How to develop speed: Gary Winckler

how to develop speed

“The hamstrings transfer force from the motor of the butt to the wheels of the foot.”

Tenets of speed development

Athletics coach  Gary Winckler  delivered an excellent overview on what he thinks is important on developing speed. A lot of the work is similar to what Frans Bosch did a couple of years ago, and he mentioned Bosch’s work a lot.

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Developing the Robust Athlete: Jim Radcliffe

robust athlete

“Some people can negotiate the speed bumps of life, some end up in a ditch.” Jim Radcliffe talking about the Robust Athlete in his excellent presentation at GAIN this year. Jim has coached at The University of Oregon  since 1989 and has been a major influence on my coaching since 2011 when I first saw…

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Principles of Training: Overload variations

Overload training

“If your only tool is a hammer, then everything becomes a nail”

If your only way of overloading an athlete to cause adaptation is adding weight, then you are limiting what they can achieve.

Not every sport, or every athlete needs to be loaded in the same way. One way of defining overload (as I learnt from Jim Radcliffe on GAIN 2011) is shown here:

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Strength and conditioning for basketball: some thoughts.

If you think that basketball conditioning should resemble a scene from Coach Carter with repeated running in straight lines, you might be mistaken.

Basketball speedI am lucky enough to train some good young basketball players. Most of them arrive with some sort of work ethic and overall athleticism.

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Is it the shoes? 3 tips to improve your vertical jump.

Basketball players looooove their shoes.  Even NBA players have succumbed to the allure of shiny new shoes that claim to improve your vertical jump. But more than shoes, there are some simple ways of improving your vertical jump (or Vertical in the basketball vernacular).  Get stronger legs. Sounds simple, but improving your overall leg strength…

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Agility with a Purpose: Jim Radcliffe

Posture, Balance, Stability, Mobility

jim radcliffeThese are the 4 key points that Jim Radcliffe keeps coming back to when he discusses his agility periodisation and planning. 

His lecture and practical sessions at GAIN V expanded on the work he did last year (detail here). 

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Strength and Conditioning: Putting the Athlete first.

split snatch3 weeks ago I went to Houston for GAINV, a conference for Athletic Development Coaches, Strength and Conditioning coaches, Physical Education Teachers, Athletic Trainers, Physiotherapists, Track and Field Coaches and various other professions.

Run by Vern Gambetta, it was an intensive 5 days of learning in the classroom, on the track and in the gym. The theme was “Coaching” and it was a masterclass in how to organise an event and share information and ideas.

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How to Plan Your Training: GAIN Review 6

“90% of coaches’ work is grunt work”  Terry Brand

Vern Gambetta did a few presentations on planning training, as well as a couple on coaching itself. The overall theme was “have a plan, then work the plan”.  I will cover some specifics in this blog, as well as an overall summary.

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Power, acceleration and force: GAIN review 5

“Some research can’t interpret it’s own data, sometimes that data is wrong.”

Jack Blatherwick opened my eyes with 2 great lectures. The first was on Acceleration, the second on research. He had some great visual slides, that just explained things very clearly. There was a constant sound of “oh, I see….” From around the room as people began to grasp hitherto poorly understood subjects.

Not sure I can do it justice…

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