developing speed and explosiveness

[bluekey88]

Aside from weight loss (still working on that)...what are some good drills/excercises to develop ones speed and explosiveness?

Peace,
Erik

 

[mango.man]

In my opinion, this is all about resistance.

Try working out in a swimming pool. I don't mean swimming. I am talking kicking and punching. It is easy though to develop sloppy techniques though when working against resistance. So make sure you focus on doing things the right way.

When a pool is not available, rip cord or resistance cord training can be used. Century Martial Arts sells rips cords and DVDs but save the money on the DVDs and just search a bit on youtube and you can find all the same drills.

For the po'man that can't afford even a rip cord, work hard on plyometric exercises. Again, youtube can be a good source for these.

 

[Marginal]

Squats, deadlifts, roadwork.

 

[CuongNhuka]

Pool drills (et al) will develop alot of speed, but little explosivity.
Squats (et al) might develop speed (high reps low weight).

To develop explosivity you need to do Isometrics. Like with all else, youtube will give you ideas. However, the lazy way to do isometrics is to do basic exercises from your martial art, slowly. Do each movement slowly under complete tension. Then, hold the end position for 1-3 seconds. An alternate method is to hold end and half way positions of various positions (the half way position of push ups for example).

 

[Twin Fist]

sprints

 

[seasoned]

Squat thrusts. Bend the legs and jump as high and as far as you can. Repeat 15 or 20 times at the end of every class, and give it a few months.

 

[jarrod]

any sort of plyometric training will help your speed. medicine ball tosses, burpees, clap push ups, etc.

one speed drill i do that works for me, is i'll do a set of push ups or pull ups, then a set of whatever technique i'm working, we'll say a jab. when i do my jab reps, i'll take plenty of time between reps, but focus on throwing each individual jab as quickly & technically sound as possible. i'll do this for four sets or so. the slight muscle fatigue helps me relax my jab, & relaxation is where speed comes from.

jf

 

[dortiz]

P90x

 

[ATC]

Plyo, plyo and more plyo drills. Also kick often and as fast as you can with good technique. Here are some good drills to work on.

- Plyometrics that really work. Good drills but you may want to work up to some of thess by using the drills below first.

- Basketball drills but great for fast feet. Foot work is the key to a great fighter of any dicipline.

One of my favs -

- Starts off slow with some type of demo but keep watching as it gets better. More like line drills but very good with timing, distance, and endurance. Should not rest after each set longer than 60 seconds.

- More footwork drills but again you can never do enough. Fast feet in the ring is key. Can't stress this enough.

- Again more of footwork drills but very good for fast feet in the ring. Even though you see kids doing these drills do not underestimate them. They are good for all ages.

There are tons more that you can do but these are a good start. Remember, you must kick alot also. Maybe have someone hold a focus paddle and then you kick it with round kick as fast as you can as many times as you can in 60 seconds with one leg then do the other. Then do the same for ax kick, front kick, back kick and so on. Do no less than 3 set for each leg working up to maybe 10 sets over time.

Kicking and kicking often and fast as possible is the key to developing those muscels neede to kick fast. Then work the above drills for footwork.

Takes time but not that much time.

Happy training.

.

 

[Earl Weiss]

Aside from weight loss (still working on that)...what are some good drills/excercises to develop ones speed and explosiveness?

Peace,
Erik

FWIW IMNSHO a lot of the above advice is wrong. Squats, sprints, and swimming pool exercises do not traget the correct muscle fibers. Plyometrics is the key. Unfortuneately many do not understand the concept. You are born with 2 types of muscle fibers, slow and fast twitch. Slow twitch gives strength , but not neccessarily explosive strength. Fast twitch gives you explosiveness.

Example could be an athelte with a great strength to weight squat but little ability for avertical leap. Lots of slow twitch.

You cannot change the ratio but you can arget the fast twitch fibers. Squats and swimming pool exercise are great for strength but not explosiveness.

Here is the basic concept. Muscles ONLY work by pulling. i.e. bicep pulls to bend arm and tricep pulls to extned it. For explosive speed in kicking the pulling muscles - quadriceps and glutes are primarily used, so you need to work on those. For plyometrics the primary concept is to apply a load and then IMMEDIATELY work against it. One idea is a box jump . Have 2 Boxes 18" tall. Use a floor with a little cushion to reduce impact joint stress. Jump from the box to the floor your legs will bend some on landing to absorb impact and as they finish bending IMMEDIATELY WITHOUT ANY PAUSE jumpt to the next box. Repeat. These are very strenuous on he muscles and joints. Do not overtrain. Another could be using a heavy bag Use someone to support your balance. Kick the bag so it swings away. Have it swing toward you stopping the swing with your leg and when the leg finishes bending push it again with the desired kicking motion.

 

[dortiz]

Also in our own training focus on where your technique comes from. Kick and punches, eliminate the step. Just come off the line. Watch when you kick if you do weight shifts and steps or just shoot from position. When punching lead with hip instead of arm.
This will not only make you faster but also eliminate your opponents ability to read your moves. Kind of like doubling your speed : )

Dave O.

 

[Earl Weiss]

Also in our own training focus on where your technique comes from. Kick and punches, eliminate the step. Just come off the line. Watch when you kick if you do weight shifts and steps or just shoot from position. When punching lead with hip instead of arm.
This will not only make you faster but also eliminate your opponents ability to read your moves. Kind of like doubling your speed : )

Dave O.

Therein lies much wisdom. When you talk about "Speed" you need to define what the desired goal is. Toward this end there are different categories of Speed.
1. How fast is the attacking surface moving. Generaly, the faster it moves, the more powerful it is. BUT if it takes along time to achieve the speed it may not have a lot of sparring effectiveness since the opponent has a lot of time to react and neutralize the attack.
2. Shortest elapsed time. May not be the most powerful but gives less time to react. This is the shortest time from initiation to impact.
3. Percieved speed. Closely realted to 2, yet there may be movement or lack thereof which gives less time to react.

An instructor once said that we should picture a rope running thru the target to our attacking foot or hand. Someone yanks on the rope so the attacking hand or foot is the first thing to move and the rest of the body follows and adjusts as needed. We often do drills where I tell people to watch their partner to see what moves first. Ths does two things. The partner can try to eliminate the tell tale motion, and it trains people to look for the motion to increase their ability to react.

 

[Touch Of Death]

Develop good tecnique. Don't slouch on your stances and don't slouch.
Sean