The UNLIKELY KEY to a faster 40!

As you may already know, the 40yard dash is one of America's top dog exercises for finding out exactly how fast and explosive some one really is. Literally during locker room talk guys will ask one of two questions when it comes to athletic performance and so-called legitimacy. "Whats your bench?" probably reigns supreme. There's no question the bench press get the most attention even still to this day. Thats usually followed by "whats your 40 time?".  People care about the 40 and will pay large sums of money to improve it.

This is where people like myself come in. I spend most of my week in my gym either making athletes stronger and more powerful or on a field helping them use that strength and power for raw SPEED. We teach everything from basic strength principals to run mechanic work helping improve posture, mobility and other areas that may be lacking. One area that has been inadvertently overlooked has been the focus on relaxation. You may be asking your self, relaxation? YES, teaching the athlete how to properly relax during explosive bouts of exercise. This simple practice can make huge changes in the amount of power displayed and actually recorded depending on the exercise you choose.

Here is an example:

Football players are told during practice and games that they should always be moving at 100% intensity and effort. "If you make a mistake, make it at 100% effort." was a common line I heard while I played football. There is absolutely NO problem with this statement. In fact as a former Division 1 football coach I wholeheartedly agree! The problem is the coach and players don't understand that those statements trigger a response of complete intense actions and thus CAN cause the athlete to become tense. This happens because the athlete is A) trying to do what the coaches are asking and B) doesn't want to be the one caught NOT "going hard", because that could cost him playing time and so-forth. So the general statement stimulates an almost nervous response where the athlete becomes tense and when this happens his performance surely suffers.

Later on in a different setting, these athletes will come to a performance coach such as myself where they are specifically looking for strength or speed training. As we begin to train, it becomes evident almost immediately that they are bringing this nervous tension into the weight room or onto the field/track. They clinch their hands when doing exercises, they're teeth grit and they exhibit tight or stiff shoulders and neck during their movements. Now, realize that this is not every athlete. But a large majority of them can learn from what i'm about to say.

So in addition to our standard training practices where we teach strength, run mechanics and proper form, mobility and how to apply explosive force to all these areas, we have gotten some of our biggest results from simply telling our athletes to relax. Scientifically it is referred to as contractility. Contractility of muscle tissue is the combination of how fast your muscles can contract AND relax during aerobic and anaerobic bouts of exercise. This is vitally important because maximizing contractility can mean the difference between a hundreth of a second and a full tenth of a second. If you know anything about 40yd dash times, these numbers could mean any thing from thousands to millions of dollars or even a scholarship offer. Contractility can be trained in many different ways, but the idea is to coach what your athletes will understand so that you can be effective for them.

So, when I say relax, I don't mean take it easy or take it down a notch. We want our athletes, at certain times, moving at the greatest possible speed with as much explosive force as possible. We simply mean to learn how to reduce their muscular tension (especially in their upper bodies) so that they can execute with more fluidity.

notice the calm demeanor of the fastest man on the planet!

In terms of our 40yard dash testing. We noticed a large portion of our athletes were "trying to hard" to run faster. We had spent weeks and weeks on mobility, strength, form and execution. Something seemed to be missing for a few of them. So one day after watching many fail to achieve faster times we took a look at their demeanor on film. Sure enough, each of them were too tense! So with no extra teaching at all, I simply told them to relax. I said, "You guys are athletes....so relax and let it come out. Stop trying so hard. Relax your face, neck and arms and let it flow!". Immediately with out any fancy teaching and without fail, all of them had taken a minimum of 1 tenth off their previous 40yd dash times. Immediately, smiles broke out and the atmosphere lightened up. Next thing I knew there were PR's being set left and right. They believed in themselves again and went on happy!

I know this is no new ground breaking scientific study. Its something many of us already do. I simply believe that as we prepare our athletes and clients in general, we need to keep in mind this concept. Contractility of our muscle tissue (not to be confused with contractility of our cardiac muscle & stroke volume) can be a huge player in how much explosive force we exhibit whether you're sprinting, jumping or competing! Learn how to be as we call it "aggressive under control" and watch your performance sky rocket!