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TRAINING
TO INCREASE SPEED - PART ONE
Steve Daisey MPT, CSCS
While top speed may be born, the ability to accelerate is not. This
can be improved easily through training, and is done routinely in
collegiate and professional sports.
When sprinting, top speed is not reached until at least 30 yards into
the race. In sports such as football, basketball and soccer, the game
is won often in less than 10 yards. Here are some tips to help young
athletes improve their short-range speed:
1) First, you need to PRACTICE speed. At least once per week, practicing
15-20 wind sprints (10-30 yards) with a 1-3 minute rest in between
is essential to gaining speed. Studies show that simply practicing
speed can increase overall performance (1)
2) Acceleration and speed is produced through rapid arm swing. The
arms drive the feet. The harder and faster the arms turn over, the
faster the feet will go. As you sprint, concentrate on driving the
arms back as hard and fast as possible. Take every thought out of
your head except this one. Your shoulders and upper back will probably
be sore the next day.
3) Relax your hands. Holding a fist creates excessive tension through
the arms and slows down arm turnover
4) Strike on the BALL of the foot, not heel-toe. Heel-toe is for jogging.
5) If arm mechanics are poor, the arms will swing across the body,
rather than on the side. This throws the forces from the arms to the
side, and will slow you down since you are trying to run forward.
This is an indication of poor core strength, especially at the abdominals.
Sit-ups or crunches will not help, as the abdominals are being used
much differently in sprinting. A good exercise is getting in a straight
push-up position and walking in a circle on your hands, never letting
your hips rise up. Do 2-3 sets of this twice a week until the abdominals
are tired and burning.
6) Body angle at initial take-off is EXTREMELY important (2). Watch
athletes with a quicker first step/acceleration than others and you
will notice they are angled further to the ground (almost 45°)
than those around them. This can be taught easily to coaches and trainers
to perform with their athletes.
These are just a few of many methods for improving speed. Sled training
with weights for example, is excellent for improving sprinting mechanics.
REFERENCES:
1. Dawson B , et
al: Changes in performance, muscle metabolites, enzymes and fibre
types after short sprint training. Eur J Appl Physiol Occup Physiol
1998 Jul;78(2):163-9.
2. Hunter JP, Marshall
RN, McNair PJ: Interaction of step length and step rate during sprint
running. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2004 Feb;36(2):261-71. |
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