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Speed vs. Strength - What I Learned from Mike Ditka and the '85 Chicago Bears

By Kenneth Taylor

Republish: EasyPublish™ Published: 19Jan2012 Word count: 1040 Viewed: 92 time(s) Get Free Content For Your Site

What is more important - Speed or Strength?

It is the chicken and the egg question.

In the past, much of our focus as football players has been on working hard:
"No pain, no gain,"
"You get out of it, what you put into it,"
"Give 110%," etc.

Much of the hard work was focused on strength gains. It is tradition. It is the legacy from our football pioneers of the past. Strength is very important and you have to have it to be able to handle the game of football. To be able to handle the length of the grueling season from mid summer through to November and even December in some cases for youth and high school ball and, of course, longer for the elite level ballers'.

How much time should you spend on getting stronger over getting faster? Only in our recent past have we started really giving the speed development of our players a comparable amount of time, interest, focus, research, and value to strength development. So, let's consider the common culture and compare it to common sense physics.

Let's look at the traditional paradigm of the common culture of a team captain. During the off season this type of football player spends the majority of time and emotional effort and commitment in the weight room. You know,...it is good to be a weight room champion who always wants to get bigger and stronger. And, he gets lots of praise and recognition from peers and especially coaches. In fact, his name goes on the board in the weight room for outstanding performance in the big three lifts of the bench press, the squat, and the power clean. He is the 1000lb club champ. He works harder than anyone and always wants more. Therefore the younger players follow suit as they want to get the same rewards of praise from coaches and peers and a starting position on the field. It is our culture of football and the tradition continues today.

Let's examine, with common sense, science and very generally how the body improves.

We know that neuromuscular memory is a very powerful quality of the human body. The body will simply start to remember what it does most often. You know this...it's called a habit. If you focus and work hard physically and emotionally 90% of the time on getting stronger, magically, you will get stronger (how strong depends on genetics). But, when you step onto a football field and you may be surprised when your opponent is just a bit faster and quicker than you are. Guess who wins most of the time?

The thousands of hours you spent in the weight room was somewhat useless because the opponent just runs right by you. Wouldn't you be better off spending more time getting faster? In fact, a lot more time?

We are, just in the last 10 years or so, finally starting to give speed training it's proper attention. However, there are thousands of ballers and coaches who still concentrate their program on strength. Of course you need a combination. But, if you look at the physics of speed and strength it is very interesting and obvious. Think about it, how strong do you need to be, to be successful in football?

Take this logical example of the physics of motion. Player A weights 200 pounds and benches 250 lbs but only runs at a top end speed of 5mph. Player B weighs 192lbs and benches 235lbs but runs at a top end speed of 15mph. Guess who will win most of the plays in football? Both players are strong but the one who can play at a faster speed will win most of the plays. Player B will actually look stronger on the field because he can use his strength at a much faster pace. He can hit faster! His opponent may be bigger and stronger but he can leverage faster, so he wins the play.

It's old school math and physics that has not changed since the beginning of time. How many times have you seen a big, strong, offensive tackle get beat by the faster defensive end around the corner in-rout to the QB? Unfortunately for the offensive tackle, he will have spent four straight years focusing on strength gains and conditioning instead of getting faster with the strength he already has. Guess who experiences more gains in speed improvement - the athlete who spends four years in the weight room or the one who spends four years on the track?

You may be strong and dedicated but if you can't get to the right spot at the right time - you lose.

I know. Most players have a running program to go along with their weight training program. But getting faster is different than just a running and conditioning "program." You have to train yourself to move the right way by organizing your body correctly and in a consistent manner. This will allow you to develop the proper neural and proprioceptor pathways to create the habit of running and moving faster.

If I can make some suggestions...I would hire a speed coach with track and field experience or former track coach to help you get faster. I suggest that you run with the track team to get faster. No, don't throw the shot or disc, run with the sprinters! (You may also want to look into motion and video analysis of your running form.)

I suggest that speed is like having secret weapon that no one can see until you decide to use it.

I suggest if you hit your opponent with more speed and force then you will win more plays.

I suggest that if you beat your opponent to the spot you will experience much more success.

And yes, my teammates for "Da Bears" were strong. But we were also fast!

Good luck and "be well and be fast."

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