A new school year is around the corner. All over, there will be in-season coaches trying to condition their athletes to be ready for game time and out-of-season coaches trying to get their athletes faster, stronger, and tougher before the season begins.

Lots of effective exercises, cone-drills, and conditioning schemes will be assimilated. But if the right things aren’t done in the right way, with the proper rest, timing, and compatible exercises, the program will be working against itself.

What few coaches consider is whether the improvements their athletes make come despite their efforts.

This improvement is a phenomenon that author, Nassim Taleb, calls “teaching birds to fly.”

The wonderful thing about training adolescent athletes is that they have a lot of biological momentum, which pulls them towards being stronger and more athletic. It’s hard to mess that up.

Additionally, they are exceptionally resilient.

Even the most ridiculous training programs will tend to make high-school and college-age athletes stronger and better conditioned. But could the program get them more bang for their buck? Could they see more of the desired adaptations? Almost certainly.

In over a decade working with sports coaches, I’ve noticed that it is startlingly rare for coaches to make any distinction between different power training:

• Speed
• Plyometric
• Agility work
• Conditioning

Coaches are often confused about the purpose behind their drills. The majority want tired athletes. “If it is hard, it is good.” I’ve heard more than once. You can’t blame the coaches, though.

This motto is the tradition that is passing down in almost every sport.

But this needn’t be the case. You can get athletes optimally faster, better conditioned, and even tougher in the same program if you understand a few simple principles.

It all boils down to understanding the basics of energy systems—concepts so simple and essential that every coach should know them.

Energy Systems Made Simple

The body is an adaptation machine. It tends to respond predictably based on the type of stress that it is experiencing.

When the body is called upon to do an activity, it utilizes three energy systems:

1. The Power System* (ATP/CP)
2. The Burn System* (Glycolytic)
3. The Aerobic System

While every action initiates all three systems, one system is often doing the bulk of the work.

Understanding how to train each system best is crucial for determining how you should prepare.

*Note: No one else calls the ATP/CP system the power system or the glycolytic system the burn system, but this will be easier to remember.

1. The Power System

Think of Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP) and CP as dynamite. It is very explosive energy:

• In the Power System, ATP and CP are utilized to create a level of power that is impossible without them.
• ATP and CP make max speed, max vertical jumping, max agility, and max strength possible.
• These are the elements that are the most destructive and essential in almost every sport.

But you cannot effectively train these harmful elements without ATP and CP.

Here is the rub. ATP and CP are like an 18th-century musket. When you decide to use it, boom, it’s gone.

ATP and CP only last about 6-7 seconds.

Then you’re losing power. Even Olympic 100-meter sprinters at the top of their training game will be decelerating before the end of a 100-meter sprint. They’ll hit top speed and then start to go slower because ATP and CP are gone.

And ATP and CP take a while to re-load.

Specifically, there is anywhere from a 1:12 to a 1:20 work to rest ratio required to make an all-out effort and then do another. For better power training results, err towards 1:20 or more.

That means if your speed training has you running max-effort 20-yard sprints that take you three seconds, then you would ideally rest for 60 seconds in between each. If you only rest 30 seconds, guess what. You aren’t getting faster. You’re getting tired.

2. The Burn System

When strenuous efforts extend beyond six seconds or are repeated with little rest, the burn system tends to take over.

• The burning system begins to drive the machine for medium-range efforts from six seconds to two or three minutes.
• To train this system specifically requires a 1:3 to 1:5 work to rest ratio.
• Depending on your sport, you can train this system with everything from repeated 40-yard dashes at only 30-40 seconds rest (too little rest for speed training) to Fartleks and conditioning ladders.

Coaches love the burn system because it burns, it’s hard, and an all-out effort.

But this is not an effective way to train speed, agility, power, and strength, those elements that are most destructive in almost every sport.

When your speed training becomes burn training, it is no longer speed training. When you do box jumps to train explosive power and repeatedly do them with little rest, you aren’t getting more explosive.

You aren’t training power.

Furthermore, this sort of training also tends to beat the hell out of the central nervous system and the muscular system required for the practical training of any power system goals.

For this reason, I recommend avoiding burn-specific training (other than while playing sports) until within a few months of the season and limiting this training while in-season.

3. The Aerobic System

• The aerobic system is predominant throughout most mild daily activities such as walking and any exercise lasting over two or three minutes.
• Despite being the opposite end of the spectrum from power work, it is crucial to almost all athletes.
• A more developed aerobic system will help athletes recover more quickly and make them far more capable of developing the burn system.

These generalizations do not tell the whole story, but they are the basics that everyone should know.

For a more in-depth look at all three systems and how they work in your training, this article in The Journal of Nutrition and Metabolism does a great job clarifying sport-specific conditioning demands.

Practical Implications

The myth of more is better pervades sports. Many coaches would look at the distinctions between energy systems and conclude that their sport requires the development of all three systems and try to find time to train everything, all of the time.

It is important to remember that you can get a fixed amount of training adaptation out of the body:

• Three hours of vigorous exercise isn’t better than one. It is almost certainly worse.
• Over time, athletes can develop greater work capacity so that they can compete for longer durations.
• Work capacity will look different in each sport.
• It could mean anything from dozens of near-max bouts in a football game or tennis match to oscillating between many different intensities and moving almost constantly throughout a soccer game.
• Regardless of what your sport requires, work capacity should build slowly and methodically.

As I’ve stated, the burn system has a way of counteracting speed, agility, plyometric, and all power system training—the qualities that are most destructive in sports.

Training should be done with sufficient rest for optimal power system training results, without too many reps, and before more fatiguing work.

It would be better to avoid any traditional conditioning on days that focus on training the power system. But, of course, you will eventually want to introduce other variables as well.

Many different training goals have to be balanced and coordinated over a training year:

• Speed, agility, plyometric power, strength
• Metabolic conditioning
• Aerobic conditioning
• Mobility
• Toughness

Some goals go together better than others; each has its benefits and costs and will depend on the sport and the training phase.

I’d recommend focusing on quality movement and gradually building the power system early on, with a bit of gradual mobility and aerobic development for most sports. Over time, you can build up to greater intensities and duration of work.

This focus alone will develop a lot of capacity in the burn system without explicitly targeting it. As always, training needs to include appropriate recovery. A couple of months before competitions begin, start to integrate a bit more sport-specific interval work gradually. But his approach runs contrary to what is typical.

Most coaches want to begin their off-season with hard conditioning gauntlets and as many exhausting gut checks as possible.

While I understand the value of establishing standards of work ethic and developing mental toughness, it is important to recognize the costs of this work. I like to approach building mental toughness in a manner that aligns better with my other training considerations.

Train Mental Toughness

Rather than starting off-season with a few weeks of puke-bucket-workouts and then easing into a more effective training philosophy, I recommend starting with a fanatical emphasis on executing exercises with proper technique.

At the same time, clarify all your disciplinary expectations:

• Focus on high-quality movement, but consistently punish disciplinary infractions like lack of eye contact, urgency, or tardiness with burpees or wind-sprints.
• I prefer full team punishments as these incentivize leaders to emerge.
• Explain to your athletes that such punishments work against their training goals and that you’d prefer not to have to resort to dumb training.
• In addition, make sure to bring a bit of competition into your weekly routine.
• With consistency, this approach produces athletes with a rare level of discipline, attention to detail, and mature mental toughness.

This will become apparent in the months before the season when you begin integrating more metabolic conditioning.

The best way to maximize all the attributes your athletes need is to have a system for determining what is trained and when. It doesn’t need to be complicated.

Simple, smart, and focused beats flashy every time.

The post What Every Coach Should Know About Speed and Conditioning appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Developing Speed

There are a lot of components to speed when it comes to training the human body, but here are three of the main factors:

1. Your fast-twitch muscle fibers.
2. Your weight. Bruce Lee’s speed training would be a very different game than Arnold Schwarzenegger’s.
3. Your body’s ability to handle torque. This is one of one of the most critical aspects of speed training, and one that isometric exercises can develop while many other training approaches cannot.

Muscle Fibers

While there are many different fiber types, there are three main muscle fibers:

1. Slow Twitch – Used mainly for endurance, as with your neck or your core muscles
2. Intermediate – These have the qualities of both slow- and fast-twitch muscle fibers
3. Fast Twitch – These are responsible for quick muscle contractions like for punching or sprinting.

“When you are performing a movement with incredible momentum, your muscles are only doing some of the work – kinetic energy does most of it.”

In fact, fast-twitch muscle fibers can contract ten times faster than slow-twitch fibers. This is the kind of muscle that you really want to develop to train speed – and it’s likely that you’re doing it so, so wrong.

How to Train Fast-Twitch Muscles

If you want to train fast-twitch muscles, you have to move fast, right? No, you don’t. In fact, you can increase your injury risk in doing that. Being fast-twitch muscle only means that it’s the fastest to fire and the fastest to fatigue. Trying to build that by moving fast works your momentum much more than your actual muscle.

The difference in which muscle fibers you build comes not from your training speed, but your training intensity. If you do an isometric exercise that involves holding a half-full cup of water out at arm’s length for four hours a day, you’ll develop lots of slow-twitch muscle because the intensity over time is low.

If, instead, you tried to do a shoulder raise on that same arm at maximal intensity for a fraction of the time, like seven to twelve seconds, you would fatigue the fast-twitch muscle fibers (and even all the muscle fibers) much more quickly. Intensity is key to your speed training, not the speed of the movement itself.

Increasing Your Movement Speed

It may seem counterintuitive, but trying to increase the speed of your movement is the reason that isometric exercises can be better than plyometric exercises for speed. The idea for both plyometric and maximal isometric exercises is that you explode out from the beginning of the exercise.

The difference with a maximal isometric exercise is that you explode with intensity, but you don’t actually move, like trying to push against a brick wall with all your might. Plyometric training involves you exploding into a movement, like explosive jumps or explosive clapping push ups.

“The reason that isometric exercises are much better in the long run for joint and tendon health in speed development is torque.”

Different studies argue back and forth on whether isometrics or plyometrics are overall better for muscle speed, but it is irrefutable that isometric exercises are immensely better for the joints and tendons. While isometrics progressively build upon the strength of the tendons and ligaments, plyometrics tear and inflame the joints you look to train.

Old-time strongman Alexander Zass attributed the strength benefits he got from isometric training not just to his muscle strength, but also to the incredible development of the tendons in his body. This gave him the power to do things like bend steel bars. In fact, this same approach to training has given me the tendon and nerve power to do things like roll a Teflon-coated frying pan with my hands.

Isometric Versus Plyometric Exercise

A 2007 study published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research on the effects of plyometric versus isometric exercise on force development concluded:

Plyometric training has been shown to place large stresses on the body, which can lead to a potential for injury, whereas explosive isometric training has been shown here to provide similar benefits to that of plyometric training with respect to the measured variables, but with reduced impact forces, and would therefore provide a useful adjunct for athletic training programs within a 6-week time frame.

The reason that isometric exercises are much better in the long run for joint and tendon health in speed development is torque. When you are performing a movement with incredible momentum, your muscles are only doing some of the work – kinetic energy does most of it. It’s like pushing a boulder down a hill. A powerful force is needed to get the boulder moving, but the momentum drives the rest.

With all that momentum, you also need something of great force to stop that “boulder.” For the human body, that means using our joints, tendons, and ligaments. And the greater your mass, the stronger effect that momentum has on your joints and the higher the impact your structural integrity has to deal with.

In contrast, isometric exercises for speed limit the use of repetitive movements, channel constructive impact force, and decrease the overall chance of injury on the body’s structure. So, here are two isometric speed drills you can use that are incredible for boosting sprinting or punching speed. And you don’t even necessarily need any equipment to do them.

The ability to produce large amounts of stationary force directly relates to your potential for explosive power.

Isometric Sled Drill

1. Grab a weight sled and load it up with as much weight as you can.
2. Have a partner grab the opposite side of the sled.
3. Your goal is to push the sled with all your might while your partner applies force from the other side to ensure the sled doesn’t actually move.
4. Apply force for 7-12 seconds for a total of 8 times, as quickly as you can. Take a short break if you need to in order to complete all 8 reps, but the quicker you get it all done, the more beneficial the exercise. The whole set should take under 3 minutes.

Because this exercise incorporates multiple muscle groups, your nervous system will get a massive impact. The lower you can lunge into the weight and the more you can get your hips, glutes, and calves into the movement, the more I’ve found it transfers powerfully to sprinting.

“The difference with a maximal isometric exercise is that you explode with intensity, but you don’t actually move, like trying to push against a brick wall with all your might. “

If you don’t have access to a weight sled, try the same thing with a wall (note: the more grip on the bottom of your shoes, the better).

The Wall Punch Drill

I enjoy this punch-training drill because it incorporates scapular strength. With seventeen different muscles connected to the scapula, the overall tendon strength benefit you can get from doing this exercise can transfer to a number of pushing movements.

Scapular strength is something that most people – especially desk workers – need to develop. 

All you need is a wall.

1. Put your fist on the wall as if you were starting a punch, but with your elbow perpendicular to your torso, out to the side of your body. Think of throwing a big ol’ haymaker.
2. Apply force to the wall as if you were trying to punch through it for 7-12 seconds.
3. Step back a bit so you are mid-punch and do the same thing.
4. Repeat with your arm fully extended in punch position.
5. Start all over again with your fist on the wall as if you were starting a punch, but do this with your elbows tight to your body, as if you were squeezing a magazine between your arm and rib cage.
6. Apply max pressure with your arm in this position for 7-12 seconds, then step back and do the same mid extension and full extension.
7. Do all the same steps with the opposite arm.

This movement is more isolated and targets a smaller muscle group, so you will not need to do eight reps of each, just one. By practicing this exercise, both the speed and strength of your motion will improve.

Check out these related articles:

• Isometric Training – What It is and How to Do It Correctly
• Working at a Stand Still – How to Do Isometric Training
• Alexander Zass Teaches Us About Isometrics
• What’s New On Breaking Muscle Today

References:

1. “Torque and Training Overeight Clients.” IDEA Health and Fitness Association. 2005. Accessed June 8, 2015.
2. Burgess, KE, MJ Connick, P. Graham-Smith, and SJ Pearson. “Plyometric vs. Isometric Training Influences on Tendon Properties and Muscle Output.” Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. 2007 Aug; 21(3):986-9.

Photos 1 and 2 courtesy of RX’d Photography.

The post Increase Your Fast-Twitch Potential With Isometrics appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

In order to train properly for speed development, we have to first understand the characteristics that make an athlete fast. If we understand the biomechanics of great sprinters, we can connect the dots and use research to design training programs that target and strengthen the muscles that make it possible to run faster.

What Makes an Athlete Fast?

Research shows that increasing horizontal force and power production is paramount to improving speed. Evaluation of elite 100-meter sprinter performances shows that elite sprinters produce larger horizontal ground reaction forces at higher speeds than vertical forces.^2,3

“In order to train properly for speed development, we have to first understand the characteristics that make an athlete fast.”

What Makes an Athlete Really Fast?

Research shows elite sprinters also tend to have shorter ground contact times than slower sprinters.⁴ This suggests the ability to apply force very quickly is advantageous to better sprint times.

Training for Strength Versus Power

Strength training focuses on increasing force output by increasing the load or amount of weight an athlete uses while training. The speed of the lift isn’t necessarily important, just the amount of weight lifted. It’s obviously not easy to move quickly in a back squat loaded with 600lbs.

Power, on the other hand, is the ability to apply force quickly. Speed and force have an inverse relationship. As the speed of a movement increases, the amount of force produced decreases. 

Power = (Force × Distance)/Time

In order to find the optimal load to maximize power production, an athlete should use a weight that allows for a quick movement, but also requires him or her to generate a large amount of force. Remember, elite sprinters are not only able to produce a large amount of horizontal force, but they are able to do so incredibly quickly.

The ability to generate force quickly explains why an incredibly strong football player might excel in the weight room with heavy weights but struggle in measures of power like the forty-yard dash.

Optimal Loads for Maximum Power Production

General recommendations suggest a load ranging from thirty to sixty percent of the athlete’s one-rep-max. This will provide a decent starting point for the athlete, but every athlete and exercise variation will differ when it comes to optimal loads for power production.

Breaking Down the Biomechanics of Sprinting

So we know elite sprinters are able to quickly produce massive amounts of force and primarily in a horizontal direction. Let’s break down the muscles used to generate that force and use research to help us select the best possible exercises to improve our horizontal force and power output.

Research has shown that horizontal propulsion is facilitated primarily by the hamstring muscles. Electromyography (EMG) activity shows the hamstring muscles are active longer than other hip extensor muscle.⁵ So, we need to focus on training our hip extensors – primarily our hamstrings – if we want to increase running speed.

All Hamstring Exercises Are Not Created Equal

A recent study in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research assessed the degree of muscle activation across four hamstring exercises (using EMG). The exercises were Romanian deadlifts (RDLs), glute ham raises (GHRs), good mornings, and leg curls. The exercises were tested using 85% of the participants’ one-rep-max.

“[W]e need to focus on training our hip extensors – primarily our hamstrings – if we want to increase running speed.”

The study found RDLs and GHRs produced more significant hamstring muscle activation than any other exercise.⁶ So, if we want to maximize hamstring strength and power gains, we need to include these two exercises in our training.

Romanian Deadlifts (RDLs)

The RDL motion is relatively straightforward, but there are subtleties to focus on to improve the effectiveness of the lift:

1. Start with your feet shoulder-width apart and your toes pointing forward with a slight bend in your knees.
2. As you lower the bar, stick your butt back, keeping your back flat as a board. You should feel a slight transition of your weight from the middle to the back of your foot.
3. Focus on controlling the speed of the bar as you lower the weight during the eccentric (lowering) phase of the lift.
4. Lower the bar as far as you can without rounding your back.
5. Make the concentric (raising) phase of the lift explosive, but do not compromise form.

Glute Ham Raises (GHRs)

If you’re using a traditional glute ham machine or GHD with a semi-spherical thigh pad, placing your knees closer to the apex of the pad will engage your hamstrings more effectively than placing your knees lower on the pad. A hybrid glute ham machine is a better option for targeting and isolating the hamstrings because it uses the knee as a pivot, which increases muscle activation.

GHRs are a great exercise because there are many variations and combinations to help you mix up training and start developing explosive posterior power immediately. Choosing your GHR combos is the exciting part. With the traditional and hybrid GHDs, try the following exercise combinations. These are arranged from beginner to elite.

Standard GHR (Beginner)

To increase the difficulty of this variation, add weight to the movement. With the hybrid GHR, increasing the amount of weight by five, ten, or even fifteen pounds will be incredibly challenging. On a traditional GHR, you’ll be able to increase the amount of weight you use more aggressively.

Eccentric GHR + Reps (Intermediate)

Muscles are approximately forty percent stronger during eccentric contractions (extending out during the GHD raise, muscle lengthening) than during concentric contractions (pulling yourself up, muscle shortening). Eccentric training is a great way to quickly build strength. Eccentric GHR + Reps is probably the toughest GHR variation on the list.

• Beginner: 10 Second Eccentric/Negative Lowering + 8-10 Reps × Repeat 1
• Intermediate: 10 Second Eccentric/Negative Lowering + 8-10 Reps × Repeat 2
• Advanced: 10 Second Eccentric/Negative Lowering + 8-10 Reps × Repeat 3
• Elite: Weighted 10 Second Eccentric/Negative Lowering + 8-10 Reps × Repeat 1/2/3 (See what you can work up to!)

Altitude Drop GHR (Advanced)

Initiate this movement by relaxing your hamstrings and letting your body fall toward the ground. As your knees come within a few degrees of extension, violently contract your hamstrings to catch yourself at the bottom of the movement. 

It’s important not to overextend at the bottom. Practice a few by putting your hands out in front of you to catch yourself in a push up position as you fall. Focus on contracting your hamstrings during these practice reps in order to get a sense of what the movement should feel like. You should feel a violent pull in your hamstrings at the bottom of the movement.

Rebound GHR (Elite)

Start at the top of the GHR movement. Initiate the movement by relaxing your hamstrings and letting your body fall towards the ground. As soon as your knees come within a few degrees of full extension, violently contract your hamstrings to pull yourself back to the top of the movement as quickly as possible.

Taking Advantage of the Stretch Shortening Cycle

Muscle spindles are proprioceptive organs that are sensitive to the rate and magnitude of a stretch. When a quick stretch is detected, the hamstring muscles react by producing more force than they would during the concentric or eccentric phase of the movement. If we can work to increase the amount of power that hamstrings produce, we can increase our sprinting speed.

Keep a Comprehensive Training Program

Research has shed light on the importance of horizontal force production as the most critical component to develop in order to improve speed, but that doesn’t mean we should focus solely on our hamstrings and hip extensors. Horizontal force production is also generated from forceful arm movements and powerful quadriceps. Though lifts like back squats lack specificity and have little in common with the mechanics of sprinting, studies suggest improving your one-rep-back squat max can improve sprint times.⁷

“If we can work to increase the amount of power that hamstrings produce, we can increase our sprinting speed.”

Conclusion

Increasing the amount of hamstring work you include in your training will significantly improve your sprint times and make you a more dynamic athlete on the field. Our focus has been on building powerful hamstrings because these are the muscles primarily responsible for propelling us down the field, track, or court but also because these muscles are under-trained and under-developed in the vast majority of athletes.

Superheroes have caves and secret lairs equipped with the latest gadgets and information to help increase their superhuman powers. Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to incorporate more RDLs and glute ham variations into your training. While your competition is busy with the same-old training routines, you will be developing superhuman-like speed that will make your competitors fear you. Who knows, maybe someday you’ll be someone’s superhero!

References:

1. Ghigiarelli, JJ. 2009. “Combine Performance Descriptors and Predictors of Recruit Ranking for the Top High School Football Recruits from 2001 to 2009: Differences between Position Groups.” Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research 25(5):1193–203.

2. Morin, JB., et al. 2012. “Mechanical Determinants of 100-m Sprint Running Performance.” European Journal of Applied Physiology 112(11):3921–30. 

3. Kugler, F., and Janshen, L., 2010. “Body Position Determines Propulsive Forces in Accelerated Running.” Journal of Biomechanics 43(2):343–8.

4. Coh, M., et al., 2001. “Morphologic and Kinematic Characteristics of Elite Sprinters.” Collegium Antropologicum 25(2):605–10. 

5. Wiemann, K., and Tidow, G., 1995. “Relative Activity of Hip and Knee Extensors in Sprinting – Implications for Training.” New Studies in Athletics 1(10):29–49.

6. McAllister, MJ., et al. 2014. “Muscle Activation During Various Hamstring Exercises.” Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research 28(6):1573–80.

7. McBride, JM., 2014. “Relationship between Maximal Squat Strength and Five, Ten, and Forty Yard Sprint Times.” Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research 23(6):1633–6.

Photos courtesy of Shutterstock.

The post Simple Hamstring Exercises to Develop Superhuman Speed appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Can a Bigger Squat Make You Faster? Find Out What Science Says (Andrew Read)

Can strength training make you a faster sprinter? And is there a difference between the results in a recreational versus elite athlete? Find out what the researchers discovered.

Speed is Power, But It’s Not Everything (Eric C. Stevens)

You see it in any and every athletic endeavor – speed is power. Muhammad Ali was great for most of his career because he was faster than his opponents with both his hands and his feet.

What the Fartlek?! (Jill Kerkman)

While it may sound like joke fodder for fifth graders, this type of workout can help runners, from beginners to seasoned vets, hit the ground running to better fitness or a faster PR.

Speed Kills, Part 1: Proper Development of Speed for the Athlete (Andrew Read)

Many athletes, especially the fighters I work with, want more speed. But they go about it all wrong. Let’s look at the relationship between speed and strength and how to properly build it.

Speed Kills, Part 2: Proper Development of Speed for the Athlete (Andrew Read)

Does training with heavy gloves or practicing punching while holding dumbbells do any good? I say it doesn’t. In fact, I think it does harm to a fighter’s punching skills.

Scientifically-Proven Tips For Faster Sprinting (Jeff Barnett)

Scientists took a close look at sprint performance and determined four things that made a difference in run times. Even though they’re small, these techniques can make a big difference.

How to Swim Faster: It’s All In Your Head (Hannah Caldas)

You want to swim faster, but your legs are too muscly and they weigh you down? Well, the REAL problem is in your head. No, you’re not crazy, but your head position and technique may be.

Increasing Forces: Using the Kettlebell Swing to Increase Strength and Speed (Andrew Read)

The vertical jump is revered as a test of force production. Research shows kettlebell swings can increase vertical jump. Swings, done correctly, can increase both strength and speed in athletes.

The post Need For Speed: 8 Articles to Increase Performance on Land Or Water appeared first on Breaking Muscle.