Showing posts with label Speed Training Video. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Speed Training Video. Show all posts

Monday, September 27, 2010

Interval Cardio For Speed Athletes

As a speed athlete, you should do more speed interval cardio to improve your performance. Athletes training for speed and power should do a variation of High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) cardio exercise. Doing too much distance running will not allow you to reach your maximum speed and power potential.



Also, HIIT is the best way to burn fat in the shortest amount of time as well as increase VO2 Max. All that's needed is 20 minutes per session.

Here is an example of how HIIT could work for an athlete:

After a proper dynamic warmup, sprint for 10-15 seconds and walk for 1 minute. The sprint has to be at maximum effort. Do this rotation for 20 minutes. To continually challenge yourself, progress this cardio exercise to surfaces such as inclines, hills and stadium steps. Weighted resistance, such as vest, could also be used. Its just that simple! And that tough!

Another good interval cardio exercise for speed athletes is speed jump rope. It is performed in short intervals at up to 200 RPM (revolutions per minute). It also uses the anaerobic energy system (85% to 95% of max heart rate) and develops fast twitch muscle fibers.

This type of speed jump roping gives you more speed, quickness, agility, balance, coordination, power and knee/ankle/foot strength. Jumping rope also improves your timing---a critical element needed in sports. Boxers are legendary speed jump ropers.

Try more speed interval cardio during your workouts. It will help your athletic performance.



Be sure and download your Free Dumbbell and Medicine Ball Metabolic Fat Burner Workouts and start shaping your body faster!

Mark Dilworth, BA, PES
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Friday, September 24, 2010

Sport Specific Training At Speed And Power Camp

"Sport-specific training" is important because you can "train for movements in your sport." Because some sports have similar movements, athletes at Sports Fitness Hut's Speed and Power Camp did some sport-specific training.



See Speed Camp Youtube video!

When done right, sport-specific training will definitely improve your game on the field or on the court. When done wrong, sport-specific training will lead you to many injuries!

Parents should not get too eager to put their kids in a sport-specific training program. Foundational core training and general muscle strength/stability/endurance should come first. Trust me, I have seen many injuries related to high intensity sport-specific training because the player's body wasn't ready for the demands of this type of training. Don't skip steps A and B to get to step C!

You should do a major part of your sport-specific training during the offseason when you have more time to devote to improving your athletic skills, strength, power and speed. Offseason training also gives you time to recover from the full speed, intense exercises. YOU MUST TRAIN FAST TO GET FASTER AND MORE EXPLOSIVE.....IT IS HIGH RISK, HIGH REWARD!

The exercises mimic the actions made in your sport and strength is developed in the same range of motion used in your sport. Running exercises also duplicate what you need to compete. For instance, football players would need starting speed, acceleration speed, speed endurance and power. Both training volume and intensity is high during this phase.

Plyometric exercises are also a big part of sport specific training. This is a critical phase for an elite athlete. See this post for common plyometric exercises.

Train hard and smart!

Be sure and download your Free Dumbbell and Medicine Ball Metabolic Fat Burner Workouts and start shaping your body faster!

Mark Dilworth, BA, PES
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Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Athletes Burning Body Fat At Speed And Power Camp

Athletes must burn body fat to improve game-time performance. At Sports Fitness Hut's Speed and Power Camp, athletes worked hard, in 100 degree heat, to burn fat and improve body composition (less fat, more muscle).



See Speed Camp Youtube video!

During the camp we did bodyweight strength exercises, weight lifting exercises, medicine ball exercises, speed exercises and plyometric exercises. These types of intense exercises will burn body fat like crazy!

Have you ever seen an overfat athlete who was performing her or his sport at a high level? That same athlete would perform at an even higher level if her or his body fat was at an acceptable level for athletes.

Acceptable levels of body fat for athletes are as follows: Women 14-20%, Men 6-13%. Some athletic positions, like a catcher in baseball, might require a little more body fat (like 10% instead of 8%). Whereas a swimmer would need less body fat. The point is this: if you are serious about your athletic performance, being overfat will not help you achieve your highest athletic potential.

Research has also proven that the heart health benefits of anaerobic exercise (short bursts like jumps or sprinting) is superior to aerobic exercise.

Be sure and download your Free Dumbbell and Medicine Ball Metabolic Fat Burner Workouts and start shaping your body faster!

Mark Dilworth, BA, PES
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Monday, September 20, 2010

Sprinting Faster At Speed And Power Camp

You can learn to sprint faster no matter who you are! Athletes at Sports Fitness Hut's Speed and Power Camp practiced speed training mechanics every day. Hopefully, they will continue to practice every day!



See Speed Camp Youtube video!

The running mechanics are important to improve straight-ahead speed. Practice these mechanics every day! Strengthening your body (core included) will also help make you faster.

You have to train fast to get faster! This might sound simple but how many times have you seen coaches have their players run "sprints" after practice. That IS NOT speed training---that is general conditioning!

You can only run full speed when your body has recovered. That means you need adequate rest between sprints in order to run each one at full speed. About 1 minute of rest is needed for every 10 yards sprinted. Coaches, instead of having your players run sprints after practice, make sure that they practice at full speed during practice and drills.

And, a better tactic would be to run sprints before practice when your player are fresher (they would still need adequate recovery between sprints). Metabolic training and speed endurance training is also important for athletes.

The same holds true for plyometric exercises such as squat jumps. These drills need to be done at full speed with adequate recovery time between sets. Drills like squat jumps help improve speed and power.

Many times, its practicing the "little things" that make you better!

Train hard and smart!

Be sure and download your Free Dumbbell and Medicine Ball Metabolic Fat Burner Workouts and start shaping your body faster!

Mark Dilworth, BA, PES
Your Fitness University
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Thursday, September 16, 2010

Improving Reaction Time At Speed Camp

Athletes worked to improve their reaction time at Sports Fitness Hut's Speed and Power Camp. One drill we used to do this was the mirror drill. The two athletes face each other and one athlete mirrors (reacts to) the movements of the other (see picture below).



See Speed Camp Youtube video!

Reaction time is the ability to respond quickly with proper posture and control to a stimulus such as sound or sight. In many instances, quickness is more important than straight ahead speed. In many sports, maximum speed is rarely reached or needed, but explosive reaction is often necessary. Athletes can improve reaction times by training to make the right choices (choice reaction).

Researchers in France performed a study that proves reaction time is a skill that can be improved and/or learned. The study looked at world class sprinters' reaction times. The main findings were these:

1. Reaction times were quicker as the races shortened (from 400m to 60m).

2. Sprinters in shorter races (60m to 100m) anticipated the starter's gun while runners in longer distance races where happy to respond to the sound of the gun shot.

Experience playing collegiate athletics proved to me that reaction time is critical. Athletes should devote more time to reaction drills in practice. Athletes continue to get faster and faster and the margin of error continues to decrease. If you react quicker than your opponent, it could mean the difference in making the play or getting beat.

Be sure and download your Free Dumbbell and Medicine Ball Metabolic Fat Burner Workouts and start shaping your body faster!

Mark Dilworth, BA, PES
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Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Core Training At Speed And Power Camp

Athletes did core training every day at Sports Fitness Hut's Speed and Power Camp. A strong core is critical to prevent injuries and succeed in sports. Many athletes have strong limbs and weak cores.



See Speed Camp Youtube video!

Powerful athletic movements initiate with or transfer through your core area. For example, the best way to increase arm speed is that power needs to be transferred from your legs through your core to your throwing arm. This will increase your arm speed and throwing miles-per-hour (MPH). Many athletes have strong, powerful legs but weak cores......that will give you a power shortage!

Advanced core exercises should be performed in a standing position because most athletic movements are made on your feet. When you do standing core exercises, you engage all of the trunk and hip stabilizer muscles and not just the abdominals and low back.

For beginning athletes, start with low-intensity exercises and master technique/improve strength. Then you’ll progress to lying, sitting, kneeling, standing, standing on one leg and power (high speed) exercises. Failure to follow these progressions will lead you to certain injuries like low back pain and trauma.

Core exercises should be performed in all 3 planes of motion (sagittal, frontal, transverse) since athletic movements occur in all 3 planes of motion.

Many medicine ball exercises such as throws, rotational passes and wood chops engage the core and total body in all planes of motion.

What have you been doing to improve your core strength?

Be sure and download your Free Dumbbell and Medicine Ball Metabolic Fat Burner Workouts and start shaping your body faster!

Mark Dilworth, BA, PES
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Friday, September 10, 2010

Plyometric Exercises At Speed And Power Camp

Plyometric exercises will help you improve your speed and power. If your body has the needed strength and stability, plyometrics will improve your sports power and explosive speed. Plyometric exercises were a big part of Sports Fitness Hut's Speed and Power Camp.



See Speed Camp Youtube video!

It doesn't help you to continually get stronger if power development is not there also. Power, or speed strength (how fast your muscles can produce force) is one of the best physical predictors of success in sports. Plyometric exercises help you to increase power.

Here is a good general plyometric workout to improve your sports power and speed.

1. In Place Vertical Jumps, full speed, Double Leg, 3 sets/10, 2 minutes rest between sets

2. Depth Jumps, 2 sets/10, 2 minutes rest between sets

3. Bounding and Lateral Bounding, full speed, 2 sets of each/10, 2 minutes rest between sets

4. Side to Side Hops, full speed, 2 sets/10 each side, 1 minute rest between sets

5. Standing Long Jumps, full speed, 2 sets/10, 2 minutes rest between sets

6. Dumbbell Calf Raises, full speed, 3 sets/25, 2 minutes rest between sets

Do a plyometric workout no more than 2 days a week because of the full speed intensity of this type of workout.

Avoid knee injuries by perfecting jumping and landing techniques before progressing to full speed plyometric workouts.

Be sure and download your Free Dumbbell and Medicine Ball Metabolic Fat Burner Workouts and start shaping your body faster!

Mark Dilworth, BA, PES
Your Fitness University
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Rapid Fat Loss and Six Pack Abs



Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Basketball Agility And Quickness at Speed Camp

As a basketball player, you make a living with your agility and quickness. Without these qualities, you won't make the team. Athletes worked on agility and quickness every day at Sports Fitness Hut's Speed and Power Camp.



See Speed Camp Youtube video!

Speed, agility and quickness (SAQ) are necessary components that all successful basketball players have. Fortunately, SAQ can be trained for and improved. The basketball player must be able to move fast, quick and efficiently while changing direction, shuffling or backpedaling. Here are some basic tips to improve the SAQ of basketball players:

1. Running mechanics in basketball must be mastered just like dribbling and free throw shooting.

2. Basketball drills designed to improve speed should be more than just "suicide drills." Game-time situations in basketball require the player to be quick and fast in many directions while controlling posture. They also have repeated short sprints following walking, running or jogging. In order for the player to be explosive, she or he must train for game-like situations. Drills such as cariocas, shuffles, lateral speed drills, back pedals, cone drills, etc. should be incorporated into the basketball player's training regimine.

3. Core strength is critical for basketball players too! A strong core will lessen risk of injury, allow the player to have stronger limbs and allow the player to perform game moves with speed and explosion. The cross-over lunge is a great leg and core exercise for basketball players.

4. Speed drills should be performed while the player is still fresh. Performing speed drills at the end of practice will only serve to increase the player's endurance. You must train fast in order to be fast!

Now, get yourself ready to play basketball!

Be sure and download your Free Dumbbell and Medicine Ball Metabolic Fat Burner Workouts and start shaping your body faster!

Mark Dilworth, BA, PES
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Thursday, September 2, 2010

Lateral Speed And Power At Sports Camp

Develop your lateral speed and power and you will be a much better athlete! Athletes at Sports Fitness Hut's Speed and Power Camp worked on lateral speed and power every day.



See Speed Camp Youtube video!

Some important exercises to incorporate in your exercise programs are lateral lunges (with or without dumbbells), lateral bounding, lateral step ups (with or without dumbbells) and lateral shuffles (with or without resistance).

Straight-line speed is important but so is lateral speed and agility in sports. You have to move quickly and efficiently from linear to lateral positions (and back again) many times during a practice or game.

The lateral 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 you place too much stress on your knees and not enough stress on your hips during deceleration. In other words, the hips are often under-used during sports activities.

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.

Lateral shuffles (with or without resistance) also work well to train correct lateral movement. Lateral shuffles without resistance can be practiced at game-time speed.

Lateral step ups emphasize development of your hips, quadriceps (especially outer) and glutes.

Any serious athletic exercise program would be incomplete without these exercises. They can be performed as strength or power (high speed) moves.

Be sure and download your Free Dumbbell and Medicine Ball Metabolic Fat Burner Workouts and start shaping your body faster!

Mark Dilworth, BA, PES
Your Fitness University
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Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Side To Side Hops At Speed And Power Camp

Use side to side hops to improve your power in the frontal plane of motion. This is part of what athletes did at Sports Fitness Hut's Speed And Power Camp!



See Speed Camp Youtube video!

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.

Side to side 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 side to side hops. Train hard and safe!

Be sure and download your Free Dumbbell and Medicine Ball Metabolic Fat Burner Workouts and start shaping your body faster!

Mark Dilworth, BA, PES
Your Fitness University
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Rapid Fat Loss and Six Pack Abs


Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Defensive Back Skills At Speed And Power Camp

Defensive back footwork skills such as speed shuffles, back pedals and hip turns were learned by athletes at Sports Fitness Hut's Speed And Power Camp. These footwork skills can also be used in other sports like baseball, soccer and basketball.



See Speed Camp Youtube video!

I played defensive back in college so I'm definitely an authority on the need for accelerating backwards, forwards, shuffling, etc. 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 and other footwork skills. Many times, you may be running forward and need to adjust quickly into a back pedal, shuffle or hip turn 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 to improve footwork are: back pedal, hip turn and run, hip turn and shuffle, hip turn and crossover, shuffle and run and continuous hip turns. Good hip drills are: hip twists, hip in outs, leg swings and hip flexions/extensions.

Be sure and download your Free Dumbbell and Medicine Ball Metabolic Fat Burner Workouts and start shaping your body faster!

Mark Dilworth, BA, PES
Your Fitness University
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Her Fitness Hut
Sports Fitness Hut
Rapid Fat Loss and Six Pack Abs



Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Football Lineman Speed, Power and Agility

Great football linemen excel with speed, power, agility and quickness. We had a few linemen at Sports Fitness Hut's Speed and Power Camp learning to improve these qualities. And, I saw the improvement already during the first football game this week!



See Speed Camp Youtube video!

Football linemen need great change-of-direction speed to succeed in the trenches. Having great change-of-direction speed (agility with quickness) allows you to beat your opponent "to the spot" or recover from mistakes in positioning. Linemen with "not great speed" can 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 you to certain injuries.

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 you are often off balance.

To improve change-of-direction acceleration, you should have a shin angle of approximately 45 degrees for the first few steps. Your shoulders should also be slightly leaned forward. Your body lean should be at the ankles and not the hips. Having your feet just wider than shoulder-width apart will give you the most stable base of support.

This is not always possible during athletic competition. So, 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 your 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.

Lateral change-of-direction technique is critical for football linemen. The shin angle remains important. Shuffles are often followed by sprints. You should 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 the shoulders aligned over your knees and toes.

Shuttle drills, lateral shuffle/cuts, crossovers, cariocas, tapiocas, ladder drills, etc. can all be used to improve change-of-direction speed for football linemen. You should perfect technique at half speed before progressing to full speed drills.

Work on your change-of-direction speed more during practice.

Be sure and download your Free Dumbbell and Medicine Ball Metabolic Fat Burner Workouts and start shaping your body faster!

Mark Dilworth, BA, PES
Your Fitness University
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Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Dynamic Flexibility At Speed And Power Camp

Your dynamic flexibility is important if you want to be a top level athlete. Athletes at Sports Fitness Hut's Speed and Power Camp worked on dynamic flexibility every day.



See Speed Camp Youtube video!

An effective dynamic warmup is a MUST before your workout or game. A dynamic warmup will prepare your body best for practice or games. Do static stretches after your workout or game (when muscles are warm) to increase your range of motion.

Accomplish the following during your dynamic warmup:

1. Make sure your "power center" is flexible. An athlete's "power center" consists of the glutes, hips, quadriceps and hamstrings. This area of your body is prone to some hard-to-recover-from injuries!

2. Your hip flexors need to flexible. Tight hip flexors cause many problems, including problems with your glutes and hamstrings.

3. When you warmup, practice relaxing your face, shoulders, arms and torso. You will perform better when you are relaxed and you want your body to work like a "well oiled machine."

Some good dynamic warmup exercises are back pedals, lunges, step ups, cariocas, form running, shuffles, heel sprints, ankle bounces, bounding, prancing and jump rope.

Be sure and download your Free Dumbbell and Medicine Ball Metabolic Fat Burner Workouts and start shaping your body faster!

Mark Dilworth, BA, PES
Your Fitness University
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Rapid Fat Loss and Six Pack Abs



Monday, August 23, 2010

Running Mechanics At Speed And Power Camp

You will never reach your speed potential with bad running mechanics! I'm always amazed at athlete's bad running mechanics. At Sports Fitness Hut's Speed And Power Camp, we worked on running mechanics everyday.



See Speed Camp Youtube video!

If you want to improve your running speed, you must first master the basic mechanics of running. Running mechanics have three main components: Posture, Arm Action and Leg Action. Listed below are some key checkpoints of proper running mechanics:

Checkpoints for proper running posture:

1. At maximum speed, the head should be held high. Also, the head should never sway from side to side and the jaws should be relaxed.

2. The head should be in line with the torso and the torso should be in line with the legs at all times.

3. There should be a slight body lean when starting and accelerating. At maximum speed, which usually takes about 4-5 seconds, the body is more straight up with tall hips.

4. The feet should be dorsiflexed (pointed up) at all times except when striking the ground. Feet should strike the ground on the balls of the feet.

Checkpoints for proper arm action:

1. Use the shoulders (and not the elbows) to pump the arms as fast as possible. The hands should be relaxed in unballed fists with the front hand rising up to about nose level and the back hand passing the buttocks.

2. Move each arm as one piece with the elbow bent at 90 degrees. Arm action should be straight forward, up and down and never flailing side to side.

Checkpoints for proper leg action:

1. The faster the running speed, the higher the heel on the rear foot should kick up. When the foot leaves the ground, it should follow a path straight up to the buttocks. It should not flail from side to side.

2. The knee raises up to where the thigh is parallel to the ground. The foot then drops down below the knee (knee angle is about 90 degrees).

Your foot should land under your hips. Drive your foot to use the ground to give you power. Don't overstride or it will cause breaking.

The more force you apply to the ground, the more the ground will "give you power."
When you run, don't lift your knee past your "thigh being parallel" to the ground. This way, you will use your "power center" (glutes and hamstrings) to apply force to the ground instead of the less powerful hip flexors.

In other words, running "with high knees" is not the best way to run! Also, step over the opposite knee and drive the foot down into the ground to create maximum force. Your heels should never touch the ground.

3. At top speed, the drive (pushing) leg should be fully extended to the ground.

It's a good idea to practice running mechanics before, during and after workouts.

Be sure and download your Free Dumbbell and Medicine Ball Metabolic Fat Burner Workouts and start shaping your body faster!

Mark Dilworth, BA, PES
Your Fitness University
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Rapid Fat Loss and Six Pack Abs



Friday, August 20, 2010

Leg Power At Speed And Power Camp

Leg power helps you improve your speed and you become a more explosive athlete. Part of Sports Fitness Hut's Speed And Power Camp was designed to show athletes how to improve leg power.



See Speed Camp Youtube video!

I was watching NFL highlights on ESPN Sports Center one night and I saw a touchdown run by Adrian Peterson.....besides being fast, I saw something else during his run to paydirt---extreme explosion and acceleration in relation to the players trying to tackle him. They didn't have a chance once he exploded.

Every athlete can improve leg power and explosion. Your height achieved in squat jumps and vertical jumps, and horizontal distance of long jumps will tell you how much leg power you have. These exercises also give a good indication of how much speed you have. Doing these exercises as full speed plyometric exercises will improve your leg power.

Quadriceps, hamstrings, hips, glutes and calves are targets for improvement if you want your vertical jump and long jump to improve. Squats, lunges, leg presses, step ups, hip abductors and calf raises are all good exercises to improve lower body strength. Also, the hang clean is a great exercise because you execute the exercise from the same position that you jump from (or the power position).

How much lower body strength do you need to develop optimum power? A male should be able to squat his body weight 8-10 times and a female should be able to squat about 75% of her body weight 8-10 times. If you are not able to squat, then you should be able to leg press about 1.5 times your body weight 8-10 times.

It doesn't help you to continually get stronger if power development is not there also. Power, or speed strength (how fast your muscles can produce force) is one of the best physical predictors of success in sports.

Train hard and smart!

Be sure and download your Free Dumbbell and Medicine Ball Metabolic Fat Burner Workouts and start shaping your body faster!

Mark Dilworth, BA, PES
Your Fitness University
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Her Fitness Hut
Sports Fitness Hut
Rapid Fat Loss and Six Pack Abs


Thursday, August 19, 2010

Weight Lifting at Speed And Power Camp

Athletes learned how to lift weights explosively with correct form at Sports Fitness Hut's Speed and Power Camp!



See Speed Camp Youtube video!

Explosive weight lifting will improve your power and set you apart from your athletic competitors. Just as you can do medicine ball exercises, plyometric exercises and light dumbbell exercises explosively, you can also lift heavier weights explosively.

Lifting weights explosively is an advanced form of exercise and shouldn't be done by beginners. Your body should have the needed stabilization and strength before beginning explosive lifts.

It doesn't help you improve as an athlete to continually get stronger if power development is not there also. Power, or speed strength (how fast your muscles can produce force) is one of the best physical predictors of success in sports.

Research has proven that only lifting heavy weights at a moderate or slow pace will not improve your explosive power.

Especially at the start of the lift, explosive lifting can be done for exercises like (5-6 repetitions):

--Bench press
--Shoulder press
--Squats
--Leg press
--Hamstring curls
--Calf raises

....and also for bodyweight exercises, like (6-8 repetitions):

--Power step ups
--Bodyweight squats
--Pullups
--Pushups
--Inverted rows

......and medicine ball exercises, like (8-10 repetitions):

--Throws
--Chops
--Slams
--Rotational exercises

Lift explosively, safely and improve your power!

Be sure and download your Free Dumbbell and Medicine Ball Metabolic Fat Burner Workouts and start shaping your body faster!

Mark Dilworth, BA, PES
Your Fitness University
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Her Fitness Hut
Sports Fitness Hut
Rapid Fat Loss and Six Pack Abs



Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Speed Camp Has No Long Distance Running

There was no long distance running at Sports Fitness Hut's Speed and Power Camp!



See Speed Camp Youtube video!

Sprinters should limit distance running during training. Sprinters need to activate and train the bulkier fast twitch muscles. If you do too much long distance running, your slow twitch muscle fibers will take over and make you slower and nonexplosive.

I was once asking a client about running exercises they were doing in school athletics to improve running speed......the answer was disappointing and typical....

Some of the running drills were:

1. mile runs
2. stadium steps for endurance
3. gasers for conditioning

"Did you run any sprints?" "No." Guess what? Those athletes aren't getting any faster....they are just basically running for conditioning.

Conditioning has its place.....but if you want to get faster, you have to train fast.....that means sprinting drills with enough recovery time to run each sprint full speed. About 1 minute of recovery time is needed for each 10 yards sprinted (50 yard sprints need about 5 minutes recovery time).

Running sprints after practice won't get the job done either....players are too tired at this point to give maximum effort. So, coaches, do your sprinting drills at the beginning of practice when your players are fresh.

Train hard and smart to get faster!

Be sure and download your Free Dumbbell and Medicine Ball Metabolic Fat Burner Workouts and start shaping your body faster!

Mark Dilworth, BA, PES
Your Fitness University
My Fitness Hut
Her Fitness Hut
Sports Fitness Hut
Rapid Fat Loss and Six Pack Abs


Monday, August 16, 2010

Agility And Quickness Improved With Ladder Drills

Improve your agility and quickness with ladder drills. Athletes worked on improving their agility and quickness at Sports Fitness Hut's Speed and Power Camp. Its important to practice doing the exercises correctly. You can add more speed to the exercises as you progress.



See Speed Camp Youtube video!

In many ways, quickness and agility are more important than straight-ahead speed. A player rarely reaches maximum speed during game competition. Having great change-of-direction speed (agility with quickness) allows you to beat your opponent "to the spot" 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. Read my post that discusses change-of-direction speed in detail.

You can also improve quickness by improving your reaction time. You do this by training to make the right choices as quickly as possible. You can practice reacting to sight or sound cues.

Be sure and download your Free Dumbbell and Medicine Ball Metabolic Fat Burner Workouts and start shaping your body faster!

Mark Dilworth, BA, PES
Your Fitness University
My Fitness Hut
Her Fitness Hut
Sports Fitness Hut
Rapid Fat Loss and Six Pack Abs


Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Speed And Power For Baseball

The best baseball players have speed and power---powerful arms, powerful swings and powerful movements. Baseball requires quick, powerful bursts, whether its on the basepaths, batter's box or in the field. Athletes began to improve their speed and power last week at Sports Fitness Hut's Speed and Power Camp.



See Speed Camp Youtube video!

Every baseball player wants more power, speed and strength! Not every baseball player is training right for explosive power. If you need more power hitting the baseball, more speed running the bases or more quickness at your position then you need to work hard and smart to improve.

Baseball requires a series of rotational and lateral movements. Therefore, the baseball player needs a strong core to generate rotational and lateral speed and power.

The physical demands of baseball are: starting ability, acceleration, stopping, cutting, stride rate, stride length, sprinting form and speed endurance.

Most explosive movements occur after some other movement (swinging, sliding, etc.). Maximum velocity is rarely reached except in the case of hitting a triple, inside-the-park homerun or running down a long fly ball. Therefore, starting ability and acceleration should be emphasized during training.

Work hard in the offseason to improve your speed and power on the baseball field!

Be sure and download your Free Dumbbell and Medicine Ball Metabolic Fat Burner Workouts and start shaping your body faster!

Mark Dilworth, BA, PES
Your Fitness University
My Fitness Hut
Her Fitness Hut
Sports Fitness Hut
Rapid Fat Loss and Six Pack Abs


Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Speed, Power, Agility and Quickness In Action

See speed, power, agility and quickness in action at Sports Fitness Hut's Camp. Take a look at the video below to help you become a better athlete!

Be sure and download your Free Dumbbell and Medicine Ball Metabolic Fat Burner Workouts and start shaping your body faster! Mark Dilworth, BA, PES Your Fitness University My Fitness Hut Her Fitness Hut Sports Fitness Hut Rapid Fat Loss and Six Pack Abs