Assessing maximum velocity for athletes requires planning and forethought. The test itself yields considerable amounts of data. Interpreting that data involves numerous factors. One especially important element is repeating the test over a period of several years to chart long-term improvement.
Read More6 Reasons Why Athletes Need to Develop Maximal Speed
Most coaches either ignore or overlook maximal speed development. This is a mistake. The benefits of maximal speed include improved acceleration and injury prevention.
Read MoreThe 6 Top Conditioning Workouts for Speed and Power Athletes
Without proper conditioning, power and speed work can collapse like a house of cards. These six types of conditioning workouts range from pool sessions and cycling all the way through to the “nuclear meltdown.” You’re likely to find plenty of useful tips to help your athletes improve.
Read MoreThe MLS and NFL Combine – Speed and Jump Testing Decoded
Every winter for one month, the combines for the National Football League and Major League Soccer draw a huge amount of attention in the media for what is simply a day of performance testing. Yet, after the combines players seem never to get tested again making me wonder if the numbers are so valuable shouldn’t teams test again to see if they are getting better, staying the same, or getting worse. This article will review two points that everyone should know: that testing is important, and you must be able to understand the relationships and limits of jumping and sprinting.
Read MoreProject Springbok: Break Conditioning Test Records and Make your Opponents Suffer
Two years ago Hakan Andersson sent me a research study on a Springbok, a deer in Africa that can run fast and run far. That made me think about the limits of the combination of speed and endurance for team sports. What I have done over the last few years is test cutting-edge programs no matter how demanding, and found out what works and what doesn’t work. Everyone wants to be fast in team sports, but the compromise of being deadly in the final minutes of regulation is the Holy Grail in sports.
Read MoreThe Science of Running – 5 Hidden Secrets I Love
In the fantastic book The Science of Running, Steve Magness outlines a wonderful primer for endurance running, but it should just be seen as a manifesto on training in general. I have read the book six times already as every chapter is well written and practical. No one has found a way to take the science and make it applied in the endurance world more than Steve, and if I was on an island and had only a backpack of books this would be in it. What are the lessons? I picked five because of the Olympic rings, but one can get a hundred or more different nuggets of wisdom from his book.
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