By Dr. Greg Shepard

SPEED & PLYOS.

CRITICAL MISTAKES 1. Leave Them Out Entirely.

THE SECRET 1.

2.

2. Not Teaching Correct Running Form and Starts.

Round.

Jumping.

Reactive Jumping All Year Round. 3.

Using Video Analyzation.

TOTAL SPEED APPROACH Developing speed, explosive power and jumping Plyometric Boxes should be standard equipment in ability does not happen by itself nor does it happen every school. You can do many explosive and reactive overnight. The ideal high school situation is where unity type jumping drills to improve power, vertical jumps and organization exist. Every coach should teach the and standing long jumps. At our UPPER LIMIT Athletic technique of sprinting. The football coach should not be Training Center, we feature a plyometric training area. the only one teaching sprint techniques. Whether an This area is used for training and testing.

athlete is running sprints on the football field, lines on The Standing Long Jump measures horizontal the basketball court or bases in baseball, coaches should explosive power and you can test one jump or test three observe, teach and correct form every day. Just teach the successive jumps as we do. (Twenty-four feet is about BFS 8-Point Sprint Technique System. average, 27 feet is a level only about 5-10% of high Every athlete should sprint 2-3 times per week and school athletes can attain while 30 feet is an elite level.) get timed twice per month. If you can’t run a 40 outside, We measure Vertical Jumps three ways. The run a 20 inside.

A tremendous tool to develop speed is standard method of jumping up with one hand is used. to use video analysis. I guarantee your athletes will love We also utilize two new sophisticated pieces of seeing themselves and learning at the same time. Using equipment. The “Top Jump” (page 68) and the “Impax” the BFS 1-2-3-4 Flexibility Program is extremely (page 70). important in speed development. Also, it is imperative to include plyometric training, regular Parallel Squat workouts and maximum results in speed development.

This is a new term I have invented which has great significance. For example, when a basketball goes up for a rebound and misses, what does he do if the ball is still up for grabs? Obviously he must go up It seems incredible that so many college coaches fail again but he can’t spend and hour getting ready he’s got to teach their athletes how to start. Here comes a proto go up again in a split second. I call that “Reactive scout ready to time 40’s and the players line up in a Jumping.” football stance. Obviously, some people place much We can now measure this ability with the “Impax”.

importance on a forty time so it seems prudent to have a The athlete jumps vertically 10 times as fast as he can. great start. It can mean a tenth. Does a pro-scout or The “Impax” then tells us how high the average jump college recruiter mark down 4.7 track stance, or 4.7 was and how long he averaged on the floor. One high football stance or just 4.7? I think they just mark down school coach brought his team into our facility. His best the time, so take advantage of a faster track stance. We athlete tried 10 reactive jumps. He averaged 18 inches have a special stance that’s fantastic, especially for per jump and spent an average of .45 seconds on the football players.

It appeared in two issues of past BFS floor. I told him he bent his knees too much and showed Journals. For reprints send $2.00 to our BFS ofÏce. him how to efÏciently use his arms. Fortunately, he The new Speed Trap II advertised on page 85 is an learned quickly. In the next 10 jump series, this same incredible teaching tool. It is slick and easy to operate. athlete averaged 19 inches per jump and only .14 It’s accurate and consistent. You can time 5-yard sprints seconds on the floor. A tremendous improvement made and thus starts. [t gives you an electronic time. Another possible by the “Impax” and teaching “Reactive valuable feature is the reaction time readout.

Jumping”. The “Impax” can also be used effectively starts three minutes twice a week and it will pay off. with Plyometric Box Jumping drills.

From BFS Magazine — November/December 1990. Part of the BFS Magazine Archive (1980–2014).