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Secrets of Speed and Quickness Training
A collection of articles
by Dr. Larry Van Such - Vol. 9
Can I start speed training in mid season, achieve great results and improve my skills, all in less than 2 weeks?
3 proven reasons why you can implement speed training even in mid season and still improve your performance within days.
One of the questions we often receive deals with a concern people have about implementing something new and different in the middle of an ongoing season.
It does not matter whether your sport is baseball, basketball, soccer, or football, but let's take football for example. As I write this article, we are right in the middle of the season, and a lot of head coaches, strength and conditioning coaches, trainers, athletes, dads and yes, even moms, want to know if it's okay to do our programs in mid season. Should we wait until the season is over before we start your program? Will it affect their other training programs? Should speed training programs be done at the same time as strength and endurance programs? These are all legitimate concerns and we will put to rest any fears you may have about them.
Of all the people listed above, strength and conditioning coaches are the hardest ones to convince that you actually can implement a new training routine in the middle of your season, and it will not in any way interfere or hurt athletes’ performance.
One of the reasons for their apprehension, I believe, is that they have invested a lot of time into their athletes during the off-season, and they usually have a game plan in place long before the season begins. They stick with what they are comfortable with, unwilling to change, at least for now, thus avoiding any potential backlash in the event that their "experiment" goes wrong.
So, if you are in midseason and you're sitting on the fence thinking "Should I or "Shouldn't I" start a speed training program here are 3 reasons why you should:
1) None of our programs change how you perform your athletic skill
Whether it’s running hurdles down a track, throwing a baseball, kicking a football or soccer ball or shooting baskets, our programs do not, and I repeat, do not teach you how to properly do these or any other similar skills. The people in the best position to make this happen are your coaches and trainers.
However, what our programs are most effective in doing is teaching you how to make your muscles contract faster while performing your athletic skills.
We take a particular skill, for example swinging a baseball bat or kicking a football, and first identify all of the major muscles involved in performing these skills. Then, we show you how to effectively isolate each of these muscles and train them for speed using isometrics with the resistance band. When you follow our prescribed training routine, the end result is faster contracting muscles all the time, without exception.
So, because we don't make any changes to the "how you do something" (such as stand this way, lean that way, or hold the club with your hands like this, etc.), your own skill level is never affected. The only thing that is affected is the speed at which you perform them.
Kenny White is an athlete from Southern California. He tried our RUN FASTER training program several years years ago. He wrote and reported the following to us:
“I'd like to take time to really thank you for such a phenomenal program. I am experiencing immediate results from the workout.. I play semi-pro football, and the effects that isometrics had on my speed were dramatic. I had to adjust my angles to make tackles, because I play free safety and on special teams. I got a real kick, because I was hitting gears I haven't had since college. I'm looking forward to my off season training, and I'm hungry to learn more. Keep up the great work."
Here's an athlete who picked up our program right smack in the middle of football season and within ten days of receiving it, his biggest concern was, "I had to adjust my angles because I play free safety and on special teams".
When I spoke to him on the phone, he mentioned to me that because his running speed increased so fast and so quickly, he was able to start taking sharper angles of attack while making tackles. He had such increased confidence in his ability that he was able to immediately impose his skills into the game instead of waiting to react to an offensive players moves as he had been doing.
Another interesting thing he said was, "I got a real kick, because I was
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"We've all seen someone at one time or another who seems to be able to propel their body forward, almost cat-like, with unusual speed and body mechanics" | hitting gears I haven't had since college." Many of us can attest to the fact that it seems that when we run or sprint, we can't get out of first gear. We have one speed, and that's it.
Yet, we've all seen someone at one time or another who seems to be able to propel their body forward, almost cat-like, with unusual speed and body mechanics. This is what Kenny White and thousands of others have experienced by using our programs. You don't have to be born with this muscular response, isometric training with the resistance bands brings this out of you.
Do "adjusting your angles on the football field" and "hitting gears I haven't had since college" sound like problems to you? I didn't think so.
2) Our speed training programs do not interfere or negatively affect your strength and conditioning programs.
Most strength coaches usually have an aggressive weight training program that they put their athletes through both in the off-season and during the season. They are also very proud of their routines -- posting the weightlifting records/accomplishments of the athletes they train on a bulletin board for everyone to see. Some trainers actually paint the walls in the weight room with this information -- it’s real important to them.
So, adding something new usually means having to eliminate something else, and that’s causes a somewhat uneasy feeling for most. With our speed training programs, you won’t need to eliminate anything. The training exercises take only about 9 minutes a day to perform. You already know that your skills won't be negatively affected and, for you coaches out there, getting your athletes to practice an extra 5-10 minutes a day is not asking much, especially when they start seeing immediate results.
Now, on the other hand, I need to at least mention here that the reverse is not true. Speed training does not interfere with strength/endurance training; however, strength/endurance training can interfere with speed training. I won't get into this now, but will save this topic for another article.
3) You won’t need to invest a lot time and effort learning our speed training strategies - and you will starting seeing results in a few days.
The one thing that has attracted so many people to our products has been the quality, not the quantity.
All of our programs, from a quantity perspective, are very short. The longest training program manual we have is only 39 pages. This is really important, especially for any athlete looking for an immediate advantage in their sport, because by the time you receive your training program in the mail, you should be able to start implementing the speed training exercises within about 20 minutes, without any special equipment.
Our programs don’t contain any filler chapters to give them a greater perceived value. There are no chapters on the history and philosophy of a given sport, no chapters on diets or recipes, and no chapters on quotes from famous people. These programs are quick and to the point – just like speed training should be.
A lot of other speed training programs are way too involved to even be considered speed training programs. They may require you to train 60 minutes or more a day, and it could be up to 45 days before you see as much as a glimmer of improvement. This is a huge obstacle to overcome, especially in the middle of the season. There’s simply not enough time to even consider trying them.
With our programs, they take a maximum of nine minutes a day and, although typical results can be seen within 14 days, a lot of athletes notice improvement within a few days. So, in many cases, you are going to know within the first week whether or not these programs are for you.
So with our programs you can improve your performance any time of year, even in mid season because:
1) You don’t have to worry about changing the way you perform an athletic skill.
2) You don't have to worry about them interfering with your current training routine, and
3) You won’t wait long at all once you receive our programs to start implementing them and seeing results.
Always glad to help!
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