Speed Training Secrets

I was asked recently:

“I have been to numerous sites, and the majority say that plyometrics develops fast twitch fibers.  It makes sense to me that in order to move your muscles fast, you would exercise them at explosive rates. Why would plyometrics be less valuable to speed training then isometrics? ”

Here is my response:

One of the biggest mistakes athletes make in their training is they think just because they are training a muscle with fast twitch fibers, such as the biceps, triceps, quadriceps or hamstrings, this automatically means it’s a fast twitch exercise program or speed training program.  Or, they think by performing an exercise motion fast (as in many plyometric exercises), it too becomes a fast twitch/speed training exercise program.

If this were the case, my question for those is this:  What exercises would someone need to do to develop strength and endurance in a muscle?  The most common (and incorrect) answer is that they do the same or similar exercises for both speed and strength.

Or better yet, when they do these exercises, instead of doing a normally paced set, they try to crank out as many reps as possible in as little time as possible – This is commonly the technique used in plyometrics training, at least the way I understand it. 

Here’s the problem you are going to have with your athletic speed if you continue to believe things like this:   All skeletal muscles have both slow and fast twitch fibers in them.  Different fiber types require different types of training to improve upon their performance.  Therefore, you cannot train your muscles for speed the same way you train for strength.

Also, since all skeletal muscles have both slow and fast twitch fibers intermingled within them, you cannot separate them apart from each other and train individually.  They are always trained together.  What does this mean?  For starters, it means that whatever type of training you do (weights, plyos, isometrics), you will either be training the entire muscle for 1) better strength/endurance or 2) better speed.  Never both, at least not efficiently.

And performing a repetition as fast as possible doesn’t make it a speed training program.  Why?  This involves “repetitions” and muscle memory.  Doing too many reps with heavy resistance “dumbs” the muscle down leaving an athlete slow and uncoordinated after an exercise.  Your fast twitch response gets wiped-out after such exercises.  Have you ever tried combing your hair immediately after a workout?  How about drinking a glass of water?  You feel a little slow and uncoordinated don’t you?

If your current training program leaves you feeling slower instead of faster afterwards, what makes you think it was a speed training program?  It’s not.  It’s a strength and endurance program.  Shouldn’t a speed training program leave you feeling faster when you are done instead of slower?  I certainly think so.   The other problem people seem to have is with their perception of isometric training.  Many people associate isometric training with weights.  Let me first say that isometric training with weights is a strength/endurance program and not a speed program.  Our speed training programs do not teach isometrics with weights.

Unfortunately, many people do not get past this misconception and miss out on an incredible opportunity to increase their athletic speed.  Our programs teach using the resistance band with an isometric training strategy. The reason is based on the principle that a stretched elastic band has more stored potential acceleration energy that a weight which depends upon gravity for it’s resistance. You can read more about this here: http://www.athleticquickness.com/page.asp?page_id=24

This is a pure speed training strategy which has yielded results people have only dreamed of in the past.  Strength gains, however, are secondary with this type of training.

Finally, all athletic motions require muscles to be strong and fast; therefore, all exercises have value to an athlete.  If you are really strong but not very fast, this could present problems from a competition standpoint.  Likewise, if you are really fast but not very strong, this too is not desirable.  A good balance is what you are after.   However, it will do you no good if you think you are training for speed when in reality you are training your entire muscle for strength and endurance.

Weight training, plyometric training, et al, are primarily strength and endurance programs.  Any increases in muscle speed are secondary and will always be less then what the full potential of a particular muscle is capable of delivering.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 6th, 2007 at 1:57 pm and is filed under Speed Vs. Strength. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.