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Our team is slow, and it's not cause we're white

by taekwondave · 10/17/2010

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Y 4 Ever
taekwondave wrote:
Shoot, you know what? Give me a MONTH and I'll make EVERY ONE OF YOU NOTICEABLY FASTER just to prove my point.


Its like you're advertising for a personal trainer gig... ;)



I'll bite - tell us all how you're going to make us faster. I spend a lot of time at the gym - I can change my routines to shave a second off my 40 time. Let's hear it.
G
Guest
33311710 wrote:
Shoot, you know what? Give me a MONTH and I'll make EVERY ONE OF YOU NOTICEABLY FASTER just to prove my point.


Its like you're advertising for a personal trainer gig... ;)



I'll bite - tell us all how you're going to make us faster. I spend a lot of time at the gym - I can change my routines to shave a second off my 40 time. Let's hear it.


With the caveat of not losing any other muscle mass or strength, I assume.
M
mizzoucoug
33311710 wrote:
Shoot, you know what? Give me a MONTH and I'll make EVERY ONE OF YOU NOTICEABLY FASTER just to prove my point.


Its like you're advertising for a personal trainer gig... ;)



I'll bite - tell us all how you're going to make us faster. I spend a lot of time at the gym - I can change my routines to shave a second off my 40 time. Let's hear it.


I'd like to know too. I was 212 in July and am now a much healthier and trimmer 195 and am quite a bit faster than I was. I attribute most of that to eating better (and less) and P90x core sessions once a week. Other than that I'd like to know what more I could do before I hit my 30's and lose all hope.
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tww
For what it is worth—and I am no expert—speed training is similar to leap or jump training. It is not simply a matter of strength vs mass. (Yes genetics always play a part but like any born talent, it is only a beginning. Desire and proper training will surpass talent without desire and training 99% of the time.) Specific muscle groups must be "shocked" into twitching at the same rate and same time. This allows the muscle group to act or react like a single unit working together. If muscles go off (twitch and contract) at different rates and time, the whole mechanism breaks down resulting in a slow action/reaction. You might compare it to the timing of an engine. Everything has to have correct timing or it begins to work against itself. This is why there are always what appear to be anomalies—fat guys that are fast, light guys that are slow, strong guys that are slow, and weaker guys that are fast. A super fuel dragster that is out of tune could be slower than a bicycle and probably tear itself apart (injury in an athlete). This is why strength conditioning can actually slow an athlete— it is not the additional weight— it is the fact that with some muscles stronger it throws the mechanism out of balance.



This why young athletes unknowingly but naturally speed train. They naturally try to be more dynamic and not just stronger. By doing so they get everything working like a single rubber-band instead of a bunch of parts working independently. Anyway, I am sure I have spent way too much time on the subject so....
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taekwondave
Well since you asked...



First off, when training for speed, injuries are very, very common. So if you're man enough, do yoga. If I were the trainer at BYU (I'm not pitching to replace Omer with myself. I'm sure there's much better options with much better credentials than me. I'm just sayin...) Were I the speed coach at BYU I'd take everybody off whatever program they were on and reprogram their bodies by having them do 90 minutes of yoga every single day for a month. That would correct so many chronic problems and hidden injuries-in-waiting, the benefits could maybe never be fully accounted for. I am SOLD on hot power yoga.



After that "reprogramming period" I'd start with the speed training. It's actually much simpler than you'd think.



First we need an understanding of what muscles are primarily responsible for sprinting.



#1 is the hip flexor. That's the muscle that lifts your knee straight up in front of you. The faster you can lift your knee the faster you can run. It's very simple. So strengthen that muscle and you'll run faster. Period. How do you do that? There are plenty of methods. One is to simply lift your leg out in front of you like you just kicked a soccer ball and hold it there. You can make it harder by adding resistance with either an anchored therapeutic band (my favorite) or weights. There is also a machine at Gold's Gym that does that for you. And if you prefer repetitions instead of static holds you can do that too. Either way is fine.



#2 is the hamstring. While running, a great deal is expected of the hamstring. Having a strong hip flexor that can lift your knee will be thwarted by a weak hamstring that cannot lift the opposite heel towards your butt. While strengthening the hip flexor, make the hamstring your next priority. It's easy to work the hamstring. You can lay on your stomach and simply bend your knee, curling your heels towards your butt. Do an hundred of those and you'll feel it just fine. There's also a machine at any gym that is for hamstring curls.



#3 is the glute. While one knee is out leading in front of you, your opposite leg is fully-extended, pushing to lengthen the stride. This means the glute is working it's butt off ;) There are a number of workouts for the glute. Lunges being an excellent one. (It also works the quad, which matters, but not like it does in jumping.) My favorite though is to simply stand straight up with your weight on one leg and extend the other leg directly backwards. You can add resistance with a therapeutic band as was mentioned before, anchored to something in front of you now, rather than behind you, as in the hip flexor exercise. You'll notice this hits the glute in the exact same way it would were you sprinting. Great exercise.



#4 is the quad. The quad needs to be addressed, not because it makes you faster itself necessarily, but because if you don't strengthen it, you'll pull it, as the other muscles getting stronger will pull against it and it wont' be able to take it. (This happened to me once.) So leg extensions are perfect to avoid a pull. Just sit in a chair with your legs bent like normal and then lift one foot up till the leg is straight, just like you're kicking something in front of you. There are plenty of machines at the gym that offer resistance for this too. Very important. I also would never speak an ill word about lunges to strengthen the quad.



#5 the lower legs. I.e. the calves, and oddly enough, the shins. (Yeah, many people don't realize there's a muscle along the shin. It lifts the toe from a hanging position if you're sitting somewhere with your leg dangling.) This is really not THAT important but every little thing counts to some degree. Do heels raises to strengthen the calves and toe raises to strengthen the shin muscles. It's strange but it helps a little.



The last thing that MIGHT help are strong lats and shoulders. Not a lot but why not? They are responsible for pulling your arms back and forth to counter balance the motion the legs cause while running. They're probably not that big of a deal but it would be good not to leave them out.



Now, maybe after you read this you'll think, "Does Omer really not do those things?"



Well, I'll tell you, if he does, he doesn't do them enough, and our team speed is evidence of that. From my experience and also from what others have said, Omer is BIG on power cleans, squats and bench press. BIG. And rightfully so if you want to be just really, really strong or to jump high. I'd be willing to bet at least 90% of our football team can at LEAST jump and grab a basketball hoop, if not actually dunk a basketball. Power cleans mimic the jumping motion so closely with so much resistance it's impossible not to improve your vertical while doing them. In fact, the first time I ever grabbed rim was at the end of my first semester doing power cleans. (I'm 5'10")



Do those workouts and you'll get faster, guaranteed. Couple it with yoga and it'll only help. Yoga offers valuable flexibility as well as stability in important muscles you may not know you have. Were Omer to utilize yoga in his current system, our players wouldn't be any FASTER but at least there would be much fewer hamstring, groin, and knee injuries.



So there's a sampling. I know it was long but hey, I AM taekwondave. And you asked for it. ;)
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taekwondave
tww wrote:
For what it is worth—and I am no expert—speed training is similar to leap or jump training. It is not simply a matter of strength vs mass. (Yes genetics always play a part but like any born talent, it is only a beginning. Desire and proper training will surpass talent without desire and training 99% of the time.) Specific muscle groups must be "shocked" into twitching at the same rate and same time. This allows the muscle group to act or react like a single unit working together. If muscles go off (twitch and contract) at different rates and time, the whole mechanism breaks down resulting in a slow action/reaction. You might compare it to the timing of an engine. Everything has to have correct timing or it begins to work against itself. This is why there are always what appear to be anomalies—fat guys that are fast, light guys that are slow, strong guys that are slow, and weaker guys that are fast. A super fuel dragster that is out of tune could be slower than a bicycle and probably tear itself apart (injury in an athlete). This is why strength conditioning can actually slow an athlete— it is not the additional weight— it is the fact that with some muscles stronger it throws the mechanism out of balance.



This why young athletes unknowingly but naturally speed train. They naturally try to be more dynamic and not just stronger. By doing so they get everything working like a single rubber-band instead of a bunch of parts working independently. Anyway, I am sure I have spent way too much time on the subject so....


Actually man, that was great.
T
taekwondave
Oh. I forgot abs. Specifically the obliques. But seriously, the act of sprinting itself is maybe the most effective oblique exercise I've found. But there are plenty of other exercises you can do as well. The reason they matter in sprinting is because your core is responsible for keeping the body moving straight forward despite all the torquing and twisting going on above and below it. The obliques matter.
T
tww
taekwondave wrote:
Oh. I forgot abs. Specifically the obliques. But seriously, the act of sprinting itself is maybe the most effective ab exercise I've found. But there are plenty of exercises for the obliques. The reason they matter in sprinting is because your core is responsible for keeping the body moving straight forward despite all the torquing and twisting going on above and below it. The obliques matter.


Agreed.



Really the short of what I was trying to say is that I agree with your marshal arts approach. People don't understand yoga because it looks funny but what it is doing is harmonizing, balancing and unifying the muscles, unlike static stretching that does just the opposite. Balance first then speed. This creates "usable" strength. I would put a marshal arts strength style trained team up against a mass strength style team any day.
T
taekwondave
tww wrote:
Oh. I forgot abs. Specifically the obliques. But seriously, the act of sprinting itself is maybe the most effective ab exercise I've found. But there are plenty of exercises for the obliques. The reason they matter in sprinting is because your core is responsible for keeping the body moving straight forward despite all the torquing and twisting going on above and below it. The obliques matter.


Agreed.



Really the short of what I was trying to say is that I agree with your marshal arts approach. People don't understand yoga because it looks funny but what it is doing is harmonizing, balancing and unifying the muscles, unlike static stretching that does just the opposite. Balance first then speed. This creates "usable" strength. I would put a marshal arts strength style trained team up against a mass strength style team any day.


Maybe we could get the Football team to take Ninja classes ;)
T
tww
taekwondave wrote:
taekwondave wrote:
Oh. I forgot abs. Specifically the obliques. But seriously, the act of sprinting itself is maybe the most effective ab exercise I've found. But there are plenty of exercises for the obliques. The reason they matter in sprinting is because your core is responsible for keeping the body moving straight forward despite all the torquing and twisting going on above and below it. The obliques matter.


Agreed.



Really the short of what I was trying to say is that I agree with your marshal arts approach. People don't understand yoga because it looks funny but what it is doing is harmonizing, balancing and unifying the muscles, unlike static stretching that does just the opposite. Balance first then speed. This creates "usable" strength. I would put a marshal arts strength style trained team up against a mass strength style team any day.


Maybe we could get the Football team to take Ninja classes ;)


I know you are joking but the necessity may be closer to the truth than we realize. So bare with me for one last point and I will let it rest (maybe). For not only the non-believers in taught speed but to make a case that BYU MUST start teaching it. I think most of us generally accept that strength=power which it does. But what is widely overlooked because it is something of a paradox is that speed=power. Roids aside when Macguire was spanking them out of the park he didn't do it with a massive bat but a small light one. Why? Bat speed = dynamic power on the ball. Another example is the great equalizer, the small lead projectile bullet. Not much mass but with the right amount of speed... oh so much power.



Speed or acceleration is a compression of mass and we don't need to go to Einstein for proof. Even in football, whether offense or defense, when you go through a whole you get smaller. In marshal arts you concentrate your mass. This can relate to conditioning in the example of the bench press, which is an expansion of mass. this is needed for explosive power. But at least as important is contraction power or the ability to concentrate mass. As I am sure taekwondave was thinking when he added abs to his equation.



Acceleration is moving from an expansion dynamic motion to a contraction dynamic motion (is that redundant? sorry) but my point is that acceleration=speed=power and if it isn't being taught it should be.



Oh and Dave, could you not in the very least incorporate some marshal arts discipline as part of the redshirt or RM training program. Hey I would love to see eleven ninjas on the field.
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Y 4 Ever
taekwondave wrote:
Well since you asked...





So there's a sampling. I know it was long but hey, I AM taekwondave. And you asked for it. ;)


Interesting that there's no mention of actual running/sprinting. I'd assume that running/sprinting reps are important when trying to improve speed?



Also, a low 40 time is nice and all, but lateral speed and quickness are equally as important as straight-line speed in fball (maybe more so). I assume that your hip flexor is less important when talking about general agility, and lateral speed/quickness?
T
taekwondave
33311710 wrote:
Well since you asked...





So there's a sampling. I know it was long but hey, I AM taekwondave. And you asked for it. ;)


Interesting that there's no mention of actual running/sprinting. I'd assume that running/sprinting reps are important when trying to improve speed?



Also, a low 40 time is nice and all, but lateral speed and quickness are equally as important as straight-line speed in fball (maybe more so). I assume that your hip flexor is less important when talking about general agility, and lateral speed/quickness?


It IS interesting that there is no mention of actual sprinting. And I don't blame you for assuming that would be important. But it wasn't sprinting that made me fast at sprinting so I just told you what worked for me. I can see some ways that maybe it would be though. Like if you kept weights in your hands and around your thighs and ankles maybe. That would offer resistance and would probably strengthen the muscles responsible for sprinting if you sprinted with those on. And I suppose maybe even sprinting every day COULD help but resistance training has me more sold. So yeah.



As for lateral speed... I wouldn't ever say it was MORE important than vertical speed. How many guys to you see running sideways for sixty yards for a touchdown? But building strength laterally is easily accomplished with similar workouts mentioned regarding the hip flexor and the glute. Using that same therapeutic band I mentioned, just anchor it to something and loop your ankle through it and this time lift your leg laterally, like you're going to fly through the air doing a ninja kick (I like that we brought ninjas into this). For the groin muscle you can do the same but just face the other way and pull the leg laterally across your body, keeping it straight. Do static holds in those positions, or reps, whichever you prefer, and it should do the trick for lateral strength if you so desire. Lateral movement is good, but I don't see it as important as vertical speed.
M
Mars
Gunk wrote:
Speed isn't the priority at BYU. Strength is. The limited amount of time our guys spend in the gym is probably geared primarily towards increasing strength. Little if any priority is made on speed.

If we ran the Power-I, instead of a Spread offense, this might not matter nearly as much...
I
Italics
Mars wrote:
Speed isn't the priority at BYU. Strength is. The limited amount of time our guys spend in the gym is probably geared primarily towards increasing strength. Little if any priority is made on speed.

If we ran the Power-I, instead of a Spread offense, this might not matter nearly as much...


Bingo.



If the coaches are training strength instead of speed - in spite of the sort of defense and offense we run - than I've been too LIGHT on them.



It'd be like spending each practice teaching a team of Jackson Emery's how to post up down low.
G
Gunk
Italics wrote:
Gunk wrote:
Speed isn't the priority at BYU. Strength is. The limited amount of time our guys spend in the gym is probably geared primarily towards increasing strength. Little if any priority is made on speed.

If we ran the Power-I, instead of a Spread offense, this might not matter nearly as much...


Bingo.



If the coaches are training strength instead of speed - in spite of the sort of defense and offense we run - than I've been too LIGHT on them.



It'd be like spending each practice teaching a team of Jackson Emery's how to post up down low.


haha...against AF Emery could post up.
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runbyu1
Isn't that the truth!



Regarding speed training...my dad always had his athletes train downhill for extra speed. It was so effective that the head coach at BYU had a downhill section of track installed just North of the actual track. This is where the BYU sprinters work on sprint drills to gain speed...running downhill so they can train their muscles to go faster than they actually can on flat ground. Works like a charm.
B
byucougar1
The Russians had been doing this for years in the 1970s and even had a 100-meter champion as a result. When I attended The Ohio State University in the mid-70's they had a downhilll ramp on the south side of the stadium just for this purpose.
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