Articles
The Faster Results System: Speed and Quickness Are Learned Behaviors
By: Gene Noonan Founder of Faster Results Speed Training
Speed! Speed! Speed! In the past 39 years of my coaching career, the quest to improve my knowledge about speed has been never ending. I've always tried to be the best teacher possible. This has meant a constant renewal, a drive for perfection, the constant search for the ideal method or visionary method of teaching the skill of speed. I was directed by the most important overall guiding rule: To build in the factors that will ensure the athlete's success with being the fastest and quickest person possible.
This ultimately led me to develop my system, known as "Faster Results," a system that is multi-faceted. The following ten components are included: speed training, speed endurance, strength training, lateral speed, change of direction, flexibility, pillar training, gluteal, plyometric training, and restoration. Each sport has priority areas that must be considered when one is planning for that sport.
In this article, I will concentrate on the two most-important parts of the ideal training program-speed and speed endurance. Each training program should meet the following requirements: 1) specificity, 2) overload, 3) reversibility, 4) systematic, 5) progressive, 6) variational, and 7), imitational.
Running speed performance in the Faster Results program depends on the participation of different systems that must be influenced-the neuromuscular and physiological systems, which must be related and integrated. In order to develop a concise program, one must include the following: power, endurance, technique, flexibility, stride length, and stride frequency.
In this article I will spend most of my time dealing with technique training, for I believe that this is at the center of all improvement. Our goal is to develop the perfect athlete, technique-wise, throughout an entire contest. Perfect runners are the result of perfect practice. In order to have perfect technique, the following areas must be addressed and ingrained in the athlete: foot plant, arm action, relaxation, body position, and focus.
As I stated earlier, the key to outstanding athletic performance is to teach perfect form; that must be engrained in each athlete. To do this, it is important to influence neuromuscular capacity during an entire workout. Anyone can be a perfect runner at the beginning of training, but the key is to be perfect at the end of the contest, when one is in a fatigued state. As we know, there are certain biomechanical considerations that must be addressed, such as neuromuscular limitations. As a result, three factors are at the center of the Faster Results system: neuromuscular capacity, running technique, and muscular energy. All three are important considerations when influencing acceleration, maximum speed, and speed endurance, which are learned behaviors.
The use of traditional methods of training-uphill, downhill, and interval training-must be limited. Uphill and downhill training should be used only with mature, strong athletes and interval training should be used only as a condition to over speed training. In ail three forms of training, technique is influenced in a negative way because of improper ground contact, poor body angles, balance problems, and inefficient use of muscular energy. Remember that running and jumping are learned behaviors and must be taught in a sequential manner.
The Faster Results system has over speed training at the core of the program, with the use of surgical tubing. Our goal is to have the athlete reach top speed without using a lot of muscular energy to achieve top speed. Thus, we can influence the athlete's technique for a longer period of time (example: up to 100 meters or longer), which would be up to 3 times the normal distance because of efficient use of muscular energy. Our task is to influence the central nervous system after the acceleration phase of running. We also employ the concept of transition; this is the use of surgical tubing to induce running at a faster than normal speed (about .5 second faster in 40 yards) and then release the athlete from the tubing. This distance before the release varies, as well as the distance after the release. The purpose is to influence the neuromuscular system, as we trick the system into a false speed sensation. Thus, speed adaptation (our athletes ultimately run 100 meters in 10 seconds or faster.) As a result, our athletes are able to extend their normal top speed range and maintain perfect form in a fatigued state.
The Faster Results system has at its core four phases, with eleven different parts that are used to develop the fastest athlete possible: Phase (1) is super technique training; phase (2) is speed assistance and speed resistance training; phase (3) has an emphasis on transition; and phase.(4), the major component is pure speed.
As coaches, we design our programs with specificity of function (speed) and then teach our athletes that when we stimulate the biome-chanical skills needed for speed, we can influence anyone's speed.
In closing, I'd like to quote Norman Cousins, "What is important is the knowledge that human beings are not locked into fixed limitations."