Today I received a question from a former D1 Football player who is now the President of a local youth tackle football organization and coaches high school football. However, the question comes from the lens of a parent who wants to give his son all the tools to be successful in sport and realizes speed training is a skill and a science. Do you think athletes like Christian McCaffrey and Greg Olsen only had football coaches? No! They also prioritized “Speed Training” at a young age into their professional careers. Fun fact… Greg Olsen started as a Parisi Speed School athlete in New Jersey!
Here is the Text: “Hey Logan! From a training perspective, B is doing football T/Th/S and lacrosse S/M/W. Yikes I know. That said – we are still training for fast twitch every night by doing 100 skip rope jumps and 100 side to side line crosses with feet together. As well as push ups.
A) Anything else better for fast twitch?
B) Are protein shakes good for 9 year olds?”
This post will focus solely on question A:
Athletes will express force differently based on their body type and physiological makeup. Without getting too deep into the science of the skeletal, muscular, nervous, fascia-connective-tissue, and lymphatic systems and how they impact the athlete’s ability to express forces…let’s break down the goal of speed training. The goal of speed training is to have an athlete increase their force application in the same or shorter amount of time. To accomplish this goal, we must create neural adaptations that over time recruit more fast twitch muscle fibers along with improving mass-specific force. We accomplish this by incorporating the following speed training concepts into our system:
- Muscle Stiffness: Muscles, fascia, and joints act like springs. “Stiff” tendons transfer fore more rapidly and increase the elastic return.
- Biomechanics of Speed: To apply maximal force into the ground, athletes must achieve hip extension or “hip lock”.
- Plyometrics: Involve greater motor unit muscle recruitment while decreasing ground contact time.
- Fascia: Responsible for 30% of our explosive power and has 10 x more proprioceptors than muscle.
- What is Fascia
- Med Ball Rotation Series: This series can be performed with a partner or wall/trampoline bounder. Athlete can perform with the following positions:
- Kneeling on both knees
- Kneeling on one knee
- Standing in a neutral athletic position
- Feet staggered
Ultimately, B and his dad are facing the problem that all youth athletes are facing today. Sports are year-round and time for speed & strength training seems impossible to squeeze in. Participating in youth sports will help some with neural priming but only with that specific skill. Sport-specific coach’s jobs are to focus on developing the skill of throwing a ball, kicking a ball, swinging a bat, etc. not the development of the entire athlete.
We understand it sometimes is impossible to make it into the building for an hour speed class. That is why we have now made our training accessible through an app called “TrainHeroic”. This is made available to all Champions families for only $19 a month. You will get access to 5 days of training each week that will consist of speed & strength sessions with video guidance. Our Parisi coaches are here to assist you and individualize sessions to your needs.
Contact us for More Information or to Schedule an Evaluation!
Questions? Email [email protected]