Athletic Performance Toolbox

Jump Drills

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Enhance the speed and agility component of your training and conditioning program with these simple jump drills and coaching points.

In the video clip below  Steven Kenyon, former National Strength and Conditioning Coach of the Year and founder of Speed Strength Training, presents Jump Drills as part of his 10 Speed and Agility Weightroom Drills presentation at a recent Glazier Athletic Performance Clinic.

Coach Keynon shares his thoughts on the advantages of these exercises and provides key coaching points so that the athletes will get maximum benefits of each exercise.

Here are the jumps covered in this clip:

  • Tuck Jumps
  • Stick Jumps
  • Multiple Hurdle Jumps
  • Depth Jumps

For information about gaining access to Coach Kenyon’s complete presentation, as well as hundreds of other great athletic performance clinic presentations, click the link Glazier Athletic Performance Clinics The clip below has audio, so please make sure that your sound is turned on. Click the arrow to play the video.

 

Agility Wheel

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In the video clip below highly regarded strength and conditioning expert Alan Stein demonstrates a great agility drill that can be used with your athletes. In the clip Coach Stein shows three variations to his Agility Wheel Drill.  You could obviously create other variations using your imagination.

The Agility Wheel is simply 8 cones placed in a circle with a diameter of approx 10-12 ft. A ninth cone is placed in the center of the circle.  The circle can be made bigger or smaller depending on what you want to get out of the drill.

The first drill begins with a player at the center cone. He then sprints to one of the cones and touches it with his hand and sprints back to the center cone and touches it. Next he will sprint to the next cone in the circle, touch it and return to the center cone. He continues until he has touched all 8 cones in the circle.

In the second drill the athlete will start in the center and sprint to a cone on the circle and touch it with his hand. This time he will shuffle back to the center cone, then sprint to the next cone on the circle and shuffle back. he will continue until each cone has been touched.

The third variation has the athlete sprinting from the center out to a cone on the circle and back pedaling to the center cone. He will continue until he has sprinted out to each cone.

This agility drill is just one of many drills that can be found in Coach Stein’s training DVD. For more information about that DVD click the link:  130 “Pro Power” Speed, Quickness and Reaction Drills

 

The YouTube video below has audio, so please make sure that your sound is turned on and that you have access to the site. Note that some schools block access to YouTube. Click the arrow to play the video

Methods to Improve Explosiveness

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This article was provided by Coaches Network

By Matt Grimm

Explosiveness is the key to athletic development. The ability to start and stop at high speeds is what makes an athlete “explosive.” How can coaches make their athletes explosive? Below are three methods.

Plyometrics: to improve neural capacity and the stretch reflex

Plyometrics are anything that requires jumping and change of direction. In reality, this happens constantly during a game. Therefore, we must train our athletes’ bodies and nervous system to maximize the plyometric qualities and produce the most force development possible.

Plyometric exercises include box jumps, broad jumps, lateral jumping, multi-jumps, and other similar exercises. The key to training plyometrics is to keep the volume of the jumps low, yet the intensity incredibly high. In a single workout our athletes will never go over 32 jumps. So our sets will be 4 sets of 4 each side if we’re doing single leg jumping. This puts the total volume at 32. If we are doing box jumps, we would do 5 sets of 4 making the total volume 20 reps.

There are many ways to integrate plyometrics into your workouts. One idea I use a lot is to pair med ball throws with jumps to save time.

Power & Strength Training:  to build horsepower and make the body stronger

Strength is the base for every athlete and will dictate the ceiling for power development. Strength and power are directly correlated to each other. When evaluating strength training, we are looking at weight room strength. Total body strength is the most valuable, which can be quantified with squatting, deadlifting, pull-ups, bench press, and rows.

To develop power, use explosive lifts. The most valuable and safest are auxiliary Olympic lifts such as the hang clean, single arm dumbbell snatch, or a dumbbell push-press. Training the total body three days a week during the off-season will provide the best results for your athletes.

Mobility: to increase range of motion

Mobility is by far the most disregarded part of training by coaches worldwide. It is vital to having full range of motion through movement. If an athlete doesn’t have mobility they will not be able to develop strength or power to the highest degree. If our athletes have mobility issues and we train them through their issue, it typically will cause injury.

Strategies for increasing range of motion are done before workouts and practice: foam rolling or any soft tissue work, such as massage and mobility drills. Getting some kind of mobility and foam rolling completed before activity will make your athletes less injury prone.

 

Matt Grimm is Head Strength and Conditioning coach at Trevecca Nazarene University and owner of Matt Grimm Performance, LLC, in Nashville, Tenn., where he trains athletes of all ages. He can be reached through his website: MattGrimmPerformance.com.

Plyometric Warm-up Exercises

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Plyometric exercises are high intensity exercises that involve impact forces designed to develop the explosive reactive forces in muscles. While these type of exercises can significantly improve an athlete’s forward and lateral explosiveness as well as his/her vertical jump, the athlete must be properly trained so as not to cause injury.

In the video clip below Don Chu demonstrates some adductor muscle group warm-up exercises that he utilizes to prepare athletes for explosive plyometric training. These exercises are designed to strengthen the legs so that they can withstand the high impact forces involved in plyometric training.

For those of you unfamiliar with Don Chu here is his background.  Rocky Mountain University of Health Professions faculty member; former Director, Athletic Training & Rehabilitation at Stanford University; Consultant for the U.S. Olympic Track and Field, Men & Women’s teams; Member of the USA Strength & Conditioning Coaches Hall of Fame (2003) and the National Athletic Trainers Association (NATA) Hall of Fame Inductee (2001).

These exercises are taken from his plyometric training DVD. For more information about that DVD click the link Don Chu’s Power Plyo System.

The YouTube video has audio, so please make sure that your sound is turned on and that you have access to the site. Please note that some schools block access to YouTube

 

Skips for Speed

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This article was provided by Training and Conditioning

By Loren Landow

Loren Landow, CSCS*D, MAT, USAW, NASM, is an instructor for Elite Sports University and an expert on biomechanics. More information about the organization is at: elitesportsuniversity.com.

What is the key to faster sprinting? Shear power and high rates of force development are important, but it’s imperative to build these physical qualities on a foundation of rhythm, timing, and postural stability to maximize sprinting efficiency. Here is a closer look:

Skipping Exercises for Faster Sprinting Speeds

Skips to improve both acceleration mechanics with optimal joint mechanics for force development and skips to groove the cyclical action of top-end speed sprinting are covered. 

Acceleration Skips Variations 

These skips are progressively more advanced to groove angles for faster acceleration.

Similar to the wall drill, your athletes flex one hip to create a shank of the femur and tibia, allowing optimal angles for force generation and putting the gluteus maximus on stretch.

Simultaneous dorsiflexion of the feet create a rigid spring for optimal force development on each explosive skip into the ground.

  • Forward Skips (0.15)
  • Backward Skips
  • Lateral Skips (0.29)
  • Cross-Over Skips (0.38)

As a result, the athlete will generate maximal torque at the hip axis based on the shank of the thigh and the shin. From this position, your athletes will attack the ground aggressively without wasting time cycling the foot to the near end and have an explosive first step.

Top-End Speed Skip Variations

Top end speed requires an efficient cyclical action to maximize sprinting speed. The cyclical action of these skipping variations prepare the body to close the gap and  pull the leg through in preparation for the ground strike, resulting in greater top-end sprinting speeds. 

  • Cyclical skip: (1.06)
  • Cyclical A-Skips: (1:50)

Key Takeaways

Regardless of the drill at hand it’s best to keep your message and coaching cues consistent with athletes.

Like learning a language or studying a new topic, the more frequently athletes practice perfect technique the faster the learning process and more rapid the skill acquisition. Incorporate acceleration based skips and top-end skips to groove optimal mechanics for faster sprinting speeds to sprint away from the competition.

For a visual, check out the clip below. The YouTube video  has sound, please make sure that your sound is turned on.

 

This article was originally published on the website of Elite Sports University (ESU) and is being used with permission from the organization. ESU is an online university that offers the latest scientific courses on strength and conditioning, speed agility, nutrition, and specialty classes for tactical coaches, LTAD, and personal trainers. ESU classes can be taken to fulfill CEU requirements, college credits, or to improve your knowledge base. More information is at: elitesportsuniversity.com.