Relative Strength The Key To Speed

(Sunday, August 14, 2005) - Athletes at the Parisi Speed School constantly hear the term "relative strength". What does it mean? Simply put, it is how strong someone is for his or her body weight. Overall strength is not always a great predictor of sprinting speed. When most people think of strength they think of lifting weights. However, it is not an athlete's ability to lift weights that determines his or her ability to sprint. If an athlete can move his or her body weight against external forces such as gravity and friction more effectively, he or she will be able to run faster and jump higher.
It is not uncommon to see a thirteen-year old female soccer player have a greater "relative strength" than a high school football player, even though the high school football player may have greater overall strength. With two athletes of the same height and weight, the stronger one will always be the fastest.

The important thing to remember is that sprinting is a body weight exercise. Athletes with good sprinting speed always have the ability to perform other body weight exercises such as push-ups, chin ups, and jumping with equal dexterity. In every athlete's initial evaluation we test his or her relative strength with the chin up test and the vertical jump as well as our standard 10, 20 and 40-yard dashes. It is from these tests that we prescribe a program to fit their needs.

There are three ways to increase an athlete's "relative strength". The first is to get stronger for your size. The younger athletes in our program are constantly encouraged to do the exercises outlined in our Homework books in order to improve their strength. The second is to gain muscle mass. A larger amount of muscle mass without fat gain always results in a more powerful athlete. The third is to retain the same level of strength and lose body fat. A weak athlete with unnecessary body fat simply cannot be fast.

In our program we perform a variety of exercises, with and without weights, designed to improve strength in the muscles specific to jumping and sprinting. We also have a nutrition program to counsel our athletes in good eating habits that will decrease his or her body fat percentage and maximize his or her performance. Either method will increase an athlete's "relative strength" and sprinting speed.

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