Scott Salwasser Interview: Linear and Lateral Speed Development

Just Fly Sports: What are some of the main things you screen for in your assessment protocol for field sport athletes. How do you address this in your training programs?

Scott Salwasser: The first thing I look for is any type of dysfunction in fundamental movement patterns that might pose an injury risk. This would be an issue with basic mobility or stability/motor control competencies that must be addressed before we can even begin to discuss performance enhancement.

Evaluating the athlete in this manner may take the form of a screen such as FMS or Movement Dynamics, which would be preferable as these provide an objective basis for assessment, however, it may also take the form of simply watching a dynamic warm-up with an eye for movement quality. In this case I feel that, in a general sense, the joint-by-joint approach is a simple place to start. For those unfamiliar, the joint-by-joint approach essentially means:

Foot stability
Ankle mobility
Knee stability
Hip mobility
Trunk stability
Thoracic mobility
Shoulder stability

In addition to this, the movement patterns selected, which are really an integration of mobility and stability must be coordinated and executed cleanly. If the athlete can move well functionally and in foundational movement patterns such as squatting, hip hinging, lunging, single leg stance etc. at low intensity, we must now see if this is still the case in conditions of increased force and speed.

Testing on a force plate gives us this information, but another option is to simply watch to see if during higher intensity movements positioning fails.

If it does, say for example in linear acceleration, we must take a step back and make sure that the same error doesn’t show up in some of our prep drills such as wall drill or harness and sled marches, because it may simply be an issue of coaching context or specific strengthening of certain positions; if it does show up, we may have to go back to re-establishing fundamental mobility and stability in movements that seem to be giving the athlete trouble. Sometimes, if you are trying to coach an error that the athlete understands but simply can’t fix, it may be a positioning issue that must be corrected before the athlete can fly right.

In our program we attempt to address these issues pre-session with individualized corrective options, as well as in our formal movement prep by gearing it toward the movement demands that are going to be placed on the athlete that day. We begin with self myo-fascial release of target areas, followed by stretches and isolated activation movements, moving on to more complex movement patterns and more dynamic, integrated movements that prepare us for that days session.

For example, going back to our acceleration example, early on we’re going to:

Stretch the hip flexors
Activate the glutes
Mobilize the T-spine
Activate the “core” (obviously this term is a discussion in and of itself now)
Etc, based on the joint-by-joint approach

Then as we move on to more integrated and dynamic movements we’re going to select moves that split the pelvis, that is, put the athlete concurrently in hip flexion on one side and hip extension on the other, progression from slower, controlled movements to faster, more explosive movements. Obviously in our setting, you are talking about large groups, so while we try to be as comprehensive as possible in preparing each individual athlete systematically for movement skills and strength and power development, we also encourage athletes to come in on recovery days for extra regeneration sessions where we can spend more quality time with them and work through their unique needs. If there is pain present, then open lines of communication are a must as the strength staff and sports medicine staff need to be on the same page otherwise the athlete could potentially not work at the edge of their ability and progress too slowly, or be exposed to stressors they are not ready for, progress too fast, and risk re-injury.

Linear and Lateral Speed Development for Team Sport Success

Just Fly Sports: What are some of the most common errors that football players tend to make when running the 40-yard dash, or accelerating in general? What are some of your top corrections for these faults?

Scott Salwasser: I think the biggest error I see football players, or any field sport athlete really, make when running the 40, particualrly in the start and transition phases, is being too low. This is an example of a well-intentioned cue gone bad.

Athletes are so afraid of “popping up” too early that they often trick themselves into thinking that they’re low by dropping their chest and hinging at the hips and then compounding the problem by forcing themselves to “stay down” long after physics would suggest that they begin to transition to upright posture. While we do want a steep forward lean in order to optimize horizontal force production, it has to come from the entire body relative to the ground.

Athletes that over-emphasize staying low tend to break the hips, thus costing themselves extension and therefore force production resulting in a reflexive reach and fall on the front leg in order to catch themselves and keep from face planting. These are the same athletes that believe there is a magic line that they must stay down until, at which point they will immediately stand up rather than unfolding gradually.

We teach pure acceleration mechanics for the first 3 or so steps and after that a gradual transition of body rise that will be slightly different for each athlete, as everybody has slightly different levels of relative strength and technical execution. In general by about the 11th or 12th step our faster athletes will be upright, which typically equates to around 20 yards, but heavier and/or slower athletes will not fit that mold and that’s fine. In this regard it is much better to teach principles rather than absolutes. The athlete should depart their stance at the angle that matches their level of relative strength and power output.

The other issue I see often, in testing specifically, is overcrowding the line in the stance, putting their foot in line with their hand in a misguided attempt to get closer to the finish line. This often results in a vertical front shin and a curled up posture that costs the athlete the precious angles that are so essential to acceleration; they end up trading inches for yards, so to speak.

The front foot needs to be slightly behind the front point of the hip, and the front knee should be approximately 90 degrees with a forward inclination in order to optimize the force production needed to break inertia and maximize departure angles. The only way an athlete can accomplish this is if they have enough trunk stability and upper body strength to lean out over the line while still maintaining their balance and enough pressure on their feet to push off, a rare combination.

For most athletes we teach roughly shin length back from the front of the start line as a default setting and then adjust from there. The athlete that crowds the line will either have to waste valuable time by dropping into the correct angles before actually projecting themselves forward, costing them selves precious time, or they will follow their shin and unfold straight up.

Just Fly Sports. What is your approach to developing lateral speed on the field in your players?

Scott Salwasser: We use a similar approach to linear speed development in our lateral speed work. We begin by prepping the athlete for the positions and movements they are going to be undertaking, so for change of direction that means preparing for lateral and rotational rather than linear movement in our pre-session work and in our movement prep. We then rely on plyometrics heavily, just like for acceleration, as a means of improving reactive strength which we know will be crucial for cutting and changing direction, as well as a means for developing speed-strength and improving rate of force development. In this case of lateral speed, working in the frontal and transverse planes, as opposed to the sagittal.

We work on the angles and skill component through special drills such as wall drills and sequencing and patterning of force application through sled drills and ultimately work up to free drills at full speed to work on lateral acceleration/deceleration/cutting mechanics at high velocities. It is very similar to our approach to linear acceleration just in different planes.

The one piece that is unique to multi-directional speed is the reaction component. By this I mean reacting to an outside stimulus, not the reactive strength we talked about with plyos.

Most common agility drills consist of pre-programmed patterns. While this is a valuable component because the athlete can work on sheer output and his/her ability to accelerate, decelerate, cut, etc. at high speeds and with high force demands, on the field of play, the ability to recognize and respond rapidly to outside cueing will be just as important to their ability to make plays. So while we used pre-programmed patterns for the reasons listed above, we like to progress to putting athletes in situations where they must respond and react to outside cues, initially from a coach, but ultimately from another player. This could be as simple as a basic mirror drill, or more complex. The point is that their read and recognition skills are being trained along with their multi-directional speed, which will allow them to “cheat”, so to speak, and appear faster than they are. We feel that this piece optimizes transfer to sport.

About Scott Salwasser

Scott Salwasser is currently the Director of Speed and Power Development at Texas Tech University, where he works exclusively with the Football program. He served previously on the strength and conditioning staffs at UC Berkeley, Sparta Performance Science, University of Louisiana-Lafayette, Sacramento State and the Oakland Raiders. He competed nationally in Weightlifting as a graduate student at Sacramento State, and played intercollegiate Football as an undergraduate at UC Davis. He has a Master’s Degree in Kinesiology and is CSCS certified, among other distinctions. He and his wife Katie have two daughters, Stella and Charlotte.

@TTU_CoachSal (Twitter)

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