weight program for speed and accelaration

Plyometric training is great to increase your speed and works in conjunction with a weights program.
You need to have a fairly solid strength base to start since the force developed in some types of explosive training can reach 20 times your body weight.
There is loads of information on the web about this type of training so your best bet is probably to go to a search enging like www.google.com and type in plyometrics.
Good luck.

I like the general rule 3 to 5 as advocated by "Pavel"

Its basic but very good!

3 to 5 sets, 3 to 5 reps, 3 to 5 min recovery of 3 to 5 exercises.

this is the basics behind my current weight training.
weights are kept resonably heavy (this is very demanding on the CNS) make sure you rest and recover well! :)

I am a middle distance runner, but still have to do speed training for those all important first and last crucial efforts. Some of our workouts include for speed include medium weights (65-70% 1RM) and some resistance running over short distances, for example we have a weight such as a tyre tied to us via a cord and we sprint over a distance of anything from 10-80m. Any of the athletic sprint drills (found on any athletic website) will also be benificial in teaching your legs a quicker turnover. Just an idea would be to do exercises such as single leg squats, dead lifts etc. As the person said previous plyo's are a great one to incorporate into your training, we use short hurdles (8-10 in a row close together) and 3-4 boxes in a row which can be the same height or different. If you go to any track club i'm sure the sprint coach there would be more than happy to give you some ideas, we have several rugby players that come to our coach for sprint advice and training.

If using a towing devise such as the tyre be carefull of leg turn over speed;

If training for strength then use repeated runs over 30-40m max any further and momentum takes over.

If training for speed development use a ratio of 1:4, so pull the tyre once for the resistance, and then do 4 sprints without you will feel so much quicker (and you will be)

Pulling the tyre over distances of up to 80m works more in a strength endurance aspect, but be carefull about running form (pulling a tyre alters form for the worse - and after about 40m you want to be able to stand straight to some degree and flow).

Plyometrics seems to be the lastest fad in speed training today.. just like protein is for the Atkins diet. I've seen alot of injuries because of this type of training,but no studies to back up it's claims of enhanced speed and how much. Some of us like to run for more than 40 yards, so what can I expect out of Plyometric training vs my chance of injury and setback.

Plyometrics like the Atkins diet may seem like the latest 'fad' but they have both been around for quite a while, its the promotion of the Atkins diet by famous people and sports people getting more serious and dedicated that brings these topics into normal everyday peoples lives.
Plyometrics can cause injury and needs to be done carefully which I why I put the warning on the last post, but if done correctly and in the right proportions according to the persons current ability it can have great effects on the fast twitch muscle fibres thus increasing explosive strength and speed.
There is plenty of information out there to back this up, I am not saying plyometrics will turn you into a top sprinter but when combined with an effective weight training program and done in moderation it can have good effects.

Plyometrics is favoured a lot by Remi Khochekemny (spelling check) and was extensivly with Valarie Borzov (former olympic champion) and of cuase Dwain Chambers (for the time he was with him)

Plyometrics works on the basis of improveing the SCC (strech contract cycle) it is this that plays greatest role in top speed! Plyometrics aids with accelaration by simply developing strengh in a more specific manner.

The basis is to train your body to generate more power with in as little a range as possible i.e. stand up bend knees to lower your self about 4 inches and then try to jump on to a box about hip height or taller. This exercise does not instigate the onset of injury and therefore is very good to begin with. Moving eventualy on to exercises such as repeated hurdle jumps (once strength levels are optimal)

Also "jumping rope" is plyometric in nature and is what I get people to start with.

Plyometric training has shown to have a major effect on leg power which is a major component of speed development and the research is out there- scientific and antedotal.

A form of plyometric training which is massive with every premiership football club in England utilising its effect is SAQ - speed, agility and quickness.

This form of training has been proven to increase linear and turning speed - both important in soccer. Look at SAQinternational.com or purchase the book specific to soccer training.

With your weight training programme, it needs to be periodized. Break your year into off season, pres season and competition. Off season, you should be developing a good general strength base with repititions being low with heavy weights. the pre season should then develop this general strength into specific strength and then onto powerful movements towards the end of pre season.

A soccer player is not going to show good cross over from a bench press to a 30 metre sprint. The weight training programme should incorparate speed develpopment work such as plyometric squats- set of 5 - 8 reps moving the weight as quickly as possible then followed by a set of 10 half jump squat jumps. This will increase leg power massively. You also need to look at olympic lifts or variations of them. These will help develop all round power of major muscle groups. The olympic lifters in the last oplympics on average had the fastest 25 metre sprint time and the highest vertical jump score. They must be doing something right!

Flexibility is also a major problem. Without good range of movement around joints, power production is reduced due to small eccentric phase/cocking phase of the movement. This goes back to the stretch shortening cycle and amortization phase of movement which someone else mentioned earlier. Make sure your hamstrings, calves, hip flexors and leg aductors are flexible - flexibility done seperately and not included in any workout as static stretches shown to decrease leg power by as much as 20%. I should know as just tested athletes and found an average of 13 cm decrease in vertical jump performance after static stretching compared to no stretching.

You need to speak to a strength and conditioning speciailist locally to show you appropriate movements and design an appropriate programme.

Plyometric training has shown to have a major effect on leg power which is a major component of speed development and the research is out there- scientific and antedotal.

A form of plyometric training which is massive with every premiership football club in England utilising its effect is SAQ - speed, agility and quickness.

This form of training has been proven to increase linear and turning speed - both important in soccer. Look at SAQinternational.com or purchase the book specific to soccer training.

With your weight training programme, it needs to be periodized. Break your year into off season, pres season and competition. Off season, you should be developing a good general strength base with repititions being low with heavy weights. the pre season should then develop this general strength into specific strength and then onto powerful movements towards the end of pre season.

A soccer player is not going to show good cross over from a bench press to a 30 metre sprint. The weight training programme should incorparate speed develpopment work such as plyometric squats- set of 5 - 8 reps moving the weight as quickly as possible then followed by a set of 10 half jump squat jumps. This will increase leg power massively. You also need to look at olympic lifts or variations of them. These will help develop all round power of major muscle groups. The olympic lifters in the last oplympics on average had the fastest 25 metre sprint time and the highest vertical jump score. They must be doing something right!

Flexibility is also a major problem. Without good range of movement around joints, power production is reduced due to small eccentric phase/cocking phase of the movement. This goes back to the stretch shortening cycle and amortization phase of movement which someone else mentioned earlier. Make sure your hamstrings, calves, hip flexors and leg aductors are flexible - flexibility done seperately and not included in any workout as static stretches shown to decrease leg power by as much as 20%. I should know as just tested athletes and found an average of 13 cm decrease in vertical jump performance after static stretching compared to no stretching.

You need to speak to a strength and conditioning speciailist locally to show you appropriate movements and design an appropriate programme.

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Flexibility is also a major problem. Without good range of movement around joints, power production is reduced due to small eccentric phase/cocking phase of the movement. This goes back to the stretch shortening cycle and amortization phase of movement which someone else mentioned earlier. Make sure your hamstrings, calves, hip flexors and leg aductors are flexible - flexibility done seperately and not included in any workout as static stretches shown to decrease leg power by as much as 20%. I should know as just tested athletes and found an average of 13 cm decrease in vertical jump performance after static stretching compared to no stretching.

I've never been a very flexible person and find most stretching exercises
to be hard. i even tried power yoga with not much success. I usually stretch after I run which consist a couple of runners stretches and toe touches. this does seem to help my stiffness when i overtrain, but is it hurting my performance?. What do you mean by static stretches and could you recommend some exerciies to make me more flexible and not hurt my leg power?.