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Posted by: John Cortese, YFS, Certified Athlon Elite Trainer
FYI, John's article was published in this month's online journal from:
Great job John! Here's the article:
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.
Ernie Cooper of Cal Poly Football working on his "go-deep" speed at Athlon Elite!
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 176 lbs. A little over a year later (after some hard and smart training), I ran a 4.47 40-yard dash weighing 189 lbs 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.
Alex Turbow, Caitlin Walter and Julie English all have learned to run faster at Athlon Elite!
Click here to read the rest of the blog and find out six reasons you may not be getting faster: