Training Young Athletes

Athletic performance enhancement is an exciting and dynamic field. More athletes are realizing at increasingly younger ages that simply playing their sport without training outside of their sport decreases their chances of successfully competing at the level they desire. I believe that this has also led to the unfortunate practice of early specialization. Young children who play one sport year round retard their overall athletic development and open themselves up to overuse injuries.
Research has demonstrated that athletes who specialize in one sport at an early age do tend to reach a higher level of achievement quicker than their multisport counterparts, but they also tend to peak at an earlier age while the multisport athletes tend to continue to progress longer. Some forward thinking colleges are considering this in their recruiting as they view the multisport athletes as having a bigger “upside” than their early specializing rivals. Just as in any other field, if you don’t spend at least some time looking ahead, you’re in danger of falling behind. I try to learn from as many sources as possible and have found that the more I learn the more I realize I don't know. I love seeing kids improve and appreciate the opportunity to work with kids who want to improve.Although I’m not medically trained, my number one priority in training young athletes is the physician’s creed: “First, do no harm.” In keeping with this philosophy, I try to make sure not to give advice or recommendations beyond my scope of practice. I also constantly attempt to search for and seek advice in regards to the safest and most effective training strategies and methods available. It’s been said that “the carpenter who follows everyone’s advice builds a crooked house,” so I’m careful to only make changes that I believe are sound, not follow the “newest fad.”With the priority of doing no harm, my goals in training a young athlete are to:

· Reduce the likelihood of injury
· Improve the general health of the athlete
· Improve the performance of the athlete

Fortunately, meeting the first goal tends to work toward meeting the second two. Meeting the third goal may or may not work toward meeting the first two. It’s possible to improve athletes’ performance in the short term but make them more susceptible to injury, thus severely hampering their performance in the long term. Just because an athlete is physically able to perform a movement or take a “supplement” doesn’t necessarily mean it’s appropriate for that athlete to do so. I attempt to follow an appropriate progression of training protocols and make sure that an athlete is ready to move on to the next progression before doing so. This is sometimes complicated when working with groups of athletes, and adjustments have to be made.

In order to reduce the likelihood of injury, I want to make sure that the musculoskeletal system is functioning the way it’s supposed to. I want the athlete’s joints to have an appropriate range of motion and the appropriate muscles to provide that motion. Some trainers/coaches specialize in corrective exercises and perform an assessment that can be very comprehensive in nature. This can be the best way to go when working with individual clients. When working with a team, you can often make assumptions (I know that this can be dangerous) about what the athletes will need based on their age, gender, and sport. Not just athletes but people in general tend to follow patterns as far as their biomechanical needs are concerned.

Joints have varying needs of stability or mobility. Mobility can be defined as the ability to move while stability is the ability to resist movement. As one goes up the body, there is an interesting pattern that can be observed. The feet tend to need more stability, the ankles more mobility, the knee more stability, the hips more mobility, the lumbar spine more stability, the thoracic spine more mobility, the scapula more stability, the glenohumeral joint more mobility, the elbows more stability, and the wrists more mobility. There has been some debate about the scapula needing more stability or mobility, but most of these debates center around stability versus mobility in different planes of movement. This debate can be made for every joint. For instance, we want our knees to be mobile in the sagittal plane (flex and extend), but we want our knees to be stable in the frontal plane (left to right movement) and transverse plane (rotation).Softball is probably the team sport with the highest likelihood of overuse injuries due to the extreme one-sidedness of the game. You throw with one hand and catch with the other. Most players swing the bat either left-handed or right-handed. You always run the bases in a counterclockwise direction (unless you forget to tag up). Because of this, most softball players are unequally developed when comparing their right and left sides. This is most glaring with pitchers. Everyone has seen pitchers whose pitching arm seems twice the size of their glove arm, but the differences can be more subtle. Softball players typically have differences in shoulder and hip rotation due to the mechanics involved in throwing a ball and swinging a bat. When you combine these differences with the postural problems that arise from everyday activities outside the world of sports, the potential for injury is increased. Teenagers who sit at a desk all day tend to have a kyphotic upper back (forward, slumped shoulders and sunken chest) and have hips with a limited range of motion.
You might wonder why the potential for injury is increased when a muscle has grown and gotten stronger in an athlete. Every movement that we make is accomplished by a muscle or group of muscles shortening or flexing and an antagonistic or opposing muscle or group of muscles lengthening or stretching. A muscle or group of muscles may grow or shorten in response to a certain activity in an effort to aid in that activity, and the muscles that are the antagonists for those muscles will lengthen or even shut off to aid in that same activity. However, there are many other movements that our body needs to perform other than swinging a bat or throwing a ball and what’s good for one movement may not be good for another.
Softball players will have injuries when they attempt to make movements that require their joints to move in ranges that they are unable to move in. They will also have injuries when they attempt to make movements that require their muscles to provide motion and stability when they are unable to. These failures of the joints and muscles are due to the adaptations that have been made from movements (like batting or throwing) made on a repetitive basis. We’ve talked about how joints have varying needs of mobility. When one joint does not have adequate mobility, the athlete tends to compensate by having the joints either above or below that joint move beyond their intended ranges while performing various athletic movements. This hypermobile joint will move beyond the range of movement in which it is designed to move and an injury will eventually result. Injuries will also occur simply because of overuse without adequate rest.Volleyball players can be at risk for overuse injuries. If volleyball players perform excessive repetitions of the same movements with the same side of the body, they can experience unequal development between their left and right sides. A volleyball player who serves and hits excessively with one hand can experience many of the same issues as a softball player because the movements are very similar. Thoracic spine mobility is a high priority for volleyball and softball players because if the thoracic spine doesn’t move enough the lumbar spine and/or the shoulder will have to move too much to perform the actions needed in these throwing or “overhead” sports. Volleyball players and female athletes in general can be at particular risk for knee injuries. Studies have shown that girls are four to eight times more likely to experience ACL injuries than boys. There are many different reasons theorized for this increased risk including the angle from the hip to the ankle, quadriceps dominance in females, decreased hip and ankle mobility, and menstruation. Decreasing quad dominance and increasing hip and ankle mobility are high priority items for me when I design programs for female athletes.
I consider there to be seven qualities necessary for athletic movement. These qualities are strength, speed, power, flexibility, endurance, coordination, and balance. Some would argue that power is simply a combination of speed and strength, but for training purposes, I believe it best to consider power a separate quality. Other qualities come into play when one considers athletic movements that add a visual component, but these qualities aren’t necessary for movement itself. Visual skills can be incorporated into training and visual skills training could be considered a separate field.
To accomplish my goals of reducing the likelihood of injury, improving general health, and improving performance, I need to do two things. First, I make sure the athlete is moving correctly, meaning that the joints are able to move in a proper range of motion, the correct muscles provide the force in the right sequence to move the joints, and the athlete knows the proper positions to put her joints in. Second, I make sure the athlete is able to make her joints move with the optimum amount of speed and force possible over the necessary length of time. The seven qualities necessary for athletic movement must be addressed to different degrees to make sure the athlete moves correctly with the optimum amount of speed and force over the necessary amount of time.I use four methods to ensure the athlete’s joints are able to move in a proper range of motion—self-myofasical release, self-joint mobilization, passive stretching, and dynamic mobility drills. I use these methods as part of training and movement preparation prior to any athletic movements. Muscle activation techniques are used to make sure the correct muscles provide the force for the movements and these are also used for movement preparation when needed. Movement coaching is used to make sure the athlete knows the proper position to put herself in and consists of demonstrating and explaining the proper technique when performing specific athletic movements such as jumping, landing, starting, and stopping.
Self-myofasical release is basically a form of self-massage that can be accomplished with a number of different implements. The foam roller is a personal favorite. Myofasical release is an attempt to change the quality of muscle tissue and would benefit many people, not just athletes. Self-joint mobilization techniques are attempts to alter the structures at the site of the joint. This alteration is accomplished by the athlete, not by any physical manipulation by the trainer. Passive stretching involves different techniques including static stretching and proprioceptive neural facilitation techniques. Passive stretching certainly has a place and is necessary at times but is not a technique I use as often as the other methods mentioned. It is an attempt to increase the passive length of a muscle.
Dynamic mobility drills are attempts to take the body through dynamic activities that increase the length of a muscle in movement. They can also increase strength, speed, coordination, balance, power, and endurance depending on the athlete’s condition. Muscle activation techniques are attempts to isolate and activate a muscle. This is done in an attempt to “wake up” the muscle so it will be used in other movements that don’t isolate the muscle in question. Some techniques are combinations of all of these methods. When used as movement preparation, all of these techniques serve to raise the core body temperature and prime the central nervous system to operate at peak efficiency. Most of these techniques have progressions that can be followed depending on the needs of the athlete.Of the seven qualities necessary for movement, strength is the base that all of the other qualities are built on. Without strength, movement is impossible. An optimum strength level is the number one priority. This doesn’t mean the strongest athlete will necessarily have more of the other six qualities, but without a certain level of strength, the other qualities can’t exist. Athletes have varying needs of strength depending on their sport. They require different levels of strength in different areas of their bodies. Athletes have different needs in all seven qualities dependent on their sport. The selection of the proper methods for training athletes can’t be accomplished without knowledge of the needs of the athlete within her sport. The proper selection of methods can contribute to developing all of the seven qualities concurrently.
Other methods may be used to focus specifically on certain qualities to the exclusion of the others. Certain methods are inappropriate to use with some athletes if the athlete isn’t physically ready to perform them. In an attempt to insure that I “do no harm,” I have to make sure a proper progression is followed. For example, power is a combination of strength and speed and can be developed with a number of different exercises and drills. An athlete is put at risk of injury when certain power specific exercises are used if she hasn’t developed an appropriate level of strength, speed, coordination, balance, and endurance. Program design is a complicated matter. Many factors must be considered, including but not limited to preparedness of the athlete, exercise selection, load selection, repetition range, set range, rest periods between sets and sessions, recovery methods, periodization methods, proper progressions of movements, and movement tempo.

(Don’t) Assume the Athletic Position

- stance (noun): the attitude or position of a standing person or animal, especially the position assumed by an athlete preparatory to action

— posture (noun): the position of the limbs or the carriage of the body as a whole

In all sports, the rudimentary beginnings of movement starts with a specific stance or posture. Whether it’s a defensive stance on the basketball court, a three-point stance for an offensive lineman, a batter preparing to hit a baseball, or a weightlifter preparing for his final clean and jerk, there is a proper starting position. All of these athletes must be taught the fundamentals of a proper stance to place them in a position to be successful. Everything successful in sports starts with a proper starting position. The simple foundation of all sports—the stance—is often times overlooked because of the ever increasing natural athleticism of athletes of this era.
In an athletic era where natural gifts supersede technique, many coaches and athletes have forgotten to focus on this piece of the puzzle that can help garner continued success and possibly reduce the chance of injury occurrence. By placing the athlete in a proper starting position, the athlete has the ability to move more efficiently with less effort, allowing him to accomplish a successful bout of exercise.

Developing a sound athletic position is no different. We must teach and direct our athletes to be able to start in a basic position from which all athletic movements can derive. It is important to note that although there is a developmental progression to establishing the athletic position, each individual athlete will look slightly different because of limb and torso difference. It is our goal for each athlete to understand the basic postural mechanics of the athletic position so that there will be an efficient transfer to strength training, running exercises, movement mechanics, and sport-specific position drills.

By establishing the athletic position, we can then begin to teach, instruct, and educate the athlete on the numerous movements and the techniques associated with all aspects of training. Each individual coach will have a slightly different version of what “their” athletic position technique will look like, but I assure you that we will all be very similar. When speaking of technique, many ask the question, “What protocols should we use when teaching our athletes?” There are numerous ways to answer this. Some may say “good technique is a form of movement that does not violate biological and mechanical laws” (Nytro). Others may use the old cookbook philosophy of what is written in a textbook or scientific data, bullet points, or checklist methods. I prefer to use a holistic approach including all of the above plus my own abilities as a former athlete as well as others who are professionals in specific fields of athleticism. Therefore, I can create my norms and know how to differentiate for the laws of individual differences and still stay within my protocols of success.

Before an athlete can begin to perfect his sports’ starting stance, it must be determined if he can properly align his body into the basic athletic position. As a coach whose main objective is to enhance the general physical preparedness of the athlete, it is my focus to help the athlete understand body positioning and awareness. If I can perform my duties well, the athlete will have the general athletic consciousness to apply the specific skills and body alignments needed to succeed in his individual sport of choice.
From the anatomical to athletic position Our first step is to put the athlete in our basic anatomical position.

Definition of anatomical position (1)—that of the body standing erect with palms turned forward, used as a position of reference in designating the site or direction of structures of the body (2); the erect position of the body with the face directed forward, the arms at the side, and the palms of the hands facing forward, used as a reference in describing the relation of body parts to another.

Many of us who have a general background in exercise science are familiar with the anatomical position of the body. This position is the basis of our ability to determine the movement planes and actions the body can perform. It is an extremely critical function when determining the way we will choose certain exercises to enhance overall athletic performance.
Planes of movement, gross movement patterns
Sagittal plane: Divides the body vertically into right and left parts. The main motions are flexion and extension. A major example is walking.
Frontal plane: Divides the body vertically into anterior/front and posterior/back parts. The main motions are abduction/adduction, side flexion, and inversion/eversion. A major example is a jumping jack.
Transverse plane: Divides the body horizontally into superior/upper and inferior/lower parts. The main motions are internal and external rotation, horizontal flexion and extension, and supination and pronation. A major example is throwing.
Note: All functional movement is tri-planar motion, meaning there is simultaneous movement of all three planes in one motion, making all functional movements three-dimensional.

Definition of athletic position—the position of the body in a flexed (bent) hip and knee position. The foot position is based on the athlete’s natural landing position. The head is set in a neutral/natural spine position (looking through the eyebrows). The shoulders are retracted back and the chest is expanded (proud position). The shoulders will be slightly over the toes. The arms are flexed at the elbow, and the hands are at the hip. The palms are neutral (facing hip) with the thumbs up. The lower back is isometrically contracted as is the abdominal region. The majority of the athlete’s weight is distributed on the mid-foot to the heels. This position is used as a general starting point for most athletic endeavors.

Most of us have assumed that all of our athletes can drop their hips and knees and correctly put themselves in a position of athletic success. Don’t!! With the aid of assessment protocols such as the functional movement screen and by establishing an orientation program for newcomers, you will find that many of your athletes can’t perform this simple act to your satisfaction when they enter your program. This article isn’t made to go into all of the reasons why. It is written to give you practical “in the gym information.
Stepping into the athletic position: Assessing the athlete’s natural starting position
We determine the athlete’s natural athletic position with a simple reaction test. Have the athlete stand on a line in a relaxed manner. When the athlete hears a whistle, he must immediately react to the verbal cue, set his athletic position, and hold. The only instruction given is, “At the sound of the whistle, set yourself in a basic athletic position.”

Generally, we see variations of these three positions:
· Knee bender: Knees pushed forward, heels off the ground, hips still in full extension
· Waist bender: Bent over at the waist, chest down, knees extended
· Hip and knee bender: Athlete naturally can assume a basic quarter squat position
Obviously the third one is the goal for each athlete. Any of these three positions has the ability to expose the athlete’s deficiencies in ankle, knee, hip, and shoulder mobility and flexibility as well as core strength and stability.

Teaching progression
Start position: Anatomical position
Feet: The foot position is set first. Instruct the athlete to do a very low intensity vertical jump. The natural landing position of the feet will be the starting point for the general athletic position.
Head: The head will be set in a natural or neutral position. As the athlete progresses to the bent knee and hip position, the head will continue to be in a neutral position in which the top of the head is in alignment with the spine. The eyes will be focused straight forward in the upright position and then looking through the brow and forehead in the bent knee and hip position.
Shoulders/chest: The shoulders will be retracted back and down, which will allow the chest to be expanded in what is called the “proud” position.
Arms and hands: The arms will begin extended with the palms facing away from the midline of the body. The athlete will then flex the elbow until the hands are at the hip and rotate the hand so the palms are facing the hip with the thumbs up.

Upper body set up
Low back and abdominal region: The low back is arched and isometrically contracted. The abdominal region is also contracted in a natural state. We won’t emphasize “belly button drawn in” or “stomach expanded” in the athletic position protocol.
Hips: The athlete will break at the hips first to begin the lower body descent. The athlete will push the hips back until the shoulders cover the toes.
Knees: The athlete will break after the hips and will continue to flex until the shoulders cover the toes.
Weight distribution: The weight will be distributed from the mid-foot to the heel to heel to begin. At this point, the athlete will be asked to push the feet through the floor to learn how to apply force into the ground.
Completion: When the athlete is in the athletic position, he is required to hold that position for a prescribed number of seconds in an isometrically contracted manner. This will give him his first experience in body awareness, coordination, and balance. See this video for more information.

This investment can’t be overlooked. With the amount of pre-existing back injuries and lack of mobility (to name a few) increasing each year in our incoming athletes, there is extreme merit in placing this important aspect of sport into your incoming freshman or beginner program.
See these examples of utilizing the athletic position into specific position stances for the sport of football:

Why You Aren’t Getting Faster

Speed training is a very hot topic. Hell, it always has been. In sports such as football, baseball, and soccer, the faster players almost always have the upper hand on their opponents. Speed literally does take the life out of another team. No matter how well you prepare yourself for a given team, if they have a couple more speedsters than you do, they automatically have the upper hand.

How often have you been on the other side of being beat deep for a touchdown by a player who just was flat out faster and more explosive than you? How frustrating is it to race for the ball in the middle of an open field during a soccer game and get beat every single time by a player who had a better set of “wheels” than you? These are just some examples, but do you get the point?

I wanted to address this topic because of a comment I heard last night from one of the announcers during a high school football game. It was along the lines of “you can’t teach speed.” I’m sure we’ve all heard this before. I used to believe in this. No matter what I did in high school, it seemed that nothing worked to get me faster and more explosive. I was told I’d probably never break 4.6 seconds in the 40-yard dash. My freshman year of college I ran a 4.66 40-yard dash weighing 208 lbs. A little over a year later (after some hard and smart training), I ran a 4.59 40-yard dash weighing 215lbs while being significantly stronger!

What is the point of all this? Speed is a skill that can be taught to any athlete. Anyone can get faster than they previously were with some smart planning and hard work as well as just enough work to create an adaptation. Quick tip: Do enough to stimulate, not annihilate.
Here are some reasons why you may not be getting faster.

1. You’re doing too much: If you’re going out and running endless 100-yard sprints every single day, your body will start to break down. Injury will happen soon enough, or you’ll get frustrated as fatigue starts to accumulate and you get slower. My general rule is keep a speed session above 200 total meters/yards but no more than 500 total meters/yards in a given session and do no more than three speed sessions per week. The rules are rough guidelines, so follow them loosely. If your form starts to break down or you feel fatigued, call of the session. This leads me to my next guideline…

2. You’re not focusing on quality: If you try to turn these speed sessions into a conditioning session, you’re defeating the purpose! In order to facilitate improvements in speed, you must achieve complete recovery after each repetition in order to teach your nervous system what a fresh, full speed sprint feels like. You won’t be able to achieve the types of speed you’re looking for if you’re resting 30 seconds between 60-meter sprints. The effort might be there, but the times will show otherwise. Take home point—rest enough to make each rep quality.

3. You aren’t lifting weights: Yes, most young (and even some college) athletes are flat out weak. If you aren’t strong enough to apply force to the ground, absorb force (each sprint stride places around 4–5 times your body weight on each limb upon foot strike), and consistently do that rep after rep, you aren’t going to be as efficient as you need to be. Again, like number one, don’t overdo it and go and lift five days a week and expect to get faster. My rule here is lift after speed sessions (if speed is your main priority, this must be emphasized as supplemental to speed work) and keep it simple.

Often times, you may be too drained from a great speed session to lift. You might only be able to perform a few sets of heavy squats, cleans, or chin-ups. That’s fine as long as you’re striving to get strong and aren’t afraid to pay your dues in the squat rack. Most fast athletes are also very strong. (Ben Johnson, former world record holder in the 100 meters is said to have squatted approximately 600 lbs for two sets of six and bench press 440 lbs for two sets of five at a body weight of 175 lbs. He ran 9.79 seconds in the 100-meter dash.) Think about it like this—you need to add some horsepower in that engine of yours, so get stronger!

4. You aren’t warming up properly: A thorough warm up is critical in order to generate the heat necessary for your muscles to perform optimally. Because sprint training is such a high velocity activity, you must be warmed up prior to engaging in this type of activity. No, this doesn’t mean static stretch for five minutes and expect to be ready. I’m talking about a full dynamic warm up (lunges, hip circles, leg swings, skips, jumps, throws, push-ups, sit-ups, and drills). This shouldn’t take you more than 20 minutes. Not only will you be ready to sprint, but you’ll notice a decrease in some painful problem areas such as your back, knees, and shoulders. Quick tip: Don’t turn the warm up into the workout itself. This should be something that gets you “warm” and lightly sweating before activity.

5. You aren’t resting: Your body adapts to training while it rests in between high intensity bouts of training, not during the training itself. A training demand of this nature requires you rest so your body can repair and come back fresh for the next session. The nervous system generally requires 48 hours in between bouts. So if you’re going to sprint on Monday, wait until Wednesday or Thursday to do it again.

6. You’re out of shape: Yes, even sprinters and team sport/power athletes must have some sort of general fitness in place. The key here is to keep this type of training in the lower intensity range. Low intensity activities can include extensive tempo running (“rhythm running” or strides at 60–75 percent of your best time over a given distance with short recoveries), body weight/calisthenics circuits, jump rope, incline walks, swimming, and even an extended warm up of 30–45 minutes without resting. The benefits of these types of activity are that they improve capillary density to promote greater blood flow and recovery between training bouts, increase the amount of high intensity activity you can tolerate (work capacity), decrease recovery time the day after a hard training session, keep the athletes “fit” with a low body fat percentage (ever seen a fat, soft, pudgy, weak guy who could run really fast? Not very often!), and promote rhythm through cadence. This can be done in between high intensity days. The younger or less fit you are, the more this type of work should be done. Start out with 2–3 times per week.

Note: There is a time and a place to partake in those gut wrenching, ball-busting conditioning training sessions, but keep in mind, the further away you are from your competitive season, the less you should do this type of work. (This is my opinion. Others may think I’m full of crap, but what are you going to do? You can’t please ‘em all!)

Putting it all together:
Ok, so we’ve established some general guidelines, but how the hell do you put a sample week together or a given training day? Here’s an example of a speed day:

Full dynamic warm up: Light jogging for 400 meters, leg swings, hip circles, knee hug/quad stretches, walking Spiderman lunges, crossover lateral lunges, A-skips, B-skips, pogo jumps, medicine ball throws; practice starts.

Speed work (acceleration focus): 5 X 10 m, 4 X 20 m, 2 X 3 X 30 m (complete recovery)

Jumps: Standing long jump 2 X 6, standing triple jump 2 X 5

Weights (full body): Back squat, 4 X 5 (increase the weight on each set to a heavy set of 5 on the last set); bench press, 3–4 X 5–6; one-arm dumbbell row, 3 X 10 supersetted with pull-ups, 3 X max reps; glute ham raise, 3–4 X 8–10; front/side planks, 2 X 60 seconds.

Regeneration: Foam roll for 5–10 minutes, static stretch for 5 minutes, consume a post-workout carb/protein shake, take a contrast hot/cold shower.

Getting Started...

It has been a while since I have posted. I have been in transit from Okinawa, Japan since Feb. 20th. Now that I'm home, I have taken on the full time role of parent and trainer. I will add student to that in the summer. So stay tuned for more articles and workouts....

How to Increase Your Speed & Acceleration

It's true - genetics do play a part in how fast you can run. But don't let that discourage you...
Everyone can get faster. And anyone can improve their speed off the mark.
And just a small improvement with training relates to a significant improvement on the field.
With that said, what does it take to increase your sprinting speed?

1. Increase Your Strength The more powerful your leg muscles are the more force they can apply to each ground contact. Power is a product of both strength and speed of contraction. If you make improvements in either of these components you WILL become a faster athlete.
Improve both and you double the effects - and this it what speed training for football is essentially all about. Assuming strength training already contributes a significant amount to your schedule, lets look at the other side of the equation...

2. Improve Your Speed of Contractions Any increase in strength will only translate into gains in speed IF you can still contract your muscles as quickly - ideally even quicker.
Sprint training over short distances will help you do that. So will some light plyometrics exercises. The science behind plyometrics or jump training can get a little complex but the actual training is straightforward. Be careful with plyometric training...
It's easy to overtrain without knowing it. Too many of these exercises (particularly the intense types) can cause stress injuries.

3. Improve Your Running Mechanics Most football players, in fact most sports men and women have never been taught correct sprinting form. All other things being equal, the more efficiently you can run, the faster you can run. There are basically two phases to sprinting - the acceleration phase and top speed phase. Remember acceleration is probably more important in speed training for football than top speed. Here are some pointers for good acceleration form:
Drive off the balls of your feet never the toes or heels.
The whole body should be leaning forward, not just from the waist.
Strides are short and powerful, pushing off the ground.
Pump the arms vigorously throwing the elbow back hard rather than forward
Keep the head still and square to the shoulders.
After the first 10-15 yards, running mechanics change noticeably as you gain speed...
Foot strikes should still be from the balls of the feet.
There is still a slight forward lean from the ground but much less.
Strides are longer and more relaxed. Don't try to push away from the ground.
Arm action is still exaggerated but more relaxed.
Head remains still.

As part of a season long plan, speed training for football features heavily in late pre-season preparation and gradually increases over the whole of pre-season. It should also follow a period of base strength training for maximum results.

Strength vs Power

So today I hung out on the range with my old team at the rifle range and happen to get into a pretty funny debate with a Marine about strength and power. He told me that as a Marine he would rather be strong than have power. As he told me this I almost fell to the ground in disbelief. So this brings me to this post about Strength vs Power.

The word power is commonly misused or misunderstood. The true meaning of power is the ability to generate as much force as possible. Examples of power are a golf tee off, a vertical jump, Olympic Clean and Jerk, and swinging a baseball bat. Basically if you do this things slowly, they just wont work out well for you. Strength, on the other hand, is the ability to generate as much force as possible with no concern for the factor of time. A 1RM bench press or a 1RM deadlift are examples of pure strength movements. It doesn't matter how long it takes to complete these tasks. All that matters is that it gets completed- doing it slowly doesn't take away of the success of the lift.

Power, which is often referred to as speed-strength, is an important factor in sporting activities, but it is also used in daily activities such as moving fast, running up a flight of stairs, keeping of with your kids, moving to a shooting position under fire, increased work capacity, and increased overall body strength.

The simple equations to determine the strength and power in a specific exercise are as follows:
Bench press performance..
Strength (work) = mass x distance
Example: 300 pound bench press that moves 2.5 feet
300 x 2.5ft= 750 units of work
Power= work / time
The same bench press takes about 3 seconds to complete
750 work units / 3 seconds= 250 units of power

Now let's compare that performance to 100lb power clean
Strength (work)= mass x distance
100lb power clean that moves 5 feet
100 x 5ft= 500 units of work
Power= work / time
Same power clean takes 1 second to complete
500 work units / 1 second= 500 units of power

Power exercises will always have higher amounts of power units than traditional strength exercises regardless of load simply due to the time factor.

So after explaining this to the Marine he had a better understanding why his 300lb bench press wasn't an awesome feat of strength in my eyes( plus I have a 385lb bench that I didn't tell him about when he out weighed me by about 20 pounds). Post to comments...

Six Rules for Building Athletic Linemen

I’ve heard many strength and conditioning coaches say that they “train their lineman like throwers and their skill guys like sprinters.” In my opinion, this is a great starting point for building strong and athletic down linemen. Elite level throwers are some of the strongest, fastest and most powerful athletes on the planet. They are this way because they train for these skills and they not only possess great strength, they (for the most part) have superior body composition to NFL linemen. There are far too many football coaches and athletes, especially at the high school level, who put too much emphasis on bodyweight and maximal strength. Just because college and NFL linemen weigh over 300 pounds, doesn’t mean that a high school athlete will succeed because of a number they read on the scale. Great linemen at every level are great athletes and need to be trained as such. Here are six rules to follow when you want to build athletes who can make blocks at every level, run down plays and dominate their opponents.

Who would you rather have protecting your QB's back side?

1. Run
Linemen need to be able to pull, get downfield to make blocks, play in space to make blocks on screens, run down plays from the back side and chase down ball carriers. All of these necessary skills have one thing in common - running. Short sprints (under 20 yards), sled resisted sprints, band resisted sprints, hill sprints (less than 5 seconds in duration) and tempo runs (under 50 yards) will help your linemen develop the short area speed and quickness necessary to make plays and win games.

2. Jump
Great linemen all share the quality of a great get-off. The ability to explode off the line into your opponent will help your players win battles at the line of scrimmage. To develop a great get-off, linemen must develop their rate of force development. Jumping is the best way to develop this. The best jumping variations to use for linemen are seated box jumps and kneeling jumps. I prefer these jumps because they have a static start. They require static-overcome by dynamic strength, just like exploding out of a stance. With heavier athletes, I suggest jumping out of foam and landing on foam. This will force the athlete to recruit more muscle fibers, as well as teaching them balance and saving their joints. Kneeling jumps can be performed in a variety of ways. After bodyweight is mastered, adding a weight vest, holding a weight, or putting a weight on the back are all good options. Performing a second jump or a throw upon landing the kneeling jump is also effective. My favorite combinations are Kneeling Jump+Box Jump, Kneeling Jump+Long Jump, Kneeling Jump+Vertical Jump and Kneeling Jump+Medball Chest Pass. These variations will teach your athletes to explode repeatedly, the way they need to in order to finish blocks and explode through blockers.

3. Throw
Having great feet and explosive lower body power is useless if it can’t be transferred through the torso and into a powerful punch. Med ball throws are the best way to teach the transfer of power from the legs, through the torso and into the punch. Chest passes from a variety of positions should be utilized. Chest passes into a wall for reps - or time - should be done from the feet and knees. Chest passes for distance from the knees, or a seated position, are effective builders of explosive punching power. Once athletes master these variations, they can progress to two-footed hops into a throw. Another great option with these throws is to have the athlete leap, head first, onto a pad after completing the throw. This will allow your players to achieve full extension through the hips, without the inhibition of falling on their face.

4. Strongman Training
Strongman training will teach your athletes to move forcefully against heavy loads, exactly what they have to excel at if they want to be great players. They will learn leverage and build grip strength, as well as total body strength and power. My favorite strongman exercise for building great linemen is the tire flip. The weight of the tire doesn’t need to be excessive - it needs to be something they can move at a relatively high velocity. A favorite variation of the tire flip I use with my athletes is flips followed by a sprint. For example, the athlete will perform 2-3 flips, then sprint for 10-15 yards. The yoke and farmers walk are also great options for training linemen. They’ll build grip strength, torso stability and strengthen the entire lower body. These should be used over short distances, with weights that are challenging but can be moved quickly. Rest periods should be kept short.

5. Box Squatting and Bench Press Variations
Do them. Lots of them. Linemen must be strong from every angle and at every grip, so use lots of variations. For the squat, I prefer squatting with chains. For the bench, become strong at every grip width, incline, floor, off of boards, with chains/bands and from the chest. Always put emphasis on pushing the bar with maximal force. An athlete who can bench 250 with great velocity, but only has a 1 RM of 350, will be more effective than another athlete who may have a 1 RM of 400 pounds, but doesn’t move submaximal weights as quickly. You must generate power from a wide variety of positions, so you must train to be powerful from a wide variety of angles.

6. Don’t be fat
I tell my athletes “Fat doesn’t fly.” I could amend that statement to say that it doesn’t get off the ball fast, make downfield blocks well, run down plays from the back side, or put pressure on the quarterback, either. Linemen, particularly at the high school level, often have poor body composition and need to clean up their diets. At the high school level, a lean and athletic 235 pound player is going to be much more effective than a sloppy 280 pounder. Teach your athletes how to eat properly. Then their training will be better, they’ll be better players and for high school guys particularly - they will get more girls (that’s why we play anyway, isn’t it?).

Don’t let your linemen fall into the trap of thinking that good linemen are fat SOB’s. Great linemen are great athletes, so train your guys to be great athletes.