The 5 BIGGEST obstacles to Dominant Speed & Quickness
=====================================================
Part I: 5 Biggest Reasons You're Still Slower Than Your Teammates
1.Your stiffness stinks
Have you ever been playing a game and had to make a quick
cut or change of direction, and it didn't feel like it was that
fast or quick? Almost like it was a little unstable and if you
were just "stronger" at that movement, you'd be a lot quicker
and faster?
If so, then you've already experienced what a lack of stiffness will
do for you.
Stiffness is the ability of your muscles and tendons to instantly "lock-up"
and stop a negative, downward movement. It's that moment when you
land from a jump, then immediately have to jump back up again (maybe
for a rebound, etc).
You have to quickly stop the negative downward movement caused by
the momentum of the jump, so you can start your next jump as fast
as possible.
Think about a player like Shawn Marion: He has insane muscular and tendon
stiffness. When he runs and jumps, he spends almost no time with his
feet actually on the ground -- he's always bouncing on to the next step or jump
(and that's a VERY common characteristic of an athlete with good
stiffness -- their feet spend almost no time on the ground when they're
running).
Now, if you don't have good stiffness, then every movement you make
is taking WAY longer than it could, which simply means you're still
one of the "slow guys" out there.
Improve your stiffness and you instantly improve your speed and quickness.
2. You have SLOW reaction time
Reaction time is simply how quickly you can react to an external
stimulus. It's when you're guarding the other guy in a basketball game
and he makes a move, it's how fast you can react to his move and slide over to stop his drive. I mean, let's be real here, have you ever had a time
where you were guarding someone and you couldn't react fast enough to
their quickness and they kept driving by you?
If you could have reacted faster to what they were doing, you would
have been able to stop them a whole lot easier.
3. You're a "program hopper".
People love the "latest thing", right? We all want the newest
gadget, the shiniest object, the latest pair of Air Forces.
Remember when the IPad first came out? EVERYONE had
to have one, even if they had just bought a new laptop. It doesn't
matter if you already have something like it, we all just love new stuff.
Now this is totally cool and fine when it comes to "stuff", but when
it comes to YOUR training, it's not so good. If you've
ever started a new training program only to "try" another one
a couple weeks later, you're guilty of this speed and quickness sin.
To succeed with a training program and attain all of the results
it promises you, you need to actually do it and use it for an
extended period of time.
For example, when one of the hundreds or thousands of athletes
picked up their discounted copy of Truth About Quickness 2.0
yesterday, they found a video from me on the download
page telling them how important following through with the program
will be for their success (and I'm even gonna give out some of my ninja tricks to
make sure they do actually follow through!).
I might actually give away a couple of those on here too..hmm...
4. Your movement efficiency is whack.
Movement efficiency is (big, hairy revelation coming..)
how efficiently you move. It's not hard for me or you to
understand the importance of moving efficiently if we
want to become quicker and faster, but let me give
you a couple examples here to help you better "feel"
what it is:
Ever watch Derrick Rose play? Tell me if you ever see
any "wasted" movement or energy from him? You don't.
And that's because his movement efficiency is serious awesomesauce.
He doesn't make any loud, "clunky" steps that allow for energy
leaks, he doesn't unnecessary steps when he's driving to the basket
and every movement he makes is purely efficient.
Another great guy to look at is Steve Nash. He is SO
smooth with all of his quickness and speed (and what's cool
about Steve is that while D-Rose's movement efficiency is much
more "natural", Nash wasn't born with it and has had to improve
it himself throughout his career.. I'd say he's done a good job
of that, eh?).
If any of your movements, accelerations or cuts don't always
feel super smooth and effortless, there's a VERY good chance
your movement efficiency is garbage (that's pronounced gar-baj).
Improve your movement efficiency and your speed and quickness
shoots through the roof.
5. You've been using linear speed-training for your
non-linear sport.
Linear sports are ones that take place only
in straight lines: think the 100m dash or
the long jump.
On the other hand, NON-LINEAR sports are ones that
take place in multiple directions and involve lots of "changes
of direction": think basketball, football, volleyball, baseball, soccer and
so on.
Because it's just been a bunch of old-school "tradition" dominating
the speed and quickness mafia for decades now, coaches have been
using linear speed training methods for NON-LINEAR sports.
They have basketball players go on the track to run 100m sprints,
thinking it's gonna make them faster.
They have baseball players running 60-yard dashes, thinking it's
going to make them better with their first-step quickness off the bag
as they try to steal 2nd.
Or they have volleyball players run lap after lap around the gym,
thinking it's going to increase their explosiveness.
Let me tell you something: Using linear speed training methods
for non-linear sports is wrong.
Wrong, wrong, WRONG.
Instead, use NON-LINEAR speed training methods for non-linear
sports. The increases you can see in your results from making
this change is going to be HUGE for you.
Now, those are the 5 BIGGEST Reasons You're Still Slower Than Your Teammates.
Let's talk ALL about the solutions to overcome each and every one of those major problems,
so get your pen and paper ready, let's rock:
Part II: 5 Sneaky Solutions To Be Faster Than Your Teammates
1. The Problem: Your Stiffness Stinks
The Solution: Pogo Jumps (1- and 2-legged)
The best way to improve your stiffness is to use
exercises that involve lots of eccentric Rate of Force
Development and also have a reflexive aspect to them
too.
On top of that, the MOST important place for any team-sport
athlete to have excellent stiffness is their PLANTAR FLEXORS.
Put all that together and there is NOTHING better for quickly
and efficiently improving your stiffness than Pogo Jumps.
There is lots of rapid downward forces being absorbed (eccentric RFD),
they're inherently reflexive and they focus entirely on your plantar flexors.
To do a pogo jump, you jump vertically up and down, focusing on
getting 95% of the "pop" in your jump from your ankles (NOT from your
knees or hips).
Here's a video of me doing them for you to check out
(it's the first vid there):
Pogo Jumps
For BEST results, do 3-4 sets of pogo jumps for sets of 10-20 reps
2-3x a week for the next 4 weeks. Rest 45-60 seconds between sets.
Do them before your workouts and most likely, after just a couple
weeks of doing that, you'll notice a new and big-time boost in your
quickness, explosiveness and best of all, your first-step.
And if you've been doing pogo jumps for a while now, try 1-Legged Pogo Jumps.
They're a much more intense and advanced exercise, so please don't
try them if you're not ready yet, but if you're going to, do them for 4-6
sets of 4-8 reps, with at least 60 seconds of rest between sets.
2. The Problem- You have SLOW reaction times.
The Solution - Try Visual and Auditory-Signaled Drills.
When you're playing a game, where do you get your
input as to what's going on come from?
There are 3 main ways:
1. You see what's going on (visual)
2. You hear what's happening (auditory)
3. You feel what's happening (kinesthetic)
And in a game, you take the input from one of those 3 place
and then you REACT to them.
You see the guy you're guarding fake left and cut right.
You hear your coach call out the play on the next possession.
You back your man down in the post and feel how he's guarding you.
That's where you get all of your input from and then you react as
quickly as possible.
And if your reaction speed is lacking, then you're definitely struggling in a place
you might be able to improve.
And to get to work on your reactions, while simultaneously improving
your speed and quickness, try visual- and auditory-signaled drills
(you don't use kinesthetic-signaled drills because they get too sloppy/
visual and auditory is more than enough).
To do these, you'll take ALL of your normal speed and quickness
drills/exercises, BUT, you don't "start" a set until a training partner
gives you either a verbal or auditory cue.
For example, say you're doing lateral line jumps. You stand there
on one side of the line and you don't start until your training partner
snaps his finger (that'd be both visual and auditory).
Or maybe, if you're gonna do Speed Skater Jumps, you stand there with
your eyes closed and don't start until you hear your training partner
yell, "We be steady mobbin'!" (that'd be an auditory cue).
Try that for a few weeks and see what it does for you reaction times.
3. The Problem - You're A Program Hopper
The Solution - Find ONE Program That is PROVEN and Stick With It
This one is almost entirely self-explanatory.
If you want to be 100% SURE that the program you're using
is going to work for you, then YOU need to stick with and follow
through with it.
The best, longest-lasting results take time and switching
from program to program is the BEST way to make sure you
don't get results.
I don't mean to pitch here, but that's one of the best things
about the Truth About Quickness 2.0: It doesn't make you
change programs...instead, it fits right in with almost every
other program out there, creating a synergistic effect for your
results.
It fits in so well because the workouts are fast (just 9 minutes long
for most) and they're supposed to be done right at the start of your
workout.
So you do your TAQ 2.0 workouts, then do the rest of your training.
And pretty soon, you're drastically quicker, running around like
a tiger in the wild chasing down his prey, PLUS you get all the results
you were gonna get from the original program you were already following.
4. The Problem - Your movement efficiency is whack.
The Solution - Focus on the SOUNDS made during your plyometric and speed training.
This is easily one of my favorite ways for athletes to make rapid improvements in
their movement efficiency.
For the next few weeks, during all of your plyometric and speed
exercises, focus on the sounds you make every time your feet
hit the ground (whether it's landing from a jump or a foot hitting the
ground during a sprint, etc).
To focus on your movement efficiency, you want those sounds to be
QUIETER.
You see, most athletes with crappy movement efficiency usually make
really loud, clunky noises with each step and landing and if that's you,
then you're wasting potential energy and moving highly inefficiently.
If your steps are quieter, you're inherently making better use of your
energy and moving more efficiently.
But here's the key: You don't want to move so quietly that you're not
applying any force into the ground - that'll slow you down more than anything.
Just pay attention to how much noise you're making on landings,
and it it's too clunky or too loud, make a conscious effort to not
sound like an master martial artist breaking a stacks of bricks
with his forehead :-)
Within a couple weeks, you'll notice your movements to be much
quicker and more efficient -- and all of it from one simple change
during your workouts.
5. The Problem - You've Been Using Linear Speed Training For Your Non-Linear Sport
The Solution - Use the RIGHT Non-Linear Speed Training Methods In Your Workouts
The problem is that NOT all forms of Non-Linear Speed Training Methods are
created equal. Some that you may have been exposed to probably fit right
in to this "not nearly as good" category.
So what is the "right" way of non-linear speed training?
Well, I've tested out every method and strategy under the sun
for the last 6 years, and I have found NOTHING nearly as efficient as the training found in The Truth About Quickness Insider's System 2.0.
Most of the exercises are NEW for 99% of the population, and the
way we set them up are NEW for 100% of the population.
Check It Out Here!
And on top of that, it's available right now at a massive $40 OFF
"Launch Special-Only" Discount until TOMORROW.
So if you're ready to have lightning-quickness and get blazingly fast
in just 9 minutes a workout (albeit, a hard 9 minutes), then do not wait.