RBS FITNESS MYTH #7:
Updated: 3 days ago
" You need to perform different cuts and changes of direction in your athletic training."
This was a message sent on a website from a very so called prominent trainer in the Reno-Tahoe area the other day. Suffice it to say the information is lacking on so many levels, but does provide some accuracy in that you do need to practice change of direction (COD), and cutting practice frequently. In this case and with what you often see the buck stops here and it's at the expense of the athlete.
This type of claim or some derivative of it has been circulating around for years, and it simply just abides by popular trends and almost misses the boat completely. If there is one area in athletic performance development that is still lacking it would have to be agility and quickness work. Training structure and systems in this regard are often lacking and really make the difference when improving your agility training metrics to the highest level possible and influencing other skills since research has routinely shown overlapping between all of them. 1 Here is a primer I wrote years ago over at Trainheroic that provides a basic construct for agility training if you are trying to take it to the next level and beyond.
Simply put, you need a highly strategic approach that includes proper agility scenario's (ie. laterals, retreating, attacking), which supports certain sport-specific movements (sprinting, running, shuffling, crossover steps, plyo steps, etc.), involving desired techniques (i.e. deceleration timing, foot repositioning, sharp or speed cuts, re-acceleration, leveraging momentum, body angle, etc.), that occur through certain drill categories (rehearsed vs. reactive). Just like with all other types of training there should be a strong purpose supported by solid rhyme and reason, otherwise you aren't going to get the most out of your program. Period.
I'm a big believer in practicing what you preach. This was back in the day where I used to get routinely hand timed at 3.5-6 seconds, or 3.8-9 if you account for standard deviations for electronic timing.
SCIENTIFIC REFERENCES:
#1‐Arin A, Jansson D, and Skarphagen K. Maximal Unilateral strength correlates with linear sprint and change of direction speed. Goteborgs Universitet. 2012.
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