In this Episode:
- Lee Taft
- Speed and Agility
- Importance of Foot and Ankle Joints
- Exercises
- Using Time vs. Distance
- Priorities of a Triathlete
- Proper Strength Training
- Why are we posterior-chain focused?
- The Need for Speed
- Program Design for Runners
- Strength Baselines
- Expectations for arm carriage
- Safe Drills for Cyclists and Triathletes
- Ideal Session
- Key Points for Listeners
- Conclusion
Show Notes:
0:47 –
Lee Taft
- Nicknamed “The Speed Guy”
- He has a certified speed and agility course on the NSPA, athletes’ acceleration sports performance training, and a CEU course on speed and agility coaching: Speed Insiders 6-month course
3:19 –
Speed and Agility
- A lot of the runners and triathletes that Menachem has worked with are surprised when they get speed and agility work
- There is so much value in training the human system to have variability because it gives us greater potential
- Lee always tries to do multi-planar movements with his linear athletes
- Even in just one direction (not including change of direction yet), gives the system/structure more capacity to be able to joint load and handle force absorption and production
- Feet are the critical component; they are what touch the ground and give us sensory feedback
- If we can train movements to strengthen those patterns, in our feet, ankles, and lower leg, it makes us a more efficient mover in a linear pattern
- Deceleration/agility training (change of direction) then adds element of strengthening tissues to be able to manage mass and momentum
- The ability to change our pace or momentum gets built up through basic agility training
- So much value that hasn’t been tapped into yet
6:46 –
Importance of Foot and Ankle Joints
- Great impact of big toe
- It is very important to be able to spread the toes and lift the big toe on its own
- Subtalar and calcaneal joints make up the ankle and take on so much pressure and force when things are out of alignment
- There is great support in making sure we have multi-planar movement
- The more the feet are involved, the more efficient and economical you’ll be in running
- “We have to always control the transverse plane” – Lee
- Important for injury prevention
10:04 –
Exercises
- Jumping rope
- Low-box exercises or weight plate
- Have them jump on and off and videotape from the back, front, and side to show how the body is managing this weight
- The low box also provides a little bit of a projection forward, which running is
- “The person that it capable of running the furthest does not win, necessarily. It’s the person who runs the fastest for the distance being set” – Lee
- Lee wants to make sure that they have the endurance to maintain their speed
- Then: 60s, 80s, and 100s, which gets speed at a much higher level
- Then: repeat miles
- Then: sequence again
- The value of doing the repeats is that it allows runners to run the mile while still having energy reserves
- “Always gave them that ability to feel speed, while they were still at their race distance” – Lee
15:00 –
Using Time vs. Distance
- Lee uses time more than distance honestly
- “I try to get them to have a watch” – Lee
- So they can know where they’re at and be able to push if he’s not with them
- To get them to buffer they have to hit certain time thresholds
- Best way is to use both a time and a distance
- But distances are most likely easier to understand for runners
- IMG tennis court in Arizona without any lines
-
- One of the top players in the world when she would practice, she wouldn’t continue if she estimated the ball would go out
- They wanted her to continue for the speed and agility side of things, so they erased the lines
19:26 –
Priorities of a Triathlete
- Strength: because of the rate of force development and being able to get off the ground quicker
- But, if we weren’t going that route, then sprint training and pure plyometric training
- The ability to develop the resiliency – that elastic and stiffness quality – to get off the ground
- Having this tissue quality adds a bonus to triathletes’ event
- Joint position dictates muscle function, so we need to get you in a better body position
22:31 –
Proper Strength Training
- Strength training can really help with proprioception and provide understanding that force creates motion, but stiffness controls that motion – Menachem
- If we properly strength train and create balance and symmetry within a joint, then athletes will have the ability to use that strength for force loading and producing, isometric movements, etc.
- “The muscle being strong enough to hold its position gives the tendon the chance to have elastic quality vs. a weak muscle which won’t let that happen as much… good fundamental strength allows us to do so many more quality things with our movement” – Lee
- Good balance with pushing and pulling pattern – both vertically and horizontally
- Cyclists spend more time on pulling because they’re so used to falling forward in the pushing posture
- It depends!
- Cyclists spend more time on pulling because they’re so used to falling forward in the pushing posture
- Make sure athletes squat with adequate dorsi-flexion
- Greater knee flexion (forward) and keep heel down
- Power-lifters tend to be more posterior-dominant
- Every time a runner puts their foot on the ground that’s a form of deceleration
- Make sure they can do it with adequate range of motion from the ankle, knee, hip, cervical spine, and pelvis
- General → specific type patterns
- More sport-force specific
- We want to eccentrically and concentrically produce force, while also having variability
29:55 –
Why are we posterior-chain focused?
- Sedentary lifestyle leads to poor posture
- You still need to focus on the explosive part – concentric speeds and rate of force development
- The best programs have a mix and progression
31:30 –
The Need for Speed
- Pace zone indexes
- Aerobic, tempo, and threshold zones
- 35-45 second gap between tempo and threshold
- Aerobic, tempo, and threshold zones
- The best milers and 5k runners are highly inefficient at any speed other than their race speed
- The ability to have capacity – to be able to push yourself – to get the tissues to be able to manage greater speeds and intensities is really important
- When you learn to change gears/speed, everything from pelvic position to T-spine, ability to control rotation, arm action (will get bigger), foot action, where you land on your foot will change
- Athletes must be exposed to this to help prevent injury
- When you learn to change gears/speed, everything from pelvic position to T-spine, ability to control rotation, arm action (will get bigger), foot action, where you land on your foot will change
35:50 –
Program Design for Runners
- First, work on biomechanical efficiencies, any changes that you might have to make, running technique, and sprint mechanical technique to improve tissue quality and joint loading mechanics
- Try to buffer their ability to have greater speed and manage good plyometric and jump training
- Then, less volume of pure distance, which will increase over time
- “It is harder to gain speed, if you don’t have it, than it is to gain endurance capacity” – Lee
- Quality warm-ups that give multi-directional movement
- Lateral movement
- Karaoke for joint loading in feet and hips
- Resistant lateral stuff
- Lateral bounding and skipping
- Go into different forms of power and speed/plyometric concept, which leads into easier type movements, such as stride-outs
- Typically, have the athlete moving more quickly toward the beginning of the week, when they tend to be more fresh mentally and physically, and toward the end, taper the intensity down
- Lee: make sure they get between that range of 80-100 miles because that’s what they’re gonna have to do/manage (for iron man)
- Menachem: max. 50-55 miles a week, but very high quality
- Galloway method: doing their efforts and then walking and using HRV and teaching breathing and maintaining posture
- “I would definitely defer to your expertise in that area; that’s without a doubt” – Lee
- Progressive runs teach explosiveness, and as you’re getting tired you get tissue strain, a higher metabolic impact, and a greater hormonal response in recovery because you’re ramping up as you go through
- Galloway method: doing their efforts and then walking and using HRV and teaching breathing and maintaining posture
47:43 –
Strength Baselines
- Big on single-leg
- Especially for runners
- Box squat where they’re standing on box and lower down so free leg drops below the side of the box, and they’re getting to at least parallel, hopefully more
- At least 5 times with 45-60 pounds
- Hinge pattern
- Somewhere between 65-75 pound (raw numbers) dumbbell single-leg RDL
- Know they are developing really good stability in that posture
- Hip flexion and extension control
- It also depends!
- Somewhere between 65-75 pound (raw numbers) dumbbell single-leg RDL
52:22 –
Expectations for arm carriage
- It’s really important that they have the ability to have really good scapular movement form various arm positions
- Looking for really good scapular rhythm around the ribs and the ability to maintain positions functionally and easily
- Ability to go unilateral, and have extension and rotation – or flexion and rotation – through the thoracic and have the arm move through its range of motion from an abduction position to adducted – internally and externally rotated position
- Waiters’ carry or PNF pattern across the body
- Wants to see good symmetry and range of motion and pain-free with various tasks of the shoulder
- Rotary stability/transverse control
- One-armed and one-legged exercises
55:28 –
Safe Drills for Cyclists and Triathletes
- Jump rope builds foot quality and ankle stiffness and focuses on how our thorax and cervical spine manage quick loading
- Transfer into a gait pattern of simple A-drills
- Gradually starting to add a baseline plyometric and elastic type reflex activities
- Sprinting teaches them to open up and the greater arm action creates rotary stability and elastic energy that is wanted
58:59 –
Ideal Session
- Tissue quality work to get blood flow, heat, and extensibility within the tissue
- Roller
- Multiplanar movement
- Lunge series or matrix
- Medicine ball throws (still warm-up)
- ~4-6 pound ball with different releases works on internal and external rotation from shoulder and joint, and thorax movement, and dorsi-flex → plantar-flex release pattern
- Power
- Upper body
- Medicine ball throw or tubing, explosive movement
- Lower body
- Jump
- Upper body
- Speed
- Strength
- Energy system training
- Different from metabolic
1:02:41 –
Key Points for Listeners
- Strength is SO important
- Making athletes stronger is the foundation of movement
- Also for injury prevention
- Backpedal work from walking → squatting → running → skipping (all backwards) because it creates a natural subconscious to drive great dorsi-flexion through the great toe and the ankle and challenges the quadriceps to work with the lower part of the ankle
- Do backpedalling when they’re extended and taller, which gets the front of the hip to communicate really well with gastrocnemius
- Helps athletes feel really good in range of motion and control, as well as with injury prevention and overall performance
1:06:31 –
Conclusion
- Where can listeners find you?
- Speed Insiders: 6-month course
- Leetaft.com (most recommended)
- New video almost every day
- Social media: @LeeTaft