WARM UP ROUTINE
Warm-up consists of raising the heart rate to promote blood flow to all parts of the body. Warm-up drills are designed to stimulate all of the necessary muscle groups and neural pathways required for the movement of coordinated running activities. Furthermore, the routines are also designed to promote strength, balance, coordination, agility, acceleration, stability and mobility all rolled up into a 30-45 minute routine. From this point, athletes will be ready to commence the specific program.
DAY 1
All athletes that participate in the Speed Development Clinic will be closely observed throughout the warm-up on the first day, and will be consulted, if required, prior to the testing, to ensure all physical components are adequately warmed up. Often an athletes’ warm-up routine is done without purpose or focus, which has the potential to lead to injury. On the first day of the clinic, a new warm-up routine will be introduced to the Athletes that focuses on proper full body warm-up that promotes the highest performance possible for the efficiency of the workout.
Testing will then be conducted to establish a benchmark for all athletes to make comparison against on the final day of the Clinic (usually 10 weeks). There are a wide variety of tests used, depending on the sport, coach\'s requirements and athlete\'s objectives.
On completion of testing, all athletes will be taught the correct form for drills to be executed. Drills on their own, do not make us run faster, they are designed to improve our mechanics. When combined with other skills and strength the overall result will be superior speed .
All athletes will then practice this new movement in sprints over a short distance, for if an athlete can’t sprint correctly over a short distance, then their technique will break down and they will have no hope of sustaining speed over a longer distance. During this time, athletes will be informed of the importance of body angles, with respect to the alignment of the hip, knees and ankles for efficient movement.
Once the sprinting skill has been practiced, athletes will move onto new and more challenging drills. In ball/team sports, agility ladders and hurdles may be used in conjunction with slalom poles/cones to practice lateral movement and change of direction. For group participants of Speed Clinic, many different challenging games will be implemented to harness and hone the skills required.
To finish off the session, the athlete/group performs a series of body weight exercises and core exercises to equip the body with the strength and balance of movement to make the improvements required to progress. Often this will be a precursor to a dedicated Strength & Conditioning program to take to the gym or weight room.
WEEK 2 – 9
Once per week, all athletes will gather for a group session under the guidance and direction of the Speed Clinic coach to ensure athletes have been practicing the movements and skills correctly and to make adjustments as necessary. All athletes and sports coaches will be provided with a custom designed training program that the athletes will be required to do either on their own or with the other members of their team or training group. This program is designed to condition the athletes for subsequent training sessions and to leave them with these new skills firmly entrenched as natural motor skills. This will provide them with improved speed, coordination and strength advantages.
WEEK 10
The final session will recap the entire program that has been undertaken. Testing will again be performed to measure each athlete’s progress from day 1 to the final session, so that they can see their improvement and identify areas that still need any additional attention. All of the results will be provided to each athlete or head/senior coach to keep on record.