do squat increase speed

eoin odea

i playing soccer at high level . i want to increase my speed and power . i have access to a gym . i was wondering if squats are useful to increase speed ? can u really increase your overall speed by much or is minimal ?

A_Sober_Paddy

eoin odea wrote: »

i playing soccer at high level . i want to increase my speed and power . i have access to a gym . i was wondering if squats are useful to increase speed ? can u really increase your overall speed by much or is minimal ?

Hamstrings I'm told are very important, and a muscle that's over looked

Todd Toddington III

Squats and deadlifts will both work your hamstrings as well as quads, core, lower back and traps. Increasing your power (leg drive) will increase your speed and acceleration. You don't see sprinters with skinny legs or upper torso either!!

A_Sober_Paddy

Todd Toddington III wrote: »

Squats and deadlifts will both work your hamstrings as well as quads, core, lower back and traps. Increasing your power (leg drive) will increase your speed and acceleration. You don't see sprinters with skinny legs or upper torso either!!

Still quad dominate and everything you do in your day to day life is quad dominate

mulbot

They didn't for me,possibly the opposite,i found leg curls very good and cycling did benefit me-sprint training built my legs up better than squats ever did

Todd Toddington III

A_Sober_Paddy wrote:

Still quad dominate and everything you do in your day to day life is quad dominate

Deadlifting is not quad dominant...What are you trying to say?

Todd Toddington III

mulbot wrote:

They didn't for me,possibly the opposite,i found leg curls very good and cycling did benefit me-sprint training built my legs up better than squats ever did

Lifting heavy for shorter reps will increase your explosive power but I've no idea what you would have been doing. Box jumps would work too.

A_Sober_Paddy

Todd Toddington III wrote: »

A_Sober_Paddy wrote:

Still quad dominate and everything you do in your day to day life is quad dominate

Deadlifting is not quad dominant...What are you trying to say?

It works your hamstring but still a lot of quad work. Is was from a sports scientist and physio who I had worked with in the past, due to my own errors in training I wrecked myself due to overdeveloping my quads, with squads and deadlifts... it's a major issue seen my sports physio's all over the country according to the lad I worked with, who's work with international,provincal and school rugby as well and an English football club

Todd Toddington III

But it's not a quad dominant exercise

eoin odea

Todd Toddington III wrote: »

But it's not a quad dominant exercise

I can squat 80 kg for 3 reps or I can do 60 for 13 should I be try to gain muscle or strength ?

mulbot

eoin odea wrote: »

I can squat 80 kg for 3 reps or I can do 60 for 13 should I be try to gain muscle or strength ?

I think both go hand in hand,however I would do lighter for more for building up for sprinting-I read that that activates different fibres etc than the heavy/low rep squat-I still think heavy stop start sprinting is the king for what you wanna do

Todd Toddington III

I'd be doing 5 sets of 3 to 5 at 80kg on the squats but I'd also be doing deadlifts (3x3/5 or something) if were you. You'll increase strength with a bit of gain in size in your legs but you'll develop good core strength and stability too from both exercises, an added bonus imo. If you were to do a program in the off season or to complement your training something like Stronglifts 5x5 would really suit your needs...there's plenty of free apps to track you progress too. If your worried about proper technique then a couple of sessions with a personal trainer would be advised

Todd Toddington III

You know what op? Talk to a personnel trainer or a sprinting coach if you have access to them coz your just gona get lots of conflicting info on here.

mulbot

Todd Toddington III wrote: »

I'd be doing 5 sets of 3 at 80kg on the squats but I'd also be doing deadlifts (3×3 or something) if were you. You'll increase strength with a bit of gain in size in your legs but you'll develop good core strength and stability too from both exercises, an added bonus imo. If you were to do a program in the off season or to complement your training something like Stronglifts 5x5 would really suit your needs...there's plenty of free apps to track you progress too. If your worried about proper technique then a couple of sessions with a personal trainer would be advised

Do you not think the low reps/heavy weight will limit the"stamina" of the fibres,vs the other way around-I found this in my case,when i switched around i made more progress in terms of PB speeds

mulbot

Todd Toddington III wrote: »

You know what op? Talk to a personnel trainer or a sprinting coach if you have access to them coz your just gona get lots of conflicting info on here.

Exactly,Get advice,do that routine(from the advice) and see how you go

Todd Toddington III

mulbot wrote:

Do you not think the low reps/heavy weight will limit the"stamina" of the fibres,vs the other way around-I found this in my case,when i switched around i made more progress in terms of PB speeds

When the goal is exclusively power, you want the reps low at close to max effort...you'll struggle to complete the later sets/reps as you produce less force but this helps with your conditioning. I'm of the opinion that a 5x5 type program would suit the ops needs but I'm only an amateur lifter and they should pay that little bit extra for professional advice. And don't just grab then first person you see, do your research on who you use...its the ops hard earned cast after all

mulbot

Todd Toddington III wrote: »

When the goal is exclusively power, you want the reps low at close to max effort...you'll struggle to complete the later sets/reps as you produce less force but this helps with your conditioning. I'm of the opinion that a 5x5 type program would suit the ops needs but I'm only an amateur lifter and they should pay that little bit extra for professional advice. And don't just grab then first person you see, do your research on who you use...its the ops hard earned cast after all

Yea but are you talking for sprinting here or weightlifting-I found the weightlifting approach purely for developing big legs was negatively affecting my ability to increase sprint speed-the lower weight,higher rep,at least for me,helped increase,but like you say,whatever works for OP

Alf Veedersane

Do squats help speed and power? Yes, if programmed right for you.

Lower reps higher weight is probably something you should be doing to recruit more motor units but it's not the only way to use squats.

And I wouldn't be relying on squats as the sole exercise for strengthening legs.

If you're playing at a high level, go to a trainer and get a program tailored to you and what you want from it rather than playing pin the tail on the donkey with people sending you in different directions

COH

Jesus.... this is actually one of the worst threads I've ever read.



OP - Where about's are you based?

Todd Toddington III

One of the worst threads ever? Ever ever ever. Didn't realise we were in after hours.

FAILSAFE 00

Yes, they do help with speed.

Try a light weight to begin with. 4 seconds down as you sit into a squat then 1 second as you push up quickly. Try 8 reps, just 1 or 2 working sets with a regular warmup set before hand.