Stopping Speed Improves With Proper Training

Poor stopping speed will make you slow when you need to change directions quickly during a game.



Great stopping speed requires overall body strength, postural control, core strength, dynamic balance and speed strength.

Basketball players, in particular, have many stops, cuts and starts during a game.

The best players (defensive and offensive) are able to decelerate quickly and then accelerate with power in a different direction.

Deceleration is required to stop, slow down, or cut. Deceleration becomes more complicated when you must dribble or kick a ball. That’s why drills should be done with the ball (basketball and soccer in this case). Your body must be aligned properly to decelerate and accelerate with quickness and power. Failure to align your body properly will subject you to injury.

I will use this example: The Side Shuffle

This is an athletic movement common to many sports. If you are moving to your left, your left leg must be in a position wide enough to stop momentum (just wider than the hips).

This is commonly known as the athletic position. Your left foot should also be pointed straight ahead and your ankle should be pointed upward (with weight on balls of feet). Pointing your ankle upward will help avoid sprained/rolled ankles and make the push off powerful.

Your knee should be aligned inside the plant foot to avoid ankle rolls and to take pressure off your hip. One common mechanical breakdown is when the knees protrude far in front of the feet when decelerating.

The hips need to remain level throughout the movement to avoid yo-yoing and inefficient movement.

Control your shoulders (no swaying, etc.) with a strong core. This way, you can decelerate and accelerate with power and efficiency. In the same way, your head should be still (no bobbing and weaving) to allow you to focus on the intended target (ball, goal, net, etc.).

A good strength foundation (including core strength) is needed to maximize power and speed. Now, hurry up and stop!

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Lateral Cone Hops Improve Hip Strength and Power

Lateral cone hops will strengthen and power up your hips and gluteus medius. This will make you a more dynamic athletic in the field or on the court.



Use lateral cone hops to improve your power in the frontal plane of motion (side to side motions).

The frontal plane is an imaginary bisector that divides the body into equal front and back halves. The motions primarily involve abduction and adduction (side-to-side motions).

Abduction takes your limb away from the midline of your body and adduction takes your limb closer to the midline of your body. Examples include exercises performed on hip abductor and hip adductor machines. Other frontal plane motions would be lateral lunges, dumbbell lateral shoulder raises and lateral spinal flexion.

Quickness and agility movements made by athletes require adequate frontal plane stability, strength, power, flexibility and balance.

Lateral cone hops are done as fast as possible. Also, your feet should remain on the ground as little as possible as you do the hops. Focus on hopping (not jumping) from side to side (on the balls of your feet) with very little vertical height. You are working to improve lateral power with this exercise and not vertical power. Do 8-10 repetitions per set.

As you progress, you can begin to do single leg lateral cone hops. Train hard and safe!

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Improve Agility During Pick-Up Games

I improved my agility during pick-up football, basketball and baseball games growing up. When you play pick-up games (or street ball), you don't think about technique---you just play the game. Consequently, you improve your agility skills (if you do them correctly).



You can work on your agility and speed during any pick-up game. You don't have to wait until your formal team practice to get better. Matter of fact, I learned much about how to compete by playing pick-up games with older guys. You either got better or embarrassed!

Improve your agility with these drills and then apply them during your movements in a pick-up game:

1. jump rope (one foot, two feet, slalom, Ali shuffle, backpedal)

2. speed ladder drills

3. cariocas, tapiocas, back pedals, shuffles, toe taps

4. hip turn and hip flexibility drills (like leg swings)

What are you doing to improve your agility and speed to become a better athlete? Let us know!

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Quickness, Agility And Change-of-Direction Speed

Having great change-of-direction speed (agility with quickness) allows you to beat your opponent "to the stop" or recover from mistakes in positioning. How many times have you seen a player with "not great speed" repeatedly make plays to help the team win. This is not an accident. You can improve your change-of-direction speed with proper training.

As with any athletic move, core strength is critical. Overall body strength is also important. Before you begin to train for speed and power, the foundation should be laid with sufficient core and body strength. Failure to lay this strength foundation will lead to certain injuries for you.

Body positioning is critical if you want to improve your change-of-direction speed. You will need dynamic balance. In many sports, it is not that easy to change direction and accelerate because the athlete is often off balance.

Some sports, such as football and basketball require running with or bouncing a ball. And, other sports, such as soccer require moving a ball with the feet. The best running backs, tennis players, basketball players, shortstops, etc. all have great dynamic balance.

Having great dynamic balance means that you are able to maintain your center of gravity over a constantly changing base of support. Thus, quickness and agility drills help you to improve dynamic balance and change-of-direction acceleration while not wasting motion.

To improve change-of-direction acceleration, you should have a shin angle of approximately 45 degrees for the first few steps. The shoulders should also be slightly leaned forward. The body lean should be at the ankles and not the hips.

Having the feet just wider than shoulder-width apart will give you the most stable base of support. This is not always possible during athletic competition. Therefore, stability needs to be added by lowering the center of gravity. Change-of-direction acceleration could be laterally, at an angle or forward (when back pedaling) and will catapult you to near maximal speed quickly.

The first step in the change-of-direction is important. If this step is too long, you will over-stride and bring the shin to a vertical angle instead of 45 degrees. This will slow you down. So, the first step should be under your hips. Again, your body lean should be at ankles and not the hips.

When running forward or back pedaling, it is often necessary to slow down, change direction at an angle and accelerate in a straight line. As a defensive back, I often had to back pedal before accelerating in a different direction.

This meant that I had to plant my foot aggressively (with my knee inside my ankle) to accelerate quickly out of my cut. Failure to do so meant that I was "burnt toast" for the laughing receiver! This positioning was also achieved by forcing the plant leg (opposite the direction I wanted to go) into the ground while my shoulders remained in the same position (slightly leaned forward). If my shoulders were out of position, I wasted motion and accelerated at a slower rate (burnt toast!).

Lateral change-of-direction technique is similar. Shin angle remains important. Shuffles are often followed by sprints. You will use short, quick steps to decelerate and bring your body under control. A "jump stop" can also be used to change directions. Your knees and hips should be bent with your shoulders aligned over your knees and toes.

Shuttle drills, lateral shuffle/cuts, back pedal/turn and run, back pedal/lateral break, back pedal/diagonal break, crossovers, cariocas, tapiocas, ladder drills, etc. can all be used to improve change-of-direction speed. You should perfect technique at half speed before progressing to full speed drills.

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Medicine Ball Side Lunge

The medicine ball side lunge exercise works the often neglected frontal plane (lateral movement) of motion.



The medicine ball side lunge forces you to decelerate movement through one hip at a time, placing greater emphasis on the gluteals and hamstrings. It trains you to move correctly in the lateral direction. Many knee ACL injuries occur when athletes place too much stress on their knees and not enough stress on their hips during deceleration. In other words, the hips are often under-used during sports activities.

You will improve your lateral speed and power only if you have adequate strength in the frontal plane of motion.

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Soccer Throw With Medicine Ball

The soccer throw with medicine ball is a great sports power exercise to improve your core strength and arm speed.

The soccer throw works the muscles that you use to throw a ball or swing a racquet overhead. The soccer throw is an advanced core exercise.

Do the soccer throw full speed if your body is ready for the intensity. Use a medicine ball that is 10% of your bodyweight if you can throw a ball this heavy at full speed. If not, start with a lighter ball.



Be sure to also use your legs as you throw the medicine ball. If you don't use your legs, you won't be able to throw at full speed. Don't stand straight up as you throw. Keep your back leg straight and your front leg bent.

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Improve Speed With Power Step Ups

Improve your speed with power step ups. Do this exercise full speed with control.



1. Face a bench or platform (knee high) and put your right foot on the bench. Your knee should be bent 90 degrees. Don't do this exercise with dumbbells until you have mastered the bodyweight version.

2. Alternate your feet on and off the bench or platform (you will be sprinting in place).

3. Explosively drive your knees up and pump your arms as fast as possible. Each set should be 20-30 seconds.

4. Do this exercise with correct running mechanics.

Challenge yourself to get better each day!

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Depth Jump Improves Speed, Power And Athleticism

The depth jump is a plyometric exercise that will improve your speed, power and athleticism because it works the quadriceps, hamstrings, glutes and calf muscles. You will improve your athleticism and speed in any sport that involves running or jumping by using the depth jump.



The basic depth jump is very sports specific but it can also be tailored to your specific sport. For example, basketball requires landing on one leg in many situations. So, you could progress from two-legged to one-legged depth jumps.

You should perfect jumping and landing techniques before doing depth jumps at full speed.

1. Stand on top of a plyo box or platform. A higher plyo box will improve your leg strength more and a lower plyo box will improve your speed more.

2. Step forward off the plyo box and land on the balls of your feet. Don't land on your toes or your heels or you could damage your knees.

You can do one depth jump at a time or repeating depth jumps. With repeating depth jumps, you would jump down off a plyo box and immediately jump up onto another plyo box. Repeating depth jumps are more applicable to real game action.

Use your arms to add to your speed by swinging them back before stepping off the platform and swinging them up as your feet hit the ground (ready to jump again). Keep your back in neutral alignment (not arched or rounded) and look staight ahead.

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Lateral Bounding Drills Improve Speed And Athleticism

Lateral bounding (with proper footwork) during a game and explosively continuing with the play will separate you from the competition.

How many times have you seen a linebacker, running back, shortstop, soccer defender or basketball player bound laterally and accelerate past the opponent? High level athletes have excellent lateral speed.



Lateral bounding is a progression from lateral lunges that requires you to practice lateral movement at game-time speed.

Do not progress to full-speed lateral bounding until the proper mechanics are achieved with lateral lunges. One common mechanical breakdown is when the knees protrude far in front of the feet when decelerating, landing or squatting. This puts undue stress on the knees and often causes injury.

When's the last time you worked to improve your lateral speed and explosion?

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Core Strength Improves Your Speed Endurance

I was watching a client's middle school team play football last night....I noticed many of the player's postures in the third and fourth quarters....they had trouble running upright and that told me at least two things they were lacking: 1) adequate core strength and 2) speed endurance.



Core strength is important to help you remain strong and upright when you are running, especially in the late stages of a game....adequate core strength helps your speed endurance, which is the ability to maintain maximum velocity or a percentage of maximum velocity for a prolonged period of time or in a fatigued state. The best players and teams have excellent overall body strength, core strength and speed endurance (and they win the most games).

Several sports require speed endurance including football, lacrosse, basketball, soccer, field hockey and tennis. These sports require repeated sprints followed by short periods of rest (walking or jogging). Read my posts on speed endurance and metabolic training.

The fastest players don't get the prize----the players who can run faster for a longer period of time usually win games or individual competitions!

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Defensive Players Need Great Backwards Acceleration

I played defensive back in college so I'm definitely an authority on the need for accelerating backwards......We practiced "running backwards at game speed" every day until it became a natural movement.



If you play a defensive position in your sport or transition to defense (as in basketball, lacrosse or soccer) then you need to train your body for backwards acceleration. Many times, you may be running forward and need to adjust quickly into a back pedal to defend your opponent. Or, you could be in a stand-still position and need to quickly accelerate backwards in a defensive position.

There are exercises that you can practice to improve your backwards acceleration. As with all speed exercises, backwards acceleration practice should be done with "game-time effort." You also must keep your shoulders leaned forward in order to maintain dynamic balance and to be able to stop and go forward "on a dime."

Some common exercises are: back pedal, hip turn and run, hip turn and shuffle, hip turn and crossover and continuous hip turns. Good hip ladder drills are: hip twists, hip in outs, leg swings and hip flexions/extensions.

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Metabolic Fitness Training For Sports

Many sports such as football, basketball and soccer require different levels of strength, speed and power.

For example, soccer requires constant running---jogging, half-effort sprints and maximum effort sprints. Football requires short bursts of power, sprints, jogs back to the huddle and endurance. Football also requires relative strength, which is the strength level per unit of bodyweight. Basketball requires repeated sprints, jumps and sub-maximal effort runs and cuts during the game.

No matter the sport, metabolic fitness training can get you in peak condition for your sport.

Metabolic fitness training means that you are is being conditioned at the cellular level. You can make improvements in resting heart rate, cardiac output and blood volume. Your body fat will also decrease.

Metabolic conditioning will make you a better conditioned athlete and will allow you to use your skills more efficiently for a longer period of time. The strongest and fittest players and teams at the end of the game usually end up as the winners.

Metabolic training for football players could be set up to mirror the actions, plays and situations found in a 4 quarter game. That is, the training would mimic every play in the game as well as rest periods and time between plays. The same could be done for any sport's game. The goal is for you to be physically fit to play your sport at the highest level.

Train hard and smart!

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Training Tips From Elite Athletes, Part 4

I hope you are beginning to see that the training methods of elite athletes are not that much different from yours! You just may have to work harder and smarter to reach your athletic goals. Don't let anyone outwork you! You don't need tons of talent to work hard!

Hope Solo is the goalie for the winning USA 2008 Olympic gold medal team. She was pulled from a game in the semifinal of the 2008 World Cup. The United States lost that game 4-0 to Brazil. After heavily criticizing coach Greg Ryan for replacing her, the team voted to not allow her to play in the 3rd place game (which USA won).

At some point, she and the team made up and she was the winning goalie on the gold medal Olympic team. Make no mistake---she is one of the best female goalies in the world!



In a July/August 2008 interview with Muscle & Fitness Hers magazine, Hope talks about her training regimen:

HERS: What is a typical training week like for you?

Hope: It really depends if I'm with the Olympic team or not. When I am with the team we do a ton of on the field, position-specific work. That means lots of diving, and getting up and diving again for me. It's exhausting. However when we have time off, I focus more on plyometrics, footwork, speed, agility, and endurance. I'm able to work on specific footwork that actually allows me to dive.

HERS: What specific weight training exercises do you do?

Hope: I'm a firm believer in bodyweight exercises and plyos. I lift weights, but minimally. I do a ton of pushups and sit-ups, both with stability balls. I also do pull-ups, lunge jumps, squat jumps, box jumps and jump rope work, which, surprisingly, really works my arms.

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Rotational Power Is Needed For Many Sports

Some sports such as baseball, tennis, lacrosse and hockey require explosive levels of rotational core power. The medicine ball rotational throw should be done full speed to train your central nervous system and body to move faster and more explosive.

The medicine ball rotational throw is an advanced exercise and should not be done by those athletes with inadequate body strength and core strength.



1. Stand with your feet hip-width apart. Place your left foot approximately one foot in front of your right foot.

2. Hold medicine ball with both hands and your arms slightly bent.

3. Swing ball over to the right hip and explosively underhand toss the ball forward to a partner or wall. Keep the stomach drawn in to maximize proper usage of muscle.

4. Catch ball on the bounce from your partner or wall and repeat immediately for the desired repetitions.

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