The Absolute Most Simple Way to Get Faster
Forget the Exercise Science Degree
We are living in a remarkable time in sports. Athletes are bigger, stronger, faster than ever. And this is on a global scale. We see it in the Olympics and even in major sports in the United States. All-Star teams across major USA sports are incredibly diverse, more than ever, even from countries that do not historically produce high-level athletes. You no longer have to be wealthy to have high-level training tools and information to produce high-level athleticism.
Much of this is in thanks to the explosion of performance technology and the social medias that relay this information to everyday people. No longer do you have to be a sports scientist, exercise physiologist, or have any kind of degree or certification in the field. Every athlete has all the training information they could ever want at their fingertips. And a whole lot of it is free! There are even training programs and camps all over the world that guarantee 10 mph more on your fastball, 40 more yards in your golf drive, .10 second 40-yard speed time improvements, etc. etc. etc.
That being said, it can all be overwhelming. There are many different methods for athletic development. And it can be overwhelming trying to figure out what’s best for you or your athlete. Paralysis by analysis is very much alive in today’s society. There is SO much information. How do you choose?
Old School Thinking
Want to get faster? Train fast. Yes, I know, that’s obvious. But maybe it’s not. Traditional, old-school methodologies spend way too much time with training slow. When I played baseball through the collegiate level, I was prescribed a lot of running. A LOT of running. I estimate I ran a couple thousand miles between my high school and collegiate careers as a pitcher. And I didn’t mind too much because that was the only thing I could win. I was typically the “fastest” on the team. But I never had the fastest fastball. Go figure. Years later, it dawned on me: maybe running slow doesn’t translate to throwing fast. The more I ran, the better I got at running, but not throwing harder.
The Most Simple Way to Get Faster
Want to get faster (no matter your sport)? Train fast. I know, groundbreaking information. Canadian track coach Charlie Francis forever changed track sprint methodologies using his philosophies. Fortunately, his methods can be applied to all athletes.
One thing Charlie was known for was his short training sessions. One of his methods was to have his athletes run their sprints repeatedly until they were 5% slower than their best time. Once they were 5% slower than their best time, practice was over.
Charlie was a strong believer in avoiding “medium intensity” training. The philosophy is simple: Training slow will make you slow. Train fast, or don’t train at all. Medium-intensity training interferes with high-intensity training, and we can’t have interferences with high-level training.
If you are skimming this article, please re-read the previous paragraph. I have two degrees and over a dozen certifications in this field. For developing faster athletes, that information is more important than all of the education I’ve received. Weightlifting can make you faster, dialing in nutrition and recovery can help, learning proper biomechanics and anatomy and physiology and breathing techniques can all help. Training at max speeds definitely, not maybe, definitely, helps make you faster.
Simple Training Tips
If you are a young, lower-level athlete who is looking for a simple, basic way to get faster, here’s how to do it:
- Establish your fastest time
- Sprint, rest, repeat until you cannot achieve within 95% of your PR
- Rest two to three days, repeat
That’s it. Simple as that.
If you are older or a more polished athlete, more complex training methods such as weightlifting, technique drills etc. will be appropriate. However, the philosophy of training at high speeds only is universal, including athletes of all sports at all levels. Practicing slow leads to being slow. Train fast, be fast. Simple
Do Not Confuse Training Hard with Good Training
I roll my eyes when I see the commercials. “One more rep” “first one in, last one to leave practice”. The athletes are always dripping in sweat but they find the perseverance to keep going. I don’t want to condemn hard work, but hard work isn’t necessarily smart work.
Again, training more than the other athlete doesn’t mean you are out-training them. Training to the point of exhaustion means you are moving a lot slower than where you started. And that slow training can very well lead to slow results. Train at your best, or don’t train at all.
Quotes
I’m a big reader. I like me some quotes. And I hope you do too. Here are some fun ones on the matter:
I taught myself to throw hard by always throwing hard. I’m a believer that if you want to throw hard, you need to throw hard all the time.
-David Price, 5x MLB All-Star and Cy Young Award Winner
100%, 100% of the time
-Jimmy Morris, the pitcher featured in “The Rookie”. It’s the best baseball movie. Watch it!
Medium-intensity training interferes with and distracts from high-intensity training. Work at less than 75% intensity/speed is “chicken soup work.”
-Charlie Francis
Sources
https://trackfootballconsortium.com/secondhand-information-charlie-francis/
https://simplifaster.com/articles/real-life-charlie-francis-speed-threshold/
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The Absolute Most Simple Way to Get Faster
Forget the Exercise Science Degree
We are living in a remarkable time in sports. Athletes are bigger, stronger, faster than ever. And this is on a global scale. We see it in the Olympics and even in major sports in the United States. All-Star teams across major USA sports are incredibly diverse, more than ever, even from countries that do not historically produce high-level athletes. You no longer have to be wealthy to have high-level training tools and information to produce high-level athleticism.
Much of this is in thanks to the explosion of performance technology and the social medias that relay this information to everyday people. No longer do you have to be a sports scientist, exercise physiologist, or have any kind of degree or certification in the field. Every athlete has all the training information they could ever want at their fingertips. And a whole lot of it is free! There are even training programs and camps all over the world that guarantee 10 mph more on your fastball, 40 more yards in your golf drive, .10 second 40-yard speed time improvements, etc. etc. etc.
That being said, it can all be overwhelming. There are many different methods for athletic development. And it can be overwhelming trying to figure out what’s best for you or your athlete. Paralysis by analysis is very much alive in today’s society. There is SO much information. How do you choose?
Old School Thinking
Want to get faster? Train fast. Yes, I know, that’s obvious. But maybe it’s not. Traditional, old-school methodologies spend way too much time with training slow. When I played baseball through the collegiate level, I was prescribed a lot of running. A LOT of running. I estimate I ran a couple thousand miles between my high school and collegiate careers as a pitcher. And I didn’t mind too much because that was the only thing I could win. I was typically the “fastest” on the team. But I never had the fastest fastball. Go figure. Years later, it dawned on me: maybe running slow doesn’t translate to throwing fast. The more I ran, the better I got at running, but not throwing harder.
The Most Simple Way to Get Faster
Want to get faster (no matter your sport)? Train fast. I know, groundbreaking information. Canadian track coach Charlie Francis forever changed track sprint methodologies using his philosophies. Fortunately, his methods can be applied to all athletes.
One thing Charlie was known for was his short training sessions. One of his methods was to have his athletes run their sprints repeatedly until they were 5% slower than their best time. Once they were 5% slower than their best time, practice was over.
Charlie was a strong believer in avoiding “medium intensity” training. The philosophy is simple: Training slow will make you slow. Train fast, or don’t train at all. Medium-intensity training interferes with high-intensity training, and we can’t have interferences with high-level training.
If you are skimming this article, please re-read the previous paragraph. I have two degrees and over a dozen certifications in this field. For developing faster athletes, that information is more important than all of the education I’ve received. Weightlifting can make you faster, dialing in nutrition and recovery can help, learning proper biomechanics and anatomy and physiology and breathing techniques can all help. Training at max speeds definitely, not maybe, definitely, helps make you faster.
Simple Training Tips
If you are a young, lower-level athlete who is looking for a simple, basic way to get faster, here’s how to do it:
- Establish your fastest time
- Sprint, rest, repeat until you cannot achieve within 95% of your PR
- Rest two to three days, repeat
That’s it. Simple as that.
If you are older or a more polished athlete, more complex training methods such as weightlifting, technique drills etc. will be appropriate. However, the philosophy of training at high speeds only is universal, including athletes of all sports at all levels. Practicing slow leads to being slow. Train fast, be fast. Simple
Do Not Confuse Training Hard with Good Training
I roll my eyes when I see the commercials. “One more rep” “first one in, last one to leave practice”. The athletes are always dripping in sweat but they find the perseverance to keep going. I don’t want to condemn hard work, but hard work isn’t necessarily smart work.
Again, training more than the other athlete doesn’t mean you are out-training them. Training to the point of exhaustion means you are moving a lot slower than where you started. And that slow training can very well lead to slow results. Train at your best, or don’t train at all.
Quotes
I’m a big reader. I like me some quotes. And I hope you do too. Here are some fun ones on the matter:
I taught myself to throw hard by always throwing hard. I’m a believer that if you want to throw hard, you need to throw hard all the time.
-David Price, 5x MLB All-Star and Cy Young Award Winner
100%, 100% of the time
-Jimmy Morris, the pitcher featured in “The Rookie”. It’s the best baseball movie. Watch it!
Medium-intensity training interferes with and distracts from high-intensity training. Work at less than 75% intensity/speed is “chicken soup work.”
-Charlie Francis
Sources
https://trackfootballconsortium.com/secondhand-information-charlie-francis/
https://simplifaster.com/articles/real-life-charlie-francis-speed-threshold/