Excel Training Systems

Dunwoody Sports Performance Training

2008-10-27T18:59:00.000-07:00

Dunwoody Speed Training for student athletes is in full swing .

ETS Speed Program

2008-08-01T07:46:00.000-07:00

S.pecial
P.erformance
E.nergy
E.nhancement
D.evelopment

This program is designed for athletes who want to dramatically improve their maximum speed, acceleration, ability to change direction, endurance and decrease chance of injury.

The ETS S.P.E.E.D. Program will be offered 2 days a week for in-season or offseason athletes ages 8-18.

NEVER use speed ladders , mini-hurdles, acceleration treadmills

2008-07-23T08:05:00.000-07:00

Every day in America, countless parents get defrauded of hard earned money by “SAQ programs,” an acronym for speed-agility and quickness. Parents and coaches are being promised that little Johnny and little Susie will be turned into star athletes by there SAQ programs. That is such a crock. I will only pick 3 items because I have no intention of writing a book on it, but I want to at least educate the readers out there on the false claims of popular Hockey training and SAQ programs.

Next, the simple fact is that acceleration treadmills create faulty motor patterns used in running and skating. Let me explain. When running in sports, you move over a surface; when you’re running on a treadmill, the surface moves under you. When running in sports, you have to actively use the hamstrings to extend the hip; when you’re running on a treadmill, the moving surface pulls the hip into extension for you. This difference causes you to fire the muscles used in running in improper sequence, not just in sprinting but also in hockey skating and speed skating. Basically you teach your nervous system how to skate two different ways, when you step on the ice the brain doesn’t know if the ice is going to move underneath you or if you are going to propel yourself over the ice. All this confusion between your brain and muscles will lead to decrease speed and power and increase risk of injury. Poliquin Performance has trained many Olympic medalist and world record holders in both speed skating and hockey, and not one of these ever used an acceleration treadmill. If these devices really worked, every Pro and Olympic medalist would be training on them.

Any PhD in psychomotor learning will confirm this to you: Coordination is 90% established by age 12. So promising improvements larger than 10% is simply fraud. Skills are specific. Getting better at a skill, only means that you are better at this skill. Does this skill transfer to another skill? Probably not, even in a very similar skill. This is why great boxers don’t necessarily make great karate fighters and vice versa. How many skilled badminton players are great at tennis and vice versa? In the case of SAQ training, training on the speed ladder does not improve quick feet for anything else other than the speed ladder. Getting in and out of predetermined patterns done in the speed ladder will not make Johnny a better lacrosse player or Susie a better field hockey player.
What all this means is that training on a speed ladder to improve coordination or develop "quick feet" is pretty much a waste of time, although maybe if you put the dividers really close together they will improve your ability to run in place! And getting better at a predetermined movement pattern such as used on a speed ladder will not transfer to skills for such sports as soccer or lacrosse, in which the athlete must react to the environment. The only thing it can get you better at is using an agility ladder, which, the last time I checked, is not an Olympic event.

GLOBO Gyms and the High School Athlete

2008-06-21T09:06:00.000-07:00

2007

GLOBO Gyms and the High School Athlete

By Joe Rossi

GloBo Gym. That is what most of these new sport performance facilities remind me of. Their claim to fame is the indoor turf field that can house all the agility ladders ever made. Seriously! The real problem I have with athletes (especially at the high school level) joining these types of places is the programs that they are selling. As a parent, coach, or athlete you have to understand the main quality that needs to be developed at this level (high-school) should be Strength Training and not S.A.Q. (Speed Agility Quickness) Training. Why? It is very simple, but I’m not going to tell you the answer just yet. Here is a quick story so bear with me. When I was a head trainer for a SAQ center, our youth programs were based on multi-planar movement skills and plyometric type training. The thought process behind this type of program was basically thinking "if we teach a kid to become more efficient at running, jumping, and changing direction, through proper mechanics these kids will “save time” and run faster, jump higher, and change direction quicker". There was Pro’s and Con’s to the outcomes of the training we were supplying.

The Pro’s: All our athlete's running mechanics looked amazing. Through the SAQ training they became aerobic and anaerobically conditioned (stamina). The really weak kids became a bit stronger from some of the body weight stabilization exercises that we included. Most of these kid’s techniques became so efficient that they looked like they were training for track and field.
The Con’s: Although some of the really weak kids became a bit stronger from some of the body weight stabilization exercises, the average high school athlete’s sprinting times and jumping heights did not improve. Basically we turned these athletes into "all show and no go". They looked like track athletes, but performed below average (Maybe we should of called ourselves Below Average Joe's? It could work).
What was really sad about this whole process was that these kids were not track athletes but athletes who played baseball, softball, football, and other traditional sports who were looking to become fast. They didn't. Why? Because they all lacked strength especially Relative Body Strength (strength in relations to ones body). What was our program providing these kids? It certainly wasn't strength training. There is a time and place (in an overall training program) for speed, agility, and quickness training for athletes, but last time I checked muscle is responsible for movement. If we did not possess muscles on our bones, we would not move (I told you it was simple). Muscle is not only responsible for movement, but a stronger muscle becomes a faster muscle through proper strength training (it's still simple). Stronger and faster contracting muscles lead to a stronger and faster athlete (I can not make it any more simple than that!). The question I really want to propose to these GloBo Gyms is how can an athlete propel themselves forward with a perfect body angle and spike their feet into the ground covering as much distance as possible (acceleration) with a positive shin angel when they are week as hell! The answer is they can't. The SAQ training is more of a compliment to the strength gains that the athlete's are achieving in the gym. Not the other way around.
So how do athletes achieve Relative Body Strength? Hopefully at this point you know where this is going. The answer to this question is through a properly planned strength training program that emphasizes building a base of Maximal Strength (a superior way to develop the highest level of force possible by training against maximal resistance) from the initial stages in the off- season all the way through the pre-season. When maximal strength is increased in relation to the athlete's body weight, performance is enhanced. This is why really strong and fat athletes are not fast (there is a body fat/lean muscle component to being fast). Maximal Strength training also increases intermuscular and intramuscular coordination (simply put, increased muscle coordination for performance). Through this increase the athlete's speed and power is enhanced.

Now that we have learned about GloBo Gyms, Below Average Joe's, and the science of strength training for speed, you might be wondering how we train our athletes. Remember, it's simple. We get them maximally strong to get them fast. Through our WS4SB program, our athletes gain their new acquired strength in the off-season through the pre-season. We gradually implement SAQ type training and other methods as we approach the pre-season. Once the season approaches, we lower the training volume and intensity of our program so our athletes can maintain most of the strength gains they have worked so hard for. The moral to the story is for parents, coaches, and athletes to stay far away from GloBo Gyms and if you are contemplating using agility ladders, make sure you are strength training first. Don't be skinny and weak. Raise your expectations and get strong.