Buy spikes.
Buy Freelap Pro BT112.
Find your constraints. How many days can you train fresh?
If you have NO constraints, train Monday through Friday. Three speed workouts (Monday, Wednesday, Friday) and two X-Factor workouts. Never let today ruin tomorrow. Small doses stimulate, moderate doses inhibit, large doses kill.
(When it comes to workouts), small doses stimulate, moderate doses inhibit, large doses kill, says @pntrack. Click To Tweet
What Is a Speed Workout?
Total time: 25-40 minutes. If you know Reflexive Performance Reset (RPR), do it. If you don’t know RPR, get the online course.
Do “wake-up drills,” aka “speed drills.” I suggest doing fast marches, A-skips, high knees, box jumps (jump over five imaginary boxes), prime times done fast x2 (aka straight-legged bounds), and butt kicks done fast x2 (aka retro sprints), and finish with one acceleration into top speed.
These speed drills need to be done with max intent, max intensity, and 100% effort for 5-6 seconds each.
Never jog.
Try to look like Carl Lewis (run tall, knee up with foot under knee, hand crosses the hips).
Spike up.
Do three sprints with five minutes’ rest. Do two flys (10-yard or 10-meter) and one 40-yard dash. To time the 40 with Freelap, put the start cone 3 feet in front of the starting line. Put the finish cone 3 feet past the finish line.
Flys are max speed sprints, so do a 20- to 30-meter run-in.
Always run with the wind.
Record every time.
For fun, convert your fly times into miles per hour. Mph = 20.45 ÷ 10-yard fly or mph = 22.37 ÷ 10-meter fly.
What Is an X-Factor Workout?
X-Factor workouts are 25-40 minutes of maximum intent, non-sprint work with each effort lasting 6-10 seconds and enough rest to repeat at the same level. Plyometrics are the most common X-Factor exercise. Strength work is fine as long as it doesn’t ruin the next day. Hip mobility work should be done once a week. Med ball work is great.
Wickets are obviously close to sprinting, but since we aren’t timing and aren’t wearing spikes, wickets are done on X-Factor days. Sprint into eight wickets, spaced at 6 feet.
Have fun. Be innovative. There are a lot of X-Factor videos out there. Check out the Twitter accounts of @kyle_edwards32 and @grahamsprints. Even if you do something worthless like speed ladders, the low-dose approach will ensure that no harm is done.
My team doesn’t push or pull anything, but if you are into that kind of thing, this is when you do it.
If You Have Constraints
If you have football workouts for five hours a day on Monday through Thursday and 7on7 tournaments on the weekends, forget about speed training. You are doomed to get slower this summer. Athletes with this schedule will become efficient at playing in third gear. It’s everywhere.
Over-scheduling is an enemy of speed, says @pntrack. Click To Tweet
If you have basketball in the morning and baseball in the evening, you will stay slow. Over-scheduling is an enemy of speed.
I recently set up a speed program for an athlete with the ubiquitous 7-12 football obligation Monday through Thursday. Obviously, this is not conducive to speed work, but there’s a way to at least maintain speed and a slight chance of improving speed.
My program called for a minimum of eight hours of sleep every night. Yes, that’s what’s wrong with 7:00 a.m. workouts. To be at your best, you need to be up by 5:30 a.m., which means you must be sleeping by 9:30 p.m. the previous night. This is NOT optimal for teenagers.
Since sprint training can only be effective when athletes are rested and energetic, Friday must be an off-day (total rest). Saturday and Sunday will be speed days. Pick the best time of the day, the time when you feel the most energized. If you drink coffee, do it before your speed workout.
X-Factor, like speed work, is also rest-dependent. With a grueling schedule Monday through Thursday, it’s highly likely that X-Factor can’t be done. However, with the help of an afternoon nap and some pre-workout caffeine, the athlete might squeeze in some X-Factor work in the evenings.
If you learn nothing else from this article, train speed when fresh.
If you learn nothing else from this article, train speed when fresh, says @pntrack. Click To Tweet
If You Need More
Consider buying my 2019 #1 best-selling DVD from Championship Productions, Feed the Cats.
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