Baseball Hitting and Pitching

THE PATH OF SPEED DEVELOPMENT & UNDERSTANDING STRIDE RATE AND STRIDE LENGTH

By John Davies

Speed, delicious speed, a killing tool—the "secret" elixir to athletic superiority and one of the calling cards that Renegade Training is best known for. Powerful, explosive and yes game related. Rarely understood or examined for specific baseball purposes it has evolved into quite possibly the greatest source of misinformation in the development of an athlete. Our goal on the diamond is "simply" to perform on the field at an alarmingly faster pace than previously thought possible and to dictate the ebb and flow, such that we dictate victory. Simple right, well as I have noted on many occasions, for the wheel to turn fast our attack must be precise, organized in a congruent manner. Destroy the competition with a focus, precise attack built on speed.

But training needs always to be harmonious with that intent and, yes, teach the body to work in a harmonious fashion. Disjointed efforts, incongruent vision will only capsize your operation. Focus—our goal is to enhance game related speed, not merely to put up testing day numbers. Let those enamored with their weight room plaques focus their attention on the pristine testing environments and endlessly practice there cute little "tricks" to run the better 40. They, like those who my teams have faced for years, will only be looking for answers after being stampeded upon.

The only unfortunate victim is the young athlete who has been indoctrinated into believing that coaches think it's all about those showcase numbers. Pure and simple, develop the athlete so that he can accomplish his work in the field of competition first and foremost—not for testing days.But to start our look into linear speed development and how it fits into the entire wheel of conditioning we first need to look at the basics of velocity. Within the terms of linear speed sprinting per se, Velocity/Speed is expressed as a simple formula: stride rate x stride length.

There are many influencing factors such as range of motion, strength, movement efficiency and motor skills yet it becomes an even greater complex balance as we must recognize we are preparing for competition. A competition where movement is unpredictable and responsive to the opponents' movement at all times. Thus stride length must be one that is trained in a variety of conditions and situations and always avoid adaptation to one precise movement. Difficult and contrary to the work of a dedicated track athlete. Stride rate, on the other hand, provides an incredible insight and allows us to peer inside the athlete's level of development and monitor his improvement over time. For a dedicated coach, it will also provide far better information on assessing an athlete's true game speed than the simple 60, which has many flaws to it as a measuring tool. Yes, I know, the beloved 60, but in truth across the nation it is an inaccurate tool used for comparison particularly with younger athletes with different testing environments, accuracy of numbers and even in the manufacturing of times.

Editor's Note: The following was written in relationship to the 40 yard dash and its relationship to football. Simply recalculate to relate to the 60 as basic speed principles and stride length rules are the same for both sports.To calculate stride rate you will first need to determine stride length, which should be done of 2-4 strides once at top speed. Take the test a few times and get a accurate number by measuring from the rear of the back leg to the top of the front leg, divided by the amount of strides used in the test. This will allow us to analyze long-term development, the impact of different training measures and our frequency of stride.

The best way to calculate stride rate is the "flying 20," which can be done by subtracting the 20 yard split (start to 20) from the 40. To calculate 40 times, you can roughly double the flying 20 and add .7 with a variation of .2 depending upon numerous elements such as start mechanics.Across the top of the chart is the time for the flying 20 with the stride length along the left-hand side. The 20 times used for our example will correlate with 40 times ranging from 4.30 to 5.0. Once you have both numbers you can simply use the chart to calculate the amount of steps performed each second (stride rate). For your information, generally top-flight WR's of 6' or taller, have a stride rate is in 4.1-4.3 range while those under 6', stride rate is 4.4-4.6

This chart will provide you a useful insight into the question of speed and jettison us into the topic. Enjoy and let me how your training goes—as for me, time for me to get racin' down the freeway.

The industry vanguard, John Davies is the founder and creator of the Renegade concept of fitness, sport and life force coaching based upon his incredibly diverse background in business consulting, athletic coaching and artistic endeavors in various mediums. He is a well-known advocate of ethical practices in sport and lives a voracious life surfing, skateboarding and snowboarding around the world, defying age against those half his age. Additionally he has served as consultant behind-the-scenes in every level of sport from professional teams, to over 50 top NCAA institutions and hundreds of high school programs not only across the country but worldwide. Coach Davies has recently published what is considered the greatest baseball strength and conditioning book ever written. Check it out here...http://www.renegadetraining.com/diamonds.html

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