Posted by Geoff Fairbanks on May 15, 2001 at 22:21:44:
In Reply to: Speed posted by duckworth on May 10, 2001 at 18:13:08:
Speed deffinetely helps alot. However speed is much more of a natural thing than an aquired skill. I would spend a great deal of time on power development training prior to any speed training. You must give your body a good foundation in which to build a speed base, and that means lots of plyometrics, (no more than twice a week) Olympic as well as regular lifting, and base speed training (150's 200 etc.) Do these for a month or two before season starts, than start adding some shorter faster stuff; ie: 5x90m 5x60 and 5x30m at 85-90% (twice a week). Continue the plyometrics and lifting, but lessen the load. It is important that each week you increase percentage, the volume isnt as important, you should have done that in the off-season. You should be at 90-95% a week or two prior to your main competition (state.) Throw in a time trial at 60mx5 no more than once a week at full speed. It is also important that you have an active rest day in the middle of the week (wednesday) and I would advise you to modify your training in season so that prior to meet day you have an active rest day as well. Active rest is doing very brief explosive exercises such as throwing a shot put backwards (like the throwers do) and some light medicine ball training. Remember, working out tears your body down, RECOVERY is where your gains are made. During rest your body is essentially rebuilding itself, and becoming stronger. The key to maximizing performance is to hit your body real hard in cycles, followed by periods of diminished workload. I wont get it into that, but I think you will understand what I mean. It is called peaking. It is a very sophisticated science that is very hard to do properly. Hope this helps. If you have any questions just ask.