Reactive / Speed / Quickness

Training for Athletes

When you think about speed, quickness and reactive movements you immediately think of jumps, agility drills, jumping and maybe even perhaps some overspeed running with bands?
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Yes, those strength training means are one part of the equation.

The 5 Senses

You must use the senses in your training.  Especially with athletes.  I’m not talking about tasting a kettlebell, I’m speaking specifically about harnesses sight and hearing.  The next-step, unconscious patterning of actual practice and gameplay can be heightened and developed in the weightroom.

Sight & Hearing

If we can isolate the importance of sight and hearing with our athletes it does many things.  They become sharper, they can “turn on” when they need to faster, they can make their movements without thought and without hesitation.

How Do We Do Speed, Quickness and Reactive Training in the Gym?

It is simple, all we need is a tennis ball.

I am going to show you one of the ways I specifically training my athletes to get faster and improve their speed.  In this video, two MMA fighters are working on their quickness.  We use this technique early in the workout when they are fresh and can demonstrate as much power as possible.

Another benefit is this display of power in non-optimal.  There is NO PATTERN.  Only reaction.  Their is NO PLANNING, only reaction.

Drill 1:  Visual Target / No Visual Cue (VISUAL SPECIFIC)

The athlete can see there target (the tennis ball) but do not know when I am going to drop them.  They MUST grab the ball before it hits the ground TWICE.  Notice in the video, their movement.  Multi-planar, non-patterned and very explosive.

Drill 2:  No Visible Target / With Verbal Cue (VERBAL SPECIFIC)

This time the athlete will not be able to see the target, they must listen for the verbal cue.  Their hearing is heightened.  Only until the movement is initiated can they turn around and IMMEDIATELY have to find the target as fast as they can.

Drill 3:  No Visible Target / No Verbal Cue

In this drill, the athlete will stand in front of a wall and grab the tennis ball without any visual cue or verbal cue.  This is the ultimate test and proficiency of hand-eye coordination is developed very fast.  You will see immediate improvement after the first session.

Stay tuned for my next installment, where the chaotic environment is turned up a notch.

Hope you enjoyed the drills, please “like” the video on YouTube.

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Tags: 5 senses, agility, basketball, combat athletes, explosive strength, explosiveness, faster athletes, fighters, football, mma, power training, quickness, reactive training, rugby, speed, speed training, starting strength, strength training workouts, ufc, unconcious movement

This entry was posted on Sunday, July 4th, 2010 at 10:53 pm and is filed under strength training to improve athletic performance, strength training workouts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.