Fast movements

Dr.EM

Dr.EM

Dr.EM

Soldato
Joined
15 Jun 2006
Posts
3,900
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Swindon
Is there anything particular you can do to make yourself "fast"? Some people can create really fast movements when others are much slower. Is there some kind of special diet or training they would do? I can move my hand fast enough to make a whooshing sound like when someone waves a stick, but thought it would be cool to be able to move really fast :D . Sorry for the bizarre question, just wondering :)
 
:D

Also, while i'm unusually posting here, tricep excersise. I like to work them quite a lot, but the excersise is where you raise it and sort of lift it over your shoulder (listed as "single arm tricep extension" on the suggested excersise chart supplied with dumbells). Thing is, it really hurts my back now at about 6kg (my back is not well looked after :eek: ). Is there a better way to do it, or probably more ideal, a way to strengthen the back? Also, is there an advantage to "balancing" the bicep and triceps? Usually the bicep is more powerful, but with regards to my first post, balancing the strength may allow faster movement?
 
The bicep isn't normally more powerful, it is a much smaller muscle than your tricep. You may find that if you do the single tricep extension sitting on an exercise bench with the back up that it hurts you less as it offers more support. I'm not so sure about exercises to strengthen your back though as I simply don't know enough to advise.

I also suspect that you will find it difficult to increase your speed greatly, it is mainly to do with the percentage of fast-twitch muscles that you have I believe which is genetic. You can probably increase your explosive speed to a degree but how far you can go I'm not sure.
 
Thanks, nice answer :)

I thought there were different types of muscle for speed and power, but you say it isn't possible to alter the ratio by any significant degree. It being genetic does make sense.

Didn't realise the tricep was more powerful, must just be more awkward to excersise specifically :confused:

Increasing explosive power sounds cool, but probably isn't quite the same thing :cool: :D
 
That does look good yeah :) . Some cabinets in the garage might do :D

Presumably ordinary pushups help to some degree too? I could do with push-up bars though because it seriously hurts my wrists with them at the angle.

Pull-ups are good too (just generally), but I don't know where to do them. A nearby playpark used to have some bars that looked almost purpose built for it, but I found the other day they have changed the whole place :( . The doorframe ones look awkward.
 
Triceps aren't all that difficult to work, benchpress, press-ups and dips all work triceps as do Cable Pushdowns which I find that when I do them right leave my whole upper arm feeling like jelly, you do have to attempt to keep the elbow firmly in position though. The site that Gavster linked to has a load of exercises and short clips of how to do them although it depends on what equipment you have available.

Explosive power can be generated by doing press-ups so fast that your hands leave the ground, if you get good then you can clap or 'hop' round in a circle etc. The amount of exercises you can do are only limited by your imagination and equipment. :)

Oh and the doorframe attachments for pull-ups are rather awkward I find but better than nothing.
 
The greater your relative strength, the more force you can extert and the faster you will get.

Which is why 100m sprinters squat very heavy weight, at a fairly low body weight. Obviously they have better genetics thn most for being fast, but increasing strength without increasing bodyweight too much will make you run / move faster.

Plyometrics help as well, but only once you have a good base level of strength.
 
Thats what I was thinking, increasing strength without adding a lot of mass (though some certainly wouldn't be a problem). Think i'm doing what I should, I had heard somewhere low reps with high weight is good for this so have been doing that for a while. I'll read on plyometrics :)
 
Depends what you mean by fast. Being able to move fast, in terms of muscle type won't magically improve your reaction times, but it will help a bit, basically whats been said already is a start.
 
Hello again :) . Well, i've been doing quite a lot of press-ups work. I maganed to hurt my back doing a squat totally wrong a few weeks back (don't ask :o ) but luckily it seems to be pretty well back in shape now. The press-ups didn't hurt it hence why I have been doing them more. I find them fairly easy now and have also found I can fall, from standing upright, face forward and catch myself (ie, move into press-up position and decelerate with my arms) without any injury, which is pretty neat. Would be good to be able to launch back into standing but no luck with that yet.

I think I should get a barbell (is that the name, long bar with weights?) and perform deadlifts to hopefully put some strength into my back (should probably have done that from the start :o ). Providing I observe the correct stance and start with low weights it should be fine? I can move onto the proper way of doing squats with that too I'd hope, and possibly get a bench in future for bench press (though limited space).
 
Barbell is the correct word, you get them in two sizes that I know of, 7' (olympic size) and 6' (probably more easily available). I don't know if it matters much which one you go for at the level you will be working at currently. :)
 
Cheers, olympic one seems to cost a lot more (comes with a lot of weight), so it'll have to be the smaller one. 6 foot sounds plenty anyhow :) . Also, are there better places to buy them than a certain high street store? Online places I doubt as delivery would be a killer :confused: . I'm looking at a 50kg set priced £40 from said store. Seems reasonable enough, might be awkward loading into the car though...

EDIT: Ah yes, pull-ups. I wanted to do them but had nowhere. I thought even of doing them at a local park which had a perfect bar for it, but they've recently changed the whole thing and it's gone :( . The door ones don't look a lot of use tbh, wouldn't be any good for wide arm anyhow.
 
Reckon it'll get me a fair way with my back not being very strong at the moment. Can easily add more later, seems to have a fair amount of threaded area to add weights on and additional ones are readily available :)
 
Best place to go is the gym, as you'll be able to do assisted wide arms (untill you've got your strength up etc) and they'll have plenty of weights.

You can buy your own stuff, but you won't be able to do as much imo.
 
Phnom_Penh said:
Best place to go is the gym, as you'll be able to do assisted wide arms (untill you've got your strength up etc) and they'll have plenty of weights.
Click to expand...

Depends on the quality of the gym, I've been to a one where it had the 'assisted' pull-ups machine, a Fitness First which had SFA in that line and a proper weights gym where they probably would have laughed at you for a machine like that, oh and a couple of uni gyms which don't have much. All had a machine for lat-pulldowns however which is quite handy for building up the strength necessary to do wide arm pull-ups so that would do. :)

Dr.EM: my only advice would be to pay close attention to your technique, I see a lot of people flinging weights up and down that they quite clearly shouldn't be using with their inadequate technique, don't sacrifice form just to add poundage - it might feel impressive but it is much more likely to limit you in the longer run and/or possibly cause damage to your body.
 
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