Building A Speed Foundation


Coach Andy Helper from www.heplerstrength.com and I were talking about how many athletes have goals of becoming faster. They are misguided in thinking that can be achieved by only incorporating speed drills or jumping drills. It is part of the equation-but will not happen if you do not have a proper strength foundation. How do you build a proper foundation and why is it important? I have never seen a fast athlete that was weak. In fact, I was told that Ben Johnson was squatting 675 lbs when he broke the 100m sprint world record at a weight of 175 lbs.

I am not saying that an athlete has to squat such a large amount of weight...but you have to be strong for your bodyweight. For example, two athletes can weigh 170 lbs, but if one squats 180 lbs and the other one squat 300 lbs the stronger athlete will most likely be faster. It is just how it is. If you can apply more force into the ground, send faster signals from the brain to the muscles, or activate the fast twitch fibers you will be faster. There are two sure fire ways to activate the fast twitch fibers and that is to get stronger or do explosive drills.

Don't tell me you need to work on speed drills if you cannot do 10 proper push ups, 8 pull ups, and can squat your own bodyweight. That is where I think fitness professionals go wrong. They attack 5 different goals when the athlete clearly needs to improve their strength foundation. Young athlete's parents must realize that the development process is a 4 year process while in high school. Why do you want your athlete to be at their best their freshman year? Build the athlete by teaching them proper nutritional habits, increase joint mobility, proper exercise technique, their 4 quarter capacity, and gradually increase their strength. I promise you as they improve their strength they will become faster.

I am a firm believer in keeping it simple. A young athlete that has just started weight training might be very limited in their exercise selection. It helps their brain to learn how to perform the movement quickly and efficienlty. It makes sense...the more you practice a movement the better you will be at it. Trust me at such an early training age they will not over train. Of course, as they get older the exercises will have to be modified so they do not create imabalances or have overuse injuries. The basic exercises we like to use is a squat movement, pressing movement, pulling movement, and posterior chain/core movement. For example, Box Squat,Weighted Push Up, Pull Ups, Hip Bridge. A stronger athlete with lower body fat will amaze you on how much faster they become. I guess keeping it simple actually works. Next time a coach tries to tell you that your child just needs to perform endless drills remind them of building a strength foundation.

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