Frequently Asked Questions

The AQSpeed training exercises by AthleticQuickness.com use an isometric training strategy combined with resistance bands to condition muscles, tendons and nervous systems for speed, acceleration and quickness as opposed to adding strength or endurance.

The programs are based on the understanding that muscles have characteristics of speed, strength, and endurance and therefore should to be trained for speed and quickness separately and differently from strength and endurance training.

The exercises are designed specifically to train muscles for sports skills like running faster, jumping higher, swinging a bat, tennis racket or golf club, and throwing and kicking – all with greater speed and power. The exercises can also be adapted for most other sports skills.

These exercises are used to condition muscles and nervous systems for speed and quickness. They should be used as part of a complete sports training program that includes skill development, coordination, strength building and endurance training as appropriate for the sport and the individual.

These exercises produce great results because during an isometric contraction with resistance bands, the muscles’ motor unit recruitment patterns are entirely new and different than what has been experienced by a muscle that has not been conditioned with this type of training.

When using the resistance band with an isometric training strategy, each attempt by the muscle at balancing and stabilizing the dynamically changing force of the band helps to create and re-enforce new neuro-pathways. This process accelerates the development of strength, speed and coordination within the muscle.

This development becomes even more pronounced the weaker the muscle gets as it attempts to hold the isometric position. As the band can no longer be held steady, quick and constant changes in the resistance level force the muscles to continually recruit more motor units and to immediately react to changes in resistance levels in order stabilize the band. This conditioning is of great benefit to the athlete.

Athletes will get even significantly greater value when this strategy is applied during an exercise to joints in different planes and angles from what they normally perform in the gym. By doing this, the muscles are less likely to become pre-conditioned to the guided pathways of the machines or similar exercises. Coordination issues, speed and strength levels within the muscles are then developed far beyond their current level.

Faster muscle contraction speed is the net result of these improvements in coordination and strength.

Furthermore, targeting the muscles surrounding the less stable and significantly more mobile ball and socket joints of the shoulders and hips opens up incredible possibilities for athletic development.

Throughout this process the resistance band with isometrics exposes and then eliminates weaknesses in muscle development in ways that other training methods are not capable of. Because of this, the training fills a void in the training programs of every athlete that has never before used this training strategy. The muscles quickly become conditioned for speed and quickness in ways that are rarely attainable using other training methods.

If this all seems a little confusing, consider this, using the RUN FASTER with Isometric Training program as an example: If all you had to do to run faster was go out and run, then each time you run, you should be a little faster than the previous time. But, we all know this is not true. This is because simply running doesn’t make you faster; but, rather, it improves your strength and endurance to run longer.

Isometric training, as prescribed by our speed and quickness training programs, does not require repetition in the traditional manner. Instead, muscles are held or locked into a position for a given short period of time forcing your body to recruit the much needed fast twitch muscle fibers that are almost always ignored with other types of training such as plyometrics, weight training, etc.

The end result is quicker, faster contracting muscles all the time, without exception!

The exercises are based on isometric resistance, and the amount of exertion involved is therefore relative to a person’s own strength. We know that many children effectively do the speed and quickness training exercises.

We normally advise that children younger than 8 years old and adults 60 or more years old should consult with their personal physician before beginning any physical exercise or training programs. There are too many potential health problems that can only be diagnosed and addressed by direct physical examination.

You may order a training program with or without resistance bands or individual resistance bands alone. You may also order the training programs with or without video.

You may also prefer the online downloadable versions of the training programs or the hard copy training manual.

All the options and details are available on the order pages: www.AthleticQuickness.com/order

The U. S. Postal Service does not provide tracking numbers for orders. It is possible to get a tracking number; however, to obtain a tracking number, the sender must purchase delivery confirmation and/or insurance options.

Obviously, this is quite expensive, and we have found that our customers are not willing to pay for the extra time and cost for these options. Therefore, we do not offer them. We apologize for any inconvenience or misunderstanding.

You may train with more than one program at a time. However, you should not do the same exercise twice during any day. For example, you should not do the thigh flexor routine twice (once from each training program) during the same day … do it only once.

It doesn’t matter what time of day you do the training exercises. You will respond best to the exercises if you do them at approximately the same time each day.

It’s best to not do the training exercises too close to the beginning or the end of a practice session. For example, if you have practice sessions in the morning, do the training exercises at least 6 hours later; or, if your practice sessions are in the afternoon, do the training exercise at least 6 hours earlier in the morning.

The training exercises can be done during anytime of the year … during off-season or in-season. Normally, however, it’s best to allow two full days of rest from doing the training exercises before competing. Allowing recovery time between training and competing enables new and improved muscular contraction speed to be available when needed.

Step 4 in the Progress Chart located in the Appendix provides instructions for continuing the training exercises to optimize your results: After you have performed the exercises for at least two weeks, it is recommended you continue on with this same schedule for as long as you continue to see improvement.

After you have been performing these exercises for several months, you may be able to reduce your training down to once a week for each exercise; however, you should pay close attention as to what effect this has on your athletic performance.

You will do “one set” of the exercises.

“One set” is comprised of doing the exercises 3 (or 2) times for each side of the body with a REST in between. See Table 1 in the training instructions.

The baseball, tennis, mma and golf programs all require the exercises to be done two times. RF, JH and KF exercises are all done three times.

The training schedule provided in the manual is designed to benefit the majority of athletes while maintaining safety with the exercises. Certainly there will be individuals who might benefit even more by altering this schedule; however, we don’t track changes that individuals have made, nor do we track the results.

As with most exercise routines, trial and error would seem to be the only way to know for sure if any changes would be beneficial. Furthermore, it should be noted that any claim regarding the effectiveness of the training programs is based squarely on the instructions in the training program manual. This is not to say that certain changes or modifications won’t work.

If there is a particular exercise or two you feel could use more training than the recommended number of times per day, then you can go ahead and perform it an extra time without any problem. However, it is recommended that you don’t do this for all the exercises each day, because that would add several extra minutes to your training and may inadvertently start to turn this speed and quickness training into endurance training.

We are interested in any feedback about the effectiveness of any changes you make so that we may include them in future responses to similar questions.

The best way to know is if the muscles begins to shake after a few seconds while holding the band in the final position. This is a sign of muscle weakness and lack of coordination within these muscle groups. It is also a sign that there may be a huge upside to improving your speed and quickness as a result of doing this training exercise.