Here's the Problem with Speed Training

Hi ,

It's not about straight ahead speed.

Never has been and never will be.

The best athletes on the field are the one's who can stop and
change direction most effectively.

So here's where we're making mistakes:

- Treadmill training
- Bungee cords
- Sleds
- Agility ladders

Now before I go on, , I should qualify a few things.

I like and use sleds quite a bit myself.

I also have no fundamental problem with agility ladders...

As long as they are being used properly.

And that's the problem.

For a long time now, we have been addicted to speed training.

Making our young athletes faster.

Fast athletes are dangerous athletes.

But how we develop speed really is a large issue and often
misunderstood by a lot of coaches, trainers and parents.

When I said before that athletes who stop and change direction
most effectively are the best athletes on the field, I meant it.

But that 'stop/start' talent, which many people mistake for
'agility', is not developed most effectively by just running
through different patterns using cones or ladders.

And that's because, like everything else, the process of becoming
really good at stopping and starting is a skill that can and
must be taught.

So let me address the problems I have with ladder and cone drills
to start with.

They often end up being 'timed' drills that coaches and trainers
merely want there athletes to 'get through' as quickly as they
can.

I suppose the idea is that the faster the athlete moves through
the pattern, the faster they'll become.

But that's kind of like taking an exam as quickly as you can
without being taught the material first.

How quickly you can finish the test doesn't really have anything
to do with how well you know the material necessarily.  

What we all must work to do a better job of is actually teaching
young athletes how to move more effectively.

And the process of teaching anybody anything, must be based on
a progressive system that begins with the fundamentals first.

This kind of reminds of the seminar I gave in Ireland last May.

I spoke at length about speed and movement training for young
athletes and described in detail how I use a system for
progressing kids into becoming speed demons.

At the lunch break, I was sitting with some of the seminar
attendees and asked them, quite casually, how they were enjoying
themselves thus far.

Happily, all of them said that they thought my information was
great!

They couldn't wait to get back to their gyms and training
centers in order to implement my speed development system onto
the young athletes they worked with.

One attendee was not such a fan, though.

Here's what he said to me:

"I didn't like all that information on speed development"

"Why?" I asked him.

"Well, here in Ireland, kids grow up playing soccer.  So they
already know how to stop and start well".

"O.K." I said "so you coach soccer.  Do you ever teach your
players how best to kick a soccer ball?"

"Of course" he answered "I need to make sure they understand how
to translate power from their hips into the ball".

Do you see his error in thinking, ?

He fully embraced and believed in the concept that young soccer
players need to learn how best to kick a soccer ball.

I have no problem with that.

But his logic didn't make sense.  

If young Irish kids grow up playing soccer, don't they already
know how to kick a soccer ball?

See my point?

We make the unbelievably horrible mistake of thinking that kids
already know how to move.

How to be fast.

How to change direction most effectively.

And the reality is that they don't.

Speed and movement are abilities that can be taught.  You just
have to know how.

But unfortunately for many coaches and trainers, it has nothing
to do with cone or ladder drills.

Properly developing the 'Blazing Speed' that so many people
want out of there young athletes has nothing to do with going
through drills, and everything to do with teaching correct
patterns through a progressive speed development system.

You must start with Open Habit Drills and progress into Closed
Habit Drills.

Now, I'm not trying to be 'wordy' or 'confusing' for no reason
here, , so let me explain.

Open habits are drills that teach the sequence and order of a
movement pattern in a static environment and without the
distraction of opponents, teammates or even a ball.

Closed habits are drills that apply speed patterns to a more
functional environment that include opponents and teammates.

The other key factor is that Open Habits are performed slowly,
while Closed Habits are performed at normal or game speeds.

So you see, when teaching how to perform proper movement patterns
you start with basic skills that are taught in a slow and
limiting environment.  Once mastered, you can progress things
through to applying those skills in real-time situations.

That's the key to it all!

Now, does that sound like running young athletes through some
cone or ladder drills at top speed and without teaching them
the proper execution first?

And here's another point that's critical, -

Whenever you teach young athletes how to be fast, you have to
start with teaching them how to stop.

Deceleration training is the cornerstone to speed development and
in fact, the primary ingredient to my speed development system.

I teach young athletes how to decelerate both laterally (when
they are traveling side to side) and linearly (when they are
traveling front to back).

I then progress them through the process of learning how to
decelerate from angular (diagonal) position.

Once my young athletes master all of this, I teach them how to
accelerate from each of these positions.

And there you have it!

You want the fastest kid on the field?

The one who can stop and change direction the best?

Then you have to follow the sequence I just mentioned above.

You know, , in DVD #3 in my Complete Athlete
Development System, I actually show you exactly how to progress
young athlete through my Speed Development System.

In fact, I show you the progressive steps of teaching lateral
and linear deceleration techniques through this process:

1) Repeat Statically
2) Repeat Dynamically
3) Repeat Randomly
4) Predictable Speficity

I know you're likely not too familiar with those terms so let me
explain them.

The first two steps (repeat statically and dynamically) are the
essence of Open Habit drills.

I show you how to breakdown and teach deceleration skills in a
slow and deliberate way so that your young athletes really
understands how to perform them.

Then with 'repeat randomly' and 'predictable specificity', I show
you how to add elements of speed and sport-skill into the
equation so that your young athlete learns how to apply there
new-found abilities onto the field or court.

The key is to teach them the fundamentals and then progress
them into sport-specific skills so that they are optimally
fast and quick, regardless if they play baseball, soccer,
basketball or football.

I even have a full chapter in my Complete Athlete Development
System that discusses this process at length so that you learn
exactly how to implement my speed development system.

Never forget this point, -

Ladder and cone drills are where you END... not where you START!

You need to progress young athletes through a speed development
system in order to guarantee their ability on the field.

If you'd like to take a look at my Complete Athlete Development
System, feel free to click on the link below:

www.CompleteAthleteDevelopment.com

'Till next time,


Brian