Lee Taft Multi-Directional Speed and Agility Workshop Recap
A few weeks ago, we were fortunate enough to host Lee Taft, one of the world’s premier athletic movement specialists. Taft has helped a diverse spectrum of people – he coaches the world’s top professional athletes, works with youth development, and helps every ability level in between. At Reload, he emphasized the importance of getting back to basics in his multidirectional speed and agility workshop. He taught us that mastering these speed and agility basics sets you up to be a better athlete and ultimately, a better coach.
The workshop participants walked through interactive drills focused on the seven patterns of movement (acceleration, mass velocity, shuffle, lateral run, back pedal, hip turns, and jumping). Each one of these patterns of movement are used in various sports by different professional athletes, but everyone can benefit from learning these basics to find corrective and supportive ways to become healthier, stronger people. Most importantly, these basics prepare the body to be familiar with unfamiliar movements across all different scenarios to avoid injury.
Lee explained how he studies the technique and skills based on the best athletes out there that focus on a specific movement skill. For example, when studying acceleration, Lee researched sprinters and was able to learn the science behind their movement and how they generate the greatest force to accelerate quickly. Understanding how the best athletes in the world carry out these each of the seven patterns of movement at the highest level in the world is the best way to understand how to coach the body holistically.
The phrase of the weekend was “Be a teacher of skills, not drills”. At Reload, we believe that when we learn from the world’s best, we can treat our clients in the best manner possible. The same skills our physical therapists learned from Lee are exactly how we work with our clients, no matter the fitness level. If you are interested in learning more about Lee’s philosophy and want to practice it in action to reach your goals, schedule an appointment with our team!