Originally Posted by Highlanda01602

Sword.... sprints in sand... GREAT IDEA
If I were around a beach I'd be all over that. I don't think the local toddlers would like me tearing up the sandbox, in an all out 3 meter rage-rush, so I'll have put that training thought in the back of my mind for now.
But double thumbs up!

LoL!

The alternatives are the pool and weight vest.

...that or work on your hockey tan *cough*

Some may disagree with me, but imo some of the best overall athletes in the world are Olympic Weightlifers. I have trained with and also trained many oly lifters, and we always like to test our overall athleticism. The ability to recruit more fast twitch muscle fiber is key to explosiveness. Training over and over again on a consistent basis with explosive weightlifting, and incorporating plyo's as well as sprints themselves will give you incredible results.

An example of one of my athletes, who is currently ranked in the top ten in the world, at 169 pounds is able to do 440pounds in the clean and jerk, and nearly 400pounds in the snatch. He has been training oly style now for around 10 years, and besides the actual weight movements we really only work on plyo's.

We decided to test his vertical and he hit an amazing 48 in. Ran a laser timed 4.3 40 yard dash and hit just over 10 feet in a standing broad jump.

Simply amazing to watch how over a period of a decade he is able to recruit (fire) so many fast twitch muscle fibers from basically oly style lifts.

48 inches? Hmm.

Regardless of the accuracy, ryan is totally right. Oly lifts are where its at for speed. Seek out a coach/gym if you can.

Otherwise, deadlift, sprint (barefoot in grass sometimes), and read up on sprinting biomechanics.

Originally Posted by ryansm

Some may disagree with me, but imo some of the best overall athletes in the world are Olympic Weightlifers. I have trained with and also trained many oly lifters, and we always like to test our overall athleticism. The ability to recruit more fast twitch muscle fiber is key to explosiveness. Training over and over again on a consistent basis with explosive weightlifting, and incorporating plyo's as well as sprints themselves will give you incredible results.

An example of one of my athletes, who is currently ranked in the top ten in the world, at 169 pounds is able to do 440pounds in the clean and jerk, and nearly 400pounds in the snatch. He has been training oly style now for around 10 years, and besides the actual weight movements we really only work on plyo's.

We decided to test his vertical and he hit an amazing 48 in. Ran a laser timed 4.3 40 yard dash and hit just over 10 feet in a standing broad jump.

Simply amazing to watch how over a period of a decade he is able to recruit (fire) so many fast twitch muscle fibers from basically oly style lifts.

If you were to ask me the best overall athletes, I'd say gymnasts, but I guess olympic powerlifters are quite similar.

I will agree that olympic-style lifting is a great way to build overall power and functional strength.

try supplementing your running with other exercises - elliptical for example.