Sports Speed Training

Most coaches spend a lot of time on the bigger components of offensive and defensive strategies and quickly breeze over the finer points, such as faking. If time was spent breaking down and perfecting the footwork, eye-head-shoulder fake, ball and hand fake and total body fake, then players would be able to dictate more of what the defense does therefore freeing up themselves and teammates for offensive opportunities.

Faking is an art. If it is executed well, then you can put a defender, or an entire defense, on a string and move them how you want.

Fakes are not always big, dramatic expressions. They are often subtle, big direct movements that create the illusion you are going to do something different than what you intend to do.

Fakes are used to get early reads on what a defender or defense is going to do. You can learn quickly Read the rest…

It is fresh in all our memories on how quickly a season can end with a knee injury. It happens thousands of time every season, with most being non-contact injuries.

Many times non-contact injuries are something that might not have been helped. There was simply a predisposition for the injury to occur. There are definite measures we can take to reduce the risk.

One of the measures I personally believe can be taken to reduce the risk of injury is proper technique. When an athlete loads the system correctly through proper posture the chances of injury should be reduced. Read the rest…

Isn’t it so obvious when you see a player just blows by a defender that there is no mistaking speed and quickness? But the focus may be on the wrong end of speed. Now, don’t get me wrong. First step speed and acceleration is king in the sport of basketball. The issue is basketball isn’t just a linear sport by any means. There are stops and starts, lateral and angular cuts and deceleration; basketball requires players to have great multi-directional speed.

Some of the fastest players are not the quickest. Let me explain what I mean. There are some players that can accelerate to near top end speeds in only half the courts distance, yet when they need to change direction they are slow. Why is this the case? The issue with this type of basketball player is they have poor body control and techniques when it comes to deceleration. They cannot control all that momentum they built up going in one direction then stop it and redirect it into a new direction.

Let’s cover some reasons why deceleration is used in the sport of basketball:

1. Deceleration can be in the form of stopping, slowing down, or cutting. Stopping and slowing down are the actual intended act of decelerating purposely. Cutting may or may not be a purposeful act of slowing down. It just may be the cut was at a sharp enough angle it requires the athlete’s momentum to be slowed down somewhat, even though the hoop player is trying to cut aggressively.
2. Deceleration is either a tactic or a reaction to a tactic. This means the offensive player wants to make the defender think he is stopping so he can get the defender to slow down, let his guard down and then blow by him with a quick first step acceleration. Now on the other side of the ball, the defender must decelerate as a reaction to the offensive player’s move. So you see deceleration isn’t always planned.
3. Obviously there are many reasons why an offensive and defense player will decelerate. The key strategies to doing it well are to eliminate any unwanted actions that may lengthen the deceleration more than needed or wanted and use the deceleration in conjunction with the skills of the game of basketball. If you cannot maintain your dribble while cutting (change of direction dribble) or faking the deceleration does you no good. From a defensive perspective, if decelerating is a weak point in your movement skill, playing good hard defense will be a chore!

There are too many elements that are involved in breaking down deceleration to include in this article such as, the speed going into the deceleration move, the angle at which the deceleration is being made and so on. But there are a few important biomechanical technique points I would like to cover.

1. The position of the body in regards to alignment is important. Now keep in mind that most athletes will naturally just react and perform the deceleration skill correctly. The problem comes when there are athletes that do not perform it correctly and subject themselves to potential injuries. Even the athletes that do decelerate quickly may be doing it incorrectly, but it is a natural motor program for them due to hundreds and thousands of repeated repetition in that pattern. These are the athletes that have a difficult time breaking old habits.
2. I am going to start with the lower leg on deceleration. I will use the lateral shuffle or defensive slide for example. In order for the defender to be able to decelerate and stop quickly when moving to his right, the following things must occur.a. The right leg must be quickly positioned wide enough to stop the momentum of the body, yet not so wide that the player slips. Conversely, if the right foot is positioned to close under the hips the momentum and the weight of the upper body will cause the player to stumble or take several stutter steps to stop.b. Next, the right foot should be pointed straight ahead if not a tiny bit turned in. The ankle must also be dorsi-flexed (cocked ankle) for 2 reasons. The first is because it will close down the ankle joint and take the play out of it. This is important in reducing the rolled or sprained ankle. Secondly, the dorsi-flexed ankle creates a stretch reflex action within the muscle and tendon complex which allows for a more powerful push off if needed. The weight of the athlete should be on the balls of the feet but the heels should not be elevated for the reasons mentioned above. Keeping the foot pointed straight ahead is a more athletic position to move in any direction.

   c. Moving up the body. The knees need to be inside the width of the plant foot. This allows the force of the momentum to travel straight down the leg, into the foot, and into the ground on the exact angle needed to stop the body. Many people feel the knee should be over the toes when decelerating laterally; this is completely dangerous and non-conducive to greater performance. The knee lined up over the toe vertically when trying to stop horizontal forces is going to potentially cause the ankle to roll, the knee to push out laterally, and the hip to take on more forces than it should. The knee should also be pushed slightly forward helping to create the dorsi-flexed position of the ankle joint.

   d. To the hips we go! When decelerating laterally one of the things that can cause loss of balance and slowness to recover if re-acceleration is needed, is the extreme lowering of the hips. The hips need to maintain a level height throughout the movement. If they dip too much the athlete is put in a position that will require even more strength to be used just to maintain that stance. Don’t over emphasis bending the knees to an extreme. Allow the athletes to be comfortable in their stance and correct the fundamental mistakes that are slowing the movement.

   e. Finally, let’s address the upper body. The shoulders can be stinkers if you are not careful. There is a term that I use and it is called “Swaying”. The shoulders, not unlike trees, can have a tendency to sway to the sides, forwards, backwards, or even rotate. When this occurs during deceleration, namely stopping lateral movement, it can drastically reduce the efficiency of the skill; because, in most cases, stopping lateral movement is performed simply to re-accelerate with a change of direction in the opposite direction. If the player is trying to stop a defensive shuffle to the right and quickly go to the left to stay with the ball handler, and his shoulders are still moving to the right, the quickness of the direction change will be hindered quite a bit. In order for this to not be a factor, the athlete must consciously attempt to be strong with the core region, abdominal, and low back to control movement.

Now, this should not be what they are thinking about when trying to stop, but during strength training this area may need to be a major focus. The body usually follows the head, so it is important for the head to stay still and eyes focused on target. If the head is bobbing and leaning to the side while attempting to stop or change direction it will negatively affect the movement skill.

Hopefully you can begin to see how much is involved with decelerating. Like I mentioned earlier, this should happen naturally for most basketball players but many will still need some coaching to make the movement more efficient and safer.

What is really important to remember is deceleration, in my opinion, is usually the first step in accelerating in most court and field sports. This means that the athlete needs to know stopping is not the major focus- change of direction is. If the body (feet, legs, hips…) are positioned correctly during the deceleration or stopping action, the re-acceleration process is a continuation of that move. The athlete should be able to start the acceleration out of the same stance used to stop or decelerate. If this is not the case, the athlete is going to always be slower in acceleration and in sport.

I certainly hope this help to open some eyes as to the importance of deceleration and its impact on court speed and the basketball player!

Train Smart,
Lee Taft – Athletes Speed Training

Many years ago, I developed a set of conditioning drills for my basketball players and named them the “Final Four” of drills. There are four drills that are completed on a time frame which somewhat mimic basketball speed, but are slightly longer in duration compared to a normal sequence of plays, at least in the duration of intensity.

These drills are completed in a way that every direction of travel is covered, except for vertical. I will discuss vertical in a moment. These 4 drills are done in such a way the athlete is only allowed a short rest period to stress the anaerobic threshold. The athlete must also work on speed of movement and efficiency while performing all the drills.

The drills below can be completed in a progression according to ability and conditioning level. The first timers may want to do these drills with 2 sets rather than 3. For the more advanced athletes and after a conditioning foundation, resistance can be used with light tubing. This is much more intense even though the tubing may be light. The focus needs to be on resisting the athlete, not assisting or pulling the athlete.

Here is a description of the drills and the work to rest ratio:

Drill #1
3 Cone Reaction Drill

• There are 3 cones set up at 4 yards apart. The athlete will be standing 4yards from the middle cone in an athletic ready position. The coach will either call out a number of the cone (given earlier) or point to the cone he wants the athlete to travel to. The athlete will explode and run to the cone, touch it with the outside hand and immediately shuffle back to the beginning spot. If the coach calls out or points to the next cone while the athlete is at the previous cone, then the athlete will shuffle to the new cone. If a cone is not called out, then the athlete will shuffle back the start and wait for the next cone.
• The drill will last for 12 seconds
• The rest period will be 12 seconds (1:1 ratio)
• The drill is performed 3 times.
• There will be a 60 second rest before the next drill
• Advanced athletes can add tubing for resistance

Drill #2
V-Drill

• The middle cone of the 3 cone drill is moved back to the starting position of the athlete. This will make a “V” formation. The athlete will start behind the center cone. When the coach says “go”, the athlete will sprint to the right cone, touch it, then backpedal to the start and immediately go to the left cone. The athlete will plant the back foot on the backpedal and immediately redirect and head to the second cone. This pattern continues for the total time.
• The drill will last for 12 seconds
• The rest period will be 12 seconds (1:1 ratio)
• The drill is performed 3 times.
• There will be a 70 second rest before the next drill
• Advanced athletes can add tubing for resistance

Drill #3
Shuffle Drill

• There are 2 cones set up at 5 yards apart. The athlete will start at one cone in an athletic stance. On “go” the athlete will shuffle to each cone touching it with the closest hand. The change of direction needs to be quick and efficient. The athlete doesn’t want to come up high out of the change of direction. The hips need to remain level as the power leg pushes the ground away.
• The drill will last for 12 seconds
• The rest period will be 12 seconds (1:1 ratio)
• The drill is performed 3 times.
• There will be a 80 second rest before the next drill

Drill #4
Forward and Backward Drill

• The final drill is completed using the same formation as the shuffle drill. The difference is the athlete will run forward and backpedal to each cone. The athlete will touch the cone with the closest hand to the cone. The athlete will bend the knees in a good lunge deceleration position when stopping at each cone.
• The drill will last for 12 seconds
• The rest period will be 12 seconds (1:1 ratio)
• The drill is performed 3 times.
• Advanced athletes can add tubing for resistance

When using resistance, make sure the individual holding the tubing and supplying the resistance is experienced. They need to be able to move with the athlete to make sure the athlete doesn’t receive assistance. In this case, the tubing must be taken up for any slack.
It is important that the tubing is used on each side of the athlete. During the shuffle, resist the right side one set and left on the next set. During the forward and backpedal, resist the forward side and backpedal side. The resistance direction can be changed each set or every other workout.

Have fun with the going to the “Final Four!”

Train Smart,
Lee Taft – Athletes Speed Training

Having been a college point guard at 5’10, I had to have high levels of athleticism to compete with the big boys. Fortunately, I was extremely quick and had a great vertical jump. I was able to dunk a basketball with 2 hands. I don’t say this to brag. I say this to lead into my story of how I believe vertical can be trained. Here is my basic philosophy on jumping.

In 1989, I started working with athletes as a coach at the high school setting and as a part-time trainer on the side. I believed so much in the fact that if I can improve an athlete’s overall athleticism (speed, quickness, jumping, strength, flexibility…) that I can impact their game play positively. After 20 years, it has proven to be true. I have run speed camps, sports training business and lectured around the country teaching athletes and coach’s proper training to improve athleticism; the vertical jump is always a hot topic.

My philosophy on Vertical Jump Training
This has probably been one of the most drastic changes I have made with respect to my training methods and philosophy. It boils down to “more quality work and less quantity work to get the best results”.

Let’s not forget that jumping/landing is an impact event. As a matter of fact the impact is many times greater than the athlete’s body weight. Doing this over and over again can lead to undesirable outcomes for the musculoskeletal system. Preparing the body and educating the athlete on how to correctly train and perform will dramatically reduce the overall stress to the body.

My basic focus during Vertical Jump Training

My basic focus for each athlete fall under these guidelines:

1.    Learn to land

2.    Learn to extend

3.    Learn to be quick

4.    Get strong

Learn to Land
I have yet to see an athlete go up and not come down. I always start my athletes by getting them to understand proper landing and to absorb forces. This is done by having the flex at each joint starting with the ankles working up through the knees, and onto the hips. Here are more detailed points about landing that we teach our athletes:
-We want the knees to be in vertical alignment with the feet, so no valgus action by the knees.
-We want the ankles to flex so the shin is slightly forward allowing the knee to be on top of the toes. This is a force absorption position for the ankles which translates through the rest of the body.
-The knees should be obviously flexed to absorb forces and to recoil if a second jump is needed.
-The hips must be pushed back allowing the shoulders to move over the front part of the thigh but not so far as to pass the knees (depending on the balance of the athlete sometimes the shoulders will move forward too far).
-By allowing the ankles to flex, the knees to push slightly forward, the hips to push back and shoulders forward, we have in essence kinetically dissipated forces, but eccentrically loaded the musculature system to recoil aggressively and jump again if need (kind of a load and explode system).
-The arms are taught to be back behind the hips when in the bottom portion of the landing if only jump training. The hands are also taught to be up in front for more sport specific training if catching a ball or using the hands for sport.

Learn to Extend
The bottom position of landing is the starting position for jumping. Now when we are testing for vertical we want the athletes to start tall and quickly sink into the flexed position and then jump, but for this purpose we will start them flexed.
-To teach them to extend we talk about aggressiveness. This means we want the athletes to push forcefully into the ground, extend the body forcefully, and be aggressive with the arms on the upward drive.
-We talk about pushing the toes through the floor at the end of the extension. Now this is something that will become automatic over time. We do not want our athletes over thinking a natural action such a jumping, but during training we will emphasis certain things in the beginning stages.
-If we are having the athletes reach to touch a point high in the air they will extend one or both arms to reach for the target. If they are just jumping up onto a box, we want the “blocking” the arms at about chest height. Blocking the arms refers to moving them up aggressively and then stopping them quickly at chest height.
-We look to see if the legs drop into valgus and dissipate forces. When the knees fall inside (valgus) we feel the prime extensors are not being taken full advantage of. Now there may be a slight inward action of the knees that is acceptable due to the biomechanics of certain individuals, but we certainly don’t want a complete collapse of the knees medially.

Learn to Be Quick
In most sports the jump needs to be quick to outperform the other player. Even when testing the vertical we want our athletes to be aggressive and quick when extending to jump. If the action is slow the force production will be less, resulting in a lower vertical.
-To be quick we will sometimes make them jump on a random command. This excites their nervous system as they anticipate the command. They will quickly apply force and extend through the jump.
-We talk about being quick with the hands and arms. If the hands get moving upward quickly the downward action of the legs into the ground becomes more aggressive.
-Plus, I firmly believe a quick jumper is more efficient in sports than a higher but slower jumper. First to the punch usually wins!

Get Strong
Without a doubt, if we can improve the strength and power of the primary extensors for propulsion, the flexors for better eccentric landing control, the stabilizers of the hips, pelvis, spine (core), and feet and ankles more force is used and less is wasted. A stronger athlete will have more force available for them. Then it is our job to make them quicker with that force (power).
-We always make sure the stability of the surround joints is about supporting the prime movers.
-We increase the extensor strength of all the prime movers (erectors, glutes, hams…) through knee and hip bending strength exercises.
-We increase the power by using resisted and un-resisted explosive movement and Olympic lifting when appropriate.
-We perform various core exercises to be able to dissipate forces out to the prime movers.
-Jumping is not about just doing high volume jumps until you are exhausted. It is about performing the correct movement pattern for each kind of jump you wish to perform (two foot take off, gather step, one foot take off…) and to do it with speed and power.

Unique Methods of Vertical Jump Training
I really don’t think there is anything unique about our program. I do know we spend a lot of time on making sure the athletes are in proper alignment for joint health and improved performance. All our athletes learn to jump up onto a box and land and hold for 2 seconds with great technique before we actually do any true jump training. This has proven to be extremely successful for us.

The other aspect that we use deals directly with stability. We have all our athletes learn to hop and leap and hold positions with good biomechanical position several times a week. This only takes a few minutes a day, but we want to grove a pattern of landing that is correct.

This may not be unique, but different than many other programs, we really do not do a lot of reps or have high volume in our vertical jump training at all. We expect it to be done correct and with great effort and then move on. When an athlete is prepared to be loaded we will have them perform a low amount of reps and average sets, but with great effort and then we move to the next aspect of training.

I personally feel the biggest area that is overlooked in training athletes is that most athletes are participating in activities other than training. They are playing other sports, playing in physical education, playing with friends at the park, or on some travel team. This tends to lead to over-training and injury. I always try to consider this when designing a program.

Performance Indicators
I have never been a big performance indicator fan when it comes to ratios of strength to body weight or others; having said that, I will look at relative body weight. In other words does the athlete have too much body weight for their strength level? The biggest thing we look for at the speed academy is biomechanical and general stabilizer strength. This is done by watching and videoing performance. If we see and an athlete collapses at any joint segment during a jump or landing we will address it so it no longer becomes an issue.

Because we make all our athletes regardless of physical ability start at the same point and follow the same progression we can see which athletes need more strength, power, joint mobility, flexibility, or coordination training in order to move on. Each athlete progresses at their own rate, but will all start at the beginning.

Basic Structure of a Workout
All workouts begin with a thorough warm up and preparation routine:

•    Foam roll

•    Corrective stretch

•    Activation and mobility

•    Dynamic warm up/form running…

This is followed by stability training, deceleration training and low level quick “impulse jumps”

•    Single or double leg land and hold both linear and lateral

•    Linear, angular, and lateral deceleration

•    Quick and rapid jumps or hops

The next thing becomes the focus for the day. In this case it is Vertical Training

•    Athletes will begin at the level they are currently at in their jump training.

•    They will always start with a few reps of landing technique to prepare the body for proper execution.

•    They will perform 1-4 sets of 3-5 reps of some form of jumping

•    They will then move onto the next speed movement skill for that day.

•    The final 30 minutes will be strength training and finish with cool down (rolling/stretching)

Common Mistakes
Here are some of the most common mistakes that I see with Vertical Jump Training:

1.    Too much volume

2.    Not paying attention to biomechanical positions to improve performance and reduce injury.

3.    Not understanding when to back off. Many athletes are tired and shouldn’t be doing high intense workouts. Only doing so will create poor movement patterns and further fatigue/deplete the systems (example; nervous system).

4.    Not understanding that strength and power (relative strength especially) are an important part of increasing vertical. Too many trainers and athletes just want to jump.

5.    The biggest mistake might be the long term effect of training. Doing too much or doing it incorrectly can show up in the body as an injury 5, 10, 20 years later.

Improvements
I am not real big on making a number prediction because so much depends on the athlete’s genetic potential, work ethic, and training experience. But I have had many athletes improve 4-7 inches in a relatively short time frame, but more important remain healthy from it. One case in particular was an athlete that was already pretty skilled and a good jumper but lacked strength and power. He was simply a fast twitch athletes but raw. In roughly 4 month of training he improved nearly 6 inches and this was in season. The thing was he didn’t do much strength training and had little exposure to proper power training. When I put him on a low volume (because he was in-season) but fairly intense (allowed a lot of rest) he responded beautifully, and never got fatigued. As a matter of fact his energy level increased due to the exposure to new training.

I have no doubt there are trainers that have improved verticals much higher than that, but I have to when a claim is made that an athletes can improve 8-12 inches in a few months. Even if this is possible, what is the residual effect of the training? I hope it is possible and that the athlete remains healthy, I just know I have not been able to do so and protect the athlete. Jumping is a violent act and can take its toll on the body.

Play Hard!
Lee Taft

Speed Training
Vertical Jump Training