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AFM Magazine


Speed Report: Progression Training – Critical for Processing Football Speed

by: Dale Baskett
Football Speed Specialist
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What really is progression training? Progression is a word we can use in many ways. I use the word to describe an element that must be utilized within the structure of football speed training. When we set up a plan for training throughout the year, we need to progress the skill level and proficiency demands as time and training moves forward. The plan advances the structure to a step-by-step development process. The goal is to end the training season in the preferred position to begin in-season with maximum speed and movement effectiveness. All football players need a progressive development structure.   

Base to Finish - A Plan 
    The progression of training sequences is critical to how well your athletes will perform when the bell rings. I don’t mean progressing to twice as many sled pulls each week or buying 10 extra parachutes to strap on. I also don’t mean using the routine of the same drills, year to year during the same time of year. I don’t mean a set of drills that you administer each off-season because your athletes and coaches like them. No. I’m talking about a system that processes succinctly because of the accurate movement applications bio-mechanically applied in a correct progressive order. A system that continues to stimulate the growth of their skills progressively over time.
    When coaches start a program, no matter what the project at hand is, they usually teach the base structures of application first. Next, they proceed to step two - the advancement of applications for athletic development that come closer to performance movement situations. This is teaching progressions and learning progressions, 101. I hope this is not news. If it is, you have the wrong plan for football speed. It should process motor skill, speed skill and movement skills progressively month-to-month in a constructive order.
    You should also have evaluation methods that indicate movement effectiveness as you’re developing. Is it giving your growth changes to your entire football squad or only for some? If your design and applications are in place and applied properly, every player should maximize his speed and movement skills. If you’re short on getting return value collectively, you may have a problem. This could be attributed to the fact that a progressive system is not in place and it means you need to change the plan. 

You Need To Be On Target
    I suggest you determine if your program has a sound, progressively – designed system. Any type of training applied over time will give you growth, regardless of the direction of the package. When I began to formulate my systematic processing programs for football speed that are progression oriented, I was careful not to implant material and instruction that wasn’t in a progressive format. It’s the only way you can be sure of maximizing total team performance skill. 
    To build a house piece-by-piece, you need a blueprint as to how to do it, so that the end result will be complete. It has to be built in certain order, balancing the progression system involved. As a coach, you must know what part comes before the other. That’s what keeps you on target. It was a revelation to me when I evaluated myself and what I was using in the years before becoming a football speed coach. I wasn’t up to par when it came to focusing on progressive knowledge and application training packages. Believe me, I had to humble myself as to what I thought I knew and what I thought was good for the kids. The good news was that I happened to have been blessed with two mentors who were the best in the country in the physiology and bio-mechanical world of human movement. They were my GPS for directing and designing a progressive training blueprint that had scientific continuity and performance APPLICATION development.

Be Progressively Creative
with Your Training Program
    I’m not one who is comfortable with borrowing ideas from others because they have been successful. In general, I don’t borrow ideas or concepts. I create through proven scientific implementations and develop tangible drills that match the reasoning of the equation, which results in accuracy. I’ve seen success without great structure. It usually doesn’t last long. I personally don’t think short-term success is always measured by great genius or the correct plan. But it doesn’t hurt to have both. Sometimes it’s being in the right place at the right time or just having a great group of athletes.
    I do believe if you learn a craft such as speed development, you need to go beyond the PHD’s on the internet and look for application people who can back it up with knowledge to validate the claims they offer. You’ll find that it’s either great scientific knowledge without good application or, in most cases, the verbally gifted who make everything sound good.
    I have included a few progressive speed and movement drills for your off-season work. The drills should give you a better idea of how skill progression looks.

Progression Series Drills 
    This is a series that progresses skill demand drill-by-drill. There is more to think about each time you move from one drill to another. Even though they are of a similar structure, the movement procedure changes with each new drill. This parallels playing the game from a mental standpoint, always having to identify the task in front of you and then perceiving it as a movement process that you visualize before you start. 

Diagram # 1 - Each zone has a different distance described. Set your cones accordingly. First zone is a full sprint to decel, to sprint again, back to decel, back to sprint. These changes happen rapidly just as they do in football, The key is aggressive control.


 
Diagram # 2 - First zone is a full sprint again, switch to lateral in the second zone, back to sprint, etc. Don’t let the limb speed dissipate as the sprint-to-lateral transitions take place. Eyes should always remain level.


 
Diagram # 3 - First zone is a sprint. Second zone requires a lateral decel, then a switch to lateral from high velocity to a lateral run. As soon as the athlete switches, he must begin to shorten limb speed which decelerates the velocity. Continue to repeat the same procedure over again on the zone that follows.


 
Diagram # 4 - We move to a weave set up this time. Numbers are diagramed. The center cone is off-set from a straight line about 10” to a foot. Athletes sprint straight while leaning slightly left to right as they negotiate the weave structure. Sprinting, they then hit the decel zone in which they decel straight, not dropping the hips but rather slowing the limb cycle down. Repeat the same again.


 
Diagram # 5 - Begin with a lateral weave, turn to a straight decel, then back to a straight weave. Then go to a lateral decel with a fu

ll sprint finish.


    Each drill series ends in a full sprint. Each series, as you can see, keeps changing. This simulates player movements during a game.






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