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mereley to better illustrated points made in this article.

In many sports speed kills opponents, whether that is football, rugby, MMA, or a vast number of other sports, speed can make an athlete’s chances of being victorious improve greatly. At FSI we train athletes to become stronger and faster for their sport. In football the key physical attribute to improve is not flat out speed but acceleration. Don’t just take my word for it, here is the scientific background.

Speed Training

Football is a sport wherein athletes spend approximately 80% - 90% of their performance time at a low to moderate intensity and the remaining 10% - 20% in intermittent bouts of high intensity running and very high intensity running (1, 2, 3). The bouts of high intensity running occur about every 90 seconds and last approximately 2-4 seconds, and are most often associated with critical match related skills such as separating from or closing on an opponent (4). Therefore, to be successful in football, the athlete must possess the ability to cover short distances quickly. Maximum velocity is frequently associated with successful performance in field sports; however, during competition, the athlete rarely covers the necessary distance to achieve top speed. Accordingly, the ability to accelerate, defined as the rate of change of velocity, is more important to successful performance than maximum velocity (5). Murphy et al. (6) have defined acceleration as the rate of change in velocity as measured by sprint performance over distances of 5 or 15 yards (4.6 or 13.7 metres), whereas velocity reflects the speed over a longer distance, typically 40 yards (36.6 metres). This ‘first step’ quickness is a skill that both coaches and athletes desire.

1.

Many Nike adverts like this one, emphasise the players ability to move fast and change direction at lightening quick speeds. If you have tried buying a new pair of boots to achieve this goal and were still left wanting, maybe you should read on and learn how to really improve your speed.

References

1. Bloomfield, J, Polman, R, and O’Donoghue, P. Physical demands of different positions in FA Premier League soccer. J Sports Science and Med 6: 63-70, 2007.2. Bradley, PS, DiMascio, M, Peart, D, Olsen, P, and Sheldon, B. High-intensity activity profiles of elite soccer players at different performance levels. J Strength Cond Res 24: 2343-2351, 2010.3. Mohr, M, Krustrup, P, and Bangsbo, J. Match performance of high standard soccer players with special reference to development of fatigue. J Sports Sci 21: 519-528, 2003.4. Taskin, H. Evaluating sprinting ability, density of acceleration, and speed dribbling ability of professional soccer players with respect to their positions. J Strength Cond Res 22: 1481-1486, 2008.5. Cronin, J and Hansen, KT. Strength and power predictors of sports speed. J Strength Cond Res 19: 349-357, 2005.6. Murphy, AJ, Lockie, RJ, and Coutts, AJ. Kinematic determinants of early acceleration in field sport athletes. J Sports Sci Med 2: 144-150, 2003.

In football like a lot of team intermittent sports

acceleration can make huge difference to a player’s

effectiveness. It goes without saying becoming faster

would vastly improve a player’s effectiveness and

overall a team’s chances of winning.

So how do you become faster, how do you develop

acceleration in players and athletes. Whilst some would

think that going to a local athletics club and training with

the sprinting group and sprint coach would be the logical

approach, and whilst this may get some small benefits

there are problems with this. Firstly sprinting is designed

for usually 100 metres in a straight line. Top sprinters train

to win the 100m by outlasting their opponent not beat him

off the line! How many times do you see the winner leading

the field before the 40-50m mark?

The sprinters in a 100m are trying their best to stop

decelerating after the first acceleration phase and maintain

their top speed. The focus of their training isn’t how

to accelerate but maintain their speed endurance and

maintain top speed. In football rarely will a player reach top

speed and if so it won’t be for a distance anywhere near

100 metres.

Also whilst sprint coaches focus heavily on sprinting/

running mechanics, in football very rarely do you run in a

perfect forward direction. Often you are using your arms to

hold off or push off an opponent, whilst changing direction

several ways, and also looking for the ball, compare and

contrast the first picture compared to the second two.

2.

Do you think in the above two pictures they are worrying about proper sprint technique or proper arm action?

Even when a player is free from an opponent often they are

still not running in a perfect straight line or looking ahead.

See the iconic picture below, notice the player looking for

the ball, again in contrast to the top sprinting picture.

It is far more beneficial to develop strength to improve

explosive and dynamic power and to focus on the key

muscles involved in acceleration. To improve acceleration

you must become stronger, you become quicker by

applying greater force to the ground whilst running.

Therefore developing strength is essential for speed and

acceleration, as well as changing direction quickly.

2.

Here are the top 10 exercises I use with football players to develop acceleration and speed. This is by no means the only exercises that I do with athletes to improve speed and acceleration, but these are highly effective and for the vast majority of people the results happen quickly and result in a vast transition from the gym onto the field. This is in no particular order -

Heavy Sled DragTeaches proper acceleration angle & force application into the ground at slower speeds (for better learning) and improves concentric strength at specific angles. Whilst most sprint coaches and some fitness professionals would argue that you cannot use a weight heavier than 10% of the athlete’s body weight on the sled as it slows an athlete down too much, what I have found is that by working the athlete with a heavy weight there are some major benefits, especially in relation to acceleration, which in football is vital, whether its accelerating from a starting position of walking or a slow jog to reach your top speed as quickly as possible is vital. Heavy sled drags is one of the best ways to accelerate properly and develop lower body power.

How does it improve these elements?

By actually slowing athletes down with the weight they can focus on 3 key areas of acceleration that being –

• Forward Body Lean

• Positive Shin Angle /

• Big Strides (Covering as much ground as possible)

Look at this picture and all 3 can be identified and if you watch the first few metres of any 100m race (acceleration phase) you will see evidence of all 3.

Using a heavy weight on the sled can get almost any person who is using the sled to automatically do these 3 vital aspects of acceleration.

Forward Body Lean

It’s impossible to drag something heavy without leaning forward to get the object moving, if they can then it’s not heavy enough. This gives athletes a chance to feel what the forward body lean feels like.

Positive Shin Angle

This can play an important role in acceleration and speed, people who struggle with acceleration often try and overstride, this causes the foot to land in front of the hip and causes you to slow you down. The key is to have your foot strike the ground directly under or behind the hip and apply the force back into the ground. Once again the heavy sled is almost impossible to drag unless your foot is underneath your hip applying force in the proper direction.

Works the Most Important Muscles for Speed/Acceleration

Heavy sleds work your quads, glutes, hamstrings and calves. Increasing your strength in these areas and in this manner and enables you to apply more force into the ground when you sprint. This increased strength, along with proper hip flexor flexibility enables you to fully extend and finish each stride thus covering more ground with each and every step.

Lateral Sled DragsIn football you do not just move forward and backwards, lateral (side to side) movement is vital and an important aspect and movement in the game. Lateral sled training helps to develop strength in key muscles that will not only result in being able to move linearly fast but, also just as important reduce the risk of injuries to joints and muscles. There are very few exercises that actually develop lateral strength and speed, and lateral sled drags are arguably the best.

This exercise works so well as it works and strengthens the key muscles involved in lateral movements. So the lateral sled drags will improve strength and lateral acceleration speed but what about protecting athletes from injuries?

Agility drills, jump training, plyometrics and actual practice can start to prepare our athletes for the high intensity demands of the sport. But lateral sled dragging technique allows greater articulations of the lower kinetic segments with an extended time under tension. Check the two pictures to the right, look at the player on the left.

Notice the athlete’s posture; the torso, the hips, the knees and the ankles. Each leg drive is different and each position is non-advantageous. We know that our ability to generate force and power changes drastically dependent upon the joint angles of the engaged segments. During sled drag exercises we change the positioning, adding rotation by switching lead side, and because of the tempo and duration of the concentric, eccentric and isometric contractions in this unique exercise, we are able to develop real-world strength and stability in these non-advantageous positions. This will provide our athletes with an amazing foundation of strength and stability required for more high intensity means such as the sporting event, practice and plyometrics.

As a side note, we also found it better to break each single run up by repeatedly switching from side to side instead of doing one run on the left side and one run on the right side.

2.

Pull Throughs

One of the best exercises for acceleration, period! This will help to develop explosive starts by focusing on the hips, glutes and lower back from a dead start.

Plyo Box JumpsIn sports, having powerful triple extension (hip, knee, and ankle) and explosiveness makes you an explosive athlete. These three main joints must extend together to produce a vertical force (jumping, sprinting) or diagonal force.

Box jumps allows us to train all three elements extremely quickly without a difficult learning curve.Box jumps are an effective exercise for power development plus they allow you to perform a power exercise without loading the spine. They also allow for maximal power expression without requiring a large impact. When you land on a high box after your jump, there is little impact.

ProwlerTeaches proper acceleration angle and overloads specific sprint musculature at higher speeds. The prowler is easy to change the training parameters by adjusting the weight for the individual.

Bounding (Plyometrics)Plyometric exercise is designed to train the stretch-shortening cycle of muscle contraction. For example, when a player performs a rapid change of direction, the muscles tense as they lengthen during deceleration and then forcefully contract to produce movement in the desired direction. This is known as reactive ability. Lower-body plyometric exercises consist of hops, bounds and jumps, and can be performed on one or both legs, with and without an external load. Plyometrics, by design, help improve the ability to accelerate by addressing strength, speed and power as the athlete moves their body against gravity via rapid muscular lengthening and contraction.

Prowler MarchTeaches proper acceleration lean (at a slow speed so athletes can “feel” it), along with positive shin angle and increases concentric strength and force application.

Hill Sprints

Increases hip flexor and extensor strength and improves force application during each foot strike

Band or Chain SquatsWhat about achieving progressive overload with each rep? Imagine the benefits you could reap from repetitions that get harder and heavier with each inch the weight is moved - challenging reps that offer no rest for muscles accustomed to recovering during lockouts or benefiting from elasticity.

The secret to both chains and bands is that they provide what’s known as linear variable resistance. Linear variable resistance training (LVRT) refers to progressively increasing the resistance with the range of motion. Using the squat as an example, the resistance gets progressively heavier the farther you press the bar toward full leg extension. The increased resistance necessitates the application of more force toward the top of the lift.

So what’s the benefit to you? More muscle, that’s what. As the range of motion lengthens and the resistance increases, the number of muscle fibers being used in the exercising muscle increases as well. The more muscle fibers being used, the greater the adaptations in muscle strength that can be achieved.

Bands also boost force during the negative part of a rep because they increase its speed. This means you have to apply more force to stop the weight at the bottom of the rep. Again, the more force you have to apply, the greater the sum of muscle fibers that are called into action.

Need more convincing? One study performed at Truman State University (Kirksville, Missouri) found that athletes who included elastic-resistance bench-press training in their regimens had a significantly greater increase in bench-press strength and power compared to those who utilized only free-weight resistance.

Another study, performed at the University of Wisconsin, La Crosse, reported in a 2006 issue of The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research that when athletes used elastic-band training in addition to free-weight training, they had significantly more leg power than when they performed only free-weight training.

Chains provide resistance through the weight of each link. As they hang off the bar and pool on the floor, the only extra weight they provide is from the links between the bar and the floor. As you lift the bar higher, more links come off the floor and add weight to the bar. Elastic bands, on the other hand, provide resistance by a restoring force, which attempts to move the two ends of each band back to their original resting positions when they’re pulled farther apart. The more you pull the bands (such as at the top of the range of motion of a squat), the greater the resistance.

To sum it up bands increase the time of maximal or near maximal force and increase the eccentric load which lead to increased strength. They also decrease deceleration so the movements are more like the movements in sports and allow you to work at close to maximum power output throughout the entire range of motion.

Is the use of bands and chains some magical tool that will create supermen? No, the process of getting stronger is slow and takes years of hard work, bands make the work harder not easier. The bands and chains are just a way of stimulating the muscle in a different way and changing the strength curve and the force velocity curve.

Glute Ham Raise (GHR)The glute-ham-raise, or more appropriately the glute-ham Gastrocnemius raise, because it also works the calves – enables an athlete to work both the knee and hip extension functions of the hamstrings. It also works the entire length of the erector spinae muscles, especially the middle portion, which is often exposed to high forces in athletes. The back extension is a good exercise but because the legs are straight throughout the exercise, it only works hip extension and not knee extension. Besides that, some sport scientists consider the glute-ham raise a more natural movement because in this exercise the hip and knee extensors work together instead of isolation.

The quads are impressive muscles but what a lot of people don’t realise is that approximately 40% of the power for

sprinting and jumping comes from the glutes, 25% from the hamstrings, and about 5% from the calves. That’s why it’s imperative that all athletes concentrate on strengthening these muscles with exercises like the glute-ham raise.

The glute-ham raise is also very important for preventing back and knee injuries. The spine is exposed to great compressive forces in many sports, and athletes that are weak in the hamstrings, glutes and lower back are not only more likely to injure their lower back but also are especially prone to tearing their ACL. Because the glute-ham exercise increases strength in the back, glutes and hamstrings, athletes who include this exercise in their programmes will be able to cope better with the compressive loads and other disruptive forces that occur in sports such as football.

In an article from the 2011 Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research in a study analysing whether Assisted and resisted sprint training was more effective than traditional sprint training (i.e. using no resistance), they found that the study demonstrated that both assisted and resisted sprint training produced training adaptations in elite female soccer athletes that resulted in significantly improved 40 yard timed sprints compared with traditional sprint training. They also found that assisted sprint training improved the acceleration from standing to 5

yards and from standing to 15 yards. Accordingly, this speed enhancement modality would be best for improving rapid acceleration over distances of 15 yards or less. The resisted sprint training protocol resulted in improvements of faster acceleration from 15 yards to 25 yards. This resisted sprint training protocols develop an athletes attainment of maximum velocity over distances of 15 yards.

Therefore for most football requirements, ideally both would be incorporated into a periodised training plan.

Bonus Additional Exercise – Assisted Bungee Sprints

Football Conditioning

Additional to developing acceleration and speed, lets take a second to quickly add a part about football and conditioning or fitness for football.Often football matches highlight how far an individual has ran during a game. In a typical game a player covers around 10km; this is the sort of information that is often reported in the media or on reports. What is more important and is often neglected is the information about high intensity bouts such as number of sprints per player in a game. You need to realise that this is the important factor and that football is an anaerobic sport.

On that basis a lot of traditional fitness training for football players is needless, pointless and ineffective. So many times I see and hear of football teams preparing for pre season by going on long runs, 4-6 mile runs. What exactly is that achieving, apart from making footballers better at running 10km road races and training their aerobic energy system. Yes they may run 10km, but it is not at one pace, and all ran in one

steady pace in one long duration. So why go for a 4-6 mile run to get fit for football?

Training and conditioning should mimic and replicate the sport; Football is a sport with bouts of numerous sprints between 1 – 30 metres repeated over and over again throughout the match.

For football conditioning the type of training that should be prescribed is high intensity interval training, with varying working periods and rest periods. Ensuring that when high intensity burst is required during a game it is available time after time.

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