I’ve been meaning to do this (start some quick reviews) for a while and I thought this would be a good way to start….

A few years ago, I was directed to an article entitled: The Holy Grail in Speed Training by author Barry Ross.

I found the article very interesting, contacted Mr. Ross and got going on the workout. I was “retired” at the time and figured I’d give it a shot…..what I found (my personal experience) was quite interesting.  Within a couple of months, my deadlift improved from the mid-200′s to near 420 pounds while my body weight stayed the same.  For sprint work, I did 10 yard starts from a base-stealing position using an electronic timer.  Over that winter, I decreased my 10 yard time by .2 seconds.  And on the first 40 that I had timed, which was the first sprint I had run over 10 yards, my time was over .2 seconds faster than I had ever run. Pretty cool.

It didn’t take long for Barry Ross, who is a seasoned track & field and strength coach, to open his own site and release his book: Underground Secrets to Faster Running

The book outlines the concept of mass specific force, and sites some nice research studies to back up the claims.  The workout is incredibly easy from an equipment, execution and planning  standpoint, but not so easy in terms of the load/intensity used!  Basically you have to lift heavy!  With all the talk of fast and slow twitch muscle fibers, this method gets right to the point of muscle fiber recruitment and training for strength.  It is a fast, simple read that goes through mass specific force, physiology, exercise selection and workout design in a logical fashion.  Theory and application.

In addition to the lifting and running, I was hitting and throwing with a pair of minor league players and I noticed that my bat speed and throwing velocity were improving above what I had achieved in college.  Also pretty cool.  Although not excatly common-place, strength training for the posterior chain and specific swing/throw training appeared to be a great combination.

Check out Barry’s web site for more information — Bearpowered.com