A question I often get asked by young athletes I meet is, ‘What is the best exercise to make me faster, stronger, and gain more mass?’
As much as I want to give them the million dollar answer they are looking for, the common response is always, ‘It depends.’
In theory I can sit here and say the right balance of weight training and plyometric exercises will help with developing both power and speed, however, unless I’ve had an initial consultation with someone where I’ve had the chance to observe their abilities during a personal training session in the gym, I wouldn’t feel comfortable advising anyone about this topic, especially a young athlete. Weight training and plyometrics is a fantastic way to increase and improve strength and power for young athletes but what I would advise they should be working towards is developing their speed.
If you’re a young athlete at the beginning of your sporting journey, I would avoid worrying too much about what’s going to make you faster. Initially, I would advise you to focus on any areas of weakness, and any broken links in your chain. By this I mean, if you’re squatting and you notice that one of your ankles keeps turning inward while you’re performing this exercise, which might be affecting how low you can go, as well as your connection to the ground, then addressing this issue should take priority for you. Focusing on broken links and weaker areas like this will actually help you to get faster in the long run.
Another example of a broken link is if when you’re deadlifting your knees keep turning inward. This might cause you to begin rounding your back excessively. Addressing an issue like this will also eventually make you faster.
If you don’t address these broken links it’ll take you a lot longer to see any improvements when it comes to your speed. It can also often lead to injury which means you’ll have to pause your training and then your progress will come to a complete halt. It’s important to take a long term approach when it comes to your athletic journey, especially if you’re a young athlete just starting out. There’s no need to rush into the big lifts and big jumps when your body is still developing, you have a lot of time until you reach your peak athletic age. That being said, if everything is in a good place and you don’t have any broken links then by all means aim to do the big lifts and plyometric exercises. Just take into account that the dosage is complementing your training for your sport.
It always helps to bring a professional personal trainer on board for a period of time when you’re trying to develop your speed.
If you’re a young athlete at the beginning of your athletic journey, the Evolve team would love to hear from you. We work with a range of athletes, from MMA fighters to footballers, in both 1:1 sessions and in group sessions. Our strength and conditioning coaches can increase your chances of excelling in your chosen sport. We can help you to develop your existing skills and we can also help to identify and improve areas of weakness that could result in injury.
We will teach you the fundamentals of strength training and movement mechanics which you will go on to develop as you mature within your field. This will help you to maximise your results.
You will be offered a free consultation where your chosen personal trainer will get to know you, your background, your capabilities and what your goals are.
Get in touch with us today to find out more.