Fred Duncan (@Fred__Duncan)
Topics they write about
At the highest levels, athletes aren’t just skilled…they’re strong, fast, and physical. It’s not about skill versus strength versus speed, because all of these qualities feed each other. More speed means more reserve, more confidence, more breakaway opportunities, and ...
When we talk about sprint performance, the hip extensors get all the attention. But what’s missing from most conversations is the trunk’s role in managing the forces that sprinting produces. While this post shows how we train this in the gym, of course nothing is more ...
The numbers don’t lie. Whether we’re talking about playing in college or making it to the pros, the odds are stacked against you. Some of these percentages vary by sport and opportunity, but the big picture remains the same:…it is extremely difficult to move on to the next ...
When we break down sprinting, the muscle demands aren’t static…they shift depending on whether you’re accelerating or already at max velocity. In accel, the gastroc and soleus were the major accelerators, contributing the largest share of propulsive impulse across 19 steps. ...
When it comes to improving rate of force development, the ability to apply force fast, there’s no single “best” exercise. The truth is, it’s about covering the spectrum. This list isn’t in any real order, it’s just a collection of the means that we know train this ability well ...
Freeman et al. (2023) showed sprinting alone added ~20% fascicle length in the hamstrings…structural changes that support faster sprinting and lower strain risk. This study examined sprint training and found that the biceps femoris long head (BFLH) increased fascicle length ...
What made Aaron Donald so special wasn’t just his raw strength, it was the way he could move at his size. He was continually working on speed, explosiveness, mobility, technique. That’s what separated him, he wasn’t just strong, he was an elite mover. As coaches of physical ...
This isn’t about isolating one quality and pretending it’s the most important. It’s about understanding how strength, power, and rate of force development (RFD) feed into each other. Strength raises your ceiling…it gives you the foundation to move fast. But at some point, ...
Not every training stress is created equal. Some are very neurally demanding, some lean more metabolic, some are just lower intensity by design. This chart is simply a framework for how I tend to view and organize them. It’s not 100% universal…acceleration, for example, ...