The sad part of speed is that so many people train it out of
their athletes. Especially with the endurance athletes, but I even see with
speed and power athletes. It is about quality not quantity. Start with warm-up,
some of these elaborate hour and fifteen minute warm-ups that include every
drill under the sun are just getting the athlete tired not ready for explosive
effort. Speed is about quality and economy of effort. I quote my good friend
and colleague Gary Winckler, ”work capacity is not a biomotor quality.” Speed
is a quality that must be trained year around regardless of the event or sport
discipline. The high neural and coordinative demands require that those
pathways stay open and stimulated. Everyone has potential for speed but many do
not reach it because of improper training or the fact we buy into myths that it
cannot be improved.
Speaking of speed today is cool Papa Bells birthday. He was
a star in the Negro leagues and one of the fastest players to ever play the
game of baseball. Sam Harriston, who was a coach with the White Sox when I worked
there had played with Papa Bell and he told this story to illustrate how fast
he was. He was rooming with Papa Bell and they were both in their beds
with the lights on in their room. Papa Bell got up to turn the lights off and
was back in his bed before the lights went off. (I know this story is
attributed to Muhammad Ali, but it was really Papa Bell) That is speed! Try that every night as a drill and you will get faster.