This article will have a look at what part strength has in your Speed and Agility Training course. Now let’s take a look at a couple of terms.

Absolute strength – the greatest amount of power that you are capable of producing, your single rep limit is your absolute strength

Starting Strength – a measure of what number of muscle fibers that you are able to instantaneously tighten

Think of it in this way, if you snatch a heavy set of weights off the floor you will damage your back. However if you were to lift slowly this will not occur. Starting strength (in the example just discussed), merely measures the greatest load you’re capable of pulling off the ground without harm.

Relative strength – your strength per lb of body weight

Reactive Strength or Plyometric Strength – deals with your capability to take in and make the most of power while changing from an eccentric contraction to a concentric contraction.

What exactly is the relevance of these phrases to your training curriculum?
The higher your absolute strength, the higher your starting strength. The higher your starting strength, the faster your increase of velocity, the faster your increase in speed, the higher your explosiveness or your capacity to achieve your highest speed quicker. Ask yourself, “Is my speed and agility training helping my absolute strength for those muscles that are significant in the sport I participate in?”

Relative strength is crucial since the more your relative strength, the greater the strength you are able to generate. This benefits you in a couple of ways; your nervous system is better conditioned and will cross over into your agility, and you’ve got less stuff to lug around. This also crosses over into speed.

A question to raise is whether your Speed and Agility Training improves your relative strength. Remember when working out for speed and agility your relative strength is more key than your absolute strength. Note: you should not be worried very much about bulking up since a 10% increase in LEAN body mass translates into a 30% boost in strength.

Finally, we come to reactive strength. This sort of strength plays a vital part in agility, it enables you to abruptly vary course and stun your opponent with surprising moves. It also enables you to jump higher while running (but not alot from a standstill position). It also plays a function in running speed although there’s better ways to exercise for it if running speed is what you want.

What is the take away home from this article? In order to properly train for speed and agility you have got to incorporate strength training workouts in your practice. You must also customize it for the sport you are involved with. There can be no shortcuts however there are effective ways of arriving at your objectives (whatever they might be).

If this has baffled you a bit you should….

Here is a food for thought subject for you.  Why do sprinters (50, 100 meter dash, basketball players, quarterbacks etc) maintain ripped abs without particularly training for them? Obviously you should bear in mind that starting strength is different for different muscles groups and can be trained independently. Knowing which muscles have a role in the movements most important in your athletic endeavour allows you to concentrate on them and generate rapid and efficient results

If you liked this article, you can find more information, tips, and videos by going to: more Speed and Agility Training.

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