Is Speed Only for the Gifted?

Speed is a genetic trait. Take a look at a chilled chicken at the local super market. The breast is white as it heavily consists of fast twitch muscle fibres. These are non-oxidative fibres which mean that they don't utilise oxygen for their main form of kinetic energy during intense activity. The wings are red which shows that they are predominantly built up of oxidative slow twitch muscle fibres. Slow twitch fibres require a consistent high level of oxygen whilst under stress. The human skeletal muscular structure is built up of many different muscle fibre types. Explosive sports men are gifted with a high percentage of non-oxidative or fast twitch muscle fibres. Sadly these muscle can convert to slow twitch muscle fibres if the training demand requires them to do so e.g. Training for a marathon. This does not happen the other way around. 

Make no mistake. You can improve your speed. If you don't believe you can then you or the athlete you are working with will not make the desired improvements. So how do you go about it? 

Well first of all you need to consider the key physiological ingredients of speed. Although an athlete may contain a high percentage of slow twitch muscle fibres it is essential that resistance training is practiced at a fast speed. 

Plyometrics are important for promoting the stretch shortening cycle. People often forget that neural drive is an important factor in speed and focus too much in the skeletal muscles. Look after the nervous system and the muscles will develop in return. 

Lean mass is also associated with speed so a degree of hypertrophy is also important. Participants with slow twitch muscle fibres will develop more mass with higher repetitions. 

The technical application of a skill is important. If you have poor running mechanics then you are going to be slow. You won't have the mobility to relax your muscles which will create more tension to run agains, other muscles may be weaker as they are under used and your absorption of ground reaction force will slow you down as it won't propel you forward. 

Correct technique is important for injury prevention and speed in any skill. If you're a boxer with a poor technique on your jab, a football player who doesn't know how to move sideways or a tennis player who hasn't been taught how to back hand swing properly, you are going to be slower. Learn good technique.