Albert K. Park

                        Dr. Bob Ward the Sports Scientist and Conditioning Coach for the Dallas Cowboys from 1976 to 1989 and speed coach legend was definitely before his time. After speaking with Dr. Ward allow me to paraphrase our conversation, “the single most important component to increasing speed and agility is explosion in weight training.” This is the methodology of explosive exercises in training, or sometimes known as ballistic training. At Integrated Athletic Development in Carrollton, TX I have heard these words over and over again from performance coaches such as, Bryan McCall, Brian Weese, and sports agents such as Scott Casterline and Adam Sattler.

                     Parents, athletes and coaches alike ask the same question. How do I become faster? Or, I want my child to be quick, my athlete more agile and use the fast twitch muscles and explode during competition. A position statement from the National Strength and Conditioning Association states, “Resistance exercises characterized by maximal or near maximal rates of force development or by high accelerations, usually referred to as “explosive exercises,” are effective for enhancing physical performance.” In our philosophies involving acceleration in sport, explosive exercise is a necessity for optimal performance. These functional, yet explosive movements transfer over directly onto the field, court, pitch, diamond, etc. Again, keeping in mind the NSCA, specificity in training is key for the athletes in their respective sport. Stimulation, proper movement, patterns and velocity of specific muscles are the grass roots in training to being faster.

                   As an athlete matures and, when properly taught, ballistic/explosive training does not involve excessive risk of injury. In fact, “reduction of athletic injury risks associated with participation in sports involving high rates of force development [such as football] or high accelerations, [such as long jump] probably require some training with exercises involving high rates of force development or high accelerations.” In other words, practice like you play, and play how you practice or train.

                   Appropriately lift, accelerate, and release the weight, rather than slowly moving it as in other forms of weight training. This explosive movement will require the central nervous system to coordinate and produce the greatest amount of force in the shortest time possible. Again athletes train for a purpose and explosiveness serves a purpose that will transmit directly.

                 This short article is just the tip of the iceberg to increasing your speed. Consistent intelligent training, technique and hard work go hand in hand in becoming explosive and fast; along with lifestyle elements such as nutrition and recovery. Few have the DNA; there is no special trick to being fast. Even then those who are born with speed need to work to maintain their gift and increase it.

            I got an opportunity to meet up with a friend and his buddy who were both visiting from out of town. After catching up, our conversation steered towards fitness. Of course, Right? His buddy mentioned how he loved working out and that he and his girlfriend went to the gym 6 days a week for up to 2 hours each day.

            I let out an evil laugh in my head, smiled and said,

            The look on my face was priceless as I calculated the total time that he and his girlfriend spent at the gym. 2 hours a day, 6 days a week, 12 hours a week in the gym and he definitely didn’t look like he spent half a day in the gym.

            My point here is not to talk bad about him, if your reading this, I am sincerely sorry if I have offended you but you have to admit, it’s funny. HAHAHA! But I want to help you. You can get the same results in 3-4 hours a week and don’t worry I’m going to tell you and everyone else how you can achieve this. Much love for you man and next time you are in town, I would love to have you in for a training session!           

            I had never really been conscious of my rest times when I used to train. My next set would start whenever I thought my body was capable which would often be way too long. Does this sound familiar to you? After training with more strict rest periods, my body changed and adapted quickly.

            Try to keep your rest periods at a maximum of 90 sec and a minimum of 15 seconds. Slowly lower your rest time as you get better at the given exercise.

            There is a common myth in training that more is better and that you need to do 8 reps for every single set. Don’t get brainwashed by this preconceived notion. You should be changing up your rep counts every 3-4 weeks to ensure continual adaptation.

            To shorten your work out, lower your reps for each exercise and add another set. Instead of 3 sets of 8 reps try 4 sets of 5 reps with increased weight. The heavier weight will stimulate more lean muscle growth and really make your muscles burn.

         Don's spend another hour and a half on a cardio machine! Switch it up to higher intensity intervals which will instantly cut your time down in half. Go hard for 1 minute and then at a lower intensity for 30 seconds. Repeat this pattern changing intensity and for a 2:1 work rest ratio for time. 

            Also with an improvement in weather around your area, try getting outside and running sprint intervals. Allow enough rest time so that each sprint is a 100 percent effort.

            If you engage in a conversation for even a minimum of 30 seconds after each set and you perform an average of 3 sets per exercise, 8 exercises per workout. You are yapping for 12 min. If you train for 30 min that’s half of your workout or another 12 min tagged onto your session.

            Try running sprints for 12 min instead of talking and I bet you see better results. Just a thought!

            I can still walk into a big corporate gym and find people working out for 2 hours because they are doing one exercise at a time. If your goal is to gain lean muscle or even fat loss, coupling exercises is a great way to start.

            Try doing 2,3, or even 4 exercises back to back with 5-15 seconds of rest in between each exercise. You will find that it is more metabolically demanding and that it fully fatigues your muscles. For increased muscles growth try coupling exercises that work the same muscle group.

1. Get Intense

 Forget about how long your workouts take. Your results aren’t dependant on whether or not your workout lasted an 1 hour or 2 hours. Stop looking in the mirror and socializing with that cute girl or guy and get busy busting your ass.

            30-40 minutes is a perfect amount of time to fit in a full body training session. Also a shorter and more intense workout can boost your metabolism up to 24 hours after your workout is done. I will definitely take that. Remember to focus on eating every 2-4 hours the next day to aid in keeping metabolism levels hi

         

            You can accelerate fat loss by switching from long cardio sessions to short sprint intervals. If you live in a rainy climate, don’t worry. You can do sprint intervals on a treadmill or machine.

Try this sprint interval on any machine:

Round 1: 1 min moderate speed

Round 2: 35 sec high intensity speed

Round 3: 45 sec slow speed

Round 4: 45 sec high intensity speed

Round 5: 1 min slow speed

Round 6: 45 sec moderate speed

Round 7: 30 sec high intensity speed

Repeat

            Protein takes the most energy to break down, aids in burning more calories and repairing muscle, and increases metabolism. Try having a lean protein with each meal in your day and watch the fat melt away. Did that just rhyme? Check out the truth behind protein to learn more about what to eat.

Some good Sources of Lean Protein

- Lean Meats: Turkey, Chicken, Tuna, Lean Beef, Bison

- Fish: also a great source of Omega 3 Fatty Acids

- Lean Dairy: Cottage cheese and Greek Yogurt

            This is probably the most important and often overlooked step. Don’t try to do everything at once, it will only overwhelm you and maybe even discourage you. Start slow, incorporating one element at a time. Remember it takes stepping stones to get to the end of the path.

             Don’t jump into 2 a day training sessions if you usually workout 2 times a week. Just add another day of working out and see how you feel. Once it get’s consistent add another! If you eat 3 meals a day, don’t jump to 8. Start adding a small snack as a meal and I promise transitioning to eating every couple hours will be much easier.