Tuesday, March 2, 2010

GPP to Get Ready for Sprint Training



It is combine and pro day time, so we expect to see some very fast people. Jacoby Ford ran a 4.27 at the combine on Saturday, which is flying, if you don't know. That speed just earned him millions of dollars and now you want to know how to get that fast too. The bad news is that genetics play a huge role in speed, but I am here to teach you to maximize your genetic potential by training smart and getting as strong and as fast as possible.

We will start off with the basics of offseason training to build up speed. Most high school kids believe it or not are severely out of shape and can not go straight into a speed and agility phase of training. You will have to start them out with General Physical Preparedness, or GPP. You can do this by incorporating lifting, sled dragging, light skill position drills, but today we are focusing on something called tempo runs. This is a great way to develop good sprint mechanics and to get your athletes in shape to prepare there bodies for speed training.

A tempo run is sprint at a designated distance at about 70% to 80% of their max anaerobic capacity.
EX: Skill Players 40yd. Sprints @ 70% 12x7secs, and then rest for 30secs in between each sprint
Most skill players can run a forty in the mid 4's so making them run it in 7secs will not be so demanding on the central nervous system and allow their bodies time to recover before the training day. This will get their bodies ready for full on sprint work and it will allow you to tweak their running mechanics while they are running at a sub maximal speed. Depending on how bad they are out of shape will determine when they can be done with their GPP phase and move into their SPP phase.

By doing all kinds of GPP before making your athletes do an all out speed program is a great way to work on weaknesses, correct muscle imbalances from the previous season, and to reduce the risk of lower extremity injuries, such as hamstring pulls. Hope this helps and be on the lookout for more speed training forty yard technique to help develop your speed.

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