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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If you want to reach any level of success in athletics, it is important that you set goals. When you set a goal it gives you a clear vision of what you want to accomplish. This is even more true in such a complex field as speed and agility training.

Where Do You Start?

First we need to start with the big picture, an overall view that guides you in your decision making and helps you to see that you have your whole life ahead of you, no matter what happens today.  You need to establish what you want to achieve in the next season and then over your entire career.  Then we move down to things you can do today in order to begin moving in the desired direction.  Note that long-term goals assist you in where you want to go.  Short-term goals show you how you are going to get there.  In setting your athletic goals, keep in mind that if you are on a team, work with your coach to include team goals as well, but that is for another article.

Long Term Goals

First, you need to figure out your long-term goals.   Ask yourself what you want to accomplish in your athletic career?  Note, your long-term goals are not meant to be obligatory, they simply are there to make you aware of the long life ahead of you and to help you see that you have options as well. Do you want to take up this sport only for the early part of your life or do you want to make this sport your career? A suggestion for a goal in your training for speed and agility would be to decrease your 50 yard dash by half a second.

Short Term Goals

These goals are the ones you will achieve today, within a week, etc.   They are more easily accomplished and progress you towards achieving our long term goals.

Breaking Down Long-Term Goals To Get To Set Your Short Term Goals – Questions To Ask

• What are the skills needed to accomplish your goals?
• What can you do between now and the end of the season to develop those skills?
• What will you do this week to develop those skills?
• What can you do next practice to develop those skills?

Important Things to Know

• Written Goals

Note that you need to write down your goals.  Once you have written your goals down on paper,  they become real and solid.  It is what separates goals from dreams.   They increase your motivation and your mental picture of that goal is clearer.  The process of writing down goals get them “out of your head” to free up your mind from having to always think and remember them.   You will also be affirmed that you are on a mission of pursuing your goals.

• Positiveness

Set each goal as a positive statement.  For example,  “I will be diligent and careful when doing agility ladder drills”   instead of “I will not fall on my rear end when doing speed and agility drills”.   This focuses on success rather than failures because you want these behaviors to be present rather than behaviors that should be absent.

• SMART

Make sure that your all your goals are smart goals. Meaning they are specific (detailed), measurable (progress assessable), attainable (within reach), relevant (towards your purpose) and time-sensitive (make deadlines).

Keep a copy of your goals in plain sight.  Review them daily.  Setting goals will bring you success.

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

A goal properly set is halfway reached.

Zig Ziglar.

What do elite athletes, successful business people and consummate professionals know about setting goals?    They all know that goals give them the ability to accomplish a great deal.  They also know that goal setting gives them an advantage.

What is goal setting?

Goal setting is the act of putting processes in motion in order to ensure specific outcomes and accomplishments.  Athletes position themselves for success using this mechanism.  It gives them a finite direction in their lives, careers and sports. You should not begin any speed and agility training without establishing your goals.

Why Set Goals?

Goals help direct an athlete to take the appropriate steps and maintain the appropriate behaviors necessary for success.  They also keep an athlete on course in the face of disappointment, difficulty or adversity.   Most importantly, setting goals helps with motivation.  The process helps attain and retain the motivation to reach higher levels of performance and it also clarifies expectations involved.  Goals make for more effective and efficient practices.   Psychologically,  goal setting gives an athlete improved self confidence, helps their motivation, feeling of pride and satisfaction in achievement.  It gives them a  willingness to take on future challenges and  increases the athlete’s likability of the sport.  Physically, setting goals helps improve athletic performance such as strength, weight and speed and agility.

Role of Coaches

With speed and agility training, a coach is highly recommended. Coaches are experienced goal setters.  They also know that goals can give athletes an edge over their opponents and most have had many years of experience in helping athletes set goals.  Coaches need to help athletes with performance goals.  They also need to help the athlete set practice goals as well as game goals.  Practice goals help the athlete achieve the most that they can in practice so that they are better prepared for the game or match.  While there are many areas involved in goal setting, the areas in which coaches can help their athletes are in fitness, technique and strategy.  Coaches help with measures, speed exercises and evaluations of progress.  In fact, studies have shown that specific, difficult, yet attainable goals tend to enhance performance.    If your coach cannot help you with goal setting or does not find this process important, find another coach.

In summary, goals are mainstay for top performers whether they are athletes or CEOs.   The ability and willingness to set goals is the master skill of success on the court, field, track, rink or diamond.

I recommend you check out this speed and agility training exercise.

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

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

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