Maximising resisted sprint training and speed training with youth athletes with Micheál Cahill

This week's episode of the Pacey Performance Podcast sees Rob speaking to Micheál Cahill. Micheál has been in the US for a number of years while completing his PhD and working at Athlete Training and Health in Texas. Most practitioners will know him for his work in resisted speed training with youth populations which is the exact topic of today's discussion.

In the first half of the discussion, Micheál outlines his philosophy when working with youth athletes and outlines the gaps in maturation and develop where we can really focus on speed development. He also outlines why you may use sled pushes versus sled pulls with youth athletes.

In the second half of the conversation we focus solely on resisted sprint trainnig for all populations. How can we prescribe load and how can we understand what an athletes needs from resisted sprints?

Finally Micheál tackles some of the misconceptions and common questions that come up around resisted sprints.

If you want a deep dive into resisted sprints and getting youth players fast, this one is for you.

Main talking points -

• Developing speed across the age groups
• Are there any periods of time when things can be pushed or need to be pulled back?
• Where sled pulls can be utilised?
• Where sled pushes can be utilised?
• Time on technical vs physical development
• How to assess to understand what is needed when prescribing resisted sprints?
• Methods to prescribe load?
• Sled pushing vs sled pulling - Reasons for using one over the other
• Common questions/misconceptions/gripes around resisted sprinting