Flex Nimbo equals force production. It’s a simple formula, but one you won’t learn in your first period algebra class or chemistry lab. So, throw your calculator out the door. For this session, all you’ll need is the Flex Nimbo, a training device worn like an article of clothing that provides resistance to your every movement.

Class is in session. Time to meet your instructors:

Geoff Kaplan, director of sports medicine and head athletic trainer for the Houston Texans

Anthony Stringfield, sports performance coach and owner of 1String Fitness in Virginia Beach, Va.

“The Flex Nimbo is like an ace in the hole to me and my program,” Stringfield says. “It has been a big contributor to what I do with my overall speed development and rate of force production.”

Kaplan says that while wearing the Flex Nimbo, a football player can replicate on-field movements used during a game. “You can get down in your stance and fire out [while wearing] the Flex Nimbo,” Kaplan says. “If you’re a linebacker or a running back, you can come out of a two-point stance and do multidirectional movement patterns such as shuffles, cariocas and drops.”

Regardless of the position or training goals of his athletes, Coach Stringfield has a course for them to follow. He says, for example, “From a static position as the quarterback, you can work on three-step, five-step and seven-step drops.”

New Orleans Saints linebacker Marvin Mitchell, a graduate of Stringfield’s Flex Nimbo program, first tested the gear while training with Stringfield four weeks before his pro day in 2007. “As far as [Marvin] getting into his 40-yard dash stance and going through some shuttles, he came out of it and said he’d never felt like this before. We tested his timing, and he was two to three-tenths [of a second] faster in each event,” Stringfield says.

This year, Stringfield worked with former Hampton University defensive back Sam Pope. Prior to his pro day, Pope used the Flex Nimbo for about 25 sessions to work on explosive starts coming out of the static 40-yard dash stance. Stringfield says concentrating on force production significantly boosted Pope’s 40 time. The proof was produced in front of several NFL scouts as Pope clocked 4.43 seconds.

If you’re looking to make tremendous gains in speed and agility, check out the rest of the course syllabus for more drills to perform while wearing the Flex Nimbo.

Ladder Agility Series
Lateral Scissor Kicks to Right [single touch]
•    Stand with right foot in first square and left foot outside of square
•    Jump half a square distance, scissor kicking your feet; land with left foot inside first square and right foot outside of square
•    Jump half a square distance, scissor kicking feet; land with right foot inside second square and left foot outside of square
•    Repeat pattern for length of ladder, then sprint forward 15 to 20 yards
•    Jog back to starting line

Sets: 5

Lateral Scissor Kicks to Left [single touch]
•    Stand with left foot in first square and right foot outside of square
•    Jump half a square distance, scissor kicking your feet; land with right foot inside first square and left foot outside of square
•    Jump half a square distance, scissor kicking feet; land with left foot inside second square and right foot outside of square
•    Repeat pattern for length of ladder; sprint forward 15 to 20 yards
•    Jog back to starting line

Sets: 5

Double-Foot Slalom
•    Standing in front of ladder, jump with both feet into first box
•    Jump sideways, to outside and left of second box
•    Jump into third box
•    Jump sideways, to outside and right of fourth box
•    Repeat zigzag movement to end of ladder
•    Jog back to starting line

Sets: 5