This is part 2 of my series that explains what exactly first step quickness is, and how I, as a Personal trainer in Newington, Connecticut & Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist, go about building it!
In this final part of my tutorial on first step quickness and speed development, I am going to explain the finer points of developing speed in an athlete.
For acceleration and the first few moments of building to optimal speed, the goal is to limit the number of steps between point A and point B with your personal trainer in Newington, CT. Once proper movement has been established the goal is to generate as much power as possible with each stride. The harder an athlete strikes the ground while running the further the athlete will be propelled with each stride. We call this stride length, your certified personal trainer in Newington, CT will know this if they have the proper credentials. To increase this stride length we perform drills such as resisted runs where an athlete runs dragging a weight. With the increased weight an athlete is forced to drive each leg into the ground harder to move forward. As the athlete adjusts to weight they will have developed a harder ground strike that will increase the athletes speed when resistance is removed.
Personal Trainer in Newington, CT knows…
Being a certified Personal Trainer in Newington, CT I understand the final step to increasing acceleration is proper weight training. During an evaluation it is necessary to discover muscular tightness and weaknesses that can inhibit proper running technique. A tight chest and shoulders can negatively affect proper arm swing, tight insides or outside of the hip and legs coupled with weaknesses of the opposite part of the hip and legs will create inefficient leg actions. More than just creating inefficient movement patterns these findings can also lead to injuries. As Newington’s top personal trainer, it is my priority to fix these inefficiencies with proper weight training. Fixing these inefficiencies alone can improve an athlete’s speed. We also focus on exercises that match the actions of running during our personal training sessions. We can use an exercise such as the power clean which emphasis extension of the hip, knee, and ankle (known as triple extension). This triple extension is the same action the legs go through while running. We can also strength train the glutes, hamstrings, and quads which are all necessary in sprinting. The stronger we can make these muscles the faster athlete will be.
When combining these three aspects of speed training with your personal trainer in Newington, Connecticut an athlete can make incredible strides in their first step quickness. With these improvements in acceleration athletes will notice huge improvements in performance, no matter what the sport. First step quickness gets you from home to first faster; gets you to the soccer ball faster when it has gotten loose; and will let the wide receiver beat the defensive back in football.
What you re really going to need from your personal trainer in Newington CT is the help to stay motivated!