I received an email from someone who was concerned that we were making claims that isometrics were better than weights and plyos and that these two training methods are not required.
I answered with the following, assuring him that we strongly encourage the use of all types of training routines, because they all have their place when it comes to improving sports performance.
I was asked the following question recently - and it is followed by my response:
“I have worked very hard to increase my golf swing speed. I do both strength and endurance training, including bench press, reps on the bench, squats and explosion exercises. Is it feasible for me to actually think that I can develop an even faster swing speed with your program?”
Finally, someone is actually talking about how the Cavs would actually be a better team when LeBron is not playing point guard. On TNT last night, Magic Johnson, Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley actually got out of their chairs to demonstrate what happens when LeBron plays the point and how the defense backs away from him, baiting him to take jump shots. They said that is the game plan, to make LeBron a jump shooter. That is the worst thing for the Cavs offense and all three acknowledged that. Barkley made the comment that James needs to be a “finisher” and not a “starter” with respect to running offensive plays. He likened James to Scottie Pippen who would start the offense, except that Pippen had someone named Jordan to pass to and LeBron doesn’t.
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Kenny Smith did a nice job showing what would happen if Lebron actually posted his man down low, explaining how he would only have to deal with 1 1/2 men on defense based on positioning as opposed to two men in his face at the top of the key.Â
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Sure enough, when the ball is taken out of his hands at the point position, the players look more like a team and consequently they won, even though Lebron couldn’t resist jacking up a few wild “threes”. Maybe they need to contact Cavs coach Mike Brown and remind him that Lebron is best when he gets in the paint and is not necessarily a great jump shooter.
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Sczerbiak, Gibson, West, Smith and Ilgauskus are equally if not better jump shooters than Lebron. When he gets them involved early, they are hard to beat. Series is now tied 2-2.
Lebron James dunk over KG and through the rest of the Celts last night was amazing. That must have felt good. check it out on youtube if you missed it:
Yes, strength training is very important to helping athletes get faster. The stronger the athlete the more easily he will be able to carry and move his body weight. At some point, however, his strength will be sufficient and any additional improvements in speed will depend largely on the contraction velocity of his muscles, that is, how fast his muscles can contract.
We get reports from Athletes of all ages and fitness levels telling us about the dramatic increases in their sprinting speed in a very short period time. Many start their training in midseason and still see results quickly.
Others tell us about improvements in their other athletic skills after training their muscles for speed for skills such as baseball bat speed, soccer kicking, jumping higher, tennis speed, golf swing speed and pitching and throwing.
And then there are those who are skeptical and hesitant to try these programs - which develop your fast twitch muscle fibers for blazing speed using isometrics with a resistance band.
So I have started a Speed Training Challenge. If you are one of those that are still hesitant to get faster, then I challenge you to try it for yourself and then determine if this is not the easiest, fastest and most effective way to train your muscles for speed.
All the details, including how to perform the thigh flexor exercise, (the most important muscle group for sprinting - which is often overlooked in most training programs) are on this speed training video:
