Speed Training

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SPEED TRAINING OVERVIEW

Speed is one of the most sought after and highly coveted skills throughout sports. As the industry leader in speed and performance enhancement, Legendary Athletes has partnered with ISA to deliver a positive training experience that improves speed of movement and strength in character regardless of ability or economic status.

Speed is one of the main tools that high school coaches, college coaches, and pro scouts look for in an athlete. Speed is a skill that is learned. You don’t have to be naturally fast. It can be taught.

Legendary Athletes/ISA starts building the foundation at any early age that are age-level safe, teaching players techniques for long term habits.

Legendary Athletes/ISA will help each athlete reach their optimal level of sports performance through the latest in evidence-based science. Through Legendary Athletes, your athlete will be able to:

* Build his/her FREE Recruiting Profile

* Get his/her FREE Bio Mechanical Athletic Health Assessment

* Get his/her FREE Nutrition and Supplementation Plan

* Gain access to FREE speed tips and training.

BIO-MECHANICS: The study of the human movement system has taught the sports medical field that contributing factors of injury risk include previous injury history, movement efficiency, training load, and recovery behaviors. Bio-mechanical assessment and early identification of abnormal movement patterns helps prevent injuries from occurring in the first place by providing strengthening and stretching exercises for individuals that improve their overall performance, including improved speed, agility and strength. Through Legendary Athletes, athletes come away with a properly aligned body that is capable of fluid movement, improved performance, and a decreased risk of further injury.

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ISA AND YOUR ATHLETE

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) uses the terms children and adolescents to help differentiate the two groups. In general, a child is age 2 to 11 (6u-11u), while an adolescent is between the ages of 12 and 19 (12u-18u). Children have different needs and exercise responses in comparison to adolescents, who are experiencing puberty. Also, both groups have different exercise responses than fully-grown adults.

At ISA, we understand the importance of these differences and incorporate them into our program in order to work toward the true overall development your athlete.

Exercise Needs and Responses

Muscular Strength

The key physiological differences between gains in muscular strength in youth in relation to adults are the source of strength gains and improvements in performance. For youth, gains in muscular strength are due to neural adaptations (i.e. changes in motor unit activation and motor unit coordination, recruitment, and firing (where the body is learning how to neurologically stimulate muscle fibers, recruit co-contracting muscle fibers, and coordinate synergistic and antagonistic muscle groups and fibers), rather than large gains in hypertrophy, which occurs in adults. The smaller degree of muscle hypertrophy in youth is largely attributable to hormonal differences, because they have lower testosterone levels.

Physiology

Many anatomical and physiological differences exist between youth and adults, both at rest and in response to exercise. Youth are a completely different type of client in relation to adults. They do not demonstrate the same aerobic and anaerobic capabilities or have the same hormonal levels, attention span, size, or body proportions.

Flexibility

Regardless of how youth gain strength, it is important for them to maintain flexibility in the presence of their stronger and potentially larger muscle mass. Research shows that flexibility is greatest in childhood and declines with age.

Growth Spurts

Youth and adolescents undergo growth spurts in height as well as body mass. These changes impact coordination, gait, body composition, flexibility and other aspects of physical fitness. Accelerated gains in body mass and height occur approximately 2 years earlier in girls in comparison to boys. And, these accelerations last for a longer period of time in boys, which explains why, eventually, they’re taller and weigh more, on average. These periods of morphological change correspond to the onset of puberty and changes in hormone levels.

Bone Mineral Content and Density

Physical activity helps stimulate the development of bone mineral content (g) and bone mineral density (g/cm3) in youth. Childhood and adolescence is a crucial time for accruing bone, as this process begins to slow and cease by the time a person reaches their mid-20s. Therefore, it is important for youth to take part in weight-bearing physical activities, such as running, jumping and dancing.

Heart Rate, Stroke Volume and Cardiac Output

Youth and adolescents undergo growth spurts in height as well as body mass. These changes impact coordination, gait, body composition, flexibility and other aspects of physical fitness. Accelerated gains in body mass and height occur approximately 2 years earlier in girls in comparison to boys. And, these accelerations last for a longer period of time in boys, which explains why, eventually, they’re taller and weigh more, on average. These periods of morphological change correspond to the onset of puberty and changes in hormone levels.

Thermoregulation

Another important area to consider in youth fitness is thermoregulation, or the ability to regulate one’s body temperature. Many differences exist between children, adolescents, and adults, but it’s important to note that youth are less able to control their body temperature at rest and during exercise, in comparison to adults. For example, total body water and blood volume are lower in youth because of their smaller size. These differences result in a smaller reserve volume when fluid loss occurs. Also, youth tend to heat up faster than adults because of their greater metabolic rate. Lastly, youth have a higher surface area to mass ratio, which causes a greater rise in core body temperature. During exercise in hot environments, youth have a difficult time dissipating heat. And, when they exercise in cold environments, they lose too much heat through exposed skin (e.g., swimming).

Importance of Assessment

Static (postural) Assessment

Proper postural alignment allows optimal neuromuscular efficiency, which helps produce effective and safe movement. Proper posture ensures that the muscles of the body are in optimal alignment. This results in proper length-tension relationships that are necessary for efficient functioning of force-couples. This allows for proper arthrokinematics (joint motion) and effective absorption and distribution of forces throughout the human movement system (kinetic chain), which ultimately alleviates excess stress on joints. Proper posture keeps muscles at their proper length, allowing them to properly work together. In turn, this ensures proper joint motion, maximizes force production, and reduces the risk of injury.

Dynamic (Movement) Assessment

Athletic movement occurs dynamically and incorporates movement in all three planes of motion. Faulty body alignments not seen during the static postural assessment may manifest themselves during dynamic postural observations. This assessment (looking at movements) is often the quickest way to gain an overall impression of a client’s functional status. Because posture is also a dynamic quality, observations may show postural distortion and potential overactive and underactive muscles in a naturally dynamic setting. Movement observations should relate to basic functions such as squatting and balancing. These observations will provide crucial information about muscle and joint interplay. Also, the observation process should search for any imbalances in anatomy, physiology, or biomechanics that may decrease a client’s results and possibly lead to injury.