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10 Speed Measurements & Facts Athletes Should Know

How do you know if you're really fast for your age nationally, and not just fast compared to your immediate peers? Is your training putting you in the best position to maximize your speed potential? These are questions most athletes striving to be their best would like the answers to, I'm sure. Taken from presentations given by top speed coaches Dan Pfaff, Jimmy Ratcliffe, Boo Schexnayder, Nicole Rodriguez and Jim Kielbaso, coaches who've worked with many of the fastest athletes in the country, here are 10 key statistical takeaways for identifying and developing elite speed. Elite high school sprinters spend just 0.08 seconds on the ground at foot contact during each top ....
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Flour Power?

Going all the way back to ancient Egypt, the rich and powerful craved eating foods from the most finely sifted flour. For many centuries and in many countries, having access to refined flour was a symbol of status and power. Towards the end of the 1800's, advancements in the refining process created flour that was finer, cheaper, and had a much longer shelf life. The cost to produce flour dropped dramatically, and it no longer became the sole possession of the top rungs of society. With the population explosion in cities around this time (early 1900's), flour-based foods kept many poor factory workers and their families from going hungry. Nutritionists and scientists of ....
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Elite 3 Day Summer Speed Camps

If there is one area of athletic development that requires personalized instruction, extreme focus and attention to detail over any other, it would be speed training. When you have the right group of athletes - hard working and fully present on the task in front of them - you can achieve quite a lot in a short period of time. It is in this spirit that we'll be launching a series of 3 Day Speed Camps for a very limited number of kids starting Tuesday, June 8th . Each 90 minute session will be entirely devoted to sprint development, with the goal of guiding each athlete to run 0.2 seconds faster on their 30 or 40 yard sprint by the last day. We will work to accomplish this by ....
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Why Building Muscle Doesn't Build Speed

We all know someone that is wiry thin, and really fast. If you're involved in sports, especially towards the college level, you also likely know someone who trained to build muscle and then got slower. The obvious connection here would seem to be that the extra weight you carry when you are bigger and more muscular tends to slow you down. Truth be told, that is only part of the story. To understand the other part, picture an elite sprinter running at top speed. These athletes spend very, very little time on the ground for each stride. In fact, when watching them run they almost appear to be floating just off the ground. Contrast that to slower athletes, who very clearly ....
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Agility Ladder Training - 5 Do's and 5 Don'ts

Agility ladders been around for decades, and are still used regularly by sport coaches, trainers, and individual athletes. Their popularity seems to be as high as ever these days. We picked up our first agility ladder at St Bernard's over 20 years ago, and in those early days it was one of the main ways we trained for speed, agility and quickness. Today, we've learned more as an industry about their effectiveness. At Power Source we do still use ladders, but not for the same reasons we used to. My opinion on ladders has evolved and can be best summarized as "They are a good tool, but only when used for specific reasons." If you use agility ladders yourself, or with your team, ....
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Aiming At The Wrong Target

American Olympian Matthew Emmons famously lost out on a gold medal in 2004 when, despite having an almost insurmountable lead going into his final shot, finished in 8th place even though he hit the bullseye. The reason is he hit the bullseye of the wrong target. This story has been used as a metaphor on many occasions since for putting all your focus on the wrong things. I'd like to suggest that we all do this more often than we realize, especially when it comes to our fitness, nutrition, and athletic performance. Those who often want to lose weight can become obsessed with a number on a scale, while paying little attention to the daily nutrition habits that caused the weight ....
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5 Ways To Improve Your Vertical Jump

Although basketball and volleyball players are typically the ones most interested in developing a better vertical jump, this skill is applicable to athletes in all team sports. Your vertical jump tests how much force you can drive into the ground. This is something you need to maximize both your speed and agility along with a bunch of sport skills like kicking, throwing, hitting, shooting and so on. Just about every young athlete would see an increase in their athletic performance when their vertical jump improves. So how do you improve it? It isn't quite as simple as just going out and jumping. Although that does help, to see the greatest improvements you'd want to focus on ....
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Which Sports Should Be Weight Training?

Decades ago the only sport that truly committed to off-season weight training was football. Weights were, generally speaking, the primary domain of bodybuilders and football players only. Today that dynamic has shifted, with weight training used for just about every sport. Should that be the case? To fully understand the answer to this question, there has to be a realization that weight training leads to two different adaptations to the body - increased muscle mass and increased strength. You may be asking yourself, "Aren't these the same thing?" They're not. And though lifting weights is how you best increase both, they are not necessarily built the same way. ....
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The Other 165

As performance coaches we are tasked with the responsibility to improve athletic performance. Within each 168 hour week we get, if we're lucky, 3 of those hours in which to make meaningful changes. This leaves at least 165 other hours each week where a young athlete can do things to either build up or break down the work they do in training. Ideally everyone would be doing things to enhance their athletic profile. As youth sports appear to soon be coming out of the restricted environment of the last 12 months, this is a critical time for parents to be mindful of the workload your kids are about to be placed under in order to chart a best path for their future. Rest & ....
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Your Questions Answered

Last week we reached out to you to answer any training, sport or nutrition-related questions that may have been on your mind. We've got some good ones to go over below! Although we won't do this every week, please feel free to continue shooting over questions like this in the future. We can answer them on a monthly or quarterly basis if they keep rolling in. How can I improve my reaction time to get to the puck quicker in hockey? Great question. First off, reaction time is not entirely a physical skill. It is just as much about your ability to focus on what is going on around you, along with how well you anticipate what's to come. Wayne Gretzky used to say ....
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Neal Darcy, Father of Elite HS Girls Soccer Player

I want to say that I have been so impressed by the way you run Powersource and the immediate impact you made with Alex's performance. I could not give a higher recommendation for you and Powersource to anyone looking to take their fitness, speed and on field performance to the next level. I only wish we had anything even remotely close to your business here in Raleigh.

Gary Inthirath

I took a few adult class sessions, and highly recommended them. The HIIT training sessions helped improved my cardio in a short time for rugby. Jim and Akhiel are awesome trainers that will help you achieved your fitness goals.

Tina Dale

My son wanted to gain muscle and work on his weak areas so he could be a better hockey player. One of his teammates had great results with Power Source so we gave it a try. Best decision ever! In the past few months, we’ve seen a big improvement in his strength and even other parents have commented on his skating strength. We have also seen an improvement in his confidence. I highly recommend checking out Power Source to help your athlete improve in every area of their sport.

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