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Agility And Speed Training

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Every coach and athlete wants to experience faster speeds, but that does not mean they are doing effective speed training workouts at their practices. Somewhere along the way, many coaches, at every level, began combining speed work and conditioning training as the foundation of their speed development. The result of this has been highly conditioned athletes who compete in sports where the demand of the sport does not require a significant percentage of the conditioning that has been developed.

That being said, the required changes likely only involve making minor modifications in your training philosophy. In this article I will cover acceleration development. Many programs neglect acceleration development even though it is the foundation of any program designed to improve speed. You can't run at your true top speed if don't have the ability to accelerate properly.

Success in most sports is based heavily on the ability to accelerate quickly and efficiently. This is because most sports primarily require short bursts of speed before the athlete stops, slows down or changes direction. The exception is track and field sprinters, where the acceleration portion of speed development is critical because it sets up the rest of the race. But even sports like soccer, traditionally trained using long slow runs and intervals, require a shift in emphasis to acceleration development.

Success in these 'endurance' sports still depend on short periods of acceleration in order to get to a loose ball, breakaway from an opponent and get back on defense.

So there's little point in doing speed training workouts if you haven't first mastered the ability to accelerate. Here are some basic speed training workouts that you can do in order to improve the ability to accelerate. For our purposes we are talking about runs from 0 ' 30 yards.

But before you begin, regardless of your sport or beliefs about training speed, there are some things you need to remember when it comes to acceleration development.

1). Full recovery between repetitions is required.

2). Full recovery means rest approximately one minute for every 10 yards that you run.

3). 'Don't train speed every day.

4). The more force you apply to the ground, the faster you'll pick up speed

5). Make sure that your feet land beneath the hips.

6). The heels should never touch the ground when doing speed work.

7). You run faster when you stay relaxed then when you strain.

I like to start the training season with short runs up hill because this forces athletes to really drive the foot down into the ground in order to gain momentum. The ability to apply force into the ground with each stride is the driving force (pun intended) behind getting faster. I like to use fairly steep hills, that way the requirements in steps 4-7 above really become more pronounced. When you don't follow those criteria, it becomes extremely difficult to accelerate quickly.

1). 10 x 20y uphill or on a flat surface from standing start. 2 minute rest.

2). 10 x 30y uphill or on a flat surface from (push up down position, 3 point stance or seated). 3 minutes rest.

As you can see, speed training workouts themselves aren't especially complicated or fancy. The results come from following the 7 rules I mentioned earlier, mastering technique by using speed drills and improving strength by lifting weights.

In all, the key is to follow a comprehensive and complete speed training program that will not only teach you the types of workouts that improve speed but also the many other elements of training that compliment your speed work and develop overall athletic ability. By looking for short cuts and quick answers, you'll see inconsistent and frustrating results.

But when your speed training workouts fit into a well designed training plan, you'll get results that you didn't realize could occur so quickly and easily.

Copyright (c) 2007 Patrick Beith

Agility And Speed Training

Do you want to possess the ability to change direction on the spot?

Do you want to dominate opponents with your blistering speed?

Do you want to win matches because you are just too quick?

1. Proper Warm-Up and Cool-Down

Training for Tennis Speed is all about maximum effort and intensity, so a proper DYNAMIC warm-up (no static stretching in the warm up!) is ESSENTIAL as your muscles will be working at full capacity.

The rate of muscular contraction is very high during speed training so if you don't take the time to warm up properly you really run the risk of injury.

The same can be said of the cool-down period after training.

The excessive contractions tend to shorten the muscles and produce waste products as the session progresses so you MUST performf a proper cool-down as this will help to stretch the muscles back to their original resting length and eliminate the presence of the waste products such as lactic acid.

Your cool-down should be similar to the warm-up except the warm up should start slowly at low intensities and build up whereas your cool-down should the be exact opposite (gradually slowing down) finishing with some static stretching.

A proper warm up and cool down will also significantly reduce the amount of muscle soreness that will occur a day or so after the session.

2. Never Train Just in Straight Lines

Let's think about how you play for a minute!

As a percentage, write/scribble rough answers down to the following questions!

How often do you move forwards?

How often do you move backwards?

How often do you move sideways?

How often are you moving forwards (say towards the net) but side-shuffling (basically a sideways movement)?

What about going backwards for a smash (tip - you should be positioned sideways for this shot)?

Do you get the picture?

Do you understand what I am trying to point out?

Hopefully the answer is yes, but if not, here it comes!!

You can see from the above that many, many situations occur during the course of a match that require a multitude of movement types, BUT very few situations call upon you to run forwards as though you were sprinting to catch a bus!

So why would you choose to do your speed training in this way?

It's just not specific is it?

If you were training for the 100 metres then straight line running is acceptable, but for tennis (and most other sports), you have to learn how to move quickly in many directions.

Straight Line training has its place in your programme but should NOT be the ONLY type of speed training you do!

3. Only Train Over Short Distances

Going back to what I said about only training in straight lines this was specific to the way tennis (and most sport) is played.

Another aspect of your speed training involves the distances you should be doing your training over.

Let's think about the game again for a minute!

Again scribble the answers down to the following questions.

What is the average distance you cover to each shot?

What is the maximum distance you may need to cover to get to any shot?

Do you get my point?

The answers will vary slightly for each person and situation BUT they certainly are not 100 or 200 metres/yards!

SO

When you are training for speed, you only need to be training over very short distances such as 5 or 10 metres/yards.

To re-visit our earlier analogy - you are NOT a track sprinter so DON'T train like one!!

4. Rest Periods Are Vital

One of the most overlooked aspects of speed training is the rest you need to take in between repetitions/exercises.

Most people finish a repetition of a drill and begin the next one far too quickly.

The reason this is wrong is because for you to be able to impact on your speed, you have to perform all exercises at 110% intensity and for this to be possible you have to make sure you have fully recovered from the exertions before.

If you are not fully recovered you will only be able to perform at increasingly less intensity as the session progresses and therefore will only really be improving your endurance and NOT your speed.

You really need to be taking at least 1 minute (if not more) to rest although this does depend on the distances involved and the type of exercise involved.

But as a rule make sure you feel recovered before you start the next one.

Remember NOT to hurry your speed training and you WILL win the race!

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About Author

Both Patrick Beith & Paul Gold are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.

Patrick Beith has sinced written about articles on various topics from Strength Training, Abdominal and Soccer. To learn more about Coach Beith and to discover the 7 secrets to developing speed and get cutting-edge speed, strength, and conditiong tips, for free, go to: . Patrick Beith's top article generates over 8100 views. Bookmark Patrick Beith to your Favourites.

Paul Gold has sinced written about articles on various topics from six pack, Recreation and Sports and Investing and Trading. Paul Gold is a Tennis Performance Enhancement Specialist. For your FREE Top 10 Tennis Training Tips go to . Paul Gold's top article generates over 9900 views. Bookmark Paul Gold to your Favourites.

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