Speed and Conditioning Training, Are You Doing Everything Forward?

Here is a quick little thought and question for all you Strength Coaches, Fitness Trainer’s or athlete’s out there. How often do you do your speed or conditioning training forward (e.g., Forward Sprints, Running on a treadmill, etc.)?

If your answer is all the time, then you may want to consider this. Is the sport of hockey always played moving forward? Is the sport of basketball always played running forward?

Neither hockey or basketball is always forward. Both sports involve backward movement, lateral movements, crossover’s, etc. Overall, there are multiple aspects of footwork and movement involved in both sports. So, this comes back to the ‘big’ questions now.

Should you be doing all your speed and conditioning training forward?

Probably not, but it does depend on the sport. For instance, everything in sprinting is done forward, so maybe just doing forward speed and conditioning training would be fine. However, a sport like hockey or basketball it completely different. And this is why coaches, trainers and athlete’s need to incorporate those different aspects of the sport into their training to make things more functional and applicable. By making things more functional and applicable, it will not only help the athlete simulate a game situation, but it will most importantly help develop other aspects of their movements (e.g., backward skating, lateral steps, etc.).

For example…

Instead of having an athlete make 100-meter sprints, we can change that 100-meter sprint up into different components which would include a backward component and a lateral component. So, you can have an athlete run forward 10 metre’s, then side shuffle to the left 5 metre’s, side shuffle to the right 5 metre’s, then run backwards 10 metre’s, side shuffle 5 metre’s to the right, and then side shuffle 5 metre’s to the left, and then repeat.

This is just one example of how you can incorporate different aspects of movement, so you’re not just focusing on the forward component. If we were to just focus on the forward component, then what your going to see is that the athlete is going to be ‘very’ dominant moving forward, but their lateral or backward work might be slacking. And this ultimately could lead to ‘performance’ issues.

So, as a coach, trainer or athlete, consider this next time you’re doing speed or conditioning training. It can make a difference, especially from a performance point of view 😉

All the best to your training!

Remi