Whether you are on the court, field or in the water, it’s all about speed that make up athletic performance. Physical strength, agility, explosiveness and endurance might be the necessary prerequisites, but speed trumps them all. In Soccer or basketball game, no matter how strong and technically sound you are, the faster athlete has always the advantage. In Soccer, if you faster and stronger, you can easily dribble the ball, run swiftly to the goal line, protecting your quarter back better, even tackle the players around much easier. Similarly if you are faster wrestler, you can beat your opponent for take downs every time, escaping from the bottom position quite easily. Even lighter body weight athlete can make an impact on the game if he has got the speed. Talent is a rare attribute. But skill is something you can acquire by practicing hard. Similarly you can also improve your speed to be a successful athlete.
Methodical approach is by far the best way to improve athletic speed. Make sure the training is rigorous involving various exercises and drills. However, if you don’t have enough time to invest, you can work on speed by just adding a few basic concepts to the training recipe. While planning you program, remember there is a genetic component to speed. Some athletes tend to be faster than others due to their DNA component. Even these athletes undergo the training session to improve their speed or at least live up to their full potential.
Even you are not born with genetic attributes , you can still boost your speed by doing certain exercises and improve your current level of muscle mass. In most of the cases, speed component remains widely dormant, untapped and underdeveloped due to the lack of training.
Improving your speed is a tricky game involving certain workouts on you musculature and nervous system. The major aim is to let the body’s muscle contract more explosively through certain exercises. However, all aspects of speed must be considered during the training session. A one-time explosive contraction must be followed by a 40 yard sprint for an extended period of time. Such training would help power your muscles and heart. You can also try other training methods specific to the sports in order to improve speed irrespective of the sport. Certain exercises and speed drills involving movements and a scenario pertaining to the sport is a must.
Moving your own body weight would help you become faster and more explosive. Carry over fast movement body weight exercises such as box jumps, sprints, explosive starts, knee jumps, plyos, long jumps, etc. Add some drills to the training recipe that are specific to the sport. For example, if you are wrestlers, you can practice ghost shots for thousands of reps to develop a faster and more explosive take down.
Apart from sprint training, you can also do some light plyometrics exercises. Jump training or plyometrics can be a little complex but the actual training is straightforward. Find other ways to include body weight speed drills into your program.
Bill Schoellkopf is a 35 year old athlete from Miami, Florida. He is a great runner and a writer. He took part in many competition world wide and earned recognition. Here in his recent blogs he talks about the way to become a faster athlete.