Personal Speed Training Sessions

      Alright now the first thing I want to know from the people I train is what exercises and/or drills they are currently doing to help themselves run faster. And the reason I want to know this information right from the beginning is because if a person is already doing some of the things that I typically recommend to help them get faster, then it will give me some idea of just how much I can really help and it will make our time spent together more profitable so that I don’t find myself discussing things they are… read more

Part 1 of 12 – Introduction   Hello everyone, I am Dr. Larry VanSuch for AthleticQuickness.com and you are watching video #2 of this series called Speed Training Sessions. Before I begin, I want to say if you haven’t already watched the first video, then I highly recommend you go ahead and do that now before watching this one, because, even though I am going to provide a quick review of it here in a minute, watching that first video in its entirety will help place not only this one into its proper context, but also, the ones to follow…. read more

Part 2 of 12 – Review and Definition of Torque     A Quick Review of Session #1 In Session #1 I showed you the most popular speed training exercises athletes routinely told me they did to help themselves get faster and after going through this list we saw where the glutes/hams, quads and calves were the primary muscles being targeted.  See Figure 1. Figure 2-1. Speed Training Exercises  And as expected, the feedback I’ve gotten is the same as it’s always been, in that athletes are spending upwards of 80% or more of their time training to make these… read more

3   Part 3 of 12 – Settng the Stage for Torque Discusson       In order for you to see how the glutes/hams, quads and calves produce torque you are going to need to look at them from a different perspective because if you only look at them this way, from the side (See Figure 1) Figure 3-1. Glutes, hamstrings, quadriceps and calf muscles  it’s going to be very hard for you to break free from the mindset that all they do is “push the body forward”.  See Figure 3-2. Figure 3-2. glutes, quads and calves pushing the… read more

4/ Part 4 of 12 – Torque #1: Glutes, Hams, Quads, Calves     Okay, so back to the role of the glutes/hams, quads and calves. See Figure 1. Figure 4-1. Glutes/hams, quads and calves  I’ve mentioned several times already, that what everyone typically tells me they think these muscles do, is simply “push the body forward” when we run, and I have this illustrated with a white horizontal arrow as shown in Figure 2. Figure 4-2. Pushing the body, forward  Now, I know some of the more astute people on this subject, like to talk about their also being… read more

Part 5 of 12 – Hip Flexors Hold the Key to Your Success   If you think you know the hip flexors, well then, think again.  The hip flexors are more than just another muscle group to consider exercising as a way to get faster… so much more.  In this article I am going to blow the secret wide open about the most critical role of the hip flexors such that when we are finished, you’ll never be the same (in a good way!) and begin to realize they hold the key to your athletic success. Now, that’s something to… read more

Part 6 of 12 – Arms Produce Torque in the Transverse, 3D, Plane In this part, I am going to explain to you how the arms are used in running.  And, to help you appreciate their role, I am going to continue showing you the human body in 3D (dimensions), not 2D, because, well, we live in a three dimensional world and not two, so, why limit ourselves, right? Misconceptions Abound About The Use of The Arms in Running Before I do, however, I want to bring up some of the numerous misunderstandings people sometimes have about the role of… read more

Part 7/12 – Arm Swing Torque Produced by Shoulder Extensor Muscles Okay, in the last article I began our discussion regarding arm swing and the role the arms play in running and told you that both of the arms work with only one of the hips/legs at a time and that they DO NOT WORK WITH BOTH. The reason is that it is actually impossible because if they did, you wouldn’t be able to move forward, at all.  In fact, you’d be stuck in one place for the rest of time so you might as well forget about trying to… read more

  Part 8 of 12 – Torque #5: The Spinal Rotators If you couldn’t see the torques being generated by the arms and legs where there was an obvious moving body part involved, then you stood no chance of ever seeing this fifth and final one, that being the torque produced by muscles along the spine and torso where its production is even more obscure. And, since you stood no chance, we are going to have our male athlete take a seat to help me explain it to you. See Figure 1 Figure 8-1.   In this position, I’m going… read more

Part 9 of 12 – Putting the Equation Together Now that I’ve had a chance to show you how each of these five torques are created and work individually, I want you to see them all at the same time so you can begin to appreciate how they come together to help you run as fast and efficient as humanly possible. But instead of just putting them in to our image all at once, I’m going to put them back in, one at a time, since that will provide me with the opportunity to do a quick review of them… read more

Part 10 of 12 – The Two Patterns of Torque Figure 10-1. The Ultimate Running Speed Equation  Okay, let’s clear out some of these graphics on our images and replace our male athlete with the female as seen in Figure 10-2 below and you will notice her right hip is now flexed in front, her left leg is now extended behind her, her right shoulder is now extended behind her and her left shoulder is now flexed in front of her. So, she is in the complete opposite position now as the image we started with on the left. Figure… read more

Part 11 of 12 – How to Identify Torque Patterns First, you will recall a short while back that I said the hip flexors always work alone, so, if we look at the image on the left in Figure 11-1 below, we see that her left hip is being flexed and the torque creating a CW torque shown all by itself in yellow and if we look at the image on the right, we see that her right hip is being flexed creating a CCW torque all by itself shown in red. Figure 11-1  So, knowing the hip flexors always… read more

Part 12 of 12 – Torque Patterns in Action Alright, this is what it’s all about! Let’s get right to it and see if you can identify some torque patterns in action. To get things started I’m going to place my shoulder line, hip line and midline on the athlete, like this. And I’m also going to put up our familiar looking 3-step list below, to help guide us along. See Figure 12-1 below. Figure 12-1  Now, referring back to Figure 12-1 above, you’ll remember that I said the hip flexors always work alone, so, that’s the very first thing… read more

#01 – The arms support the push and drive phase of the running process. Dr. Larry Van SuchAbout the Author of this post: Dr. VanSuch is a chiropractor and former electrical engineer.  He developed the speed training method that uses resistance bands with an isometric training strategy to help athletes run faster starting way back in 1996. He has been teaching this technique to athletes, coaches and parents for the last 25+ years and has quite an extensive list of testimonials found throughout this website. Dr. VanSuch’s speed training programs are for running, kicking, jumping as well as swinging a… read more