Speed Training Periodization

I’m having trouble piecing together a program for gaining speed. I’m 5’7 145lbs 8-9% bodyfat. I’ve been doing Meltdown training to slash bodyfat. I’m planning to tryout for a few probaseball teams but need to increase my 60 yrds speed greatly. I’m dreaming of like a 6.7 60. I’m sure my 60 yard time sucks now, I haven’t timed it but I did get timed in the 40 @ a 5.33 recently. (not great at all) I want to focus on all my lower body lifts because my poundages suck. i.e squat 275(legs shoulder width), powercling 140 reps of 3, goodmornings 115 reps of 5. I can tell I have a muscle imbalance between my quads/hamms. Also lower back is fairly week. I’m sure you can see why I want to focus on these lifts but Charlie Francis says I shouldn’t get too far away from the actual sprinting. hmm I’m chronically tight in my legs and I’m starting to stretch my legs twice a week. I wanted to get stronger then possibly work on speed endurance since these are probably my worst factors. I’m hoping my poundages will go up quick since I lost alot of strength while dieting. All help appreciated. Thanks LM

You need to focus on your hamstring and low back strength. Make sure you are doing plenty of Glute-ham raises, reverse hypers, and good mornings. I would recommend you begin using westside style training with some slight modifications. You are really going to need to build you speed-strength and explosive-strength if you’re going to impress the scouts. Go to Dave Tate’s website (elitefitnesssystems) and start learning. There is a sports specific Q&A sections that will also help you. Best of Luck.

Let’s start with this: Do you know how to run? Because there’s quite a bit of technique involved, even for non-track athlete’s. Do you know how your elbow angle contributes to speed? Trunk angle? What about your ankle? This should be handled first, if you don’t know or don’t have a coach, you could buy Ian King’s Speed tapes. In my opinion they’re well worth the cost. Another question I have is how long until tryouts? The longer you have the more you can train for strength, but if it’s only a month or two then you should limit strength and focus on technique, acceleration, and maximum velocity. Throw us some more information.

You need to stretch more often, and make sure you’re stretching is balanced, just like your workouts.

LM: Now is not the time to worry too much about body fat. After all running speed is what your after. Do not train like a bodybuilder, forget the Meltodown for now. Start doing explosive lifts, plyometrics and sprint sprint sprint. Good Luck

5.33 40? and u weigh how much? wow that is slow id say run more then lift and do some type of explosive training.

Your speed development program needs to also reflect a sport specific nature of baseball. From your comments, it doesnt appear you have had the luxury of a coach which is unfortunate. I would suggest that no matter what you decide, never forget the sport application and in particular bat speed must never be sacrificed. That is even more important because I assume, based upon your size, you are an infielder/spray hitter (please correct me if I am wrong). You have considerable amount of work to do in order to get ready for a professional tryout and have a wide variety of problem areas. When do you imagine you going to your tryout as that will have a tremendous impact on program selection. In faith, Coach Davies

I’m thinking I have around 3-4 months maybe to prepare. There will be tryouts before this but I know I won’t be ready. I ran a high 7.1 my junior year in H.S. at a Braves tryout. I’ve been reading as much about speed traing as I can find and trying to soak it all in. I’ve read the Westside stuff, Coach Davies stuff, and Charlie Francis’s book Training For Speed. I’ve been patterning my form with help from Charlie’s book and think my form is now ok. I’m planning to stetch my legs twice the day after leg strength workouts then follow up with a cold shower or icing them. I think i read on Coach Davies site(correct me if I’m wrong) something about if your run a 4.8 40 with extremely tight musculature you could possibly run a 4.5 40 one the problem was corrected. I’m hoping this is the case. I also plan on playing in an ametuer baseball team consisting of 2 ex minor leaguers and 7 ex college ball players starting Mar. 3. I’d like to get the speed down and have my old High School lead off position back. Yeah and Coach Davies you’re right I’m a infieder/spray hitter. I don’t think it’s too realistic for me to pull off Mark McGwire power with an Omar Vizquel frame…lol Thanks Coach Davies and everyone for the help. Any more advice??? Need any more info from me??? Thanks LM

Go to elitefitnesssystems.com, they are the best. “They get the job done”

Can we bump this one up???