During the past 4 years Derek has been the center for my daughters training.
I have gleened information and learned from many other people/places, especially from here, but Derek has been the “go-to” coach/trainer and has put alot into perspective.
During the past 2 years she has been bugging me to take her to see Derek in person.
She really admires him and respects his opinion, she often tells me “you need to talk to Derek” when we discuss things, and she really wants some “live” training…hopefully this can happen sometime soon, as Derek is “only” about a 5 hour drive from where we live.
I give a BIG THANKS to Derek, and he should be up towards the top of the list!
There are countless ways to sort a list like this. For example, using SEOmoz domain authority (which is largely determined by the number of high-ranking sites that point to a site), the top two sites are:
CF has a DA of 36 with links from 208 root domains. Note that DA is logarithmic, so that a DA of 40 is considerably higher than a DA of 30. Google has a DA of 100, and a DA of 70 is quite high. Of course, a site with a DA of 70 does not mean it has better information that a site with DA of 36, but it does have considerably more influence on what people view when browsing.
While not an online speed site per se, I think it’s interesting that www.exrx.net edges out all of these with a DA of 71 and links from 4,500 root domains.
I frequent the site. Does his research. Is still an track athlete. Has worked with Derek any a few occasions. Alot of his info is based on charlie’s teachings. One of the best track blogs out imo.
I have Latif’s stuff. It’s a mishmash of things he took from CF, Pfaff, etc. It’s not that organized, and geared squarely at the high school coaches whose idea of “speed training” is run the straight and jog the turn. It’s more of a library of training tools amassed from others.
Yes, of course. Some were miffed that CF ranked 4th on this list and I’m merely stating the obvious: there are many ways to sort a list. I gave an example of one more.
I’m baffled how anybody who frequents, Mike Boyle’s, Bret Contreas, Jimson Lee Charlie Francis & Derrick Hansens sites could think that the former 2 could even be considered “speed training” websites.
Boyle’s sell is functional training and Contreas is research reviews & Glute exercises.
I haven’t been to about 8 of the sites but of the ones I have frequented I’d have to say do to ease of access of info, speedendurance is 1 and CF is 2.
I have experience with Latif Thomas, as I have his Complete Speed Part 1 5DVD set, and also one of his other release ‘how to make the perfect 100m runner from start to finish’ with Marc Mangiacotti and honestly both are very good, a wealth of good information.
Latif is truly a sales expert. He admitted though in this short clip that you shouldn’t stop doing speed drill entirely, which contradicts the whole issue. I believe that the main point in doing this video and the seminar is to inform coaches or trainers, “Stop doing Speed Drills”… if you don’t have the time or know how, as you will be teaching the ‘bad habits’ other than improving your athlete, you are doing the opposite. Good Sales Pitch though… Well that’s what I think… Thanks for the link
These blog posts are contrived, and designed first and foremost to drive eyeballs to the website of the seller of said goods. This guy has no truly new or unique ideas. He takes ideas from successful coaches and packages them nicely by using words like “Secrets Of…” and “The Top 7 Things…” that internet sales gurus tell you are effective. In reality of course, there are no secrets.
In this case, he’s likely going to tell you “agility ladders are a waste of time.” Thanks, but Charlie said that years ago for free, and I didn’t have to jump through a bunch of hoops first either. Is it useful material? To the beginner coach, or the high school coach with a poor grasp of speed development, sure.
I’ve had his stuff for two years. When’s the last time I took it off the shelf? I can’t remember.
Hi Tyrone, no disagreement, but I’m fascinated by this particular webinar for the following reason. While many of the online gurus intentionally ignite a controversy with the goal to gain attention, the more common pattern is to attack another belief system, not ones own. After promoting a DVD set and book that includes a chapter on ladder drills, Latif then states in his webinar, “… maybe it’s that bevy of agility ladder drills that you like to do with your athletes … I’m going to ask you to stop doing that.” He goes on to say, “I have just found as time has gone on I realize, dang, teaching speed drills is a waist of time.” The super long web page with free bonuses and add-to-cart at the bottom of the page is a proven technique for sales conversions, but this candid revelation with a hard-to-port course correction is somewhat unique in online sales.
This guy needs to stick to sales and perhaps think about a career change like the pharmaceutical industry where exaggeration of the pluses and minimizing the negatives bring lucrative rewards.
It’s simply ludicrous that any youth coach might suggest not doing speed drills.
Latif stole this move right out of Mike Boyle’s playbook. Boyle is always changing his mind about things, and I know Latif is a Boyle follower. You can’t argue with changing your mind as a business practise- Boyle changes his mind all the time (He’s gone from “Squat!” to “Don’t squat!” over the past few years). It’s a great sales technique that makes you seem like an honest guy (“Wow he changes his mind!”), but more importantly allows you to “revamp” your product cycle more often, which means more sales. In the long term, I think not actually standing for anything at all hurts your credibility.
I have nothing personal against this guy, but there is nothing special about his actual knowledge.
I wonder how long the UKA coach site is going to last after the Games when the money flow will presumably will substantially be reduced and the foreign coaches’ (Pfaff, Tyler, Evely etc.) leave. Just like athleticscoaching.ca.