strategies when training athletes (and virtually every other client) involves minimizing rest intervals among and between sets. Maintaining an “up-tempo” pace — keeping the heart rate up during a workout — results in continuous improvement, regardless of fitness level.
There’s no need to be in the weight room all day. Most of our clients’ sessions are about 45-50 minutes in duration, and there’s very little “down” time. They get in, get their work done, and get out (and recover).
We’ve found that agonist-antagonist paired sets (working opposing muscle groups — pushing and pulling — e.g., the bench press and row) are a great way to maintain an aggressive workout tempo, improve workout efficiency, and reduce training time, while not compromising workout quality. This strategy strengthens and stabilizes joints, and helps prevent injury. Our athletes and clients perform the paired exercises, back-to-back, completing all sets with as little rest as they can manage, then rest for one minute before proceeding to the next pair of exercises.
We also vary our training programs, changing exercises weekly, while ensuring that each session is a total-body workout, engaging all 7 movement patterns and all 3 planes of motion. Performing different exercises for similar muscle movements is important to keep workouts challenging.
High-intensity interval training (HIIT) is another terrific way to maintain an efficient, up-tempo workout. HIIT involves alternating high- and low-intensity exercise over a pre-determined period of time. We like a ratio of 1:3, high-intensity to low-intensity, as a benchmark, depending on the athlete’s/client’s fitness level.
Your thoughts?
WE BUILD STRONGER ATHLETES!
We provide motivated athletes with a simple, customized training plan to help them improve performance and reduce injury risk.
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Here are two variations of a speed and agility drill we use with the athletes who train at our facility. Both iterations of this drill focus on acceleration, deceleration, change of direction, and foot speed.![StandingLongJump[1]](https://athleticperformancetc.files.wordpress.com/2015/04/standinglongjump1.jpg)
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Athletic Performance Training Center 