Copyright © 2009 JTL

Speed, Agility, and Durability

It has become apparent that the athletes of today have somehow altered themselves to perform at levels the world has never before seen. We have watched these athletes break record after record in almost every genre of sport or games and can only stare in amazement as to how they have done so. The formula for their success however is not as complicated as you may think and some of you out there may be just a little bit of knowledge away from setting your own records in years to come.

Fact or fiction:
Athletes are born not made? This straightforward question is not as simple as it seems. It is true that some individuals are born with a genetic make-up that may initially assist them in their athletic prowess more so than others. What makes this question complicated however is the fact that it isn’t simply the quickest person nor the strongest person who will make the best athlete, but the person who works the hardest at properly training their mind and body for competition. What is the use of being able to run a 4.5 second 40 yard dash if you are a football player who does not have the proper strength to sustain this intensity with pads on? And is it beneficial for the baseball/softball player to run 10 miles in 60 minutes if they do not have the explosive fast-twitch muscles to propel them rapidly around the bases? The point is that one can be in terrific shape and can rigorously train their body, but if they do not train it properly for their sport they may in fact be altering little when it comes to competition performance.

Using the Olympics as an example one is able to discern how different athletes utilize their speed and agility in different ways for maximum performance in their respective competitions. The sprinter running 100 meters is going to train his speed and agility completely different than the basketball player who is sprinting up and down the court for a longer durational period. Both of these athletic events (100 meter sprint and basketball) are at almost completely different spectrums in regards to the training the athletes will undergo for preparation. The basketball player needs to focus on (in a strictly movement based sense) speed-endurance and agility while the sprinter needs to focus on pure explosive power and rapid muscle contraction to continue acceleration. I will come back and touch a little more on both training regimes but first let’s take a closer look at the technique we see these sprinters using.

Note: In all athletic competition it is imperative for the athlete to stretch before and after training/competition. Whether one is simply lifting weights or training, you are at a much greater risk of injury if you do not properly stretch and eventually one’s body tissue will breakdown and result in an injury. The two primary components to remember here are that one’s body will perform better if the muscles being used are flexible, and that if stretching inflicts shooting pain or if you are stretching an area that was hurt you may need to consult a physician because stretching can cause damage to an already injured muscle.

There are three primary phases that a sprinter should work on:

Start Phase
► Once in the start position (feet on the blocks, hands set on the start line) keep one’s bodyweight evenly distributed, putting slightly more weight on the front two hands
► Explosively push off the blocks (or ground if you do not have blocks) with your front leg extending straight, bringing your back leg tightly up and in front of your body.
► Your arms will swing opposite to your legs, keeping the front arm bent at 90 degrees and extending your back hand towards the hip in a pumping motion.
 

Acceleration Phase
► After about 20 meters one’s body should be almost erect (keeping about a 5 degree forward lean), keep your face completely relaxed with your eyes straight ahead.
► Keep the shoulders upright and without movement.
 

Maximum Speed Phase
► Here your legs should be swinging in a relaxed motion, snapping back towards the hips with the front leg lifting the knee above the waist.
► Remember as the front foot touches the ground one should be balancing the weight of one’s body on the front ball of the foot. Slightly roll the foot forward towards the toe and pushing for further acceleration.

Agility Training
Let us start off here by first dispelling any belief of speed and agility being the same thing. It is true that both work in conjunction with one another, but in the sense that traffic lighting works in conjunction with the flow of traffic. In some sports agility may in fact be more important than the speed of the individual, and vice versa. But keep in mind that in most cases both are needed and together will help complete athletic performance, but one without the other would severely diminish an athlete’s competency. Training for liner speed (as we have seen) has many benefits and even during training should be performed at maximum pace. Agility on the other hand relies heavily on an athlete’s coordination and should be performed with the highest tempo possible that still allocates importance to the athlete’s quality of movement coordination. Agility governs an athlete’s ability to rapidly change his or her body movement and direction—at the moment of necessity—while maintaining the highest possible controlled velocity. It is because of this that most athletic programs around the country have severely altered their training regimes to account for proper agility; for the most part every team sport requires an athlete to perform at not only a high speed, but to have the agility to change directions and adjust oneself immediately when stimulated to do so.

Agility drills will help with an athlete’s performance speed and should be trained and practiced before the athlete becomes fatigued. There are many different techniques and exercises that people use to help train their speed and agility, but remember the most important of all is form and technique. Endurance can be trained other ways and will come, but once an athlete’s body gets used to improper muscle memory it becomes very difficult to narrow down and break the improper habit. The primary principles one needs to remember in regards to agility (other than technique) is to perform each exercise as quickly and as smoothly as possible, keeping their body movement under complete control. A typical agility drill is one that tests an athlete’s balance and coordination at a high tempo on all fields of performance (i.e., horizontal, lateral, and vertical). Good examples of drills that do this are: shuffle drills, latter drills, lines (great for speed-endurance especially), plyometric drills, dot drills, and even jumping rope.

Speed Endurance
Speed endurance is very vital to an athlete because most sports require a fast and agile athlete who must be able to perform and near maximum tempo and coordination for long periods of time. Depending on what type of sport you are training for (football, track, baseball, basketball, etc.) will alter your speed endurance training to fit the requirements needed for that sport. Looking at the 100 meter dash again for an example, one can see that the athlete’s speed endurance is minimal when compared to the basketball player, but that the basketball player’s maximal speed and explosive output is much more minimal than the sprinter’s. Speed endurance training for a sport like football would differ from both as well because they are provided with different break periods and exert different types of energy that reflect the demands of both the sprinter and the basketball player. This being the case, their training should reflect a hybrid between the two to maximize performance potential. One can create a speed endurance workout towards the end of a training session (allowing for maximum training during the earlier stages of the workout) by reducing the work to rest ratio and even increasing the work intervals. As an example, one would increase the amount of sprints at the end of a workout from 15 to 45 and instead of a 20 second break between each you would only allot 5-10 seconds of rest between each. This will help the athlete not only get in better shape in regards to their lungs, but it will also get their body increase the rate of clearance with the production of hydrogen ions and consequently what many refer to as lactic acid build-up.