How do we describe flexibility?

Flexibility is described as the complete range of motion in the capacity to move joints. It is a movement from a relaxed pose to a flexed extended position.  Flexibility training is argueably the most important practice an athlete can do to avert injuries.It additionally enhances strength training, aerobic workouts and enhances athletic performance.The more flexible that you are in your strength work out, the more you work the muscle groups you are training.This leads to a more effectual and efficient training program.   A flexible athlete also moves with greater ease and improved agility. The American College of Sports Medicine advises flexibility exercise in its general exercise recommendations.  They recommend stretching exercises for the major muscle groups be practiced two to three days each week.

Warm up muscle tissue first before stretching, it’svital to the work out.Cold and rigid muscle groups that don’t yield are said to be a principal cause of muscle injury.Preferably, a 5-10 minute jog ought to be adequate.Through doing this, muscles have quicker relaxation and contraction speeds.This aids boost metabolism, raise body temperature and improve circulation.

A sportsperson carries out stretching workouts in an effort to increase flexibility.Individuals who are not athletic will enhance the effectiveness of practical movement in daily life like getting into the car.   An athlete should lightly stretch a little bit more every day so that they can develop flexibility, speed and agility.

Guidelines

The following are suggestions to apply while stretching.

· Warm up muscle tissues before you stretch

· Stretch until you’re slightly uncomfortable but not to the point you experience pain.

· The sense of tautness diminishes as you stretch

· Hold the stretch for 10-30 seconds

· A set should be 2 or 3 exercises prior to moving on to next one

· Shake out the limbs between stretches

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Why Set Goals?

Goals are primary in the success of an athlete. An atheletes mind needs to be focused on the actions needed to attain success and goals provide that path. In times when an athlete is disappointed and experiencing hardship, goals will help keep them on track. Goals compel the athlete to forge ahead and strive for an even better performance. The athlete can reach a higher level of performance more rapidly when clear expectations are created by setting goals.  Goals can give an athlete a psychological edge as well by improving self confidence, giving them a sense of pride and as they reach their goals for Speed and Agility Training. By goal setting, an athlete gets a physical edge by improving speed and agility, power and performance. Using the agility ladder, a certain speed goal is targeted and then achieving that target.

A knowledgable coach can be a great advantage for speed and agility training. The athlete must have a coach willing to work with them in setting goals.  Good coaches can help the athlete set practice, performance and game goals. These goals will set the athlete up to have an advantage over the competition.  Practice goals are designed to prepare an athlete for a specific event. Technique and strategy are the focus of these goals. Coaches help set goals that are difficult yet attainable.

Whether people are elite athletes or Fortune 500 CEO’s, the ability to set and master the skills of goal setting contributed greatly to their achievements and it will to yours as well.

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When an athlete undergoes sports vision training, they process information in greater amounts.  They react to stimulus faster even when under great stress.  This field is so new that not many standards have been completely designed, but here are some of them:

* peripheral awareness – being able to recognize and react to objects out of  the corner of the eye

* visual reaction time – is time between when a change or stimulus is seen and when you react to it

* dynamic visual acuity – the visual strengths and weaknesses of  athletes players with regard to moving objects    * called eye tracking, this previously untrainable characteristic improves the capacity of an athlete to “keep his eye on the ball”, at faster and faster speeds
* eye focusing – the ability to quickly change focus accurately from different distances

* depth perception -perceiving the world in three dimensions while correctly judging the objects speed and distance

* fusion flexibility and stamina – under excessive speed and being physically taxed,  the ability of the eyes to work together
Keep an eye out for Sport Vision Training, you will hear about it in a few years when it becomes mainstream.  Above all, it proves the once thought to be natural ability to see the floor or field, or keeping your eye on the ball can be learned and applied.

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Absolute strength – the max total power that you are capable of producing, your one rep maximum is your absolute strength

Starting Strength – a measure of the number of muscle fibers you are able to instantly contract

Think of it like this, if you grab a heavy dumbbell from the ground you may damage your back. However if you were to lift slowly this wouldn’t happen. Starting strength (in this example), simply measures the maximum weight you’re capable of pulling from the ground with no injuries.

Relative strength – your strength per pound of body mass

Reactive Strength or Plyometric Strength – details your capability to take in and use energy whilst switching from an eccentric contraction to a concentric contraction.

What is the application of these terms to your workout plan?
The higher your absolute strength, the more your starting strength. The higher your starting strength, the faster your acceleration, the faster your increase in speed, the higher your explosiveness or your facility to achieve your highest speed faster. Think about, “Is my speed and agility training improving my absolute strength for those muscles that are significant in the sport I play?”

Relative strength is crucial because the higher your relative strength, the more power you can generate. This aids you in a couple of ways; your nervous system is better conditioned and can even cross over into your quickness, and you have got less stuff to lug around. This also crosses over into speed.

A reasonable question to raise is whether or not your Speed and Agility Training improves your relative strength. Keep in mind while working out for speed and agility your relative strength is more important than your absolute strength. Note: you should not be worried excessively about bulking up because a 10% rise in LEAN body mass will equal a 30% increase in power.

Last of all, we have reactive strength. This sort of strength plays a important part in agility, it enables you to suddenly adjust direction and overwhelm your opponent with remarkable moves. It also allows you to jump higher while running (but not so much from a standstill stance). It also has a role in running speed however you can find better ways to exercise for that if running speed is what you want.

What’s the take away home from this post? So as to correctly work for speed and agility you have to include strength training exercises in your regime. You should also tailor it for the sport you’re involved with. There can be no shortcuts but there are effective ways of reaching your goals (whatever they may be).

If this has baffled you somewhat you should….

Here is a food for thought question for you.  Why do sprinters (50, 100 meter dash, basketball players, quarterbacks etc) have ripped abs without purposely working out for them? Of course you have got to keep in mind that starting strength is different for distinct muscles groups and can be trained separately. Understanding which muscles have a part in the movements most vital in your athletic endeavour makes it possible for you to concentrate on them and produce swift and effective results

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Absolute strength – the greatest amount of power you’re capable of producing, your single rep max is your absolute strength

Starting Strength – a measure of what number of muscle fibers that you are able to instantaneously contract

Consider it this way, if you grab a heavy dumbbell off the floor you will damage your back. But if you pick it up slowly this wouldn’t happen. Starting strength (in this example), merely measures the most load you are capable of snatching off the ground without injuries.

Relative strength – your strength for every pound of body mass

Reactive Strength or Plyometric Strength – looks at your ability to absorb and use strength while changing from an eccentric contraction to a concentric contraction.

What’s the importance of these definitions to your training program?
The more your absolute strength, the higher your starting strength. The higher your starting strength, the faster your increase of velocity, the quicker your increase of velocity, the better your explosiveness or your ability to attain your upper speed quicker. Think about, “Is my Speed and Agility Training growing my absolute strength for those muscles that are important in my sport of choice?”

Relative strength is significant since the higher your relative strength, the more strength you will produce. This benefits you in two ways; your nervous system is better conditioned and may also cross over into your agility, and you have got less stuff to drag around. This also crosses over into speed.

A good question to pose is whether your Speed and Agility Training improves your relative strength. Bear in mind when training for speed and agility your relative strength is more critical than your absolute strength. Note: you should not be concerned very much concerning bulking up because a 10% growth in LEAN body mass equals a 30% increase in strength.

Last of all, we come to reactive strength. This type of strength plays a vital function in agility, it allows you to abruptly vary route and dazzle your opponent with amazing moves. It also enables you to jump higher while running (but not a great deal from a standstill posture). It also has a part in running speed however there are better ways to exercise for that if running speed is what you are after.

What is the take away home from this commentary? In order to correctly work for speed and agility you have got to incorporate strength training workouts in your regime. You must also adapt it for the athletic endeavour you’re in. There can be no shortcuts however there are effective ways of reaching your objectives (whatever they might be).

If this has bewildered you a bit you should….

Here is a food for thought question for you.  Why do sprinters (50, 100 meter dash, basketball players, quarterbacks etc) have ripped abs without purposely training for them? Of course you must understand that starting strength is different for various muscles groups and can be trained separately. Understanding which muscles have a part in the movements most significant in your athletic endeavour enables you to concentrate on them and create rapid and effective results

If you liked this article, you can find more information, tips, and videos by going to: more Speed and Agility Training.

Let’s explore what plyometrics actaully are
Considered to have first been discovered in Russia, and pretty soon adopted across the world for its spectacular training effects plyometric training has a simple goal: to better link strength and speed with the result of great improvements in power output.The theory goes like this: if you use the same strength, faster, the power will improve. If you use more strength, faster, the power will be geometrically higher.An example of application of plyometrics in a sport that requires a lot of speed and agility is doing a vertical  jump for height in basketball.
Plyometric training aims to improve two things:
– harnessing your bodies ability to absorb and store force;- releasing that force quickly (resulting in spetacular power output);

Traditional sports endeavors who have benefited a lot from these types of exercises are those that involve throwing, kicking, jumping and lifting.

Speed and Agility are Improved by Plyometric Training
First of all, you should realize that plyometric drills train both muscles and tendons to absorb force, they also train your mind to stabilize and control that force. This crosses over into improvements in speed and agility — gains are improved in individuals who already have good muscular development.

The short term gains in speed and agility that result from incorporating plyometric exercises come from the education of your nervous system. Due to this it is very important that you pay close attention to following instructions (this will proove to YOU that this type of training produces resulsts and you are more likely to follow it and experience the long term gains as well):
* only perform when rested
you must train with intensity and presence
remember to keep your rep number under 20 — this is regardless of the drill you are usingwhatever the difficulty of the exercise do not perform more than 3 sets for a particular exercise

Drill this into your head: Train HARDER, not looonger.

Long term gains with plyometric training will result more from changes in body composition — a focus on good nutrition and avoidance of injury is very important to the results you see with plyometrics. The structure of your muscles and tendons will be modified.You should be aware that practiced over a longer period of time, the results of plyometric training will make your muscles and tendons and make them have more spring.
Here is an explanation of how a plyometric movement works:

* first the body absorbs and stabilizes the force from a negative (eccentric) contraction
* as it does this, it  loads up your muscles and tendons with force (think of it like a compressing a spring)
* the spring unloads and the body (for legs) or an object (for arms) is propelled with astounding speed

Here’s an example,when you cock back your arm to throw a rock the natural thing you do is to first cock your arm backwards.  The effect of this is that the muscles of your arm and shoulder muscles lock, forcing your tendons to stretch thus storing a lot of force in those tendons and essentially turning them into loaded springs. When you throw, the stored force is released, allowing the rock to be accelerated at a rate which is higher than your normal rate of force development.

What really popularized plyometrics back in the seventies was the fact that it produced results and soviet athletes started to dominate many athletic fields. The beauty of plyometric training is that it allows you to make your muscles and tendons behave more like elastic bands or springs — storing force and then releasing it. And the fact of the matter is that before this, there was no known way to train for these aspects — leading many people to believe that such acts as a running for height jump were completely genetically driven abilities.
As I said before, the more you use this type of training the more you will also develop an inherent springiness in your muscles and tendons.  Coupled with an increased nervous system learning on how to corectly perform the movement at higher speeds, you can expect to see massive improvements in your speed and agility.To further support this process you should also learn about:speed,agility and strength
How do I adapt the principles of plyometric training to my sport specific speed and agility needs? You have to take the basic movement you want to improve and inflic a pattern of force absorbtion and controlled force release upon it. I know that this isn’t a totally enlightening answer, but the truth is that the answer depends on the sport in question. I have provided a link though. Click here to learn more about: Speed and Agility Training

To summarize this article:

* what plyometrics are
* how plyometrics work
* the role of plyometrics as part of your speed and agility training
* the benefits you can expect when introducing plyometric drills into yours speed and agility training

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