Downhill running and the NFL

Harold Buck said:

I saw part of an NFL Films piece on former Steelers coach Chuck Noll
(sp?). They said every year he came to training camp with a new idea for
conditioning. One year he read about downhill running for improving
speed (the basic idea is that when you run downhill you can run faster,
so you learn the coordination, etc. , to run faster). He tried it in
camp and, guess what, they had a huge spike in their injury rate.

They showed film of the guys trying to run downhill, and the hill was
really steep. They weren't even able to really run, they were all trying
to keep themselves from going too fast and falling. I wonder if the
research papers he read had any recommendations about the grade of the
hill to be used.

--Harold Buck

This is known as overspeed training. There are many coaches (including me) who
use downhill running somewhere in their program, but there little scientific
analysis of this. One that I can give you (written by someone who knows what
he's talking about) uses towing instead of hills:

http://www.faccioni.com/Reviews/resass.htm

If what you say about the Steelers is correct, then they did just about
everything wrong, which makes me wonder if Noll even had a speed
coach/consultant. The whole idea of any kind of overspeed is to cause your
nervous system to turn over faster than normal, and anything that interferes
with running/sprinting mechanics (such as too steep of a hill or towing at too
fast of a speed) can mess up your mechanics, so you can end up slower, even if
you don't get injured. Also, this type of training primarily "improves"
maximum velocity, which is something that they can't use much in the NFL (a
fast person is accelerating for the first 30-40 meters).

For hill training to have a positive effect on max speed, the hill (up or down)
grade needs to be slight, on the order of 2-5%. If the hill causes you to run
more than 10% faster or slower than your peak speed on the flat, it is likely
causing HARM, not benefit.

I've found that running UP slight hills works better than running DOWN them.

Lyndon

"Speed Kills...It kills those that don't have it!" --US Olympic Track Coach
Brooks Johnson

In article <[email hidden]>,

(Lyndon) said:

If what you say about the Steelers is correct, then they did just about
everything wrong, which makes me wonder if Noll even had a speed
coach/consultant.

Well, he did coach in the 70's; I don't know if they were that
sophisticated back then. But you have to at least give him credit for
trying out new stuff, and they DID win 4 super bowls, so maybe some of
it worked.

Quoted message said:

The whole idea of any kind of overspeed is to cause your
nervous system to turn over faster than normal, and anything that interferes
with running/sprinting mechanics (such as too steep of a hill or towing at too
fast of a speed) can mess up your mechanics, so you can end up slower, even if
you don't get injured. Also, this type of training primarily "improves"
maximum velocity, which is something that they can't use much in the NFL (a
fast person is accelerating for the first 30-40 meters).

So, pretty much wide receivers and kickoff returners stand to gain
anything at all, with maybe a maringal benefit for punt returners, tight
ends, and running backs who expect to have long runs or pass patterns.

--Harold Buck

"I used to rock and roll all night,
and party every day.
Then it was every other day. . . ."
-Homer J. Simpson

"Lyndon" <[email hidden]> wrote

Quoted message said:

The whole idea of any kind of overspeed is to cause your
nervous system to turn over faster than normal, and anything that

interferes

Quoted message said:

with running/sprinting mechanics (such as too steep of a hill or towing at

too

Quoted message said:

fast of a speed) can mess up your mechanics, so you can end up slower,
even if you don't get injured.

Very interesting. I do downhill speed work because half of my ultras are
typically on downhills, so it's specific training in my case.

Quoted message said:

For hill training to have a positive effect on max speed, the hill (up or

down)

Quoted message said:

grade needs to be slight, on the order of 2-5%. If the hill causes you to

run

Quoted message said:

more than 10% faster or slower than your peak speed on the flat, it is

likely

Quoted message said:

causing HARM, not benefit.

I prefer 3-5% grades for my downhill work. More is just too much pounding,
and you can't run much faster at steeper grades, imo.

I have a running acquaintance who was a wide receiver (played in the Rose
Bowl for Penn State for Joe Paterno).

His toughest drill was: 14 x 40 yards, every 30 seconds. And all
had to be within a second or so of his fastest, rested 40 yards.

While I couldn't touch him on speed, I do have a faster 10k :-).

-- Dan