We must trade the palatability of the catch phrase for reality if we want to see our kids actually improve.
“Speed & Agility without real Strength Training isn’t Speed & Agility.
It’s a random assortment of non-progressive activities that typically turn into a poorly organized conditioning session that doesn’t increase performance or carry over to sport.
But, it ‘sounds good’.
-Ray Zingler on Twitter
I promise, I want speed and agility for you, too. It’s a primary objective of all the training that we do.
At the end of the day there are no barbells or weight plates on any fields, so to live and die by the barbell would be awfully stupid for sports that don’t have them anywhere in sight during gameplay.
Conventional wisdom would tell you that because sports do require skills, running, sprinting, jumping, cutting, and changing directions, that this would be the type of training one should focus on.
And I don’t disagree with the sentiment.
But if most are relying on conventional wisdom and doing what conventionally makes sense, and getting the same or near the same results, mustn’t one think outside the box? Peel back the layers if you will?
The truth of the matter is that the modern athlete in today’s world is getting PLENTY of speed and agility/sport specific training as it is with the volume of sports they are playing year round.
Think of all the sprinting, jumping, cutting, taking place in there daily lives via practices, games, showcases, and tournaments.
I realize it doesn’t look the same as meeting a speed and agility guru at the park or the turf box, but it’s the same actions many are already doing too much of to begin with.
And is more better? Or is better, better?
Only better is better, right?
What the vast majority of modern youth athletes are doing when they go to these repetitive events, tournaments, showcases, and etc. are simply showcasing the same speed, agility, and skillests they have, over, and over, and over.
They aren’t inputting anything different to enhance the quality of the output.
They are at the drag racing strip running their cars hard, but getting the same time, every time.
Back to unconventional thinking side of things.
Despite there not being any barbells or weight plates on any sporting fields, the barbells and weight plates are contributing to increased levels of strength, and when we get stronger, we’re literally increasing our horsepower.
Increased horsepower is what improves outputs on the drag strip, not simply changing the paint color.
The same is true for speed & agility in our youth athletes.
Strength is what will drive you to speed & agility.
