I am constantly searching for anything to improve athletic performance of the athletes I train. Whether a pair of shoes, clothing, or training technique I am all ears when it could give my athletes an advantage in the 40 yard dash.

At the NFL Combine this year I was introduced to a new Adidas football cleat that they were trying to get as many athletes to wear as possible when the camreas are on.

Usually I am skeptical when it comes to footwear, I have my favorite shoes I like my guys to run in. But when I saw these shoes I immeadiately thought they could give my guys an edge to run a faster 40 yard dash time.

These shoes are 6.9 ounces, yes you read that correctly! But the thing is with these cleats are they are supportive enough to allow you to play football in them. They are in my opinion the BEST cleats on the market today.
If you are looking for a shoe to run the 40 yard dash in, or to play football in, you need to get a pair of these cleats!

Check out the Adidas adizero 5 Star Football Cleat

We had great success stories this year with our NFL Combine Training class. One of our top performers was Virgil Green, a TE out of Nevada who dominated the NFL Combine. He jumped 42.5″ in the vertical, which was the highest in the entire NFL Combine this year. He then jumped a 10′10″ Broad jump which was 3 longest in the entire combine. Not bad for a 252 lbs. TE!!!

Wonder how he did this? Come inside my Athletic Edge Sports training facility to see how we get these results!

To train like Virgil did get our Combine Freak Training System

Do you want to get faster?

I hope your summer training is producing the results you are looking for. Things here have been busy with our high school, college and pro athletes training hard for the upcming season and training camp.

Like all athletes out there, one of the biggest areas that they want to improve upon is their speed. They want to run faster on the field, and also run a faster 40 yard dash. Resisted speed training can enhance this.

To perform resisted sprints or accelerations I like to use a speed resistor harness or a weighted sled. These tools allow the athlete to enhance forward body lean which is a key factor in acceleration. My favorite is the speed resistor becasue I can vary the resistance on the athlete while the exercise is being performed.

I usually perform 5 sets of 15 yards resisted accelerations. Be sure to add this to your training program to get faster!

Train Hard!

Mike Gough, CSCS
www.nflcombineworkout.com
www.combinefreak.com

PS: Looking to improve you football combine results? Check out our Combine Freak Football Combine Training System !

As a football combine training specialist, I place alot of emphasis on the 40 yard dash. How the athletes runs the 40 yard dash can have a huge factor on his football future. With so much at stake the little details make a huge difference. For example, what footwear you select to run the 40 yard dash in…

Two years ago Under Armour came out with a combine testing shoe. I could not wait to get my hands on it as it seemed to be the answer to finding a 40 yard dash shoe that was light as a feather, could grip into the turf, and had the engineering of a track shoe.

This year I trained Trindon Holliday from LSU who clocked a 4.21 hand held thime at the NFL Combine. Trindon is a track specialist and former NCAA 100m champion. His first question to me was what shoes was he going to wear at the NFL Combine. I pulled out a pair of the Under Armour Combine shoes and his face lit up. He knew he was going to run fast in those shoes.

These Under Armour shoes have what they call a negative heel, forcing you to get up on your toes when you run, which makes you run faster. At 8.8 ounces it is hard to find a lighter shoe. Not to mention they are a great shoe to wear for the vertical jump as well.

So check these shoes out as they are now available to purchase to the public. Get them here!

We have been very busy down here in Florida preparing our athletes for the NFL Combine. Here are a few pictures from our training. More videos will follow.

Anthony Davis OT - Rutgers - Hitting the chain pushups in preparation for the 2010 NFL Combine.

Deji Karim- RB - Southern Illinois - Working through some cleans

Mike McLaughlin - LB - Boston College -hits the 110’s on the Incline Bench

We will be posting more videos from our 2010 NFL Combine Training Program very soon!

Yesterday I was poking around online and found a video on a high school football combine website that made me scratch my head. Let me tell you why…

They had a coach/trainer/timer (not sure his specific title) miked up coaching some high school players through the pro agility shuttle. He was telling them to do everything they should not do!!!

If you have watched DVD “The Combine Freak” you will know what I am talking about as I point out some techniques that others teach that are killing your time and I show you how to fix them.

He was actually adding 4+ tenths to their times with his techniques. Adding steps, the turns, foot placement, everything he said was NOT what they should be doing. And what happened? At the end of the video clip they showed the first athlete run the shuttle, he was all over the place, slipping in the turns, and adding steps here and there. He almost ran over the guy timing because of these techniques (maybe he did it on purpose!).

In addition the worst thing to do right before you test is to have some trying to coach you up. Perfection takes time, practice and preparation.

I am the first to be open to new techniques and must admit that my training techniques are the accumulation of years of learning from others and dissecting video myself. Point is that my technique works.

Don’t waste your time and effort practicing the wrong way to perform the shuttle, when with a click of a remote control you can learn the right way.

I am offering a pre launch of my Combine Freak Training System, get your hands on it before I let the world know its available.

I am often asked and e-mailed by athletes, parents and coaches what they can do to run faster, especially for the 40 yard dash. It seems like everyone is is feeling the need for speed these days. Whom can blame them, it what separates the pros from the joes especially at the NFL Scouting Combine!

So here are three things you can do that will have you running faster:

Work on Your Arm Mechanics - Too many athletes have poor running technique. If you are not efficient, you are wasting energy and slowing yourself down. The arms should be at a 90 degree angle while running. The should swing from the shoulder maintaining that angle. This will help drive and propel the body forward. Many athletes chop their arms which is wasted energy and not efficient.

Use Resisted Sprints to Increase Speed - Resisted sprints provide huge returns in terms of speed development. They teach the body the feel of foward body lean and acceleration angles. I use resisted sprints with the Speed Tools Speed Resistor. We use these everyday at my Athletic Edge Sports Training Center. We perform 15 yard resisted sprints with the speed resistor with good form.

Train the Core - When I tell athletes this they usually think of a ripped six pack. You need to train your core for movement and performance, meaning train the abs, obliques, hip flexors, back erectors, and glutes explosively for movement. So leave the crunches behind, and start training the core with med balls and dynamic movements such as overhead toss situps, russian twists, and rotational throws. These will develop power in your core and help you run faster.

Football Training
The season is ticking away! What are you going to do to make yourself better this off-season? If you are looking for an edge on the competition check out Training for the NFL program, it gives you the specific training routines I use down here with my athletes preparing for NFL season. It even includes my position specific conditioning protocols.

Where can you get a 4 phase training program that gets incredible results for such a great price?

Train Hard!

Mike Gough BSc, CSCS
http://www.procombinetraining.com/
http://www.combinefreak.com/
http://www.speedtoolsusa.com/

PS. Don’t forget to get your Speed Tools Speed Resistor today to start getting faster!

If you are a high school athlete, parent or coach and want to get exposure then follow these tips!

One of my athletes got back from a bunch of one day camps at schools like Florida, Georgia, Virginia, Auburn, Syracuse and Louisville. This athlete, Damien Copeland was a WR at Palmetto High School who runs great routes and has sure hands.

He was a senior to be, and had moderate interest before the spring football season. Damien last year went to Auburn and ran a low 4.6 sec. 40 yard dash. This year he clocked the fastest 40 yard dash time at the Florida, Auburn and Georgia camps were he ran 4.42, 4.43 and 4.43. He jumped 40″ at the Florida camp in bare feet and wowed them with his route running. He is already qualified academically so schools know he is ready to go.

He verbally committed to Lousiville after getting several offers after his performances at these camps. So what can we learn from his successes?

Here are some tips I have to seperate yourself and get some serious scholarship looks.

#1 - Work Hard and have a good positive attiude. What you put into it you will reap the rewards.

#2 - Have good film showing all facets of your game. Get your film together and have it ready to send out. Perform on the field!

#3 - Test off the charts! Football is all about speed and specificaly the 40 yard dash. Teams recruit speed, power and explosive players. If you run a fast 40 yard dash, you are bound to turn some heads! Make sure you test well and get coached up on the tests (check out my Football Combine Training DVD) as they will test you like it is the NFL Combine!

#4 - Try to attend as many of these invite only camps schools have during the summer to evaluate the athletes they are seriously interested in. Get your coach to call these schools to get you in.

#5 - Get your academics in order. Too often I see too many good athletes end up no where becasue of poor grades. Do well in school, college coaches love kids that are qualified.

So there you have it, if you can check mark each of these five things then you are well on your way to becoming highly recruited. Keep working hard on the field, in your training and in the classroom.

If you want testing numbers like Damien had, follow all my secrets in my Football Combine Freak Training System. It worked for Damien, let it work for you!

Train Hard!
Mike Gough
NFL Combine Training
Speed Tools Training Gear

PS. Check out StudentBlitz.com to help you get a football scholarship!

Two of the strongest athletes is have every worked with were OL from BYU, Scott Young and Eddie Keele while they were preparing for the NFL Combine ad NFL Pro Day. You want to talk about freakish strength and athleticism, the things these guys would do in the facility would leave everyone in amazement!

Here are two you tube videos of them benching out at the NFL Combine standard 225 lbs.

Scott holds the record at my training facility with 48 reps performed during preparations for the NFL Combine.

Use these videos as motivation when training your bench press.

Train Hard!

Mike Gough

A great tool for speed development and 40 yard dash improvement is the use of a weighted speed sled in your training program. I use the weight sled often with my athlete preparing for the NFL Combine, and with great success!

A weighted sled improves acceleration and power development in the running stride. It allows the body to feel forward body lean, critical for acceleration.

Here are my top three drills with the weighted sled for speed enhancement.

Drill #1   10 yard Accelerations
From a 40 yard dash start position accelerate out 10 yards with proper 40 yard dash technique and breathing

Drill #2 Resisted Marching
Using a heavier resistance on the sled perform a marching A focusing on forward body lean, firing the hip flexors and good arm action. Perform this drill out to 20 yards.

Drill #3 Backpedal Drives
With the harness or belt on backwards, athlete performs a resisted backpedal, focusing on keep the hips low and extending the leg through each stride with good arm action.

Try these three drills to improve you speed and train for the 40 yard dash. Be sure when speed training with any resistance, that the resistance level is set to 7-10% of the athletes bodyweight. This will allow the athlete to sprint without compromising running form.

With my athletes I use the SpeedTools Speed Sled, it is easily portable to and from the track or field.

Train Hard,

Mike Gough