Look for training centers that develop skill, not just conditioning N ot a week goes by that I don’t receive emails or calls from parents who want the secret to getting their young athletes bigger, leaner, faster, stronger and more agile. While I love their enthusiasm, this can sometimes be frustrating, since they usually want these results yesterday. A lot of them don’t like when I don’t tell them what they want to hear. Whether you’re a parent, coach or athlete yourself, this article might not be what you want to hear, but it is something you need to hear. It’s time to get to the truth about what most speed training facilities really are and what your young athlete really needs. There are a number of fundamental problems with the speed programs in today’s cookie cutter facilities which continue to adhere to ineffective programming for your young athletes. And the main reasons are that they don’t have the proper education, they don’t care, and may be in it just for the money. These speed training centers push year-round, cookie-cutter group speed training sessions and market them as “speed training.” But the fact is that they are poorly supervised, non-scientific, random running drills without any concern for skill. It will condition your young athletes to move at the same speed for longer, but never at a faster speed. There is a big difference between “conditioning” sessions
There are a number of fundamental problems with the speed programs in today’s cookie cutter facilities which continue to adhere to ineffective programming for your young athletes.
and “speed training”. The former serves only to enhance short-term metabolic preparedness, while the latter seeks to effect favorable changes in the powerful neuromuscular system that governs performance via long-term skill development. The condition sessions offered at such facilities require less educated and skilled coaches. It takes much less knowledge to simply tell an athlete to run than it does to instruct an athlete how to run — by identifying technical flaws, structural imbalances and movement inefficiencies — and then implement a program that will improve neuromuscular efficiency (skill) and performance. When training for speed, strength and optimal technique, athletes must be allowed sufficient rest periods between efforts. Therefore, effective sessions require considerable time devoted to short-term recuperation. Conditioning sessions, on the other hand, are based doing more work in a given period of time, to improve sport specific endurance. Conducting conditioning sessions instead of programming to improve neuromuscular function (skill development) allows
Training Time Tim Rudd for IYCA
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SportStars™
June 23 2011
even the smartest trainer or coach to be lazy. Metabolic conditioning is more rapidly attained than neuromuscular efficiency. So if a coach is more interested in impressing you as a parent in a very short amount of time in order to encourage future cash flow, he or she will be able to demonstrate changes for your young athletes in the short term just by practicing a given skill like the 40 yard dash. These improvements will be short lived and will leave you as a parent beating your head against the wall once your young athlete’s first plateau is encountered shortly after. Neuromuscular adaptations (skill development) may take time, but they provide a foundation for continual improvements for the duration of your young athlete’s career while maximizing their potential. Conversely, metabolic conditioning is an acute quality that is more rapidly improved and lost for that matter, ensuring your young athlete will never reach their true athletic potential. ✪ Tim Rudd is an International Youth Conditioning Association specialist in youth conditioning (level 3), speed and agility (level 2), and nutrition specialist (level 1). You can contact him with questions or feed- back at tim@fit2thecore.com.
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