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YOU DON’T KNOW SQUAT ABOUT SPEED!
Squat for speed
Some people are simply blessed with speed, while others have to work on it. No matter who you are, you still always want to run faster, jump higher and perform better. Two very crucial things that contribute to sprint speed are: stride rate and stride length.
Stride rate is how fast you perform those strides, in other words, how fast can you get’em up and put ‘em down! Stride length is the distance that you cover in each stride. From a mechanical standpoint, the running movement is a regression from jumping-running is a series of controlled leaps through the air. The primary difference between running and jumping is simply that in jumping, the flight time is increased as more of your power is directed in the vertical plane as opposed to a horizontal plane. Therefore, when you really drive your legs and stretch them out over a long distance you create a greater stride length and increase your speed. Improving stride length is a direct function of flexibility and power.
Flexibility has everything to do with moving your muscles and joints through their full range of motion. Power is a product of strength and speed. This means that improvements to your strength and/or speed will directly improve your power output and acceleration. Much of the drive that you need to accelerate in sprinting comes from your legs-particularly your glutes, and hamstrings-they are the primary hip extensors that contribute to powerfully propelling your body forward.
Many speed training programs use squatting movements such as barbell squats, deadlifts, and lunges, as a cornerstone for developing the power in your legs that is good for sprinting. How you perform these squatting movements greatly influences the degree to which you can increase your stride length and improve your speed.
For those of you gym rats who want to be speed demons and can’t seem to figure out what to do in the gym, try performing full range of motion squats-go to at least parallel (90°). The deeper the squat, the greater the stretch on the glutes and hamstrings. Your quick descent and stretch on the glutes and hamstrings, followed by a rapid contraction of those same muscles will equate to greater power output. Additionally, the full squat can improve articulation and flexibility of the hip joint, which is incredibly important to increasing stride length and overall speed.
Improving your flexibility is key to decreasing your risk for injury as well as making improvements to the length of your stride and increasing your speed. It requires muscular balance and flexibility to perform a squat properly. Incorporate some full range of motion speed squats into your workouts twice a week. When performing speed squats, keep your weight at no more than 50% of your 1-RM and try to move the weight fast in both directions for 3-5 reps. Pre-workout flexibility techniques, such as foam rolling coupled with post-workout static stretching can greatly improve the muscular balance and flexibility required to squat safely. Unless you have a pre-existing knee problem, deep squats are fine.
One of the most important things is to maintain proper posture while squatting-this will keep undue torque off your back and hips. If you have never performed deep squats or you have knee problems, you may want to start at 30% of your 1-RM, just to develop the proper movement mechanics.
Stride rate is how fast you perform those strides, in other words, how fast can you get’em up and put ‘em down! Stride length is the distance that you cover in each stride. From a mechanical standpoint, the running movement is a regression from jumping-running is a series of controlled leaps through the air. The primary difference between running and jumping is simply that in jumping, the flight time is increased as more of your power is directed in the vertical plane as opposed to a horizontal plane. Therefore, when you really drive your legs and stretch them out over a long distance you create a greater stride length and increase your speed. Improving stride length is a direct function of flexibility and power.
Flexibility has everything to do with moving your muscles and joints through their full range of motion. Power is a product of strength and speed. This means that improvements to your strength and/or speed will directly improve your power output and acceleration. Much of the drive that you need to accelerate in sprinting comes from your legs-particularly your glutes, and hamstrings-they are the primary hip extensors that contribute to powerfully propelling your body forward.
Many speed training programs use squatting movements such as barbell squats, deadlifts, and lunges, as a cornerstone for developing the power in your legs that is good for sprinting. How you perform these squatting movements greatly influences the degree to which you can increase your stride length and improve your speed.
For those of you gym rats who want to be speed demons and can’t seem to figure out what to do in the gym, try performing full range of motion squats-go to at least parallel (90°). The deeper the squat, the greater the stretch on the glutes and hamstrings. Your quick descent and stretch on the glutes and hamstrings, followed by a rapid contraction of those same muscles will equate to greater power output. Additionally, the full squat can improve articulation and flexibility of the hip joint, which is incredibly important to increasing stride length and overall speed.
Improving your flexibility is key to decreasing your risk for injury as well as making improvements to the length of your stride and increasing your speed. It requires muscular balance and flexibility to perform a squat properly. Incorporate some full range of motion speed squats into your workouts twice a week. When performing speed squats, keep your weight at no more than 50% of your 1-RM and try to move the weight fast in both directions for 3-5 reps. Pre-workout flexibility techniques, such as foam rolling coupled with post-workout static stretching can greatly improve the muscular balance and flexibility required to squat safely. Unless you have a pre-existing knee problem, deep squats are fine.
One of the most important things is to maintain proper posture while squatting-this will keep undue torque off your back and hips. If you have never performed deep squats or you have knee problems, you may want to start at 30% of your 1-RM, just to develop the proper movement mechanics.
