Hiya all, was wondering what i could purchase to make myself more explosive, quicker, and faster, and to strengthen my core ( overall strength wont be bad ). So far I have purchased speed ladders and i like them, but i was wondering what else to get? My other two purchases might be a medicine ball and a balance board. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated, Thanks
All of those ideas are great. A pull-up bar is also a must buy. Other than that, you can just use your body.
The fact that you are asking this means that you don't have a training plan. "Buying" a training plan designed for you is the most important purchase. There are a number of ways to do this. * Hire a professional strength and conditioning coach. The field is sometimes referred to as "athletic development" which is a more accurate description of the field. It covers all areas, not just strength and endurance. Problems are 1) how do you tell if you are getting good coaching (some places are rip offs and some places are great) and 2) it can be expensive. One way to save is to have them do an assessment and design a plan for you. That is the extent of their involvement. You follow the plan on your own. Go back in three months for another assessment and new plan. A variation on this is to buy a packaged workout plan like http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P90X * Find a free plan on the internet. It is cheap. Problem: 1) it is a generic plan not designed for your body and your needs. General plans are okay for pre-teens and novices just starting training. This is because they need everything. So no training will be wasted effort. But as an athelete gets older and more advanced, plans need to be more tailored for the individual based on an individual assessments. The type of plans change as well. Now plans need to involve periodization and training cycles to be effective. Then individual progress is evaluated by testing and then the person's plan adjusted to maintain the effectiveness of the training. * Get a free plan from a friend or relative. It is cheap. For children of professional athletes and coaches, this alternative works out well. Problem: for most of us you get what you pay for. Most of us don't know a professional coach or athlete willing to spend some time helping us. For us the friend or relative willing to help is only going to be able to tell us what works for them. Following someone else's training plan doesn't guarentee results, in fact in areas like weight training it can be very risky and get you injured. * Educate yourself and be your own coach. Great alternative if you are up for it. For 99.9% of us this won't work. But the resources are out there. College courses. Professional coaching books and websites or other materials. Professional associations. Problem: Even if you succeed, you spend time reading books and articles and attending classes when you could be training instead. We only have 24 hours in the day. * Hire a personal trainer. The ordinary personal trainer is a cheerleader helping you complete a generic training plan. The extraordinary personal trainers are usually very expensive.