Speed, Strength, and Conditioning -
Answer To Question #2

Question #2:

How often should speed and agility training be tested to ensure program results and proper training of the athlete?

Answer by Jeremy Boone:

Every time I hear a question such as this I always think DANGER…DANGER! The reason is that I believe too many coaches test just to test without giving much consideration to exactly what qualities they are wanting to measure and struggle with how to properly design intervention strategies based on the results.

Speed and agility testing alone will not give a coach enough information to make an informed decision about an athlete’s performance. You can have two athletes with the same time in a change of direction test but one athlete may by compensating way more than the other. Below are the guidelines I have used over the past few years:

General performance testing two to three times per year to include vertical jump or standing broad jump, ten yard dash, forty yard dash, shuttle test, beep test, etc. The two most specific times include the beginning of the off-season and the beginning of the preseason. It does not do much good to test at the end of a preseason or even a very short preseason as there is just not enough time to then make actual performance gains if the athlete tests poorly.

Individual screening evaluations four to six times per year to include the hop and stop test and if needed the Functional Movement Screen. The main benefit of the hop and stop test is that it will tell give you a quantitative measure comparing force production, force absorption, and asymmetry of each independent leg. This can now help to take the guesswork out of program design as you can know which leg is most at risk at any or all of the testing measures.

Products By Jeremy Boone:

Movement Based Games	Lower Body Performance for Sport	Football Fast

>> Back to Ask The Athletes' Acceleration Experts