Columbus Ohio Athletes To Watch This Fall

The fall sports season has arrived. It seems like yesterday I was telling you to get in to the Columbus, Ohio facility for some summer speed training to get prepped for the fall. This week I am going to talk about a few of the athletes that I've worked with this past year who will be trying to lead their teams to victory in their respective sports this fall. Most of these athletes are from the Columbus, Ohio, area, so I want to give them a little love before their season starts.

I was contacted by Mitch Kraly during the winter to get him prepared more for some football combines he was going to attend, rather than the season itself. Mitch is a linebacker for Dublin Coffman, but envisions himself playing safety in college. He had some pretty good numbers when he did a couple of his combines. Now he is focused on trying to have a great senior season. You probably won't read much about him unless he happens to run an interception back for a touchdown since they rarely talk about defensive players in the paper, but I anticipate seeing some end of the year accolades for him.

Megan Tolnar plays soccer for New Albany. She has already scored 2 goals in a game thus far this brief season. Megan was consistent in coming in over the winter as we worked on her running mechanics to improve her speed. Her team lost a lot of seniors, so Megan knew she had to step up and be the leader that her team needed for this season. It looks like she has gotten off to a fine start.

Emily Winnegrad is a Bexley soccer player. She actually trained with me over the winter for her track season and it seemed to turn out well for her. Emily was part of a relay team, I think the 4x100, that qualified for the state track meet. Having run in the Ohio state track meet myself, it is an awesome experience and regardless of what the outcome was she can always say she made it there. Now, the goal is to continue that speed development right onto the soccer field.

Jake Raymond was a client of mine back when we had a facility in Gahanna. He and his brother, Nick, worked with one of my assistants and enjoyed the experience. Now that we consolidated to Dublin, it wasn't as accessible for him to travel here from Pickerington. He plays football and lacrosse for Pickerington Central. If you are good at what you do, people will travel and I guess Jake decided I was worth the travel, as we speed trained to prep him not only for lacrosse, but his combine at his school. It went pretty well for him as he ran a 4.5 in his 40. He was pretty excited about it.

Another of my former clients has been doing online coaching with me. Mara White is a distance runner for Watkins Memorial. She is one of the top runners in the area and her bid for another state appearance was cut short when she acquired a stress fracture. She has been diligently rehabbing and everything seems to be healing great. She should be back on the scene later this month so watch for her as she tries to make a strong push for states in cross country.

Abby Barker played on her high school field hockey team at Bishop Watterson. She is now a freshman at Michigan State University hoping to get significant playing time. She was one of the few athletes I have worked with where we covered all aspects of training: strength/power training and speed/agility training. For someone who had never lifted before, she made huge gains in her strength and I feel will make a big impact as a freshman for MSU.

Here are some athletes that worked with me in the past, but not in the last 9-12 months:

• Grayson Fisher plays football for Upper Arlington and has committed to playing for Princeton. I saw the announcement in the paper this past week.
• Courtney Deena will be tearing it up for Columbus Academy's field hockey team. When I was working with her, she was focused on soccer, that's how long ago it was.
• Rena Reda came for a weekend speed camp that we had and is one of the area's better football players for Watkins Memorial.
• Zach Ratcliff plays football for Columbus Academy. I worked with him way back when and he has grown into quite an athlete.
• Duncan Van DeCarr plays football for Dublin Coffman and worked with us a couple years ago when we first opened our Dublin location.

I know there are a few more I'm forgetting, but these are a good group of kids that you can watch initially. I do have some athletes that are playing fall sports, but it isn't their big sport that they were training for. I will talk about those athletes when the time comes. Good luck guys and we'll be watching you.

First TIme I Dunked A Basketball

In today's newsletter, you will be able to read about how speed trainer, Adam Kessler of
Columbus, Ohio, learned how to dunk a basketball during his high school playing days.
He talks of how he progressed through and had to try a few different techniques before
being able to succeed.

If you would like to read about how Adam was able to finally achieve the dunk, click here:
First Time I Dunked A Basketball

A Speed Program To Get Wide Receivers To Run Faster

Last week, I wrote an article about a strength training program I use at my speed training facility in Columbus, Ohio, that will help wide receivers run faster. The program was designed to emphasize power and overall total body strength which can be transferred into explosive speed used on the football field.

I had a couple good responses to the newsletter. Today I am going to discuss a speed workout that you can do if you are a wide receiver that will complement the strength program I gave you and allow you to run faster on the field.

As a bonus, I'm also going to tell you about a great conditioning workout that will get you in awesome shape for football practice. I love this workout and more football teams should be using it for their players, but I'll get into that here in a minute.

I begin all my speed workouts with a dynamic warm-up. You need to do this to get your athletes physically prepared for the movements that they will do during the practice, workout, game, etc. You could talk with 50 different speed coaches and they probably would have different dynamic warm-ups, but my guess is they would consist of a few of these drills: high knees, butt kicks, walking lunges, power skips, back pedals, and side shuffles. Using these drills will put your body in a variety of different movements to get it loose and ready to go.

You would then start with some form drills. Mechanics are imperative when it comes to speed development. Sometimes, people's speed will improve just by running with proper mechanics and nothing else. But the rest of the workout will be meaningless if we don't correct their form. Some of those drills that I use are: seated arm swings, A skips, flutter kicks, B skips, and arm swing hops. All of these work on the proper arm position for swinging, power of the balls of your feet, and other subtle mechanical positions that you need.

The next part of the workout would be power development. You can use resistance and assistance running for this. One of the simplest drills you can do would be incline and decline running on hills. The key is to find a hill that will be at a 10 degree grade. You don't want it too steep because that might hurt the mechanics. Run for a 20 - 30 yard stretch and run as fast as you can up and down the hill.

You need to run mechanically sound, especially downhill. If you find that as you run downhill, your mechanics breakdown and you are running on your heels than the hill is too steep. Running uphill develops power and running downhill with its overspeed effect will improve your speed.

Finally, to help your game-speed and quickness, we would do some agility drills. Most routes run by wide receivers don't go past 15 yards and some are even shorter and quicker depending on if you are a slot receiver, a deep threat, etc. I like to do cone drills for this. I set up patterns with the cones and have the receiver go full blast through the cones.

One drill I have is to set 4 cones up in a square. You can have them 5 - 10 yards apart. Pretend like the cones are two triangles, a top part and bottom part. If you start on the right side of the square, you run up and go around the first cone (to your left), then when you go around the second cone, you will run diagonal back to the starting cone, then go around that cone to your right to the 3rd cone, up to the second cone, and then diagonal back down to the starting cone.

So, that's a speed workout you can do for your wide receivers. To put a pretty bow on this article, I'm going to talk about an awesome conditioning workout that maybe you are doing currently with your football players. It is called pattern running.

Pattern running is when you divide your players up by position. Each position has different cardio levels depending on the demands of the job. A lineman is rarely running 10 yard sprints, where a receiver might do that a lot during the game.

So, what you do is figure out 10 patterns for your receiver and put a cone on the ground. That cone is the line of scrimmage where he will start. You shout out the first pattern, he runs it full speed, then jogs back to the cone, as he is jogging back you shout out the next pattern. Once he goes through all ten, he can rest for a set duration before you do your next set of patterns. You can have him do 2-6 sets if you like, with rest anywhere from 0 - 2 minutes.

You can do all sorts of different patterns, short and quick, or deep sprints. It is your call . I'll do something like this: 10 yard sprint, 20 yard sprint, slant, curl, an out, then run them all to the other side (e.g. slant to left, then slant to right). That would be ten patterns and you're good to go. It really simulates game conditions and makes conditioning a little more tolerable for the athlete.

Normally, the first set seems to be a piece of cake for the receiver, but after that, the fatigue creeps on them quick unless they have been doing some serious conditioning prior to these workouts. This would be a great drill to finish your speed training with and this type of conditioning can take you anywhere from 6 to 12 minutes. Short and sweet.

Alright, now you have the other piece of your speed training component for your wide receiver. Once again, this probably would have come in handy back in June, but better late than never. I think you could use that conditioning piece right now though. There really isn't any bad time start that. Feel free to comment on my blog, http://howtorunfasternow.com after you have tried some of these drills and good luck.

A Strength Program To Make Wide Receivers Run Faster

August is a great time of year. My annual fishing trip to Canada is in August (I'll be posting some pics on my Fan page - click here to visit). My daughter is starting back to school (which means the house in Columbus, Ohio will be a little quieter). But to most Americans, August signals that football is beginning. A time when we will soon see these awesome athletes running faster than their opponents for a touchdown. Or with blazing speed smashing into a helpless running back to make the tackle. At all levels, football teams are starting their August practices so that the season can begin in a few weeks and we can have another fun filled season of football.

A little more than 30 years ago, these August sessions were used for football players to get back in shape from their lazy off-season. Training to run faster, get stronger, and get tougher were the big reasons for these August sessions because the players really let themselves go in the off-season. You played your way into shape.

Nowadays, you are expected to be in tip top shape when training camp begins. Your speed and quickness should be at their optimal best. You should already be as strong as possible when you walk into camp. The training camp is then used to weed out the people who AREN'T in shape, and to fine-tune all the plays you are going to run during the season.

What I'm going to share with you today is a workout I used with a couple of my older football players (18 and older) to get them stronger and faster for football. Specifically, I wanted to make them be the fastest and strongest wide receivers for their team. This workout is designed for a lifter who is older and has been part of a team strength program for several years. The knowledge of the lifts and exercises I'm going to discuss is imperative and should have already been exposed to the athlete as a younger lifter.

This strength workout, specific to wide receivers, is for making them run faster and to get stronger for the game of football. It is designed to be a three day a week workout. Ideally, you should have a day's rest in between workouts. Those off days should be used to do any speed training or conditioning that you would need for your team.

So here is the workout:

Day 1

Core - Superset Planks, then Side Planks

Power Cleans, then superset Reverse Hypers

1 Leg Squats, then superset a Glute Ham machine (if you have read my newsletters you know this is one of my favorites for improving your speed)

Dumbbell Stability Ball Chest Press, then superset a Ball One Legged Dumbbell Row

Combo Lateral/Front Raise, then superset Manual Neck Exercises (so you would need a partner for these)

Day 2

Core - Stability Ball Pikes, then Med Ball Rotational Twists on a Stability Ball

Hang Cleans, then superset Hyperextensions

Bench Press, then superset a Bent Over Row

Plyometric (or Clapping) Push-ups, then superset Pull-Ups

1 Arm Shoulder Press, then superset a 1 Arm Shrug (with your opposite arm holding onto something to keep that trapezius from moving)

Day 3

Core - TRX Jackknives, superset with Sliders (using moving discs and you are in a pushup position with your hands on the sliders and you move one arm out as far as you can, return it, then move the other arm out - a great core exercise. You can watch a Youtube video of it by clicking here)

Split Jerks, then superset a Birddog (for the lower back)

Squats, then superset a 1 Leg Hamstring Curl

Walking Lunge, then superset a Romanian Deadlift (RDL)

A couple items of note:

• Once again, I will reiterate that this is a workout for the older wide receiver. Someone who is around 18 and older.
• When you see "superset" what that means is you do the first exercise and immediately, when you are done, start the second exercise, then rest before the next set.
• The athlete should have had several years of strength training experience prior to working on this program. That way their system isn't shocked when starting this routine. The muscle memory will kick in and they should have an easier time adapting to this program.
• You will notice that I do core everyday. The core is the foundation for a strong and fast wide receiver. The longer I can prevent that area from getting tired during a game, the longer his running mechanics will stay sharp and help him do what he needs to do on the field effectively.
• I like doing an Olympic lift for every workout. I think they are great total body lifts and really help develop the athlete's overall strength, power, fast twitch muscle fibers, and explosiveness. Make sure you have had proper instruction prior to doing these. Technique is everything. Sacrifice putting weight on so that you can learn the proper form at conservative weights.
• Finally, with the receiver's legs, a solid plan for strengthening them is key to improve speed and get him running faster. I like doing an overall strength developer with the squats, but I really try to emphasize single leg strengthening with the lunges and 1 leg squats. When you sprint it is a series of single leg explosions, so we need to train it accordingly. You will also notice that I have my hamstring work in there as well. We need to keep them strong to get you running at maximum speed and help prevent injuries.

So there you have it. A strength workout for a wide receiver to get him stronger and ready to handle the rigors of football (college or NFL). This program is also designed to develop the fast twitch fibers in your body and recruit as many muscles as possible to develop the speed and power you need to run faster.

I think I stated earlier that this workout probably should have already been accomplished by now. What you need to do is save this newsletter, print it off, or store it however possible and pull it out once your off-season conditioning starts next year. If you want to be prepared for that next level, then this is the strength program for you. Take it, thank me later, and I'll look forward to watching you dominate your competition.

Why NFL Injuries Will Be Rising This Year

I think I was among many who breathed a heavy sigh of relief once the NFL lockout ended. Of course I am a fan, not a player. However, I was training a player this year in Columbus, Ohio, who was also anxious to get going for a different reason. Many of you probably read about me putting Armand Robinson through a great football/wide receiver specific workout this summer. Not only was it important to try and work on his speed and strength, but we wanted to put his body in an optimal position to reduce the chances of any injuries happening.

Armand and I worked for about 10 or 11 weeks, right up until the day the lockout ended. We worked on strength training, speed training, agility and explosive work, plus football specific conditioning. The hope was that all the drills and stress I was putting his body through was preparing his body for the type of stress he was going to feel when he started practicing with an NFL team. You would think that every NFL player and hopeful was going through this process, but my guess is that not everyone was as diligent as Armand was.

Could Armand and I have worked a little harder together? Perhaps. But, my guess (and I'm judging this by what he has told me that he has seen from other players during training camp) is that a lot of players said heck with the working out or just half-a$$ed it.

Since most of us have never played in the professional ranks before, let's liken this to getting ready for your beer league softball season. A lot of these guys lie around the couch all winter, then in the spring have a few batting sessions with the team, then get right into softball. The first big swing or hard run to first, they're pulling something. You can't have all that inactivity for 5 months, then go 0-60 in 5 seconds and expect to be right where you left off the previous summer.

Plus, take into account your age, not exactly the exuberant early 20 something guy, and you have a recipe for disaster.

Now multiply that experience by a lot and that is what these NFL players are going to go through. With the lockout, they couldn't do their scheduled team workouts with their certified strength and conditioning specialists. Without the professionally designed workouts and the accountability with the team, it was up to the athlete to get his workouts in.

You had three options: either work with a professional speed and strength coach such as myself; do the workouts on your own based on what you have done before in the past; do nothing at all and rely on your extremely gifted athletic talent to get you by.

My point is you should watch this season. I don't think as many guys will be in as good of shape as they think they are. Consequently, there will be more injuries because the body isn't prepped for the game yet. The players seem to think that the added time off will help their bodies and they won't miss a beat. I'm betting on the former. We will see who is right.

Remember, as you are preparing for your upcoming season, speed development and strength and conditioning isn't just all about getting bigger, faster, stronger. That is people's first big goal and really what most care about. But, the second goal, which is more important, is getting the body healthy to prevent injury. You do the team absolutely no good with all that speed and strength, if you are sitting on the bench next to the coach with a pulled muscle.

Tiger Woods Workout For 2011 PGA Championship

With the 2011 PGA Championship coming up this week, a lot of eyes will be on Tiger Woods to see how he performs. After competing this past weekend in Akron for his first tournament in what seemed like months, he definitely wasn't the Tiger of old. It was a good match to kick some of the rust off before the last major of the year though. With that in mind, the following workout isn't necessarily Tiger Woods workout, but one that I would have done for him if he had asked me to help him out if he were living in Columbus, Ohio.

Throughout the years, Tiger has transformed golf fitness into something comparable to a football player. His specific workout is closely guarded. I wrote a newsletter several years back on his workout based on a few articles I had read, but nothing was ever found to be concrete. The only thing that was for certain was that he attacked his workout hard and was strong as an ox.

The following workout is what I would do with Tiger Woods and for any golfer for that matter.

• Medicine Ball Wood Chops - This is a great cross-sectional core exercise that strengthens and improves the mobility of the core. It is perfect because it kind of looks like a golf swing.
• Birddogs - This is a lower back exercise that I would do which is just added security for the core. Golfers spend a lot of time hunched over so keeping that lower back strong is going to be important.
• Squats or Lunges - A lot of power is derived from the legs, so either one of these exercises would be great for power and strength in the legs.
• Push/Pull - You need balance in the upper body, not size in the chest, but strength. The chest and back must balance each other out, but the back is a little more important to help with posture. You could do something as simple as push-ups and pull-ups to work that upper body.
• Wrist Curls - I would do these to strengthen the forearms to help with power in your grip and also to prevent most types of tendinitis that might occur in the elbow.
• Flexibility - Stretching is huge in the posterior and upper body. Specifically in your hamstrings, glutes, and lower back, then also in your chest back and shoulders. Keeping your range of motion at its greatest is very important for golfers.

So that would be my workout for Tiger Woods as he approaches the 2011 PGA Championship. This workout would help with his strength and power, but at this stage in his career, I think more importantly, it would help with injury prevention. The better you can keep your body strong AND limber, the better injuries will stay away. Or if you do get an injury, you should be able to bounce back a lot quicker. Be proactive and not reactive. Start implementing a strength and conditioning workout for your golf game today, and start reaping the rewards very soon after.

Improving Your Speed And Explosiveness For Wrestling

Recently, I was asked a question via twitter about writing an article on speed and explosiveness for shooting in wrestling. This got me thinking. I want to interact more with this social media so if you have questions, click here to throw them on my Facebook fanpage. Or you can ask them on Twitter. I will try to respond on twitter or if I really like the question and I don't have anything planned for my speed training newsletter, I will answer it via my newsletter/blog.

The question that was posed to me today was asked by @RJaniceUSMC. I want to give credit where credit is due and thank you for following me. You gave me some props, but I need to give you a bunch more props and kudos for doing what you do to protect our country. I have good friends and former athletes I have trained in Columbus, Ohio, who are in the military, so I appreciate what you guys do.

Now on to your question.

I am a speed coach, but I usually don't train people for the type of speed they need in wrestling. They usually spend their money on private coaches and work on their wrestling moves. I did work with wrestlers from a strength training/conditioning component when I was head strength coach at Columbus Academy and one of my wrestlers ended up being a state champion. Upon researching an answer for this question, it boiled down to two items. To improve your speed and explosiveness in wrestling, you need to train with Olympic style lifts and do plyometrics.

The clean and jerk, snatches, and pulls are all total body lifts (working every muscle group) that train the fast twitch fibers. You are working on total body strength and power, but the speed at which you have to perform those lifts is what helps your speed when you wrestle. It really stimulates those fast twitch fibers so you can be quicker to make your moves.

I've even done these movements at the END of a workout. I know, I know. Normally, because of the physical demand of these exercises you want to do them first while your energy levels are at their best. But, wrestling is such a demanding sport that doing these lifts at the end will train the body to be explosive even when you are fatigued.

Caution: Those lifts are very technical, so make sure you have a good coach teaching you how to do those lifts. Once you get them down though, you will really start to reap the benefits.

Plyometrics are the other exercise you should do. These explosive movements help with the lunging forward that you will do (at a fast speed). They train the muscles to unload and explode. Horizontal plyometrics are what's going to be really beneficial. Doing standing long jumps (off two feet and/or one foot) and tuck jumps, really train those legs to be explosive in movements that are similar to what you would perform when you wrestle.

There you go. You implement those two items into your exercise program and you should be a lot quicker and more explosive for your moves in wrestling. Thanks again to @RJaniceUSMC for the question. If you have a question that you want me to answer about speed in your particular sport or other athletic questions, please give a holler.

Top 10 Speed Drills To Help You Run Faster - Part II

On Monday, I gave you a list of the first 5 out of the top 10 speed training drills I think will help you run faster. Today, I'm going to give you the bottom 5. All of these are great drills that we utilize in our training facility in Colulmbus, Ohio. Without further ado, here we go:

6. Speed Sled – I just purchased one of these and am liking it more than my sprint cords. I can adjust the weight I put on in relation to the athlete using it. Thus some of my younger athletes can use it, with little added weight, but good enough for them, and they feel they are doing something cool. I have the athletes run 20 or 30 yards and watch their mechanics. As soon as the running mechanics start to breakdown, I take a little weight off and keep the athlete there for awhile. Great for developing speed and power.

7. A Skips – This is the ‘old reliable’ of the speed drills. One of the best drills to work on arm placement, opposite arm and foot movement, dorsiflexion, and skipping on the balls of the feet. These are short quick skips and I focus on keeping the arms in L shapes and making sure they are quickly skipping on the balls of the feet. I want their foot to pop off the ground in a dorsiflexed position (toes pulling towards the shins) and the upper thigh to get just about parallel. You can never do too much of these to work on running form.

8. Toy Soldiers – Another great drill to work on the lower body mechanics. I have my athletes put their arms straight out in front of them. They then swing one leg out in front just a little bit and paw the ground with the ball of their foot. After pawing the ground, the foot leaves the ground behind them shooting the heel straight up like it is kicking your own butt, then whipping the dorsiflexed foot in front of your body with thigh parallel to the ground. Place it down, step up to that foot, and proceed with the other leg. Great to work on that leg turnover.

9. Striders – I always want to maximize my athletes’ running stride. I want to make sure they are covering the most ground possible for their running form. I have them run 20-30 yards at 75% speed, with as long a stride as possible. This is almost like bounding, but really trying to maintain their running form, land on the balls of the feet, and get as long a stride possible.

10. Overspeed Runs – I like this drill for developing speed with my older or more mature athletes. I use a sprint cord, but you can use a small decline (like 10 degree angle). You just want to run 20-30 yards at a speed faster than what you normally can do whether it is on that decline or being pulled by a sprint cord. Once again, the key is running mechanics. Run as fast as you can, but if your mechanics are shotty, then you are being pulled too fast or the decline is too great and you’re not getting out of it what you really need.

There you have it. 10 great running drills that will make you a better runner. These drills cover everything: mechanics, power, speed development, and increasing stride length. If you want to improve your speed, than these drills will work. I have video of athletes getting faster, stride length improving, etc. You just have to put the time into it. I can’t overemphasize running mechanics enough though. Once your mechanics are picture perfect, then these drills will really help you out. Enjoy!

Top Ten Speed Drills To Help You Run Faster

Being a speed training coach, people will frequently ask me what my favorite drills are for developing ones speed and/or running. I finally stopped long enough to think about and narrow down what my favorite top ten running drills would be. The drills discussed in today's list are a mix of ones I use with my clients in Columbus, Ohio, for developing speed and explosiveness plus honing the athlete's running mechanics. If ones running mechanics stink, then these drills are meaningless. If I had an athlete that was wanting to improve his/her running and I was limited to only ten exercises, here is the list of drills I would use:

1. 1 Leg Horizontal Jumps – Essentially, these are like doing a triple jump, except you never hop on the other leg. This drill is for a more mature athlete because of the demand that is placed on the leg. Running is a technique of single leg explosions, so that is why this is on my list. I usually have my athlete jump 4 times (jumping and landing on the same leg), making sure they stick the landing with a nice knee and hip flexion and soft landing on the ball of the foot. I will then do some rapid fire jumps as well.
2. High Knee Jump Ropes – I love this drill. This could have been my number one. It develops speed, hand/eye coordination, plus it puts your legs in very similar positions you will find when you are sprinting. The athlete jumps rope alternating feet with a high knee action. I usually start them off jumping rope on one leg to develop the strength, then do a simple alternating style, then try the high knee. It really develops those fast twitch fibers.
3. Hurdle Jumps – One of the big mechanical issues I see with runners is a slow frequency rate (or the leg turnover quick). Sometimes due to lack of strength, hurdle jumps helps that out. I start at a conservative height and set four of them up. The athlete has to jump over all four without hitting the hurdles and do it quickly. Those knees go up and the heel fires up to the butt, just like trying to run fast. The speed and leg turnover is improved with this drill.
4. Walking Lunge – This is a great drill to do with younger runners. It develops core strength, coordination between the opposite arm and leg, strength, and balance with the legs. You step forward with one leg and lunge down so the back knee almost touches the ground. Keep your opposite arm in a good L shape and in running position. When the knee almost touches you explode up and step forward with that back leg while switching arms (keeping that opposite arm/leg action you have when you run). Keep the torso nice and tight, don’t lean forward. Doing that will help you develop good core strength.
5. TRX Sprinting In Place – Obviously, you need access to a TRX suspension unit, but this is a very similar drill to the jump ropes. You lean forward holding the TRX in your hands with the straps under your arms. Your feet are behind you and your body is at a 75 degree angle. If you were to let go, you would fall down. Start running in place (high knees) as fast as you can, staying upright, and keeping that angle. Great for the body to feel that acceleration phase and the rapid fire foot contacts.

That is the first part of my top ten list. On Thursday, I will finish up this topic and you will have ten great exercises that you can utilize to improve your speed.