Leg Exercises with Bands to Run Faster
Leg Exercises with Bands to Run Faster is a great rapid response drill that will increase your leg speed and improve your center of balance. It will also help you train for rapid foot movements. Many sports require the athlete to quickly stop, maintain center of balance, change direction, and then sprint in a different direction to break away from the opponent. Performing leg exercises to run faster helps to train the fast twitch muscle fibers in the legs to have this exact response. This drill also works to develop a strong center of balance. This can be a team drill or you can perform it alone when getting in a little extra training in your back yard.
Using the Kbands Leg Resistance Bands during your training regiment helps to elevate your leg exercises to run faster so you get maximum benefit from every training session. Using Leg Resistance Bands is also teaching your leg muscles to have the appropriate response during real game situations. The muscles know what they should be doing because you have been training them this way and they will react in this manner. It will become a reflex for the athlete during the game. These drills also teach you to not look at your feet while training. In the game situation you must be able to react to the plays occurring around you.
Leg Exercises and Rapid Response Drills
You will need a set of Kbands Leg Resistance Bands and three circles or squares for these leg exercises to run faster. If you don’t have circles you can use a Speed and Agility Ladder and work in the first 3 steps of the ladder. Place the Leg Bands just above your knees and get ready to perform this rapid response drill that will train your fast twitch muscles. Get into a strong athletic stance with your head and chest up and shoulders back and down. Start at the back side using a rapid pace and get into a rhythm. Touch with a crossover on the left side, then cross back to the right side, and finally come back with rapid response feet to the center. Maintain this foot sequence movement throughout the leg exercise. This will train your feet and leg muscles to quickly react and adapt to a high game pace. Keeping a high rhythm is key to achieve maximum benefit from this leg drill to increase your leg speed. When first starting this drill you will need to look at your feet to make sure they are landing in the correct area. As you advance and become more efficient in the drill work to keep your head up and do not look at the ground or your feet. During the game you will have your head up looking at how the play is unfolding so you will know how to react. You should train in the same way.
Benefits of This Drill
This drill is effective because you have to keep a strong center of balance while quickly getting your feet off the ground. This leg exercise helps to train you to get your feet off the ground with power and precision. Increasing this power and precise foot movements will train your leg muscles so you can quickly change direction. Your body is learning to perform multiple game critical movements simultaneously. It is teaching your body and mind to feel and know where your feet are located. It is practicing the rapid movements that are necessary during your game so you can effortlessly perform during these rapid movements in the game. Rapid and precise foot and leg movements is critical for the receiver catching a ball and working to outmaneuver a defender to get down the field. It is alos critical for a forward in soccer who has to stop the ball and quickly change direction to keep the soccer ball away from a defender and continually moving toward the goal or setting up for a pass to a player forward on the field.
When training with the Kbands Leg Resistance Bands your legs will be on fire during the resisted sets. This burn is building leg and muscle strength and endurance and teaching your muscles to push through the fatigue. This fatigue and pushing through is building the endurance and training the muscles need to perform at the same level of intensity late in a game. Don’t let up and work through the burn. Using the Kbands to build leg strength during this stationary rapid response drill will increase your speed. During this leg drill to increase your speed remember that a fast rhythm is key. Speed equals increased strength. Perform 6 sets of 15 seconds of the resisted leg exercise with a 30 second rest between sets. Remove the KBands and complete two additional unresisted sets of 15 seconds. Your legs should feel light and allow you to move even faster through the unresisted sets, increasing your leg speed and drive so you can run faster. Make sure during the unresisted sets that you are pushing yourself even harder to increase your foot speed during the rapid response drills. The unresisted drills are teaching your muscles to move and react even faster than during the resisted sets.
Final Thoughts
As an athlete you must work on the basic skills needed in your sport to be competitive. As you advance in your sport or mature you must continually work to up your game and enhance your skills. Nearly every sport requires you to develop and have fast feet and rapid response muscle fibers. You must also work on your leg speed and how quickly your can turn over your foot speed. Whether you are stealing second base, sprinting away from a defender, or performing a fast break on the basketball court you have got to be fast, precise and powerful with your legs. Running faster can be trained and developed by training the muscles the way you need them to perform in a game using rapid response leg drills in your training regiment. Always maintain high intensity because a break will be coming, just like in a game. Incorporating rapid response drills in your stationary training will develop foot speed and muscle endurance and provide great results. Speed 101 is a specific Kbands Training product that will also help to increase your speed during the game. There are other great leg drills using the Speed and Agility Ladder that will increase your foot speed, leg speed, muscle dexterity, and overall athletic ability helping to take your game to the next level.