Sport Specific Speed what is it and when is it necessary By Chris Scarborough http://RunAFasteRace.com Coach@BetterRunningSpeed.com I often get asked about training athletes for developing speed in a particular sport. For example, the dad of an athlete will ask me about baseball speed, running the bases, chasing down a fly ball etc. While that is [...]
Few athletes use their hips properly when they run. However, by learning just a few things, they can fix the errors, run faster, more efficiently and with less pain. Watch this video and learn how the hips are supposed to be used to run correctly.
This drill trains both the hip extension reflex and the tilt or stumble reflex. Most athletes can only do 2 or 3 reps of this drill properly.
Run a faster race episode 2 — What does good running technique consist of? Well, there is more to it than just running more. The fastest runners in the world at any distance have the same basic techniques regardless of whether they are running a sprint or a marathon, or for that matter running in [...]
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Sport Specific Speed
what is it and when is it necessary
By Chris Scarborough
http://RunAFasteRace.com
Coach@BetterRunningSpeed.com
I often get asked about training athletes for developing speed in a particular sport. For example, the dad of an athlete will ask me about baseball speed, running the bases, chasing down a fly ball etc.
While that is all fine, an athlete that runs fast in general, will also run fast doing something specific. For example, the fastest 100 meter dash champion, will also be the fastest on the baseball or football field. However, that does not mean he will steal the most bases or make the most put-outs on the baseball field.
I am going to use baseball, base stealing as an example, with a runner on first base. When an athlete leads off the bag and reads the pitcher, and attempts to advance to the next base at the right time is the ”sport specific” part of speed.
In other words, the athlete needs to know what to look for the pitcher to do so he knows whether to go back to first base to try to run to second. Making the decision to go to first or second based on what the pitcher does is baseball specific.
Once he makes up his mind, the principles of acceleration and speed are the same as any sport. It is the same as track and field (without the starting blocks), or a wide receiver running a deep passing route.
The secret at this point is to run as fast as possible and, at this point, the principles of running fast do not change from sport to sport.
I hear people asking “shouldn’t I keep my head down?”
Well, when an athlete accelerates, his whole body should be at an angle to the ground (see photo of athletes above). The head should be at the same angle as the body. Otherwise, if the ball is coming toward your head, you might want to put your head down.
This is just one example of specificity of speed. However, when it gets right down to it, the fastest athlete in one sport is generally the fastest in any sport. Fast is fast, and athletes can train to get faster than they are.
But for an athlete to be their best, they will need to learn proper application for their sport from their sport coaches to apply their speed properly.
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