Get FASTER in 5 4 3 2 1

How to get FASTER by LIFTING

 

FIVE

Train the Running Muscles without the 4x your bodyweight impact

How much can your joints really take?  Take a 180lb sprinter – times that by 4 – you got 720lbs landing in the knee with each step.  And that’s 1 knee at a time.  That’s 720lbs of force slamming hard into the knee.  That’s 720lbs slamming into the knee of a runner who hasn’t mastered form yet because they are 15 years old, never was taught to properly run until this year, and will probably grow 3 inches before next year causing their coordination to go to hell and jack their weight up to 200lbs aka 800lbs of force with even worse form due to 3” being added during a growth spurt.  I am not anti running, I am anti ONLY RUNNING.  I train powerlifts who compete in squat, bench, deadlift.  ONLY squat, bench, deadlift AND they only do each of those movements 1-2x a week then bring home State Records, State Championships, and multiple top 20 in the country rankings.  WHY?  We don’t neglect an inch of the body.  The second we notice their knee is instable the deadlift training slows and the knee building increases, few weeks later the kid has a new PR in deadlift which triggers a squat PR followed by a bench PR due to learning leg drive with their new monstrous knees.  I love the criticism “Coach O’Hara allows the athletes to MAXOUT too often” -  Yeah, NO.  Our athletes just MAXOUT often.  Why?  We don’t focus on the same damn thing 100% of the time.

(If you are gonna train - get the right sneakers - CHUCKS = #1 for LIFTS)

 

Four

Extend your training time per week post maximum running time

How many hours a day can you honestly run?  Take your warm up, add in your real training, throw in the cooldown and then stretch for 40 minutes until the bus comes because your 3 hour practice just cannot be 100% utilized slowly ripping your bones, joints, and muscles apart.  Be honest with yourself, did you really work more than 90 minutes?  Think about how much more productive your practices will be if you did all your track training for 90minutes then spent 15 minutes walking over to the weight room and another 45 minutes hitting the weights.  Think of what the confidence that could give your team when the slower kid gets the chance to shine which only encourages the athlete to NOT QUIT and come back everyday just for that 45 minutes of achieving something and 4 weeks later they hit a track PR.  There is almost NO WAY that this WON’T HAPPEN. 

 

THREE

Reduce injuries and heal faster

ZERO CONTACT SPORT = HIGHEST INJURIES?

Congratulations, you trashed your body performing the same movement day after day, week after week.  Ankles, knees, shins, hips, lower back, more and more nonsense injuries that could have all be avoided by 30-60 minutes of weights 2-3 times a week.  Were your ankles not strong enough to handle 12 weeks of your season?  How do you think you can fix this next year?  Sadly, the answer is usually RUN MORE and not GET STRONGER.  If you are weak the answer should be to not be weak.  Training is actually pretty simple.  Find the problem – fix the problem – look for the next problem and repeat.  Weights also increase Testosterone (in male and female athletes) allowing for FASTER recovery while also increasing bone density which reduces INJURY.  Too many coaches see barbells as a dangerous tool to bring into their training but take a minute and quiz your athletes on when they got hurt.  I’m sure you will have more non-lifting athletes than lifters.  Yeah you can pull your lower back squatting but last I check SNEEZING is still beating squats in causing back strains and I’ve yet to meet a deadlifter who developed shin splints standing over a barbell.

(GO HOME AND FIX YOUR KNEES)

 

TWO

Learn proper body mechanics

Lifters who practice FORM naturally move better.  I am not saying they instantly move faster than the schools #1 sprinter, but they begin to move significantly better than before.  Why?  Because they are spending hours upon hours training the brain and nervous system to make connections.  Think a 500lb squatter doesn’t know how to use their legs, glutes, abs, and posterior chain properly?  If year 1 you spend 5 days a week working on speed and year 2 comes around and your body still is not moving like a successful athlete than maybe it’s time to train the body and not the sport.  Learn how to activate the Glutes on a power clean than perform Cleans 2x a week for a year and you might notice how they instantly squeeze anything you need to kick into high gear.  Too much is going on during a race to pay attention to anything but moving forward.  The weight room allows you to perform a 3-30 second movement and then think about it – go back into the movement and put some mental focus on how the body feels when you do it right. 

 

ONE

Mental Toughness

Training can be and should be tougher than the actual game, race, event, or match you are training for.  Why would you want to take it easy leading up to something difficult?  There’s a reason why no movie montage features the athlete sitting on the couch watching TV or just hanging out with their friends.  You will learn more repeatedly pushing yourself through the toughest workouts imaginable than you will at any competition.  Have you ever been 90% knocked out during a workout but than get a boost of energy and confidence to finish that final set?  This moment successfully trained your brain to keep going and lock in motivation.  You now know just how far you can push yourself.  At the same time, have you ever been near the end of the race and just felt like you were 100% DONE?  Did anything trigger in your head to make you push yourself harder?  Did you find that sick and disturbing level of joy out of causing pain to your body and mental state just to pick up the pace and move faster?  If the answer is no than you are mentally WEAK.  Next time you hit the weights add 5lbs to each side, challenge your training partner to 1 more set or another 15 minutes of fast paced hard hitting movements.