Combining the expertise of myself, Dave Jack and Dr. Toby Brooks, I feel confident saying that the final result is the definitive coaching resource on developing speed and agility in youth (6-18) field and court sport athletes.

Why?

Because the three of us catered to our strengths. Dr. Brooks brought his sport science background and drafted the most impressive text I’ve seen on the theory and methodology of teaching speed and agility to kids.

Dave Jack, an advisor to Reebok and Boston Celtic Paul Pierce’s Truth on Health Foundation, brings his wealth of knowledge in the areas of multidirectional speed and agility.

And, of course, I demonstrate my most up-to-date progressions for teaching linear speed.

(Become a Youth Speed & Agility Specialist today.)

As you research possible speed and agility programs to invest in, you may be wondering which program is a better fit for your personal needs: my Complete Speed Training (CST) program or the YSAS Course.

So here is my opinion:

If you coach athletes competing in team (field & court) sports like football, soccer, basketball, lacrosse, etc., you will get more bang for your buck with the YSAS course than you will with CST.

CST is very drill dominant. So it does have a larger overall inventory of drills and exercises in terms of showing you the actual things you’ll specifically use to make up your training sessions. And it does a great job of explaining how to teach and cue those drills so your athletes do them right.

I think that is where CST is very strong and why it continues to be one of the most popular speed training programs on the market.

The YSAS course, on the other hand, is very skill and progression dominant. Instead of just showing you all the drills you can use, we actually show you how we teach these skills and progressions to real athletes in a training situation.

(For example, I had never met the athlete I workwith in the course *and* he is a wrestler so ’speed’ isn’t a skill he has developed. So we didn’t stage the filming to work with top tier athletes.)

And I think this is a more effective way for you to learn how to progress/regress, modify and evolve the way you run your practices.

Here is a perfect example of why I think you will see the greatest benefits with the YSAS course:

In the agility DVD of CST, I teach that skill using primarily agility ladder drills and cone drills. There is nothing wrong with using these techniques, but as you learned from our teleseminar, these drills should supplement the skills we teach, not serve as the skills.

So I don’t think CST does a stellar job teaching the multidirectional component of speed.

On the other hand, in the YSAS course, Dave Jack bases all his instruction on the teaching of skill sets, progressions and regressions. He teaches you the general and specific movement patterns that generally and specifically apply to general and specific situations that field and court sport athletes of all ages will face in competitive situations.

He does an awesome job. Personally, I think he steals the show, though Dr. Brooks wrote a fascinating and detailed manual that you’ll learn a lot from.

Simply put, CST was filmed in the summer of 2004. YSAS was filmed in the summer of 2011. Here in 2011, the combination of myself, Dave Jack and Dr. Brooks flat out know a lot more than just I did back then.

Plus, I’d bet the farm that 2011 Latif would severely outcoach 2004 Latif.

And for that reason alone, I recommend the YSAS course over CST. I believe you will provide a better experience and help your athletes achieve the best results with this program.

I hope I’ve given you an honest, objective assessment of the two programs so you can make an informed decision.

When you’re ready to become a better speed coach, invest in the IYCA Youth Speed & Agility Specialist Certification Course.

To your success,

Latif Thomas

I recently heard Boo Schexnayder say acceleration is about finding the ‘resonant frequency of oscillary patterns’ in terms of developing and improving the efficiency of locomotive mechanics.

I recently heard Gary Winckler say, “90% of speed development is technique.”

I once heard Will Smith talk about understanding how the universe works by ‘studying the patterns.’

Well, I’ve been studying the patterns, and, in doing so, one fact has become overwhelmingly clear:

Our athletes will be faster when they develop this quality.

Our athletes will be more explosive and powerful when they develop this quality.

Our athletes will be on the board (instead of over and behind) and won’t trip over hurdles (or themselves) when they develop this quality.

Our athletes will consistently hit their times during tempo runs and race modeling sessions once they develop more of this quality.

So, if all I’ve said here is true, then what is the most important word in all of speed training?

Coordination.

Everything we do in practice is designed to improve the ability to express technique in order to positively influence performance. An athlete’s inability to express said technique simply boils down to lack of specific coordination.

Of course, I didn’t invent this concept. I heard Gary Winckler talk about it. Then I thought about it. Then I stole it. Now here we are.

Here’s an example. Last week I ran the exact same workout with two different athletes.

One was a 16 year old high schooler with a 200m PR of 26.1. The other was a 22 year old post collegiate with a 200m PR of 24.7.

The high schooler has been doing consistent technical work all summer and fall, going back and forth between me and another great sprints coach, Marc Mangiacotti. (He and I will be running a sprints clinic this summer, so, when they come, your sprinters will get to learn what we’re doing first hand…)

In our last session, she looked incredible. Her bad runs are now vastly superior to what good runs looked like in June. She can break down her own technique before I say anything which, to me, is a sign of wildly improved kinesthetic awareness and skill acquisition. Her confidence is light years ahead of where it was 6 months ago. I’m very proud of her and can’t wait to see her reap the rewards of her hard work.

The post collegiate, on the other hand, comes from a (Division I) college program that did absolutely no technical work, no speed work and sent 200m specialists out for 30 minute runs on a routine basis even in the middle of the competitive phase. She came from a good high school program (cough, cough), so that’s roughly the last time this athlete had good technical instruction (a 25.02 HS PR vs 24.71 collegiate PR is not a comforting improvement over the course of 4 years at the D-1 level).

Needless to say, this athlete was some sort of Hot Mess. She could feel it wasn’t right.

It wasn’t lack of effort or focus. And it sure wasn’t lack of ability. It was pure lack of coordination.

She lacked (’lost’ might be a better word) the strength (coordination training under resistance), endurance (coordination training under event specific time constraints), speed (coordination training to express highest force in the least amount of time and resulting in optimal displacement) and mobility (coordination training to dynamically express forces through desired/required ranges of motion) to accelerate to top speed and maintain that velocity with any semblance of efficiency or consistency of execution.

Once she acquires the coordination that the high schooler currently possesses, I know one thing for sure, she won’t be grinding to dip under the times she ran when she was 16.

My point is pretty simple. If you want to run a 21^st Century program, it’s not enough to just run fast in practice. As coaches we have to have our own process for solving the acceleration equation. And, just as importantly, we have to be able to help our athletes solve it themselves. Because we can’t cue them or engage in technical feedback once the gun goes off. Their success fundamentally depends on the ability to feel what is ‘right’ and what is ‘wrong’ and make corrections in real time, under the stress of competition and with 6-7 other athletes trying to beat them. Or with a crowd of people staring at them while they barrell down the runway.

It’s not enough to send kids into the weight room if you don’t have the same technical standards for a squat or clean as you do for coming out of blocks or doing phase work in the triple jump.

But if you reframe your training perspective with coordination being the ultimate goal and strength, speed, endurance and mobility being interdependent qualities, it will be easier to connect the dots between movements, event groups and specific skill development.

At your next practice, watch your athletes perform all the drills and exercises that make up their practice with this concept of ‘coordination as the ultimate goal’ in mind. It will be both liberating and overwhelming at the same time.

Here’s the first step to solving the coordination equation:

How to Build Champion Sprinters

To your success,

Latif Thomas

UPDATE (March 24, 2011): I will be running a sprints/hurdles clinic this summer with ‘Building the Perfect 100m Sprinter’ creator Marc Mangiacotti. It will be for athletes AND coaches. I will have a website up with full details and we will begin taking registrations (we have a limited number of spots available) in the next 2 weeks. However, this much is confirmed: The clinic will be held in Massachusetts  on Saturday, July 23 and Sunday, July 24, 2011. Send your athletes and/or attend yourself.

Sold on the idea. Sold on me. Sold on my programs. Sold on something. And I completely understand that. Open minded skepticism is rarely a bad thing.

Earlier this summer, I was contacted by a producer from a Boston television station interested in doing a feature on the importance of training speed in today’s athlete, especially at the developmental level.

That segment aired this past Wednesday and I really had no idea what to expect. Since they told me they’d be interviewing several speed coaches, I didn’t know if I’d get anything more than a quick sound byte. By the looks of the video, they liked what they saw and heard…

Like I said, it’s one thing when I tell you how important this is for you and your athletes. You might take it with a grain of salt. But when a major market news station builds a segment around what you’re doing, you know you must be on to something.

So check out what they came up with…

Got questions or comments? Post them below and I’ll do my best to answer them.
- Latif

This winter I’ll be taking over my third sprints/hurdles/jumps program in the past decade or so (I’m the Larry Brown of HS track coaches) and I have high expectations for the group. This is a program used to experiencing success, so I’m excited to get the season started!

When I get back, I’ll be diving head first into preparing for the upcoming year. I’m not one to wait until November to start preparing for the winter season. Because if you stay ready, you don’t have to get ready.

And I’ll be explaining everything I’m doing, studying, changing and thinking about along the way.

In the meantime, here are the three most popular videos I posted during 2010.

1. How to run the 400m

2. The fatal flaw in your sprinters’ technique

3. How to run the 200m

A few weeks ago I sent out a survey to get a sense of who was opening my emails. The #1 area of interest from the group was “Program Design/Workout Planning”.

My friends. If that’s what you want to know more about, then you’re looking for my Complete Program Design for Sprinters program. It walks you through everything you need to know about writing workouts that lead to PRs in meets that matter. You can watch the above videos until you’re blue in the face. But if you don’t know what workouts to do, when to do them and why you’re doing them, all that technical stuff has little value. If you’re looking for an upgrade to your program design/workout planning/periodization skill set, invest in Complete Program Design for Sprinters now.

- Latif Thomas

You get the idea.

And it’s not *just* for offseason training, especially when you’re working with high school aged football players (and younger).

With the season here, you don’t have a lot of time to commit to conditioning. So you’ll want to focus on drills/exercises/workouts that give you the most bang for your buck.

Remember, there is no ceiling in terms of gaining speed, strength and power.

Your developmental athletes have such a low training age (training experience) that ‘inseason’ is no time to attempt to ‘maintain’ strength levels or speed gains.

The incline helps develop strength and power, as well as teach athletes to fire the right muscles in the right order so they get maximum acceleration.

Otherwise, they’ll *feel* that they aren’t going anywhere.

Because running up a hill is more difficult than running on a flat surface, you can get more specific conditioning, strength/power, etc. out of one drill.

So you can spend less time away from offense, defense and special teams, but still ensure your players can go all out at the end of the game.

Also, keep in mind: It’s fun.

Players get bored doing the same old gassers and shuttle runs. So they don’t go as hard. They’re not trying to ‘half ass’. They can’t help it.

But something new, different and challenging always gets the competitive juices flowing.

So check out this video of a couple of Coach Carlisle’s favorite hill drills you can use in your next practice, depending on what you’re trying to get out of it.

 Total Football Training with Duane Carlisle

Sample workout:

Back pedal

For pure speed:

4 – 7 x 20-30y w/3′ rest between each run

For speed endurance (the ability to execute quickly and efficiently while tired):

4 – 7 x 20-30y w/walk back recovery

Be sure to cue the things discussed in the video, regardless of how you use these drills.

Walking Lunge

For strength & power:

3 – 5 x 20-30y w/3-4′ rest between each ‘run’

For strength endurance (the ability to execute efficiently & explosively while tired)

3 – 5 x 20-30y w/1-2′ rest between each ‘run’

Use these drills to develop the specific skills you want your players to learn and you will have better football players.

To your success,

Latif Thomas
http://www.TotalFootballTraining.com

This week it was bleachers. (Jog up the bleachers, across to the next row, down the bleachers, across to the next row, up the bleachers…you get the idea.)

As I stood there watching these poor kids attempt to get in shape, for a fleeting moment, I thought I had time warped back to 1933…

Sadly, this is the training equivalent of most HS football programs

Now these kids had the right idea:

They were proactively working out and trying to do what they thought was best to prepare them for a successful season. After all, I know a bunch of those kids and I know they have aspirations of winning a Super Bowl this year.

The problem is that football is not cross country.

Football is fast, explosive and aggressive. How does training at slow paces at low intensities prepare anyone for the demands of American football?

You are correct. It doesn’t.

Some of you might be asking:

“Maybe it was a recovery day and they were just doing those workouts as tempo work.”

If that thought crossed your mind, congratulations. You score a point for asking a good question based on legit understanding of workout planning and energy systems!

But that’s not why they were doing it. They were just doing it because that’s what the class before them did, which is what the class before them did, which is what the class before them did…

I call it ‘Groundhog’s Day’ training.

Now, I’m not saying that my beliefs on training are the only viable beliefs on training. I understand that all truths are half truths. And my truths are not the exception to that rule.

But, my friend, we have to keep asking ourselves if our training methods are developing the qualities required in our sport. Because, if they’re not, we’re not going to get the results we’re looking for. And, in that case, why bother?

For football players, training slow will not make your athletes fast, explosive and powerful.

It will, however, make the other team look that much faster, more explosive and more powerful.

So perhaps I’m looking at it from the wrong point of view…

If you want to develop better football players, you might as well take your lead from an expert on the topic.

NFL Head Strength & Conditioning Coach Duane Carlisle’s Total Football Training System is on sale through July 31. Get your hands on a copy now and save $100. You can even break the cost into 3 easy installments.

I’ve had a lot of conversations with Coach Carlisle. Every time I get off the phone, I’ve learned something new.

If your mind is ready for the possibility that some new training ideas will help your athletes and/or your program, then I highly recommend investing in the program while it’s still on sale.

Don’t talk yourself out of making a decision just because the season is about to start. Duane Carlisle’s Total Football Training System is the real deal.

To your success,

Latif Thomas

As you may know, I’ve been involved in the release of NFL Head Strength & Conditioning Coach Duane Carlisle’s new program Total Football Training.

We get so many questions from people asking about a comprehensive speed, strength and conditioning program specifically for football players that I’m glad I can finally suggest something that I feel good about.

I’m not going to write a big long story here. But I do recommend go take a look at the program, read the page and watch the video.

Every football player and team needs to be faster, stronger and in better overall shape. People take football so seriously and spend so much playing, watching and coaching it, I can’t see how anyone involved in the sport *wouldn’t* grab this program while they can get the launch price.

Especially when I *know* there are still some high school programs that claim to be serious, but don’t even lift or train for speed before and during the season…

(I know it sounds hard to believe.)

It’s not a perfect program. There’s no such thing. But I know what kind of information, format and structure people want when they invest in a program. Keeping that in mind, it is, without question, the best football training program I’ve ever seen.

To your success,

Latif Thomas

“I need to do something for football coaches/players since right now is primetime for football training.”

Football is far too competitive to go into this season doing the same old workouts you did last year.

So I called my good friend Duane Carlisle, Head Strength and Conditioning Coach of the San Francisco 49ers. Duane is clearly at the top of the industry and one of the smartest guys I know.

I recorded our call on training, especially during the summer. So before you do another workout or do any more work planning your season, listen to this interview:

To your success,

Latif Thomas

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Why? Because it causes such inefficient ’sprinting’ mechanics, your athletes can’t possibly get better as long as they keep running like this.

And it applies to all athletes. As soon as I finished shooting this video this morning, I went to train a post-collegiate football player who needs help running a faster 40 for his NFL tryouts.

This was a top level 22 year old athlete with the exact same mechanical problems I see in 14 year old girls. So I feel comfortable guessing that your athletes are probably experiencing the same problem.

(I felt bad for my video guy because he had to listen to me say the exact same speech in back to back sessions.)

So here’s what your sprinters are doing wrong *and* what you must teach them to do instead:

To your success,

Latif Thomas

P.S. If you haven’t signed up to watch my free 90+ minute video covering How to Build Champion Sprinters, make sure you click here now and do so.

Complete Speed Training Volume 2: How to Build Champion Sprinters

As always, post your questions and comments below.