Woe is the Sprinting Deficient
So what is the key to reducing the number of lower extremity muscle strains during 2 a day football practices?
Conditioning!
What kind of conditioning?
Running Conditioning! More specific still sprinting conditioning!
This all sounds very simple and it is. But getting certain kids and coaches to buy in to this can be a daunting task. One they would just as soon not hear about. Why? Because it requires a lot of work and time outside of the weight room. It requires warming up and cooling down properly for engaging in sprinting activities. This cuts into meeting and film time.
Several years ago a former player and current coach that I have great respect for because of his work ethic and dedication approached me at the start of his senior season and stated,”Ike, I’ve worked all summer on what you told me back when I was a freshman!”
I cringed a bit perhaps not necessarily wanting to know what bit of wisdom I had bestowed on this young man. “And what did I tell you that was so influential?” I asked.
The young man continued, “I came up to you and asked ‘Ike, How can I improve my speed? And you just looked straight at me and said one word’.
“Which was?”
“SPRINTING!”
Well, you can’t get faster by jogging. You can’t get faster by bench pressing or incline benching more weight. You can’t get faster by doing more curls. Fast twitch muscle fibers of the lower extremity don’t contract harder and quicker by jogging or playing Madden NFL 07. Sprinting! It’s in the game!
You have to sprint if you wish to improve your speed. Simple as that! That’s why the sport of track and field is so good at developing speed because guess what they work a lot on? That’s right. Sprinting! I must be a genius!
I often ask football kids that show up for summer drills poorly conditioned (the ones with the majority of the hip flexor, hamstring, and groin strains) if they complied with the conditioning program outlined for them by the strength and conditioning coach. It’s a simple yes or no question. For an increasing number of them the first word out of their mouth is “Uhhh!” Translation… “No!”
A typical response is often, “I lifted 4-5 days per week.”
“But did you do your sprint work?”
“Uhhh”
At this point I explain that the 50 yard line is not equipped with a weight bench, bar, or stack of plates. And you can’t stop an opposing runner or receiver by throwing a dumbbell at them. The game is played on your feet. It is played quick, fast, hard, and repetitively! If you can’t run you can’t play! And slow, poorly conditioned teams usually lose! Again, pure genius at work here.
And you can’t improve your physical conditioning and sprinting speed when you’re bogged down with lower extremity hamstring, hip flexor, groin, and gastroc muscle strains that are PREVENTABLE (the athletic training profession loves this term!).
So why don’t more kids focus on this essential physical conditioning component?
Because sprinting places you in oxygen debt, the buildup of lactate in your muscles. It hurts and it fatigues us.
Vince Lombardi once said, “Fatigue makes cowards of us all.” There’s never been a truer statement in sport and athletics. Many people have never physically pushed themselves hard enough to conceptualize the meaning of this statement. And the ones that have understand it’s meaning perfectly.
Conquering fatigue requires high intensive sustained effort, repeatedly, when your muscles are screaming for oxygen, to improve sprinting speed and quickness. You have to will those fast twitch muscle fibers to fire. Even when they don’t want to.
And that might be why a growing number of kids don’t do it much anymore. And those are the ones I see most often in my training room.
But help a kid smile today anyway! It’s a Win, Win!
Ike
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