BIOENERGETIC CONSIDERATIONS
Synchronization is less than optimal when fatigue
and lactate accumulation impede performance. So,
from a bioenergetics perspective, quickness is
improved exclusively with the adenosine triphosphate-phosphocreatine
(ATP) energy system (thus through anaerobic training),
and training is prescribed accordingly. In the
game environment, however, explosive actions are
often needed when the athlete is already in a
fatigued state. At the end of a match, during
a prolonged shift, or in overtime, the successful
athlete will still be able to mobilize motor units
to coordinate explosive skills under fatigue.
This too is a learned ability.
DEVELOPING QUICKNESS
Coaches should evaluate athletes and then build
the prequickness foundation. At all ages and levels,
introduce quickness drill technique by incorporating
the movements into dynamic warm-ups and agility
drills. This affords athletes an opportunity to
understand and rehearse the technique at casual
speeds and provides the coach an opportunity to
detect strength or flexibility imbalances that
hamper technique execution.
At this stage, the athlete's readiness for quickness
training can be assessed with a simple athleticism
test. When the player performs a simple lateral
stop-and-start drill, does he or she land evenly
with both feet at the same time? Is the footprint
consistent, or does the athlete land at different
places throughout the drill? Athletes who fail
this test must spend more time building their
quickness foundation.
Coaches must teach and train quickness as a skill,
not some genetic gift or elusive component that
magically develops through standard anaerobic
lactate-tolerance interval training or generic
practice drills. Most coaches turn quickness training
into circuit training, supersetting one plyometric
drill after another. An athlete cannot increase
the ability to activate muscles at a high rate
by training while fatigued, moving slowly with
flawed technique. Quickness practice is quality
practice, not quantity practice. The athlete needs
to do full-out
overspeed efforts for a few seconds followed by
generous recovery.
Believe it or not, one professional head coach
of athletes training for an anaerobic speed-power
start still emphasizes continuous aerobic training
as the main (and often only) conditioning and
development method! Repetitive continuous aerobic
training ultimately practices recruiting muscles
for slow movements, which detracts from high-velocity
contraction capabilities. Too much aerobic training
preferentially activates slow-twitch muscle fibers,
detracts from performance, inhibits skill improvement,
and blocks development of explosive quickness.
Complement and support quickness development with
high-velocity anaerobic conditioning.
The athlete must be lean to optimize quickness.
Excess fat weight does not contribute to force
production and only provides an additional load
to overcome. Physical development should prioritize
the legs and the speed center, or core of the
body (abdominals, lower back, adductors, abductors,
hip rotators, hip flexors, hip extensors, and
glutes), which initiates and powers all high-speed
actions. Muscle hypertrophy in the speed
center and leg muscle groups also lowers the body's
center of gravity. Excessive upper-body hypertrophy
in lieu of
lower-body mass raises the center of gravity,
weakens dynamic balance and cornering, alters
sports technique, and limits first-step quickness
and multidirectional control.
Too often, ill-prepared athletes jump right into
quick-feet drills. Some coaches and camps are
overly concerned about appearing to be on the
leading edge by using the "latest" drills
with their athletes. Likewise, many personal trainers
from a fitness background simply regurgitate memorized
high-risk plyometric drills because they lack
the knowledge and expertise to implement holistic
sport-specific athlete development programs.
For quickness readiness, athletes first need efficiency
of movement, which includes coordination, dynamic
balance, agility, balanced flexibility, proprioception,
and sports technique. They also require great
leg and core strength, a low center of gravity,
and anaerobic conditioning before progressing
to explosive quickness drills. In building the
prequickness foundation, balanced flexibility
is the most critical. When athletes move past
the foundation stage to pure quickness development,
my program for them is constructed of 50 percent
quick-feet drills and 50 percent micro-Stretching®,
two components that in combination
hold great potential for performance enhancement.
Micro-Stretching (see chapter 3) produces superior
flexibility and, even more important, balanced
flexibility throughout the speed center. The balanced
flexibility contributes not only to the quick-feet
drills but also directly to improved quickness.
Because the muscles are a linked system and quickness
is a skill that relies on perfect biomechanics,
explosive technique is impeded by muscle imbalances.
Serious muscle imbalances, in strength or flexibility,
prevent dynamic balance and equal quickness in
all directions.
A hockey player, for example, whose left quadriceps
and hip rotators are stronger and more flexible
than those on the right will tend to favor the
left side. When backing up (gliding) on the ice,
this player will have more body weight on the
left side. If the defenseman must suddenly cut
laterally to the left to angle off an opposing
forward, a critical delay will occur before the
defenseman can explode to the left because he
or she must first shift more weight to the right
leg to be able to push off to the left. This brief
delay results in losing one-on-one battles. The
problem is exacerbated by a tight right side,
which limits stride length and power. Less flexible
right hip rotators are a weakness that will be
exposed when the defenseman opens up to turn to
the right from a backward-to-forward skating position.
The player will turn at a lower angle, thus limiting
defensive coverage options.
More than 99 percent of athletes do not stretch
properly. I have been conducting research with
Nikos Apostolopoulos on stretching for explosive
skill improvement. We have a group of athletes
participating in a regular program of micro-Stretching,
with no other training whatsoever (no strength
training, no speed work, etc.). We measured their
power, speed, quickness, and agility before implementing
micro-Stretching to improve flexibility in the
speed center and to make sure balance exists between
flexibility on the left and right sides of the
body and between opposing muscle groups. Then
we conducted posttests. The preliminary results
are exciting because the tendency is for players
to improve their performance with flexibility
training only. That includes improved sports technique,
more powerful bodychecking, quicker starts, and
better mobility. The key is how and when they
stretch. Proper micro-Stretching has as much to
do with inhibiting muscle-spindle and muscle-tendon
receptors as quickness training does stimulating
those receptors! A paradigmatic shift to micro-Stretching
promises to make a strong contribution to quickness
and explosive sports technique. The bottom line
is to build the foundation first and then target
balanced flexibility along with quickness drills
to optimize explosive sports performance.
CONTINUED IN PART II
From High-Performance Sports Conditioning by Bill
Foran. Copyright 2001 by Human Kinetics Publishers,
Inc. Excerpted by permission of Human Kinetics,
Champaign, IL. Available in bookstores or by calling
1-800-747-4457 or visiting www.HumanKinetics.com.
$22.95 plus shipping/handling.