Why you are NOT Getting Faster.
Reason # 3 of this series is consistency. You are not getting faster because you are not consistent enough with your training goal. The first part of the consistency topic we have already spoken about in an article I wrote called Athletes Need IN SEASON Training. Click the link to learn about the training residuals associated with speed. I'll give you a quick rundown here. The gains you make from speed training only stick around for 6 days. That means you must train the speed component every 6 days to make progress, or at least maintain what you already built.
The next part of consistency I want to talk about is how an athlete should approach their training. Let's look at the key aspects of a baseball player. They put in hours and hours of hitting, fielding, and throwing. Most of the time, they do this year-round. Now, let's take a step deeper. Where does the foundation of all of these athletic skills come from? The answer? Speed, strength, and power. If a baseball player was as consistent with their speed training as they are with their baseball skill training, amazing things happen. They get better at baseball! Not enough athletes think this way.
Imagine if you had an athlete that was the weakest and slowest human being on the planet, but they had perfect technique for swinging a bat and pitching a baseball. I'm sorry to break the news to you, but they would suck. Technique can only take you so far. Also, if we want to be even more technical, the weakest and slowest human being probably wouldn’t be able to have perfect technique in the first place because their body wouldn’t be strong enough to get into the positions to do so. Their speed and power training should be just as important as their specific skill training. It will only make those specific skills better.
Speed training should not be thought of as a seasonal goal. We have athletes that come in for "Tune-Ups" for their speed training once in a while. This drives us crazy! They train for 1 month, and then we don’t see them for a whole year. These are the athletes that never truly make any progress with speed or strength. They also tend to be the people that are looking for the one "Secret" for speed. I'm sorry to tell you, but there isn't just one secret to anything when it comes to athleticism. If someone tells you they know the secret, they are lying to you.
I was watching a YouTube video today of a powerlifter named Cailer Woolam. He has 8 World Records in the sport of powerlifting. He is definitely one of the best lifters in the world. His video inspired the topic of this article. The Video was called What is the most important aspect of Training? Click the link to watch it. When I clicked it, even I was expecting him to talk about super cool training methods but, the one thing he talks about is consistency. If you want to get better at something, you must be consistent with it. It’s the cold hard truth. Everyone at the top will say the same thing unless they are being paid to say something else.
So at the end of this, I want to express again that consistency is key. Yes, I love talking about specific training methodologies, programs, and technique, but at the end of the day, most of your improvements will be gained through consistency. ESPECIALLY the young athlete. Don’t argue about the 1% when you don’t have the basics dialed in. and yes, the basics include speed, strength, and power.
-Kyle McCarty