There are three aspects of improving speed – running technique, muscle elasticity, and strength! The problem is many coaches and athletes aren’t optimizing their speed strength training with the right program design to reap the greatest benefits in speed and force production.

Like any training modality, the two paths of training and teaching are necessary to fully exploit the benefits of plyometrics. With so many different exercises and development levels to work with, sometimes plyometric training is dumbed down to make this easier to administer, which is boring the advanced athletes. On the other hand, workouts that are too advanced can injure athletes and discourage them from doing plyometrics in the long run. 

I have revised what I do from learning from other coaches, but sometimes you have to look at your program and simply judge what can be done better.

Here are six lessons I have learned the hard way, and some I have learned from just knowing which coaches provide the best advice.

But First...Before You Start Adding Plyometrics...

I had never been a huge fan of accommodating resistance, but after a month of testing athletes who performed a full cycle of chain and band work, I am a believer. To me, accommodating resistance was useful for advanced athletes, but now that I have seen it used at the high school and college levels over the last two years, I recommend it for developmental athletes as well.

In the realm of getting fast, there are lots of proposed fixes... lots of things that “look” like they are training speed. But in the end, not as many things truly work as well as they say.

You know that speed kills. And as strength and conditioning professionals, we're always racking our brains trying to get our athletes faster. Here's a four step teaching progression that works wonders for new athletes.

In-season training can be a mine field for the strength & conditioning professional. Accumulate too much fatigue and performance decreases... but if your team isn't fit, you'll be left in the dust when it matters. So the question remains: How much is enough? And how much is too much?

Optimizing the central nervous system seems to be the holy grail of human performance.

With topics like Velocity Based Training and Athlete Readiness gaining momentum, more and more coaches are seeing the importance of training (and optimizing) the Central Nervous System.

Traditionally, a huge focus has been placed on gauging the quality of your workouts -regardless of your training objectives or goals - by the feeling of the "burn” in your muscles.

• Want to grow muscle? Better get your pump and feel the burn.
• Want to get stronger? Burn it baby.
• Want to shed fat? Then you better feel the burn!

Ah it’s finally here! The college guys are home, all of the high school guys are finishing up school, and our summer strength and conditioning program is underway!

Slow. Small. Weak. Three words you never want to utter when talking about your team. 

If speed is king, then strength is queen and size is the spoiled prince. This trifecta is like the royal flush of on-field performance.