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Speed Training: Out run the competition!

"I went from one of the slowest guys on the team to one of the fastest!" -14y.o baseball/football/basketball player

The most desired functional ability for sports

Speed plays an important role in virtually every sport, yet most young athletes have never been taught proper running mechanics and acceleration techniques. The development of explosive speed ranks among the top reasons that young athletes enroll in Champion’s Quest. There’s no better time in the human maturity continuum than adolescence to develop explosive speed. Early adoption of proper running technique greatly increases athletic speed. Our scientifically based speed training program increases explosive linear power in young athletes by using a comprehensive and intensive speed development system comprised of:

• Focus – Primary Speed Competency

• Biomechanics

• Stride Development

• Strength

• Neural Pathway Development

• Muscle Fiber Development

Focus - Developing the Proper Speed Competency

Each Champion’s Quest athlete sets his or her own performance improvement goals.  Depending on the sports and positions played, athletes focus on a primary and secondary speed competency.  For sports that require short intense bursts of power, explosive speed is the primary competency and endurance speed is secondary.  The opposite is true for sports requiring sustained stamina over a long period of time.  At Champion’s Quest, additional strength is developed while the primary and secondary competencies are configured for ultimate performance.

Biomechanics – The Foundation for Speed

Running for speed is a complex and integrated process that involves the entire human body. The coordination of biomechanical and strength elements combine to create speed in runners.  It’s logical to conclude that improving biomechanics and increasing strength will increase speed.  Yet, most young athletes have never been taught how to run, accelerate, decelerate, or change direction. At Champion’s Quest, athletes experience substantial speed performance increased by developing coordination, increased flexibility and improved running mechanics.

Length and Frequency of Stride – Flight Time and Frequency

Runners can only get faster by increasing stride frequency, also known as turnover, and increasing stride length.  In biomechanics, running is considered a series of jumps.  Increasing the “flight time” of each stride increases speed. Likewise, increasing the number of strides in a given time period (frequency) increases speed. Research indicates that leg drive and not the length of legs has the greatest importance in lengthening the stride.  Athletic performance research concludes that explosive speed is increased mainly by an increase of stride frequency.  Here again, increasing leg drive is the most important factor in increasing explosive speed.  By combining these concepts, Champion’s Quest athletes increase leg drive and gain explosive power, first-step quickness, and faster top-end speed.

Strength – The Power Needed for Speed

For many, increasing strength for speed usually means increasing leg strength.  While leg strength is a critical factor, reaching peak performance speed also requires core and upper body strength.  Speed is developed as part of an integrated strength complex. At Champion’s Quest, athletes increase the development of the full strength complex to accelerate their way to speed peak performance.

Neural Pathway Development – The Speed Trigger

The brain plays a critical role in speed development.  Neural pathways conduct stimuli that determine how rapidly muscle contractions are executed. These pathways are the triggers for speed.  When neural pathways are increased, the resulting physical action becomes faster, smoother, and more controlled. Increasing athletic speed always requires an increase in the recruitment of the neurological fiber used to activate and control muscle movement.  Our speed training system promotes the important recruitment of neural pathways to increase athletic speed.

Fast Twitch Muscle Fiber – The Right Muscle for Speed

Muscle fiber is generally categorized as either fast twitch or slow twitch. Scientists refer to this as “plasticity of the muscle fiber phenotype.” Every person is born with roughly 50% of each type of muscle fiber.  However, Olympic sprinters have been shown to possess about 80 percent of fast twitch fibers.  Through years of training and competition, they have developed a greater amount of fast twitch fibers.  Fast twitch fibers generate short bursts of strength or speed, but can only be sustained at 100% for only a few seconds. Having more fast twitch fibers is beneficial for explosive speed since it quickly generates a great amount of force. 

It has been demonstrated that the cellular characteristics of muscle fibers exhibit plasticity in response to exercise training.  This means that proper training will increase fast twitch muscle fiber in two ways – by increasing total muscle mass and by converting slow-twitch fiber to fast-twitch.  Furthermore, the scientific studies conclude that high-intensity training can alter the proportion of muscle fiber types and muscle type is not determined solely by genetic factors.  To learn more about the science behind the speed development program at Champion’s Quest refer to the studies at the end of this page.

Research Findings

The Champion’s Quest Speed Development Program is based on independent research findings and the best practices of highly recognized Olympic, professional, and elite athlete speed programs from around the world.  To learn more about athletic speed development read the following sample research:

• Nature vs. nurture: Can exercise really alter fiber type composition in human skeletal muscle? Christopher P. Ingalls, Department of Kinesiology and Health, Georgia State University, Atlanta, Georiga, 2004

• Genetics of Fitness and Physical Performance, C. Bouchard, R. Malina, and L. Perusse . Champaign: Human Kinetics,1997.

• Human skeletal muscle fiber type alteration with high-intensity intermittent training. J. A. Simoneau, G. Lortie, M. R. Boulay, M. Marcotte, M. C. Thibault, and C. Bouchard, Published in European Journal of Applied Physiology, Physical Activity Sciences Laboratory, Laval University, Ste-Foy, G1K 7P4 Québec, Canada, 1985