Conditioning for Speed and Power Athletes

Conditioning.  Yeah, endurance and conditioning is one of those things when it comes to athletic development that we're sort of using different definitions for the same term.  If you're developing especially a speed and power athlete where their focus is primarily anaerobics, conditioning is the primary methodology that you're going to be using.  Going out and doing submaximal long runs and repeat 200s and long lactic work, how does that help me improve my top speed, my fastest top speed?  It doesn’t.

You have to use those type of things as the conditioning, the aerobic conditioning, as recovery work.  By using the recovery work as opposed to being the foundation of your training system, that's where you're going to make improvements.  It's the speed work, the anaerobic work, acceleration development, your top speed training, even speed endurance and strength training, those are going to be the foundations of the training, not sort of the longer, slower repeats and things like that that we see people doing.

Sending football players and things like that out to do road work is crazy to me.  If you're training soccer players and things where aerobic conditioning is an important factor, then you're obviously going to want to do those things.

Next I'm going to show you two clips.  The first discusses tempo training, our preferred method for aerobic development in speed and power athletes.  We use this instead of the customary long, slow distance that many programs still employ.

Second, I talk about the importance of general strength work.  Taking this information in the context of conditioning, we love to use circuits.  A jack of all trades so to speak.  Take the exercises that are being shown and add a 30- to 40-meter tempo paced jog in between them.  You'll cover many of the, quote/unquote, conditioning demands required for your speed and power athletes.

Tempo running is an important part of any athlete's training program because without these types of runs, without this type of training, athletes won't be able to handle the more difficult anaerobic work that comes in the form of spring work and power work.  Tempo running can be 100 to 400 yards or even higher depending on the need of a particular sport at generally between 60 and 79 percent intensity which means it's not very fast and shouldn't be extremely difficult.  Athletes should be able to finish a tempo workout at the same pace that they started at without an extreme amount of difficulty.

Get a 35 Page Speed Training Report and Over 2 Hours of Cutting Edge Video… FREE! 2+ hours of Video showing you EXACTLY how to improve speed, power and sports performance Exclusive 35 page report exposing the Top 7 Training Secrets leading to superior speed Audio Interviews with Expert Coaches, Training Articles and Resources and much, much more First Name Primary Email We resect your privacy! We will Never share your email with anyone for any reason. You’ll receive a no-hassle free removal link in each email.Privacy Policy

If they are having a tough time finishing in the time, they're probably building lactic acid.  And if that's the case, you're no longer running in your 60 to 79 percent intensity range.  And if you are building lactic acid, you're working on an energy system that's not specific to building aerobic capacity and aerobic power.  These type of workouts, again, should not be extremely difficult.  They also aid in recovery by flushing out the metabolic waste in your system so that you can compete in the more intense workouts and activities that you need to do in order to increase your speed.

Improving your general strength which consists of efficiently and effectively controlling your own body weight around all planes of motion has limitless benefits.  And if you dedicate yourself to making gains in this area, you'll see huge differences in every aspect of your performance.  Depending on how you structure it into your speed training program, general strength can help you increase your overall physical strength and power output just by making you stronger and more explosive.  It increases soft tissue and connective strength, reducing the likelihood of injury and increasing your ability to perform demanding speed and strength workouts.  It helps aid in recovery of those central nervous system demanding workouts by helping to flush metabolic waste out of your muscles, again reducing the likelihood of injury and maximizing your performance.  It also improves your overall aerobic capacity by increasing the amount of oxygen your muscles get meaning you see big gains in your cardiovascular conditioning on top of all the other benefits that were mentioned.