Squats and Speed

You would probably be suprised to know that squats are used religiously by every successful speed athlete there is.
By improving your squatting strength you are increasing the force output which your legs can excert, which will thereby increase your potential for acceleration.
Acceleration is then trained by sprinting and plyometric training to improve your neural firing speed and coordination. As you probably know, your nerves are what makes you muscles contract.
And since you have stronger legs from squatting, you will have a much higher capacity for each stride to be as efficient as possible.
So basically, the stronger you get; the faster you get.

 

You don't have to, but that is the simple recipe on how fast people train to get faster.
By simply getting more powerful you will already notice improved running ability, since each stride will be more efficient than before.
When performing a sprint, you can think of power as the amount of force that you apply into the ground with each stride. Obviously the greater the force, the more ground you're going to cover with each stride.
Thereby, you'll be running faster from improved squatting, because your leg muscles will be more powerful.

But yeah, you basically got the idea.

 

Have a look at Dwayne chambers guns. His quads are MASSIVE! Squattings where its at! I do plenty of them.

 

:thinkScurla, i do not have access to a squat rack and my question is, will doing "pistols" (one legged squats) come close to matching Oly squats if done with enough weight? Thank you.

 

You need the genetics and fast twitch fibres to be a sprinter. A guy like chambers could still run like the wind with zero squats....

 

Iv been doing 1 legged squats for ages!! But my reasons are because of have a very tight ITB and suffer from tight glutes. I find they help to stretch my ITB and loosen my quads somewhat. Some say it can make them stiffer but i dont rep with alot of weight but i do alot of repititions to get a good range of motion and prevent the pain in my knee from the tightness. There probably not as good as Olympic squats but its the next best thing. Just make sure you work you hams glutes and quads in equal measure. Something is always better than nothing though. Skinny leg syndrome accompanied by top heavy syndrome is not cool.:yep

 

Well he employs them in his regime and has done for years. Hence why his quads are so big. His leg development is awesome. The facts remain that adding plyometrics or an explosive weight training regime augments performance. So il beg to differ. Do bear in mind though Dwaye has reached his peak and is certainly not one of the top sprinters in the world. Much like Ato Boldon he runs quite flat footed so may be his not as explosive as you think..

 

What im saying is that top class sprinters are very fast without any weights. Of course the weights and plyometrics help to shave more time off and help to maintain better technique.

 

:yep:goodI am doing my usual reps with a 45lb plate as we type. Thank you.

 

Maybe. Although i do believe Gay Powell and Bolt have far better training regimes than Chambers.

 

On a related note,do you think johnsons 200m record is under threat? And whats happening with wariner?

 

It seems that this type of training would benefit boxers and MMA fighters much more so than most other programs. I feel LDR should be kept to a minimum and used for weight control and increasing aerobic capacity only.

 

This is what i keep hearing. Il keep it real that white boy can flat out run!!! :yep He won gold at Athens and in the world championships. Johnsons time is magical though. He ran the second leg of the 200m faster than the 100m world record!! Thats just an insane time. Athletes seem to be getting better and better. What id like to know is at what point do human mechanics bearing in mind the natural laws of physics and human phsyiology start to break down and dont allow for any more gains on current records. The other day Gay ran a wind assisted 9.68!! Thats close to 30mph!! Thats just nuts. I know one thing Johnsons proud ass will be pissed much like Wilts was when Glen Rice broke his All Star record in the 1997 All Star game. I can see his face now:yep