If you are a personal trainer that has a full schedule of clients and/or you have to try and manage your clients appointments yourself then read on…

Maintaining and tracking a complex single or multi-employee appointment schedule in itself can prove to be time consuming and unbearably frustrating. However, you add tracking of your client’s schedules, sessions, and membership status to the mix it quickly becomes overwhelming.

As you know spending time trying to deal with scheduling and appointment tracking of your own and other trainers client is extremely time consuming, and time is money. A top strength & conditioning professional was having the same problem and he decided to solve that problem. (It actually took him over 10 years to come up with the perfect solution).

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The arms play a significant, yet overlooked, role in sprinting and speed development. Without specifically and regularly addressing proper arm mechanics within your speed training program, full speed potential will not be realized. Today we will address this issue so that we can continue to make improvements on the athletic field.

The role of the arms is to stabilize the torso so that power can continue to be efficiently transferred through the hips. It is this ability to transfer power effectively through the center of mass that not only improves rate of acceleration, but also facilitates reaching maximum velocity, maintaining those top speeds and reducing the rate of deceleration.

So, as you can see, the arms both directly and indirectly influence the ability to run fast.

Now let’s get into the specifics of improving our arm action.

When running, it’s very important to keep your hands relaxed. Think about holding a potato chip in each hand. No matter how hard you run, no matter how tired you get, you can’t clench your hands so that the potato chip breaks. This is a good way of thinking about how loose your hands should be at all times when running. When you start to clench your fists tightly, that tightness spreads like through your forearms, biceps, shoulders, neck and face. Once you tighten up and lose range of motion in your arms, it reduces stride length, which is difficult to get back without burning a lot of energy.

While sprinting, it is important to get a full range of motion with the arms. Remember, speed is a product of stride length and stride frequency. Stride length and frequency are determined, in part, by the motion of the arms. If you are lazy or passive with your arm action, you are limiting your potential for speed.

Your front arm angle should be between 60-90 degrees at the elbow and your back arm should be between 90-120 degrees, also at the elbow. If your arm angles fall outside of this range, your running mechanics will be negatively affected. In short, you’ll run slower and get tired faster. When running, arm swing should be initiated at and through the shoulders. You should think of your elbow as being locked in place.
Elbow angle should only change slightly, as a result of elastic response. Range of motion with the arms should generally be hip to cheek. That is, the hand clears the hip in the back and comes up to about cheek height in front. Much more than that, in either direction, will result in over striding which, as mentioned before, will cause breaking and can lead to strains, pulls and tears in the muscle.

When running, emphasis should be placed on driving the elbows down and back. When runners fire their arms straight back, without first driving them down, it often leads to bunched up shoulders, which causes tightness and limits range of motion. It is important to focus on driving the arms back as they are recovered elastically by the stretch of muscles in the shoulder. So, don’t drive your arms up and forward because stretch reflex is going to bring them forward anyway.

Another aspect of arm action is to avoid lateral deviation beyond the saggital plane. What this means is that your arms, when they are brought in front of you, should never cross the midline of your body.

Your right arm should stay on the right half of your body and your left arm should stay on the left side.

When you move your arms laterally, across the midline of your body, you rotate your hips which basically burns much needed energy and makes you run slower and get tired faster, all for no reason other than laziness and lack of concentration. Remember, you compete like you practice, so if you don’t correct technical issues in practice, you can’t expect them to be fixed in competition.

SAMPLE EXERCISE
This drill can be practiced either in a group setting, or alone be standing in front of mirror.

Stand with the feet between hip and shoulder width apart. Bring your weight forward onto the balls of the feet. You should be far enough forward that your heels are slightly off the ground, but not so far forward that your toes curl to maintain balance. It is this slight, 2- 4 degree lean, that is ideal for simulating sprinting.

Start with one arm forward, 90 degrees at the elbow and one arm back, also 90 degrees at the elbow. Perform this drill following the guidelines presented in this article.

Arm action at 50% intensity
2 sets of 30 seconds
15 second rest between sets

Arm action at 80% intensity
2 sets of 20 seconds
20 seconds rest between sets

Arm action at 100% intensity
4-5 sets of 10 seconds
25-30 seconds rest between sets

To learn more about the latest training tips, programs, cutting edge strength and conditioning news, speed training and much more, visit: http://www.completespeedtraining.com

If you have been on the Complete Speed Training Newsletter for a long time now, then you know that I like to interview elite coaches and pick their brain to get new techniques and find out where they stand on certain topics. I was lucky enough to have the ‘guru’ of Program Design, Alwyn Cosgrove, squeeze me in for a quick interview. Find out what the ‘2005 Fitness Entrepreneur of the Year’ had to say:

Patrick: Alwyn, you are known around the fitness industry as the person who doesn’t hold anything back and always ‘tells it like it is’. In your opinion what is the state of the strength & conditioning industry?

Alwyn: Sadly lacking Patrick. But to be fair - it’s improving. The problem is a lack of professionalism in the industry - not necessarily a lack of knowledge.

Patrick: I know you could go on forever with this one, but what are a few common myths that coaches still believe in regarding athletic training?

Alwyn: Aerobic base, weight training will make you slower and a whole
slew of biomechanics stuff related to knees in squatting.

Patrick: Do you see a common trait that today’s athletes
are lacking?

Alwyn: Strength is lacking across the board, but we are also seeing an interesting trend that most athletes are arriving with serious structural imbalances.

Patrick: When you meet with a new athlete, how do you normally start out and structure their training? Is there something you want the beginner athlete to be able to do or a typical progression?

Alwyn: I do a functional movement screen to see what the athlete is capable of doing, or not capable of doing. From there we usuually design a corrective exercise phase consisting primarily of bodyweight exercises.

Patrick: Conditioning for speed athletes is often a confusing topic for
many new coaches. What is your approach to improving conditioning
levels for athletes?

Alwyn: Conditioning for speed athletes is essentially speed endurance
work. So make sure you have speed built up before you build upon the
capacity to maintain that speed. Most coaches are making their
athletes slower with their conditioning programs.

So it starts with structure - it doesn’t matter how big the engine is,

if the front end is out of alignment you won’t see the benefit. So
it’s flexibility and stability in the beginning.

Then it’s strength - then it’s power - then it’s endurance work.

Patrick: In general, how many days per week should athletes train speed?

Alwyn: Twice a week for non track athletes. Four times per week for track athletes, although every workout for a track athlete is about training speed - it just doesn’t mean that they are necessarily doing direct speed training.

Patrick: There are many different opinions on weight training for speed and power athletes. Where do you stand on the topic?

Alwyn: Who is the fastest- Men or Women?

Men right? Why?

Because they are stronger. If strength wasn’t an issue
then males wouldn’t have faster times than females.

The key is to design a sports strength training program,
not a bodybuilding program to reach your goals.

Patrick: I know I get questions all the time from parents that want to start their kids on a structured program, what do you think the best age to begin formal athletic training?

Alwyn: I think kids can start with agility work and
play type activities pretty young. I wouldn’t start any real structured
training until at
least ten years old though.

Thank you Alwyn! For more information on Alwyn Cosgrove’s training theory and program design’s, you NEED to checkout: The Professional Fitness
Coach Program Design Bible

Not convinced that Alwyn is one of the top coaches in the world? Well,checkout what the Fitness Editor of Men’s Fitness had to say about Coach Cosgrove:

“Long before ever seeing him in action, I was convinced that Alwyn Cosgrove was the greatest trainer in the world. His unique theories on performance-enhancement, along with his clients’ outstanding results, confirm Alwyn’s immense talent, knowledge, originality, and passion for training. But it’s Alwyn’s keen perception-his innate ability to spot and dismantle flaws in both programs and theories, and immediately know how to repair them-that makes him a coach, and a man, who is so in demand the world over. If Alwyn can help me (a journalist with no previous background in the exercise sciences) to understand the most complex training ideas-via e-mail and his articles-imagine what he can do for you”.

The
Professional Fitness Coach Program Design Bible

In basketball, being able to shoot accurately is only a small
part of the game. Nearly anyone can shoot a basket on an empty
court with no distraction–the mark of a good player is to be
able to navigate the chaos of the court and still sink shot after
shot. That’s not to say that an empty court isn’t ideal, but
it’s hard to come by in the course of an actual game–until now.

Being able to make the most of any turnover on the court is
the key to success at basketball. You need to be able to work
quickly and efficiently across the court to make a basket on
your opponent. If your team members are quick on their feet,
you’ll see your team sinking more and more shots. Speed can do
much more than power up your offense. When your opponent has
a fast break opportunity, you need quick movement and coordination
to prevent an easy lay-up or a dunk. When your team plays with
increased speed, you’ll see sharper, more effective defense and
a lot more stops.

Speedwork is essential to basketball because if your players
can clear the ball and make it down the court before your opponents
do, you get a clear and easy shot at the basket. Speed training
teaches your athletes how to move quickly, and how to put on
bursts of speed without getting winded. That translates to more
baskets–because you can get down the court and sink an easy
basket without catching your breath.

You don’t need to be a science expert to train your team into a pack of speed machines, so go now to www.BasketballSpeedTraining.com for more information.