Here’s a little video I gave to some of the Tennis coaches at Gosling Tennis Academy.  This last week different coaches took it in turns to do a presentation to update the rest of the team on some of the key points in the area they are looking after.

In  my personal role as Head of S&C of the Tennis Academy, I spoke about the development system we are using to help aspiring professionals achieve their athletic potential.  We also looked at some of the key challenges in Tennis.

This blog has been on my ‘to do list’ for a long time but having just got back from the UKSCA Conference I have been inspired to finally write it!

So if you haven’t read up much on the APA training philosophy here’s a little background.  We are all about developing complete athleticism which includes Suppleness, Skill, Speed, Strength and Stamina.

Today I want to go into a bit more detail about the Strength and Speed side of things because together these qualities lead to Powerful athletes.  Powerful athletes are hot property in professional sport- these guys can make the difference between winning and losing.   I often read articles which refer to ‘Explosiveness’ (related to Rate of Force Development (RFD) and Power) as being a desirable quality to develop in the gym with athletes.  But at the same time I feel there is a lack of understanding as to what these qualities are and how to develop them. This blog will clear it up! But before we talk about Power we need to talk about Force because your vertical jump, sprint speed, agility and explosiveness are all directly related to your ability to produce force.

What is Force?

Force is a push or pull that can cause an object with mass to accelerate. We produce force from signals developed in the brain and delivered from nerves to control muscular contractions. These signals control the magnitude and the rate of muscular contraction to act on our skeleton to produce movement. To illustrate this point let’s use an example. We have a ping pong ball and a 200 lbs stone. To lift each will require a completely different strategy. Lifting the ping pong ball is easy and does not require much force. Our past experiences tell us the approximate weight of the ping pong ball and we send an appropriate signal to various muscles to pick-up the ping pong ball.  Lifting the stone will require the integration of more muscular force from the legs, arms, core and back. The key point to appreciate is our nervous system controls our muscles. In turn our muscles contract to produce a force that can cause an object with mass to accelerate. Note, even if there is no movement, muscular contractions are still producing forces.

Why is it important?

Newton’s second law F=ma

In order to accelerate an object (assuming its mass stays constant) then we need to apply force.

Now obviously we know that weight training in the gym is the best way for our body to develop a greater ability to produce force but there is a point of diminishing returns as otherwise if this weren’t true the strongest athletes would be always be the fastest athletes. We would simply have a group of athletes get under a squat bar, and whoever squatted the most, would also be able to jump the highest.  But there is more to jumping than just strength alone.

So this is where Power comes in.

What is Power?

In order to understand Power we need to understand Force-Time Curves.

Below we have a force and time curve. Memorize this graph, because it is one of the most important graphs for an athlete to understand. Notice force is plotted on the y axis and the time is plotted on the x axis. The Dashed Line  is the force required to move a given object. Forces below this amount will not cause the object to move.

Let’s say the object is a barbell weighing 100kg and we want to deadlift this weight. Note a deadlift is taking a stationary weight from the ground and lifting it to a standing position. When we examine the force time curve we can identify unique strength qualities.

I’ve already covered a full explanation of the curve in a previous Blog but it’s worth going over it again.

”Starting Strength”– refers to the ability to produce force rapidly at the beginning of a muscular contraction prior to external movement.  In our example, the weight will not move until sufficient force has been developed. This takes time and it reflects a very important quality.  It is always produced under conditions of isometric muscle action. This fact alone has important consequences for strength training, because it dispels the opinion that the once-popular method of isometric training should be completely abandoned in modern training.

Athletes with a quick first step from a stationary position possess this ability. People often describe this quality as an explosive start. To train this quality the weight must be stationary and the athlete develops force to overcome its resting position. This quality is very different than acceleration strength.  This quality is associated with getting yourself or an object moving which is at rest, so this is extremely important in sports like sprinting and American football/rugby who initiate the scrum from a stationary position.

It’s also extremely closely linked to deceleration strength, where you have to bring yourself to a complete stop and then immediately redirect the force for another sprint (often in a different direction).

For ease of discussion we can say there are two types of strength which are associated with high rates of force development during the actual movement of the bar:

”Acceleration Strength’‘- describes the ability to quickly achieve maximal external muscle force once dynamic movement has been initiated.  Some athletes have tremendous abilities to develop force once moving, but have trouble developing power at the start.

“Explosive Strength” characterizes the ability to produce maximal force in a minimal time and is associated with peak Rates of Force Development. These are the forces we are observing when the bar is in motion.  It is most commonly displayed in the fastest athletic movements when the contraction of the working muscles in the fundamental phases of the exercise is preceded by mechanical stretching (such as any plyometric, throwing, kicking, striking or rebounding action in many sports).

For me the exercises (such as Olympic weight lifting) that develop acceleration strength will also be the same ones we use to develop explosive strength, which we will describe shortly.

All of these qualities are associated with speed of movement and power but differ based on the load used.  We might refer to exercises which work on the acceleration part of the Force-Time curve as  strength-speed and exercises which work on the explosive part of the Force-Time curve as speed-strength- although I commonly see the strength speed exercises referred to as ‘explosive strength.‘ For speed-strength there is very little load applied to the body, 0 – 40% of an athletes’ maximal strength. In strength speed the load represents 40 – 60% of one’s maximal strength respectively. All of these qualities are important and elicit very different training effects. Current best practices emphasize a full spectrum approach, where an athlete is exposed to all ranges in a sequenced periodized approach. Research also reveals the method of loading to produce the best training effect and power output is exercises specific.

Olympic weightlifting is very popular as a tool to promote these qualities.  Why is this so? Because Elite level Olympic weightlifters are capable of snatching over 150kg and can clean and jerk over 200kg. It is impossible to perform Olympic weightlifting movements at a slow speed.  So you get a great combination of strength and speed.  You get the same amount of power generated as with a plyometric bodyweight jump, but you also get strong at the same time!

The most powerful of all movements is the Olympic weightlifting action of the second pull of a Clean, peaking at 55.8 Watts/kilogram (Garhammer, J. J. Strength and Cond.Res. 7(2): 76-89. 1993)- more on this later!!

In all these instances, the switch from stretching to active contraction uses the elastic energy of the stretch to increase the power of the subsequent contraction.

Rate of Force Development

As indicated above, all the most powerful movements in sport are associated with rapid production of force.

Rate of Force Development is the term which refers to how rapidly force is produced. It includes the period prior to external movement and throughout the movement. Mathematically, it is given by the maximum value of the slope of the force-time curve (where this slope is called the Rate of Force Development, RFD). It is very important to distinguish maximal strength from rate of force development. Maximum strength is force produced irrespective of time, whereas rate of force development is a quality that refers to how rapidly force is produced. In sport we are much more concerned with rate of force development.

What constitutes a high RFD?

Based on the physiological properties of our skeletal muscles it takes roughly 500msec to reach maximal voluntary contraction. This is very important because in an explosive sport movement we do not have this amount of time to produce force. We have approximately .08 to .2 second to produce force. We call this window of time the explosive response period.  

Simply described, explosiveness is the ability to create force quickly. This is the type of  “explosiveness” a powerlifter would need to do a squat, or a bench press or a Deadlift.  This type of explosiveness is associated more with starting strength and acceleration strength where the movement speed of the bar is low and muscle contractions are slow.

But in classical physics, power is defined as force times velocity, or rate of work performed.  To have true power we must create movement quickly.

Therefore, we are most concerned with activities where the peak force is achieved in the explosive response period in under 200 ms.  For me a simple description of Power might be:

A measure of the rate of doing work within the explosive response period associated with fast movement.

Examples of Power in Sport

Time is a key component.  That’s why Power level is greater when a relatively light shot is put then when a heavy barbell is lifted explosively

• Power output in 7.25kg shot: 5,075 W
• Power output in 150kg Snatch: 3,163 W (33 W/kg)
• Power output in CMJ 2,997 W and 3,109 W in SJ
• Power output Bench press 300 W (4 W/kg), Squat and Deadlift 1100W (12 W/kg)

• Peak force in 7.25kg shot: 513 N
• Peak force in Squat and Deadlift 1,400 N
• Peak force in 150kg Snatch: 2,000 N
• Peak force in CMJ: 2,000 N

Though the exerted force is less in shot put the power is greater because of much higher speed of movement. However, remember that the second pull of the snatch and clean (which is part of the full lift) produces power of up to 55.8 W/kg!!!!!

What’s the difference between Power and RFD?

Explosive movements are associated with high levels of ‘power’ and/or ‘RFD.’   It is possible for a movement to be explosive without being externally fast- as in the case of a slowly moving barbell in a maximum attempt, for example.

In its simplest form the way I look at it is, tasks where you generate maximum power always result in a movement happening very fast. So powerful movements have to be performed FAST

Activities requiring you to generate maximum rate of force development  may or may not result in a movement happening very fast.  It is task dependant.

Movements performed slow (but with high RFD) can still be considered ‘explosive.’  Usually, however those athletes who are capable of producing the highest RFD are the same ones who are most powerful.

Have you got some?

Have a look at these athletic feats and see how you compare!!!!

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Powerlifting: Deadlift

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Olympic Weight lifting- Clean & Jerk

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Plyometrics: Counter Movement Jump

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Summary:

Fast movements are always explosive, but explosive movements are not always fast.

This week’s post comes from APA coach Fabrizio Gargiulo, who gives us an absolutely excellent review of the latest advice on supplement use in sport.

The sports supplement industry is worth millions of pounds globally with a seemingly endless amount of products being offered to help boost performance in the gym and on the field of play. There are many claims to make you stronger, faster and be able to go for longer however it is important to know which ones really will improve your performance, which might and which just hold a false claim to fame. As an athlete however it is also vitally important to know which supplements you can legally take and do not contain banned substances.

Firstly as the name suggests, supplements are designed to compliment or ‘supplement’ if you will a good healthy, nutritious diet that works for you individually, this includes; meats, fish, eggs, fruit, vegetables, other starchy carbohydrates and simple sugars, good fats and of course plenty of water. Supplements are not designed to replace your meals and should not be used as such, however the modern athlete is always looking for an edge in performance or recovery from training, this is where supplements can have a role and they can also be of benefit to the health of athlete, helping to prevent fatigue, reduce stress and possible illness.

In this section I shall address the basic issues of improving sporting performance and list some suitable supplements you may wish to try to facilitate any improvement. The basic package of supplements I would initially recommend include; a pre-workout stimulant, a post-workout recovery supplement containing both carbohydrates and protein and finally both fish oils and a multi-vitamin for longer term recovery. Let me also state that you most definitely can obtain all of the nutrients needed through eating foods, it is however, likely to cost more, result in a large quantity of food needing to be eaten and it can be difficult to get the quality of the products easily.

Pre-workout supplements:

As an athlete it is important to look upon this category differently to that of the gym bound body builder looking to create a great ‘pump’. The pre-workout should aim to provide the necessary fuel and micronutrients needed during the exercise, provided the exercise is of an intensity that will create a stressful environment for the body. This could be anything from a heavy weight training session in the gym to an 8-hour cycle or time trial swim. Different activities will require different types of supplementation and not all athletes will respond to, or like taking on supplements pre-exercise. Here are some examples of suitable pre-workout supplements that can be used for different training or competing sessions:

Caffeine: – acts as a stimulant for high intensity exercise lasting up to 90 minutes, dosage should be 3-6mg/kg – this is very important to remember as overdosing caffeine can be dangerous to your health, an 80kg male should therefore take 240-480mg per day which equates to 0.24-0.48g/day of caffeine or approximately 1 double espresso prior to training and 1-2 cups of tea or coffee during the day. Timing is also important; 30-45mins prior to the start of exercise is ideal.

Creatine: – an amino acid derivative synthesised from arginine, glycine and methionine, many studies have shown increased muscular size, strength and power as well as reduced muscle protein breakdown during exercise. Creatine can either be taken as a loading phase of 20g for 5 days followed by 0.3g/kg per day for up to 8 weeks or more recent research suggests that simply taking 3-5g/day is sufficient to fill creatine stores within the body over the same period. Combining creatine with carbohydrate or protein simultaneously will also aid in absorption.

Citrulline Malate: primarily used to produce energy and build muscle mass by increasing growth hormone secretion and nitric oxide production. This creates the ‘pump’ associated with arginine and nitric oxide supplementation but is useful for gaining extra energy and preventing fatigue by removing ammonia and increasing the reabsorbtion of lactate for increased ATP synthesis when in strength training sessions. Dosage is 3-6g/day, ideally taken 30-45 mins before training.

Beta-alanine: functions to synthesise carnosine, which is used as a pH buffer, helping to prevent fatigue. Carnosine also acts as an antioxidant, protecting the muscle proteins from oxidation and glycation from free radicals as well as increasing cellular sensitivity to calcium. Dosage is 3-6g/day, ideally taken 30-45 mins before training.

Although you may wish to take each of these supplements individually or make a home-made blend, thankfully there are several pre-workout options available on the market, the key being to choose one that is free from any banned substances and combines an appropriate dosage of each of the above.

Post-workout recovery supplements:

The key to post-exercise recovery is to replace what has been used during the training session. This should include the water and electrolytes lost through sweating, restoring glycogen stores in the liver and muscles through simple carbohydrates and providing a protein source to help rebuild the muscle cells damaged by exercise. Here are some examples of supplements that can be used post-exercise to assist in recovery.

Whey Protein:

Protein is used as the building blocks for repair and growth of the body, athletes will need protein to provide the muscles with the amino acids they need to recover from exercise. Dietary recommendations vary between 0.8-2.0g/kg of protein per day however during the post-exercise ‘window of recovery’ – the first 2 hours – you should aim to consume 20-40g in combination with carbohydrates and electrolytes. Protein yields 4Kcals/g there are however several different molecular structures dependent upon the size of the amino acid chain. During the initial phase of recovery, the first 30 minutes, the body is better suited to taking on smaller amino acid complex or proteins that have already undergone a form of hydrolysis such as whey isolate a more complex molecular structure will take a lot longer to release this energy, therefore not making the most efficient recovery for muscle protein resynthesis.

Carbohydrates:

Needed to restore depleted glycogen stores in the liver and muscle cells, carbohydrate is often lesser thought of as a supplement and not prioritised ahead of protein in many strength training athletes, it is however vital to restoring energy and hormonal balance which assists in protein synthesis, so should be prioritised during the initial phase of recovery. Carbohydrates exist either as mono-saccharides, di-saccharides or poly-saccharides dependent on the number of saccharide molecules (1,2 or many). They are often termed as either simple or complex carbohydrates determined by the glycemic index (GI) they possess, a higher GI value equates to a faster release of energy and this is useful when you want to replenish stores quickly. Common examples used in supplements include, dextrose, maltodextrin and sucrose all with high GI values, whereby fructose is also often used as it has a lower GI value and is absorbed via a different pathway in the gastrointestinal tract.  Fructose however is not considered a useful source of energy for the strength training athlete as it impairs insulin function and sensitivity, causing an increase in triglycerides and adipose fat stores and its place in the daily diet has been discouraged as it exists as sugar, corn-syrup, fruit juices and candies.

The ratio of carbohydrate to protein needed post-exercise is dependent upon the type of exercise; endurance training typically would require a ratio close to 4:1(g) in favour of carbohydrates, whereas strength training would be closer to 2:1(g). Either way carbohydrate is necessary post-exercise and in combination with protein shows greater absorption and subsequent protein synthesis.

Addition of electrolytes is also an important consideration, sodium, potassium, zinc and magnesium are all micro-nutrients that should look to be restored. Often ready to drink supplements will contain ample amounts of these and can be a simple and effective way to contribute to fluid rehydration and balance.

Health supplements:

Fish Oils:

There are several types available but the key to choosing the right one is to look at the label. It should be of pharmaceutical grade and definitely meet international standards for heavy metals, PCBs and be free from contaminants. Fish oils provide a great source of omega-3, a fatty acid that helps act against the inflammatory processes in the body, is abundant in EPA and DHA (these produce prostaglandins and leukotrienes to protect the body) and helps prevent cardiac disease and osteoarthritis in the joints. Often in a western European diet there is an imbalance between omega-6 and omega-3 often with high ratios in favour of omega-6, as much as 20:1 has been reported with an ideal ratio being as close to 1:1 as possible. Omega-6 acts as a pro-inflammatory and although it is useful to the body high quantities above omega-3 levels do not assist the body in recovery from exercise, stress or in fat loss. When a better ratio (1:1) is achieved you will see improvements in all 3 of those areas. A high fish diet could be used, however the fish needs to be a good oily source such as salmon or mackerel and come from an organic source, both of which are expensive and undesirable.

Multi-vitamin:

I believe in fruit and vegetables as the best source of these dietary components, however obtaining these at the quality needed to ensure good levels of micronutrients is proving more and more expensive – basically you need to be buying organic, free range and clean of any pesticides to hope that the fruit or vegetable has adequate nutrients and even then you are not guaranteed because of any number of climate or environmental factors. So to make sure you are achieving optimal levels for health – to stave of disease, reduce stress and improve performance – mental, physical and even sexual, why not add a multi-vitamin. Again ensure it is a high quality product and meets all the international standards needed. Make sure you still are eating plenty of fruits and vegetables from clean sources if you can and use the supplement to top up the levels of micronutrients.

There are many other products available, however when making changes to dietary inventory and being a competing athlete it is important to trial any new regimes out of competition time and in a period of relatively low training stress to enable adaptation. Often small changes can make big differences especially when you are already a high level competing athlete, so don’t try everything new at once.

Fabrizio Gargiulo

Before you do anything else check this out!

How do you feel when you watch it??    Excited?  To me- it’s Mind blowing!  I see some seriously cutting edge training applications that made me realise how far ahead the Soviet training system was.  And the East Germans weren’t too far behind.  Even more impressive is that the coaches had a ton of  research to back up their ideas!

Want the proof?

Soviet Union at the Olympics

The Soviet Union (population in 1990, 290 million) first participated at the Olympic Games in 1952, and competed at the Games on 18 occasions since then. At seven of its nine appearances at the Summer Olympic Games, the team ranked first in the total number of medals won, it was second by this count on the other two.  It’s main rival was the United States (population in 1990, 248 million).

From my reading of the Soviet Sport System their results were no fluke.  They looked at the sport and did experiments to find out the best exercises to prepare the body for that sport.  I don’t think drugs were the reason they were successful like everybody would like you to believe.

The East Germany team (population 16 million) were incredibly successful over 20 years too (1968-1988)!

APA work in Athletics and yep, plyometrics for triple jump/high jump  might not seem that ground breaking now….until you realise that the coaches in the former Soviet Union invented this type of training and this like many other forms of training was conceived out of a need to find answers to some pretty important questions.  Questions like,

‘How much force does the body have to produce when making an impact with the ground during take off for the high jump? And which methods of training will improve that jump performance the most?’

The Soviets and Germans took the same forensic approach to all sports they trained…..even Tennis, the other main sport APA are currently associated with!  So today’s blog is about looking back at some research the Soviets and Germans did on Speed in Tennis- which is still valid today.

It is a brave man who believes there is one speed exercise or method above all others that fits the bill for Tennis.  Tennis has been described as a sport in which players must respond to a continuous series of emergencies. Sprinting to the ball, changing directions, reaching, stretching, lunging, stopping, and starting. All these characteristics, combined with maintaining proper balance and technique throughout a match,  are critical for optimal performance on the court. Therefore, players must address flexibility, strength and endurance, power, agility and speed, body composition, and aerobic and anaerobic fitness to improve their tennis games.

For me it would be difficult to say which are the most important factors in the sport of Tennis, so I won’t! Instead I thought I’d let a well respected German researcher stick his neck out instead.  According to Schonborn the most important factors are coordination and speed of coordination as well as acceleration.

This correlates with my experiences of working in Tennis over the last 10 years.  We can call this ‘speed of coordination’ the difference between a good general athlete and an exceptional tennis athlete.  I see a lot of athletes who have the basic biomotor abilities to become a successful tennis player (ie., speed, agility and power) but unless they can coordinate their body and time the segments to work in the proper order to execute a tennis shot they can appear slow on the court! This is because they get to  the ball too early without having prepared their body and rackets and end up actually getting jammed up which results in them looking clumsy and slow.  Louis Cayer calls this being ‘so fast you’re slow!’

So what exercises would be best to use to improve an athlete’s acceleration?

Acceleration- What the research says

If acceleration is one of the key determinants of successful tennis performance (and I will include change of direction ability in this!!!) what are the best exercises to improve this ability?

Thanks to Soviet researcher Natalia Verkhoshansky we can start to answer that question too!  Bear with me while I summarise an experiment she conducted.

This is an extract taking from the actual report of the experiment (Verkhoshansky, 2011).

In the experiment, 19 high level tennis players performed two groups of tests: specific speed running tests and strength tests. The specific speed running tests consisted in performing the most typical tennis game‟s displacements5 (see Fig. 1):

1) forward running on 10 meters distance with the stop at the finish point (‘Advance to the net’);  
2) running on 48 meters distance with different trajectories:  
– ‘Long Shuttle,’ 6 × 8 meters with 5 lateral (side-to-side) changes of directions;  
– ‘Short Shuttle,’ 12 × 4 meters with 11 lateral changes of directions;  
– ‘Fan,’ 12 × 4 meters with 11 both lateral and frontal changes of directions.

In the strength tests, the level of basic strength capabilities were evaluated using the UDS: Maximal (P0), Explosive (J) and Starting strength (Q) expressed in the maximal isometric strength efforts and maximal explosive isometric strength efforts of the Leg Press and Seated Calf Raise.

 
Table 1 shows the correlations between the results of the running and strength tests.

 
Finding 1: The correlations indicate that the higher the level of explosive strength (J) of the tennis players, the faster they were.

So, for increasing tennis specific speed ability, the athletes should use specific training means, to increase Explosive Strength during take-off movements: i.e..  jumping exercises.

 
Finding 2: The results showed also that the athletes who expressed the higher value of Maximal Strength (P0) in Seated Calf Rise (but not in Leg Press) showed high level of speed ability.

This means that to increase the speed is advisable to use a training method able to increase the weight of 1RM in Seated Calf Rise exercise.

 
As we can see, the results of specific running tests are not correlated directly with the Maximal Strength expressed in Leg Press. However, the correlations between the parameters of strength capabilities (Table 2) show that the higher the level of Maximal Strength (Po), the higher the level of Explosive Strength (J).

 
It means that, to increase the level of Explosive Strength in Leg Press and, as a consequence, to run FASTER it is necessary to increase maximal strength expressed in the Leg Press. This means that to increase speed it is advisable to use a training method able to increase the weight of RM in the Leg Press exercise (barbell squat).

Now perhaps you’re going to say, ”Duh, of course that’s obvious; getting stronger in the calves and developing explosiveness in jumping tasks is what is going to help Tennis players move better!!!!  It’s obvious because it’s intuitive. But until it’s actually written down on paper how many of you would have come up with that answer?  For me the best coaches are intuitive and probably wouldn’t have needed a science experiment to validate what they already know works but what made the Soviet and East German system unique AND SUCCESSFUL was because they conducted meaningful scientific research.  They tried to find what types of exercises (in the gym) most highly correlated with performance where it counts….on the sports field or court.

Take away message: What exercises do you use and how do you know they really work?

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When you go to a workshop, I bet you have been told that if you want to be fast you need to make sure you don’t step back first.  I read this on an American Baseball website recently:

”Standing up on the first step before accelerating is a common mistake that players make when breaking from a base and moving to a batter ball. Another mistake is taking a false or drop step.”

What everyone probably didn’t expect to hear at this latest APA workshop was that this advice and other comments like it are quite frankly totally wrong.

This blog is a summary of the recent APA Speed, Agility & Quickness Training for Sports Workshop, May 24th 2014 covering a lot of different hot topics and dispelling some myths along the way.  Buckle up!!

So what did we cover?

We started in the classroom and covered some training principles first

The APA  3 S System (copyright)

Then we went through some videos to better understand what good movement looks like.

Before we get to the videos just a few points.  The key to getting faster is:

1. The amount of force that an athlete puts into the ground (relative to body weight)  

2. The direction of that force  

The amount of force that an athlete puts into the ground is improved through strength and power training.  In biomechanics they call this ‘kinetics.’  These are trainable qualities.   The direction of that force is where the “skill of speed” comes into play. This can be improved through proper positioning and practice and these are coachable qualities .  This is known as ‘kinematics,’ and it is here that the workshop was targeted.  What does proper positioning look like, and how can we coach that?

Straight ahead Speed

Acceleration:

We looked at proper start position and acceleration mechanics for a 20m sprint.  We discussed the differences between a 3 point start and a block start.    

Key points:

The stance and start sets the athlete’s force angles for the entire 20m and thus, improving these things will have the greatest improvement on overall 20m time. The key emphasis is to get the athlete to focus on driving (not stepping) out and pushing the ground back with as much force as possible.

We then looked at an example of how this acceleration position might be applied in the sport of Tennis, since the majority of attendees were Tennis coaches.

Top Speed:

We looked at proper foot position for the Top speed phase of a 40m sprint.  

Key points:

According to Carl Lewis’s coach (in a pod cast Interview with Canadian Athletics Coaching Centre) the heel DOES come down at foot strike when running at top speed.  But I know Dan Pfaff has said that it doesn’t.  My opinion is that the foot makes initial contact with the ball of the feet.  What we certainly don’t want to see is athletes making initial contact with the heel!!!

What do you think?  Leave me your comments below.

First Step Speed

We looked at a 5m start which focuses on the first two explosive steps.  Unlike Straight ahead speed used during the 100m sprint, we will typically express first step speed in multiple directions and in response to a random signal to move quickly.

Key points:

I need to give credit to Lee Taft and the IYCA for introducing me to what they call the ‘Plyo Step.’  In Tennis we call it a ‘Dig Step.’  Other coaches call this a ‘False Step.’  Like me, Lee Taft was never satisfied with the irrational explanation that it is a mistake to do this.

He says: ‘I think you will find the logic and the scientific basis of biomechanics and physics will offer enough backing to see the purpose for allowing the Plyo Step to be the way the athlete moves during a reactive setting and from a non-track stance.’

Innovation and creativity is to be congratulated.  I always say, ”be an innovator not an impersonator.” Coaches have looked at the plyo step (which is a natural stretch reflex) with this desire to improve sports performance  and said, well, this is surely a wasted step, and it must take longer to move forward.  But I think they are wrong!

Lee Taft explains:

”The fact that coaches call it a step back just isn’t true. If it were a step back, then the hips would have to travel back as well. This clearly doesn’t happen. Look at the picture of the Plyo Step and notice the position of the hips just prior to the Plyo Step and when the Plyo Step occurs.   It can be clearly seen that the center of mass only moves forward. The fallacy the movement brings the athlete backward first just isn’t true. Next, the old timers use to say, “It takes longer to get moving forward”. Wrong again. The reason I named this movement a Plyo Step is because of the stretch shortening action that occurs when the foot aggressively contacts the ground. There is a quick response (action reaction) that occurs from the ground which helps to move the athlete forward much quicker.”

It must be stated that the best position to be able to respond in all directions is the basic athletic stance, with a slight adjustment.  The key words here are’ slight adjustment.’  We use the plyo step to reorganise our body position so it is set up to produce force in the correct direction.

Who says, the first step is always going to go forward any way?

Detractors of the plyo step would say you need to step out of the athletic stance by pivoting forward from the ankle. That theory only works if you know the intended direction is going to be forward and you can already lean over the front foot to get into the optimal position to explode forward.  Yes, this is correct when talking about a rugby forward or a lineman in American football whose sole job is to move forward and make a tackle.  It is also fair to say that this is fairly common in Tennis too when the player knows where the ball is going.  But for other sports it has to come from a more neutral athletic stance!

First Step Lateral

In Tennis 80% of all movement is lateral so lateral first step speed is particularly important.  Ben Linder, Head Physical Trainer for the Swiss Tennis Federation, calls this ‘1-2 step movement’.  This refers to the first two steps being the most important.

Split Step: Jump into First step

In Tennis before the first step takes place the athlete will normally do a jump in the air as the opponent is about to strike the ball.  This is yet another example of using the stretch reflex to store and release additional elastic energy in the muscles to explode to the ball.

For this part of the classroom presentation we therefore looked at proper mechanics of the first step as it relates to the sport of Tennis.

Let’s look a bit closer

For me the first step is a powerful step in the intended direction.  By step I mean a powerful contraction of the quadriceps and glutes often using a pivoting type action.  However in Tennis, prior to this step there will usually be one of a few things that can happen before this powerful step takes place.

• The body jumps in the air and the feet land simultaneously known in Tennis as a ‘simultaneous split step.’  This is usually followed by a pivoting action of the foot- the way most coaches would like you to teach it!  
• The foot/hip nearest the intended direction opens up slightly- common when you are in motion or have read the situation- is usually part of a ‘staggered split step’  (see below)  
• The foot nearest the intended direction falls under the body in the opposite direction- common when you are moving from a very wide foot position  
• The foot furthest away the intended direction pushes in the opposite direction to the ball known as a ‘dig step’- common when your feet are quite close together or you’re quite upright and are reacting to the play.  

Staggered Split step

I wanted to focus on the staggered split step as it is similar to the plyo step/dig step but requires explanation

For me a plyo step or ‘dig step’ is a reflex response to a random signal to move.  The ‘staggered split step’ is applying the same laws of equal and opposite forces but it is more of a ‘conscious’ push with the foot furthest away from the direction of travel.   This happens when you read the game and can anticipate the direction of your first step.  The dig step will come into play when you have to react to the direction of the ball and is a reflex.  Somewhere between the two is the simultaneous split step where the athlete is able to pivot off the foot-like most coaches will want you to do in your first step!!

If you watch the clip carefully of Andre Agassi moving laterally above, you will see his left foot slightly hits the ground before his right.  This is known as a ‘staggered split step.’

Multi-directional Speed

We looked at a Pro Agility Shuttle (5-10-5) which focuses on the explosive change of direction.

Key points:

Again credit goes to Brian Grasso of the IYCA who showed me the 4 steps to a good body position for changing direction.

1.  Feet slightly wider than shoulders or ‘outside the box’ made by the shoulders and hips.  

2. Feet turned slightly toward direction of travel  

3. Hips back  

4.  Shift weight towards inside leg closest towards direction of travel  

Then we looked at how this would apply to the tennis court

Notice how after hitting the ball Djokovic is initially out of balance and in no position to effectively apply the forces in the correct positions.  But then he quickly reorganises his body so he can find the correct position to push himself back towards the centre of the court.

Practical

After about 40 minutes in the classroom going through these videos we went on to the court to look at some drills to develop the three types of Speed of the 3 S APA Training System (Straight ahead Speed, First step speed and Multi-directional Speed).

I will upload some videos to give you a taster in another blog but if you can’t wait to then, then you can get more information on these topics and over 200 video clips of drills at my new EBOOK.  Click HERE for more details.

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Daz