Speed, Power, Strength and Aging Athletes

In the old days of Participaction, Canada used to have a fitness test with 6 events: 50 yard run, 300 yard run, max sit-ups, flex arm hang, shuttle run, and standing long jump.

This could be a good way to measure general fitness for Speed, Power, & Strength. It was also a good test to measure attrition in Masters athletes.

Here is a trusted old series of tests by Frank Dick (not that he is old) titled DEVELOPMENT OF MAXIMUM SPRINTING SPEED

I try to keep the field conditions consistent and in my case, I prefer to use Astroturf for my bounding tests. For the standing long jump, I prefer to land in sand, unlike the NFL Combine where you must land like a gymnast. Click here for a great video.

The 5 tests are:

Standing Long Jump
Standing Vertical Jump
3 bounds from a standing start
5 bounds from a standing start
10 bounds from a standing start

The bounds can be single arm or double arm.

For a good video demonstration of speed bounding, see this week’s Speed Bounding and Plyometrics.

I know from my open stats when I ran 10.92 for 100 meters, my standing vertical jump was 29 inches, and I could bound 10 steps in 35 meters (from a standing start). My standing long jump was well over 10 feet or 3.05 meters.

While demonstrating the standing vertical jump this week, I could only accomplish 19 inches at the ripe age of 49 and 16 months!

What does this say about diminishing elastic power over time? I am sure if I took up bench press and squats seriously again, I could reach some impressive numbers for an old man. But I honestly believe elastic power is another ballgame.

EGO Check: if you can vertical jump 33 inches (as we will see at this year’s 2014 NFL Combine), it doesn’t automatically mean you will be a 10.20 to 10.65 second 100 meter sprinter.

It doesn’t work the other way around.