Speed and Agility Training

The majority of us have trained at some point in our lives. Odds are that if you have ever taken your training seriously you  may have used a training journal or a training log.  No matter if you are training casually for fitness and recreation or if you are earnestly involved in speed and agility training, you can benefit from maintaining a journal of this sort.

The major difference between training journals and training logs, is what you write down in them following each workout session. Training journals are just that. They are more of a journal rather than a log. They will typically consist of things like your mental outlook at the time and how you felt over the course of the day or during your workout. You may want to include information about climatic conditions, training location, workout partners, and things of that kind. They can reach a bit into some statistical information but this is normally kept for a training record.

Training logs are usually shaped off of some type of a outline. For instance, everyday you fill out a sheet containing the same fields. Things like current weight, what physical exercises were being completed, diet information, are all things that might be put in a training log on a day to day basis. Distances run, amount of weight used, length and number of reps done and other sorts of training specific information is often included.  A log of speed and agility drills would probably include all the various drills that were done in previous sessions.

I would not suggest going exclusively one route or the other, both journaling and logging are important to keep an effective account of your past. You will discover through experience that for convenience sake, it’s good to have the two combined together in some way.  This way it’s always easy to remember to do both.

Advantages of Documenting Your Work Out

The number one benefit of documenting your training is to have a complete history to look back on. This could be extremely helpful in terms of planning for example to discover what has worked for you and what hasn’t. It’s very helpful for determining reasons for injuries or for times of burnout. The idea is to discover more about the things that influence your training and performance over time and adapt your current training regimen or behavior by taking those factors into account. Speed and agility training can benefit a lot from these. They are especially beneficial if you are keeping up with a specific speed and agility program that has several components.

Have you ever sat down and tried to plan out training with nothing to work with? If you have something to look back upon with a complete description of what you’ve done over the past few weeks it’s simple to plan ahead.  It will effectively enhance your workout intensity, etc to improve for the future.  A good illustration would be speed exercises.  Documenting distances, times, and coaching observations will help keep you focused on the vital elements of the training and provide you with a road map of sorts.

A complete journal is also really nice to have just for personal use, and to be able to look back on past months and years, to remember different accounts. You may even elect to create a blog or some articles someday and it will make a great source of information about your experiences.

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Aerobic endurance and how to increase your aerobic performance is a pretty big topic.  There is an endless amount of data and advice on the subject and it’s easy to be overwhelmed by all of that information.  To make it simple, let’s look at the basics of increasing aerobic endurance that you can use to increase the effectiveness of your speed and agility training and overall performance.

What is Aerobic Endurance?
To put it simply, aerobic endurance is the body’s capacity for processing oxygen and circulating it through the body within a set period of time.  The higher the capacity your body has to circulate oxygen and convert it to energy – the higher your aerobic endurance.  Think of the aerobic system (also known as oxidative system) as the energy system that uses oxygen.  Aerobic capacity applies to all athletes, regardless of the sport they are involved in.  The more aerobic capacity you have, the more oxygen your system is able to circulate through the circulatory system and the better you will be able to perform.

I should also mention at this point the anaerobic system (also know as glycolytic system) is the the short burst system that doesn’t use oxygen.  This comes into play when your body is working so hard that it begins to experience an oxygen deficit.  Anaerobic endurance is needed by sprinters and other athletes that must perform at an all out level for a short period of time, usually less than one minute.

The aerobic system is the one that processes oxygen and circulates it through the system and the anaerobic is the system that operates without the use of oxygen — by creating an oxygen debt. Depending on the level you are exercising at, both these system come into play for speed and agility training.

Increasing Aerobic Capacity

Increasing aerobic endurance is achieved in the same way you would increase muscle endurance, through exercise.  Speed exercises and endurance exercises make your heart stronger and your muscles more efficient.  You gain the ability to acquire and process oxygen in greater volume and more efficiently, making all of your metabolic functions operate more efficiently. In speed exercises and agility training your oxygen cycling capacity is critical.

Cardiovascular exercise builds aerobic endurance.  Things like running or swimming for longer periods build up endurance and the capacity to process oxygen.  When you work at a pace that gets your heart rate up to 80% or 90% of it’s maximum, you are working at a level that is building more aerobic endurance.  Beginners may want to work at 70-80% of their heart rate and build up from there.

Running at a moderate pace for 30-45 minutes at a time is as good an aerobic exercise as you can do.  Do it three times a week and build up speed and heart rate as you progress.  You want to get to the 80-90% level of your heart rate as you build up endurance to get the greatest benefit over time.

The basic premise of building aerobic endurance is to work at a moderately high level over a longer period of time.  This builds endurance and increases the body’s capacity to take in oxygen and deliver it to your body systems more efficiently.

PS: Click here for an anaerobic exercise for speed and agility training – it’s a really nice one.

Technorati Tags: Speed and Agility, Speed and Agility Training, Speed Exercises

One Legged Squat: Part 1

Speed and Agility Training: One Legged Squat

In this two part article I am going to discuss a particular exercise that comes in very handy in your speed and agility training: the 1-legged squat.

The purpose of this article is to explain:

• Benefits of the 1-legged squat for your speed and agility training program;
• How to perform the 1-legged squat;
• Tailoring the 1-legged squat specifically for your speed and agility training;
• How to modify different parameters in order to keep advancing and avoid plateauing;

The areas that the 1-legged squat can develop are the following:

• Maximal strength (it will make your legs very strong AND it will do something that 2 legged weight training won’t — increase your stabilizing muscles strength — critical as far as speed and agility training goes)
• Strong Joints (the particular nature of this exercise means your supportive muscles, joints and tendons are subjected to higher than normal tensions this decreases chance of injury by building strong resilient joints well capable of sustaining the forces that speed and agility training inflicts)
• Develop Fast Reflexes (performing this exercise correctly will require you to generate strong nervous impulses, this will translate into increased rate of force development, improved speed, quick reflexes and a round butt — I couldn’t resist mentioning this as girls seem to like this particular anatomical part in a guy);

Let me comment a bit on how highly I think of this exercise. You see, last year, I broke my ankle. It required surgery, a titanium plate, six screws and 2 months walking in crutches. I’ll post that x-ray up one of these days just to show you how my ankle looks on the inside. This happened in March 2009. At that time I had 28 inch vertical jump (from standstill) and I didn’t know anyone who could outrun me on the 50 yard dash.   I lived speed and agility training. The accident changed all that, but I knew I could get back up to where I was competitively.  The problem was that at the end of 2010 I was still very weak.  Even though I started to run pretty fast again, I felt it in my bones that my strength was not the same. At the beginning of this year I remembered the 1-legged squat, an exercise I had used previously to increase my vertical jump. Even though I am a big fan of jumping for height (due to my love of basketball) and as such I am familiar with many verticals jump programs, I never did see one that addressed this particular exercise. To make a long story short, 6 months on classic exercises aimed at rebuilding the strength in my left leg left me completely unsatisfied and fearful of permanent damage. I was wrong.  After two months of using the 1-legged squat on and off I saw results, so I got serious and started applying the solid training principles that I knew in order to maximize the results I was getting with this exercise. I also scrapped every other leg  training exercise I had been using and focused exclusively on this one. My left leg is still not 100% strengthwise, but I have accomplished something I hadn’t before, I can now leap stairs four at a time.

This is a short description of the 1-legged squat as it should be done in your speed and agility training:

1. Slowly lower yourself down to the floor while standing in 1 leg. Your main foot must stay flat on the floor, your heel must be planted.
2. Descend with perfect tension throughout your body until your hamstring  almost touches your calf.  Your free foot must be held as straight as possible in front of you. Remember to pause at the end of the movement.
3. Lift yourself up without any bounce

In summary, this article has explained the benefits of the 1-legged squat, how they can benefit your speed and agility training  and a demonstration of the 1-legged squat.

In my next article I will expand on the specifics of performing the 1-legged squat.  I will explain how to perform this exercise specifically for speed and agility training and how you can modify the parameters of the exercise in order to avoid plateauing and keep improving.

All the best,
Damian

Technorati Tags: Speed and Agility, Speed and Agility Training, Speed Exercises

This article will examine what part strength plays in your speed and agility training program. Let’s define some terms.

• Absolute strength – is the maximum power you are capable of generating, your one rep maximum is your absolute strength
• Starting Strength – a function of how many muscle fibers you can instantaneously contract

Think of it like this, if you snatch a heavy dumbbell off the ground you will strain your back. But if you were to pick it up slowly this would not occur. Starting strength (in this example), simply measures the

maximum weight you are capable of snatching off the ground without injury.

• Relative strength – your strength per pound of body weight
• Reactive Strength or Plyometric Strength – measures your ability to absorb and utilize force when switching from an eccentric contraction to a concentric contraction.

What is the relevance of these terms of your speed and agility training?
The higher your absolute strength, the higher your starting strength. The higher your starting strength, the faster your
acceleration, the faster your acceleration, the greater your explosiveness or your ability to reach your top speed faster. Ask yourself, “Is my speed and agility training improving my absolute strength for those muscles that matter in my sport of choice?”

A good question to ask is whether your speed and agility training improves your relative strength. Remember that when training for speed and agility your relative strength is more important that your absolute strength.

Note: you shouldn’t worry too much about bulking up because a 10% increase in LEAN body mass translates into a 30% increase in strength.

Relative strength is

important because the higher your relative strength, the more power you can produce. This benefits you in two ways:

• your nervous system is better conditioned (this will also cross over into your agility)
• it is easier for you to move your body (this is because you have a lower proportion of body mass to strength due to the 1:3 ratio); this crosses over and develops both speed and agility.

Lastly, we come to reactive strength. This sort of strength plays a critical role in agility, it enables you to quickly change direction and dazzle your opponent with surprising moves. It also enables you to jump higher when running (but not so much from a standstill position). It also plays a role in running speed but there are better ways to train for it if running speed is what you are after.

What’s the take away home from this article? In order to properly train for speed and agility you must incorporate strength training workouts in your routine. You must also customize it for the athletic endeavor of choice. There are no shortcuts but there are efficient ways of reaching your goals (whatever they may be).

If this has confused you a bit you should do one thing: Keep on reading till it makes sense.

Here’s a food for though question for you? Why do sprinters (50, 100 meter dash,

basketball players, quarterbacks etc) have ripped abs without specifically

training for them?

TIP: To help you answer this question, keep in mind that starting strength is different for different muscles groups. Starting strength in different muscle groups can be specifically trained for. Understanding which muscles play a part in the movements most critical to your athletic endeavor of choice enables you to focus on them and generate quick and efficient results.

PS: Check out the culmination of this article and learn the 1 legged squat here:  Speed and Agility Training – The 1 Legged Squat

Technorati Tags: Speed and Agility Training, Strength Training Workouts

Superstars Are Not Born – They Are Created

Michael Jordan did it.  Jerry Rice took a news crew to film him while he did it.  David Beckham champions it at his David Beckham Academies.  What do they all have in common?  Aside from being world-class athletes, these modern “gods” include speed and agility training as an integral part of their successes.  While all were born with athletic talent, they know that speed exercises and agility drills give them the edge on their competitors, and they are right.  Michael Jordan felt being at peak shape helped his basketball skills, “I just feel that physically I’ve got to be in the best shape possible to be able to do my job.”  Both experts and the athletes themselves agree that the adoption and practice of speed and agility training extended the careers for Jerry Rice and Michael Jordan.

This explains the transformation in popular thinking.  The old adage was that you were either born with natural talent or you were lacking.   If you did not possess natural talent then you were relegated to the stands,   now we know better.  In fact there is a well known Speed and Agility Revolution happening.  The extra time spent on speed and agility training, is that which separates starters from bench warmers, scholarship athletes from walk-ons, playing tennis with the boss at the club or strumming your fingers back at your desk.

Speed and Agility Defined

So what exactly is speed and agility? Speed is the ability to cover distance rapidly. Nearly every game requires fast movements of either the arms or legs.  Leg speed is tremendously important in sports such as football, soccer, basketball and baseball.  Speed exercises and agility training can improve leg speed in sports.

Agility training focuses on rapid change of direction and footwork while maintaining control and balance.  Agility includes a combination of speed, balance, power and co-ordination.  Agility is necessary for almost any sport as it increases a player’s reaction time to changes on the court or field.

Getting Real

The next time you are watching Kobe Bryant’s incredible agility, strength, and stamina on the court, know that it is not simply some miraculous, God-given ability.  Kobe works relentlessly hard, year-round, on strength training workouts, agility training and speed exercises.  He is considered to be one of the hardest working and physically fit players in the NBA and he has the trophies and championship rings to back it up!

Technorati Tags: Agility Training, Speed and Agility, Speed and Agility Training, Speed Exercises