Speed and Agility Training

Every year  over 300 of the best college football players in the country are invited by the National Football League (NFL) to the  NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis  Indiana.  Why?  Millions of dollars are at stake for the teams and players in salary, bonus’ , endorsements, winnings, appearances and more.

There the athletes showcase their athletic skills and abilities to NFL top executives, coaching staffs, player personnel departments and medical personnel from all 32 NFL teams  prior to NFL draft.  So why is this necessary when teams have already seen these athletes play game after game either live on Saturdays or on TV?

Football player - Speed and Agility Training

The answer is simple, the NFL places great value on the fundamentals of a true athlete.  No matter how often a scout has seen an athlete play the game live or on the screen, the NFL needs to evaluate an athlete’s raw ability in speed exercises, strength training workouts and speed and agility drills.  In other words, the yards run, the passes caught, the touchdowns scored are not a factor at the combine.  It’s all about measuring how fast, agile, strong and explosive the prospect is – athleticism.  The following are the actual drills used at the NFL Combine to judge potential draft picks.

40-yard dash
This is the main event.  Teams look for explosiveness and speed from a dead start.  The athletes are timed at 10, 20 and 40-yard intervals.  One of the most important speed exercises.

Bench press
Every athlete is given the weight of 225 pounds to bench press.  The objective is to see how many times he can bench press this weight, which is called repetitions, or reps for short.   The repetition factor measures the athletes endurance.    This also tells a lot about the work ethic of the athlete in college and whether he attended strength training workouts.

Vertical jump
The vertical jump starts with the athlete standing  flat-footed while his reach is measured.  The athlete then is told to jump and touch a the highest point he can, which is a flag in the series of flags above him. The difference in the standing reach and the flag is the vertical jump measurement.  This exercise evaluates  the  lower-body explosion and power .

Broad jump
The broad jump tests the athlete’s  lower-body explosion,  lower-body strength and balance.  From a starting point, the athlete stands balanced .  He then jumps out as far as he can while sticking the landing.

3 Cone Drill
The 3 cone drill tests an athlete’s speed and agility.  It measures ability to change directions at a high speed.  From a starting line, three cones are place in an L-shape.  The athlete runs 5 yards to the first cone and back. Then, he turns, runs around the second cone, runs a weave around the third cone, which is the high point of the L, changes directions, comes back around that second cone and finishes.

Shuttle run
Remember the suicide drills in PE?  The shuttle begins with the athlete starting in a three-point stance and exploding  out 5 yards to his right, touches the line, goes back 10 yards to his left, left hand touches the line, pivot, and he turns 5 more yards and finishes.

Now Its Your Turn

The  NFL, through research and experience has put together drills and exercises it uses to evaluate potential million dollar athletes.   If you are a serious athlete, or just someone who wants to be a better athlete,  practice the speed and agility exercises above and who knows, and maybe someday you too will be invited to the combine.

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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