Speed

3 Biggest Myths about Soccer Speed

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soccer speed

When comes to developing soccer speed in players, we all know why it’s important. Speed wins games.

Coaches want it, players respect it, and spectators cheer for it. Unfortunately, speed training for soccer is often misunderstood.  In years of working with everything from AYSO to National teams, here are the 3 biggest myths we hear about soccer specific speed.

1. Only speed with the ball matters

Of course being quick with the ball in your possession is going to be a huge part of soccer.  That’s skill.  That’s the point.  However, if you don’t recognize what happens without the ball, you’re missing most of the game.

First of, most of the time players don’t have the ball.  Just do the math; 90 minute game, 20 field players, if they had it equal time (which of course they don’t) that’s 4.4 minutes or 5% of the time. So even if you’re a player who gets a lot more possession, you’re going to spend the majority of time without the ball.

Then you have to think about how you get the ball.  Beating an opponent to it and creating an open space with a run both can require speed.

Finally, while moves in small tight spaces, may require more quickness form you, if you’re moving in open space, you cant moving any faster with the ball than your body can go.  Your sprinting speed is your limit.

Bottom line, if you want to be a fast player, develop your speed. Period.

2. Fast players are born that way

Decades ago many coaches would say “you cant teach speed” like there was a simple genetic lottery to have it or not.  Not true.

Not it is true you need some genetic qualities to have world class, 100m gold medal speed.  If you didn’t have the right grandparents, all the training in the world might not get you there.

However speed is a complex motor skill that involves both motor control and force production capabilities.  Both of those can be taught and improved through good coaching and training.  Sped is a skill and can be taught.

If you want to get an advantage over the competition at every level, than you need to maximize your speed.  That means training the movement skills and the force production abilities.

3. Running sprints will make players fast

Too often coaches, players and parents think they are doing speed training.  After all, the players are running as fast as they can doing those sprints at practice.

While running at full effort is an important part of developing speed, its not a winning formula.

The formula to improve speed is The Big 4.  The four factors you can train and teach to improve.  They are;

  1. Generating a big force to propel the body
  2. Applying that force in a very small ground contact time
  3. Applying the force in the Proper Direction
  4. Moving the body through an Optimal Range of Motion

These can all be taught using advanced motor control and neuro-developmental techniques along with proper functional strength training and mobility development

RELATED: See How Velocity Simplifies the Biomechanics of Speed

Do You Want To Be Faster?

If you’ve fallen into one of these traps, you’re not alone.  The good news is that you can get an edge on the competition by breaking free and  taking control of how fast you will be out on the soccer field. To learn more about speed training check out The Ultimate Guide To Speed Training.

Velocity Speed Training Drills: Small Time

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plyometric drills for speed
The Velocity Speed Formula (read more about it here) uses proven speed training drills to make athletes faster.  Whether its elite speed training or youth speed training, the Formula always has the same 4 parts;
  • Big Force
  • Small Time
  • Proper Direction
  • Optimal Range of Motion

Apply Force Faster for Speed

Below we share 2 useful drills that help you develop your SMALL TIME qualities.  In essence, these are plyometric drills.  Drills where you have a ground contact that stretched your muscles, followed quickly by a contraction of those same muscles.

One of the benefits of this type of plyometric action is that parts of your muscles act like springs.  When you land they compress.  When you push they spring back and help you.

This is what we term Reactive Strength and is key for any athlete that wants to be fast.

RELATED: Sport Specific Types of Strength

Hurdle Hop Speed Training Drills

Hurdle hops are a very popular drill for speed training with good reason; they are effective.  The key is to do them well.

When your goal is to develop your reactive abilities, you need to focus on getting off the ground quick.  At the same time, you need to apply force.  Make sure you try to really project your body high into the air on each.  The speed is on the ground contact, not the movement forward.

Jump Rope Double-Unders

This is a time tested classic for foot speed.  It’s hardly new, but it works.  It should be a fundamental piece of every youth speed training program.  It’s basically a plyometric drill for speed.

To project your center of mass in the air high enough for the rope to go around twice, you need to apply a big enough force.

If you don’t want to get smacked with the rope, you need to apply that force quickly.

Double-unders are what we call a “self-limiting drill’.  This means that you really can’t perform it with bad technique.  Maybe you can get a few in without doing it well, but to string them together you need good form.  You will be in the proper body position, have the right range of motion and have a small time on the ground.

Velocity Speed Formula

Both of these are important speed training drills to develop an athletes ability to apply force quickly. They are great plyometric drills that work.   Execute them explosively and with great body position to be effective. If you perform them well and often, you’ll see the results transfer to game speed.

Velocity Speed Training Drills: Big Force

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speed training drills
The Velocity Speed Formula (read more about it here) uses proven speed training drills to make athletes faster.  Whether its elite speed training or youth speed training, the Formula always has the same 4 parts;
  • Big Force
  • Small Time
  • Proper Direction
  • Optimal Range of Motion

Getting Stronger for Speed

These 2 important drills help you to develop BIG FORCE qualities.  Although these are not weight room drills, strength training for speed development is important.  To be fast, athletes need to train in the weight room and do it properly.

You need to develop some of the specific strength qualities in these drills to improve your speed.  They are very specific to building strength for speed.  They are proven speed training drills that build specific strength and have a high carryover from training to application.

MORE FOR YOU:  The Science of Strength For Speed

Box Blast Exercise

The Box Blast is a speed training drill that lets you focus on maximum power.  The basic alignment of the limbs and torso is similar to the acceleration phase of sprinting.  Most importantly, the muscle motion is a piston-like action which we observe the acceleration phase.

Heavy Sled Runs

This is another greater drill that is highly specific to strength for speed.  Speed training drills like this need to be executed with great form and body alignment.

Velocity Speed Formula

Both of these are important speed training drills to develop the force production capabilities of athletes.  Execute them explosively and with great body position to be effective. If you perform them well and often, you’ll the results transfer to game speed.

WANT TO GET FASTER: The Ulitmate Guide To Speed Training

Velocity Speed Formula: Big Force

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Strength training for speed
Velocity Big 4 Speed Formula
The Speed Formula is the science of speed biomechanics simplified.

Understanding strength training for speed is important for coaches and athletes.  Previously I’ve covered why the Big 4 is such an effective “formula” for speed (read it here). It’s how we analyze movement, teach and come up with drills and programs. No advanced degree in physics or neuroscience necessary. The formula is:

  • Big Force
  • Small Time
  • Proper Direction
  • Optimal Range of Motion
Let’s delve deeper and take a look at the first element; Big Force. It has driven why and how we incorporate certain drills and resistance exercises. It is basic Newtonian physics; you push the ground one way and it pushes you the opposite direction.

How Much Strength Do You Need?

It’s a good question. How much strength do you really need?
 
Observing the difference in muscular development between a sprinter and a marathoner should give you a clue. Sprinter’s have way more muscle mass. This doesn’t mean you need to just be bigger or become a powerlifter. But biomechanics research does tell us very large forces have to be applied by the athlete to move fast.
 
You need to produce a Big Force. The strength you need is developed by:
  • sprinting fast,
  • using specific sprint and plyometric drills,
  • and getting in the weight room.

What Is Strength?

For an athlete, strength means a lot more than just how much weight you can lift. There are 6 different strength qualities we train. Focusing on specific strength qualities is how we improve speed.
 
Strength is how much you can lift, right?
 
Nope.
 
How much you can lift is a great expression of some strength or power qualities. As an Olympic weightlifting coach, I’ve helped athletes go from starting the sport to be on the US National team. I love the strength and power (Strength x Speed) expressed through weightlifting.
 
Then there’s powerlifting. Squat, deadlift, bench. Many of the coaches on our staff have been competitive powerlifters as well as my friends. These feats of strength are really impressive and it’s a great expression of Max Strength.
 
Neither is the definition of strength though. They are just great examples of 2 of our 6 specific qualities. Going in-depth is beyond the scope of this writing but here are our 6 types of strength:
  1. Maximum Strength: think powerlifting and even sub max weights. It’s about force and speed is not important.
  2. Eccentric Strength: Think shock absorbers and brakes. When you land, stop, cut, etc… your muscles contract while lengthening. This is an eccentric strength action.
  3. Power (Strength-Speed): Moving fast against a larger load. Think weightlifting or football lineman pushing each other.
  4. Power (Speed- Strength): Moving fast against a light load. Throwing a baseball, jumping, throwing a punch. Moving it fast matters.
  5. Rate of Force Development: How fast you can turn on the muscles. Think of a drag racer analogy. It’s how fast they can go from 0 to speed that matters.
  6. Reactive Strength: Combine a fast & short eccentric stretch, immediately followed by RFD and you have reactive. This is the springy quick step you see in fast footwork.

What Type of Strength Do You Need?

If there are different types of strength, which help you apply a BIG FORCE into the ground? Which will help you get faster?
 
The answer lies in part on what you are trying to improve. The answer may be different if we are talking about acceleration compared to maximum velocity sprinting. And those may be different than a change of direction.

Acceleration

This is the phase where you are starting and gaining speed. During this phase, the mechanics lead to slightly longer ground contact times. This added time in contact with the ground lets you build up force to push harder. You still have only between 200 – 400 milliseconds, so Max Strength will help, but Speed-Strength is key.
 
This phase is also characterized by large horizontal and vertical forces. This means that when training strength, you need strength exercises for both pushing backward and down. A good dose of weight room basics like lunges, power cleans help. Combined with vertical and horizontal plyometrics, along with sled work, the results get better.

Maximum Velocity Mechanics

During this phase, you are upright and moving fast. Your foot needs to hit the ground with high forces but it’s not there for long. Elite sprinters are in contact less than 100 milliseconds. You need Max Strength enough to handle the high loads 1.5 – 2.5 times body weight on each leg. You also need to be able to absorb the impact and reapply force quickly. That’s Reactive Strength.
 
Since you’ve already accelerated, in this phase the forces are mostly vertical. They keep you from falling into the ground. Therefore, weight and plyometric exercises like squats, reactive hurdle jumps, and even jump rope double-unders all contribute.

Change of Direction

When changing direction, the type of strength can depend on how sharp of a cut you make. One situation is a major change of direction where you slow down and re-accelerate. This requires a lot of Eccentric Strength and Strength-Speed. On the other hand, if it’s a quick cut without slowing down or a big range of motion, then it’s more about Reactive Strength and Speed-Strength.
 
Both these are going to benefit from a mix of weight room and plyometrics. The weight room will include strength exercises and Olympic lifts for power. The plyometrics are going to need to focus on developing horizontal and lateral forces.

Technical Sprint Drills for Strength Development

There is a big misunderstanding of technical speed drills. Most people see a technical drill and naturally believe it’s to develop technique. It makes sense after all, but there is so much more.
 
Many “technique” drills in speed training are just as important to developing Big Force as the weight room. By refining an athlete’s technique, they become more efficient with the strength they have. They learn to apply it better.
 
Often many speed drills are really a plyometric exercise themselves. They require putting a lot of force into the ground, in the proper direction. They are in fact the most speed specific form of strength training there is.

Strength Training for Speed

Having good technique and good power output is key to being fast. It’s not an either/or situation, it’s an AND sitution. You need technique AND strength. In every athlete’s development, they go through stages. Sometimes their technique gets ahead of their strength, and vice versa. Make sure you stay on track by developing both and working with a knowledgeable coach who can determine if you need one or the other more.

Big 4 Speed Formula Infographic

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Velocity Speed Formula

Velocity’s Speed Formula is proven to get results for athletes at all levels of sport.  Developed by World Famous Track Coach Loren Seagrave, it’s used in elite sports around the world to make sure athletes get faster.

While it appears simple, it’s based on complex biomechanics and motor control theory.  By improving these 4 elements, you can improve your speed too.

To go more in depth and learn more check out: Velocity’s Big 4 Speed Formula

Velocity Big 4 Speed Formula

Check out these drills that work on “Big Force”.

Velocity’s Big 4 Speed Formula

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Velocity Speed Formula

World-renowned track coach Loren Seagrave was teaching me his system of training some of the world’s most elite speed athletes. Over 50 track medalists at World and Olympic events.

And this was it? “That’s too simple,” I thought.
 
I was a coach who was working with elite and professional athletes in the weight room and on the field. With a graduate education in biomechanics and motor control, and undergrad education in engineering. I just thought; The Big 4 was simplistic.
 
Fortunately, I kept looking at it, applying it and learning. I was wrong. It wasn’t simplistic, it was in fact incredibly complex and elegant underneath. Yes, The Big 4 was simple, and the best tool to organize speed training I have ever seen.
 
“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” ~ Leonardo da Vinci

The Components of Speed

To coach movement effectively, you need to understand the movements’ biomechanics. You need to understand motor control. You need to understand the types of movement occurring in the sport.
 
It takes years (decades) to truly gain this knowledge.
 
How to analyze a movement, the athlete’s movement skill, and then determine what training methods and drills will improve performance. That’s a lot.
 
The Big 4 are basically the “formula” for speed. No advanced degree in physics or neuroscience necessary.
 
  • Big Force
  • Small Time
  • Proper Direction
  • Optimal Range of Motion
That’s what we coach. This formula has all of the complexity underneath, but it‘s simple to apply and understand. It can also save you decades and help you achieve better results with your athletes. That’s why I use it.
 
“If you can’t explain it to a six-year-old, you don’t understand it yourself.” ~ Albert Einstein
 

Big Force

You have to apply force to the ground to go somewhere. The faster you want to go the more force you have to apply. Observing the difference in muscular development between a sprinter and a marathoner should give you a clue.
 
This doesn’t mean you need to be just bigger or become a powerlifter. However, biomechanics research tells us very large forces have to be applied by the athlete to move fast.
 
The Big Force you need is developed by sprinting fast, using specific sprint and plyometric drills, and getting in the weight room. There are 6 different strength qualities we train. For speed, focusing on Max strength, Strength-speed, and Speed-strength are key.
 
 

 

Small Time

In sports, speed counts. So applying that force in a small time, while in contact with the ground, is critical. You don’t often see the opponent saying, “sure, take all the time you need to generate that force, I’ll wait.”
 
Yes, you need a Big Force, but you have to apply it to the ground in a (very) small time. This requires the right strength and motor control qualities.
 
We develop those through technique drills that reinforce a small ground contact time. Through plyometrics and strength training which develop Rate of Force Development and Reactive strength.

Proper Direction

Force is a vector which means it has a direction as well as quantity. Efficient and effective movement requires more than just the right amount of force. That force has to be applied in the right direction.
 
Proper direction is achieved through the right motor pattern (technique) and the stability of the body to apply it that way. When the structures of joints, muscles, and tendons aren’t up to the task, we have what we call “energy leaks.”
 
The motor control to create Proper Direction is developed through technical drills. These drills teach athletes to move optimally.
 
The stability to transfer those Big Forces comes through specific training drills. It also comes from getting stronger with resistance training. Finally, it’s also enhanced in our functional strength components.

Optimal Range of Motion

Goldilocks had it right, not too much, not too little, but just right. We need an optimal range of motion in our joints, muscles, and tendons. In some movements, we need a large range of motions, and in others, we need smaller. The key is that the athlete can move without restriction or compensations.
 
Many of our technical exercises and dynamic warm-up drills develop this range of motion. In addition, we use mobility work. Things such as self-myofascial (foam rollers, balls, etc..) in conjunction with stretching techniques. Sometimes it may include working with a tissue specialist.

Training “Game Speed” Big 4

One of the strengths of this “formula” is that it doesn’t just apply to the track or linear speed. It applies to all aspects of multi-directional speed and agility as well. That’s what puts it above so many speed training systems that are only designed for running straight.
 
There are lots of ways this becomes useful in training. From analyzing our athletes’ movement to selecting training methods, it acts as a guide. In a group setting it allows us to improve different parts of the formula for individuals using the same or similar drill.
 
Same drill, different focus.
 
Different focus, different training effect.
 
That’s why the Big4 is such a powerful tool for individualized training. Even in a group setting.
 

Training Programs

Often athletes come in to get faster and when we introduce them to the weight room or stretching, they may ask “Why? I want speed training.”
 
I get it. It’s common sense, to get faster just do sprint training. Although it appears logical, it’s NOT the most effective and efficient method.
 
The Big 4 explains why:
 
We have different components to our overall program to comprehensively develop each of the Big4. Yes, the “speed training” component can be used to address all four components of the speed formula. However, we can achieve better results and faster results by adding other things.
 
“It is not a daily increase, but a daily decrease. Hack away at the inessentials.” ~ Bruce Lee
 

Simple vs. Simplistic

I once thought it was too simplistic to train something as complex as human movement using a formula like the Big4. It isn’t simplistic, it’s simple. Underneath this clear, concise training method is the incredible complexity of biomechanics and motor control. Organizing it into this 4 piece formula and removing the confusion on so many aspects of speed training, is the genius of the Big4.
 
Thanks Coach Seagrave.
 
Want to learn more about speed training?  Check out The Ultimate Guide to Speed Training.

Is Your Agility Important for Soccer?

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Soccer Agility

Is Your Agility Important for Soccer?

Sprinting speed is very important, but soccer isn’t a track meet. It’s not a linear game, and elite soccer players have great agility in addition to blazing straight-ahead speed.
 
We divide agility into two key components—quickness and change of direction. Sprinting speed is great, but if you can’t change direction, you’re going to get burned.

Velocity Speed Formula

The Velocity Speed Formula doesn’t apply only to linear sprinting. It also applies to multi-directional movements. The motor control may be different, but Newton’s Laws of Motion still apply, no matter what direction you are traveling.  The Velocity Speed Formula has 4 components;
  • Big Force
  • Small Time
  • Proper Direction
  • Optimal Range of Motion

RELATED: The Velocity BIG 4 Speed Formula

There are differences in how we apply the Formula with agility compared to sprinting. When we compare BIG FORCE, the magnitude may be different, as might the type of muscle contractions.
 
For agility, SMALL TIME and PROPER DIRECTION usually become more important. When it comes to OPTIMAL RANGE OF MOTION, it’s usually smaller in agility than in sprinting.
 
Same scientifically based formula, different types and values going into it.

Quickness

You know the feeling you get watching elite players with incredible quickness? Their movements are crisp, precise and lightning fast. They are able to keep their bodies in total control while making moves.
 
Lightning-fast movements made in 1 or 2 steps can make all the difference when reacting to an opponent, or leaving one on the ground.
 
When we consider Quickness, the emphasis moves away from BIG FORCE and changes to SMALL TIME, PROPER DIRECTION and OPTIMAL RANGE OF MOTION.
 
Body control and balance are big parts of true athletic quickness. Without them, you are like a fish out of water, flailing ineffectively. Athletic quickness requires that you have the balance to keep your body in control. That you can apply ground reactions forces effectively to move you in the PROPER DIRECTION.
 
This becomes even more evident in soccer, where many of your moves are made with a ball at your feet. You must have excellent single-leg balance, stability and quickness. This let you forces to your body for movement and still maintain good touch on the ball.
 
When it comes to quickness and your footwork, smaller, not bigger movements, are usually the OPTIMAL RANGE OF MOTION. That’s because you need your feet close to the ground to react and make movements quicker.
 
The ground reaction force is smaller, but quicker and more reactive. When most people think about strength, they imagine how much someone can lift on a barbell. However, that is only one type of strength.
 
The Velocity Sports Performance methodology uses six strength types to make athletes more effective in the game. To improve quickness we are more focused on developing Rate of Force Development and Reactive Strength.

Rate of Force Development

This type of strength is all about how fast you can turn on your muscles and generate force. In biomechanics, it’s called Rate of Force Development (RFD).

Player A may be stronger when squatting with a barbell; but since Player B can turn his muscles on quicker, he’ll start moving faster than Player A. As shown above, when it comes to quickness, it’s not how much force you can produce, but how quickly you can produce it.

Reactive Strength

If an athlete is already moving one way, he or she has to apply force to re-direct his or her momentum. This is Newton’s First Law of Motion. Paraphrased, an object will keep going in the same direction unless acted on by another force. Exercising agility and quickness, an athlete must apply this other force.
During quick agility movements, the foot’s contact with the ground first requires an eccentric muscle action. Eccentric actions occur when the muscle is exerting force one way to resist the athlete’s momentum.
 
This rapid eccentric force to change momentum is immediately followed by a high RFD to redirect the athlete. Rapid eccentric force coupled with a high RFD in a small time are what we biomechanically call Reactive Strength.

What You Need

Here are some examples of how you might improve your quickness.
 
Reactive Strength and RFD
  • Single-Leg Hop Back
  • Ladder Drills – Backward Single-Leg
Body Control and Dynamic Balance
  • Hexagon Agility
  • Single-Leg Med Ball

Change of Direction

Soccer isn’t linear; it constantly changes from one part of the field to another. You have to mark a player who is going one direction, then another. As a soccer player, you need to be good at both.
 
If the angle of the change is less than 90 degrees, it’s an obtuse (quick) cut. If it’s more than 90 degrees, it’s an acute (sharp) cut. You want to think about this, because the SPEED formula is a little different for each. As a soccer player, you need to be good at both.
 
Both types of change of direction are common in soccer. They are among the most demanding actions for your muscles and for your energy systems. They also can make or break key moments. If you can’t shake a defender when attacking, or can’t stay glued to the attacker when defending, you lose.

Quick Cut

The quick cut usually happens at speed. You’re dribbling down the field and want to make a small change to throw the defender off balance or get to an open space. Or, you may be defending a tracking a player as he or she moves across the field. He or she is trying to lose you, and you need to make small cuts to stay with them.

Sharp Cut

Sharp cuts also happen. You’re defending a player with the ball racing in one direction. He or she makes a quick stop, pulls the ball back and goes the other way.  You’d better make a fast sharp cut to stay with him or her.

The Formula for Change of Direction

The Speed Formula is different for BIG FORCE and SMALL TIME in cutting movements. The quick cut is just that—quick, meaning the time on the ground is smaller and the angle change (and therefore the amount of force applied) is smaller.
 
This requires Reactive Strength. In the sharp cut, you have to absorb a lot more momentum to stop going one way, then reapply large force to re-accelerate in a new direction. This requires a combination of Eccentric Strength and Speed-Strength.
 
The Formula is also different in the OPTIMAL RANGE OF MOTION. The sharp cut has to absorb more momentum eccentrically. This means the knees and hips will bend more and/or you will take more steps, whereas the quick cut should only see a little bend at the knees and hips.

Improving Change of Direction

Change of Direction is about the physics of momentum. For best results, you need to understand how to apply the Speed Formula properly. Here are some examples of exercises you can use;
Strength Needed for Agility
Eccentric Strength
  • Kettlebell Swings
  • Single-Leg Hurdle Hops and Stick
  • Ladder Lowering
Effective Mechanics
  • Activate Base Drills
  • Inside Box Drill
  • Wall Crossover Drills
  • Carioca Quickstep

Soccer Agility Makes You A Better Player

True soccer game speed means linear speed and agility. Whether it’s the quickness exhibited with fast footwork and dynamic moves, or rapid changes of direction, you can’t be lacking. These are skills that can be trained through better movement mechanics and by improving the right physical qualities. Take control of your game speed and improve to succeed.

Do athletes need a bigger engine or better brakes?

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When it comes to training for performance, many, if not most, people immediately begin thinking about being faster and more powerful. After all, victory often depends on getting to the ball, finish line, goal line, end zone, or basket before your opponent.

RELATED: Learn Velocity’s Proven BIG 4 Speed Formula

This is the same as buying a new car with only one concern: How big is the engine? How fast can it go? How quickly does it get to 60mph? This is, of course, very important to athletic performance.

So, if we stick with our car metaphor, what’s going to happen if you buy a brand new Ferrari but the breaks don’t work? It won’t matter how fast you can go, because, without breaks, you can’t control all that speed.

In fact, the majority of non-contact injuries happen in just this way: athletes can’t manage stopping because they don’t have strong enough brakes and something, well, breaks.

So which one should you pick? The answer is that it depends. If you’re an explosive athlete who can’t change direction quickly, then you probably need better breaks. If your top speed blows away your competition but it takes you too long to get there, then maybe you need a more powerful engine. The first step is to assess where you are now and where you need to be.

RELATED: Why Athletic Strength Is More Than How Much Weight You Can Lift On A Barbell?

At Velocity, we use a battery of tests to see where our athletes are strong and where they need to improve. Based on this and other information, like injury history and goals, our coaches can make smart decisions about what our athletes need in order to improve their performance.

If you want to see how your brakes and engine are working, contact us and schedule testing!

athletic strength signature

Do You Know What Your Strength Signature Is?

Velocity Coach’s Favorite Speed Drills

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Speed training is fundamental to the Velocity system. We asked four of our coaches which drills were their favorites – a kind of “desert island” scenario for speed training. If you don’t have much time, or maybe just don’t know where to start, try these.

RELATED: Learn Velocity’s Proven BIG 4 Speed Formula

Coach Kenny’s pick: The Single Leg Tuck Jump

Reason
Every athlete needs to be quick and powerful on just one leg. Whether it’s cutting, jumping, landing, or sprinting, sports are mostly about exploding, stopping, and exploding again as quickly as possible.

Focus
This drill requires athletes to generate as much force as they can while getting their foot off the ground as quickly as possible.

Execution
While in a single-leg stance, jump as quickly as you and tuck your knee up toward your chest as soon as your foot leaves the ground.

Sets & Reps
As many reps as you can on one leg for 20 seconds.

60 seconds of rest.
As many reps as you can on the other leg for 20 seconds.

Repeat this series three times and you’ve done some respectable speed training in under four minutes.

Coach Yo’s Pick: Build Your Brakes! (Level Lowering Series)

Reason
In addition to being a place where many athletes can make a meaningful difference in their on-field or on-court speed, the moment when an athlete needs to change direction or decelerate is where the majority of non-contact injuries occur. This is due to lack of strength, poor posture or position, or a combination of both.

Fortunately, these types of injuries are easily preventable by learning good base position and improving eccentric strength.

Focus
Learn what good base positions are and how to get in and out of them quickly.

Execution
Work on your base positions:

  • Practice the Square Stance
  • Next try the Staggered Stance
  • Advance to the Single Leg Stance (on each side)

Next, you need to learn the “Loading Position.” At Velocity, we often refer to this as Level Lowering. While you can do this without any equipment whatsoever, we often use the following tools to help with these drills:

  • Agility Ladders help with your tempo and target ground contact time.
  • Minibands are fantastic for activating and keeping athletes’ glutes engaged.
  • Other variations include adding anti-flexion and anti-rotation elements to target different muscle groups and strength qualities.

Sets & Reps
Level Lowering is about posture and position before it is about volume. Therefore, going through a certain number of reps if the correct posture cannot be maintained is at best unhelpful and may be dangerous. The best way to approach these drills is to work until you master the positions.

 

Sports Medicine Specialist Misao’s pick: 5-10-5 Change of Direction Test

Reason

The movement patterns involved are simple, excellent for training specific movement, and are common to any sport that involves more than running straight ahead.

The test is very short, lasting at most six seconds. This means that an athlete’s performance is determined by their foot quickness and ability to change direction, not by endurance.

Another benefit of this drill is that it’s not a drill – it’s a test. Athletes get timed, so not only do they tend to push themselves harder than they would otherwise, they also get direct and immediate feedback as to whether they are getting faster or slower.

Focus
This test is about how quickly and athlete can change direction, plain and simple.

Execution:
Place three cones (or something similar) in a line with five yards between each cone. The athlete starts in the middle in a square stance, facing directly ahead, with one hand on the ground. The athlete sprints five yards one direction, then ten yards back the other way, then turns around to sprint back through the middle.

Time starts as soon as the athlete makes his or her first move coming out of the square stance and ends when the hips cross the middle line.

Sets & Reps
We suggest giving an athlete one or two test runs at about 80% to get a feel for the movement and decide which direction they want to start running. After that, more than three or five times through the test is adequate. If you are looking for a change-of-direction drill for conditioning purposes, we would suggest something like suicides or the 300-yard shuttle.

Coach Rob’s pick: Jump Rope

Coach Rob spends a lot of time with our Youth athletes, whose ages range from about 8 to 12. While simplicity is valuable regardless of your athletes’ ages, its importance increases with younger athletes, whose attention spans and motor control are not yet fully developed.

Reason
Part of the Velocity Big Four Speed Formula is small time, which is purely about getting your feet off the ground quickly. Jumping rope correctly teaches athletes how to get their feet up quickly and improves their ability to do so. It gives them immediate feedback as to whether they are getting better at being quick – they get over the rope or they don’t.

The coordination required to jump rope is another reason it work so well. Many of our young athletes need work in this area, and when they can coordinate their jump roping, it usually translates in to an improvement in overall coordination. This helps with running technique and a wide variety of other movements.

This drill requires a lot of focus, and nearly all of our youth athletes need more of that. In fact, our coaches know the quality that determines which athletes excel is often not talent or strength, but the ability to focus. We’ve found that giving our athletes drills that force them to lock in their attention to the task at hand is a great way to develop that ability.

Focus
Developing quick feet, coordination, and focus.

Execution
Jump over the rope by picking up your toes, not by bending your knees.

Sets & Reps
Set a goal for your athletes to be able to do 100 jumps in a row without stopping for any reason. Beginning with just five minutes of practice every day will yield great results. Once they can do that, move on to single leg jump rope, and then to double-unders.

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4 Myths about Muscle Pliability You Need to Know

by
Trainer performing graston technique

The term “muscle pliability” has been in the news around the NFL quite a bit. Tom Brady and his trainer, Alex Guerrero, claim that making muscles pliable is the best way to sustain health and performance. How true is that claim? While it’s a great descriptive term, we are going to shed some light on what it really means and how to create muscle pliability.

Defining Words

Our performance coaches, sports medicine specialists, and tissue therapists all find it to be a useful term.  Pliable expresses some of the important qualities of muscle. According to Miriam-Webster Dictionary here’s what pliable means:

Pliable

a: supple enough to bend freely or repeatedly without breaking

b: yielding readily to others

c: adjustable to varying conditions

That’s a pretty good description for many of the qualities we want in the tissue of an athlete (or any human for that matter). The problem is that it’s being mixed up with a lot of inaccurate and confusing statements.

Our Sports Medicine Specialist, Misao Tanioka, says that “the word pliability, in my opinion, depicts the ideal muscle tissue quality. It is similar to suppleness, elasticity, or resilience. Unfortunately, I believe some of the explanations offered by Mr. Brady and Mr. Guerrero have created some misunderstanding of what ‘muscle pliability’ really is.”

Let’s try and separate some of the myths from what is true.

Myth 1: Muscles that are “soft” are better than dense

That depends on what qualifies as “soft” muscle.  Tissue Specialist Cindy Vick has worked on hundreds of elite athletes, including NFL players and Olympians across many sports. “Soft isn’t a word I would use for an athlete. When I’m working on an elderly client, I often feel muscles that could be called soft; they’re not dense. That’s not what I feel when working on elite athletes. Athletes who are healthy and performing well have muscles that have density without being overly tense and move freely. The tissue is still smooth and supple.”

This muscle quality is affected by many factors, ranging from stress, competition, nutrition, training, and recovery. At Velocity, maintaining optimal tissue quality is a constant endeavor.  Proper self-myofascial release, various stretching techniques, and manual therapy are all part of the equation.

MORE INFO: Mobility vs Flexibility: They are different and it matters for athletes

Myth 2: Dense muscles = stiff muscles = easily injured athletes

Relating these terms in this way grossly over-simplifies reality and is in some ways completely wrong.

You have to start with the operative word: “dense.” Tanioka says, “Dense tissue can be elastic; elastic tissue is resilient to injury. What we have to look for is inelastic tissue.” Cindy Vick adds that “if you mean ‘dense’ to refer to a muscle with adhesions, or that doesn’t move evenly and smoothly, then yes, that’s a problem.”

Scientifically, stiffness refers to how much a muscle resists stretch under tension. It’s like thinking about the elastic qualities of a rubber band. The harder it is to pull, the stiffer it is. If a muscle can’t give and stretch when it needs to, that’s bad.

Imagine a rubber band that protects your joint. When a muscle exerts a force against the impact of an opponent or gravity, stiffness can help resist the joint and ligaments from being overloaded and consequently injured.

“I agree with Mr. Brady’s statement about the importance of a muscle’s ability to lengthen, relax and disperse high-velocity, heavy incoming force to avoid injury,” says Tanioka. “However, I think that athletes also must be able to exert maximum power whether actively generating force or passively resisting incoming stress, which requires the ability to shorten and be taut and firm as well as lengthen. The ability of the tissue to be durable and contractile is just as important as to elongate and soften when it comes to performance and injury prevention.”

In the view of our experts, it’s not about dense, soft, stiff, or other qualitative words. Instead, they emphasize developing function through different types of strength qualities athletes need.   Athletes must prepare for the intense stress and strain their muscles will face in their sport.  They need to blend the right strength training with mobility and flexibility.

Myth 3: Strength training makes muscles short

“It’s an old wives’ tale that took hold when bodybuilding techniques had a big influence on strength and conditioning. A muscle can be incredibly strong without sacrificing any range of motion” according to international expert and President of Velocity Sports Performance, Ken Vick, who has worked with athletes in 10 Olympic Games and helped lead the Chinese Olympic Committee’s preparation efforts for 2016 Rio Olympic Games.

“I’ll give you two great examples: Gymnasts are, pound-for-pound, very strong and incredibly explosive, yet they are known to be some of the most flexible athletes. Olympic weightlifters are clearly some of the strongest athletes in the world and are also generally very flexible. They spend practically every day doing strength training and their muscles aren’t ‘short’.”

RELATED: Why Athletic Strength Is More Than Just How Much Weight Is on The Barbell. 

In fact, proper lifting technique demands excellent flexibility and mobility. For example, poor hip flexor flexibility or limited ankle mobility results in an athlete who probably cannot reach the lowest point of a back squat. Our proven methods combine strength training with dynamic mobility, movement training, and state of the art recovery technology to help our athletes gain and maintain the flexibility and mobility required for strength training and optimal performance on the field of competition.

Myth 4: Plyometrics and band training are better for pliability

We hear these types of claims time and again from coaches, trainers, and others who are quoting something they’ve read without much knowledge of the actual training science. Our muscles and brain don’t care if the resistance is provided by bodyweight, bands, weights, cables, or medicine balls. They can all be effective or detrimental, depending on how they are used.

Sports science has shown that manipulating different variables influences both the physiological and neurological effects of strength training. Rate of motion, movement patterns, environment, and type of resistance all influence the results.

Truth: Muscle Pliability is a good thing

Like so many ideas, muscle pliability is a very good concept. The challenge lies in discerning and then conveying what is true and what is not. An experienced therapist can, within just a few moments of touching a person, tell whether that tissue is healthy. A good coach can tell whether an athlete has flexibility or mobility problems, or both, simply by watching them move.

In either case, it takes years of experience and understanding of the human body and training science, like that which is possessed by the performance and sports medicine staff at Velocity, to correctly apply a concept like muscle pliability to an athlete’s training program.