2019 Africa Games: Athletes practice with speed parachute
Nigeria athletes to the 12th Africa Games taking place in Rabat, Morocco from the 19th to 31st intensified their training by practicing with speed parachute, Sportinglife.ng reports.
Africa’s Queen of the tracks, Blessing Okagbare – Ighoteguonor; Nigeria’ fastest man, Seye Ogunlewe
and rave of the moment, Divine Oduduru are some of the notable names that made the list which
consist of 51 athletes (29 females and 22 males) named by the Athletics Federation of Nigeria for
the continent’s showpiece.
AFN uploaded pictures of some athletes during a training session at the Ahamdu Bello Stadium, Kaduna
using the speed-enhancing device on the official Twitter account of the federation.
“Today’s training session. The quarter milers practising with a parachute. All athletes are well and ready to go. #Rabat2019,” the federation tweeted.
According to information made available on quora.com, a speed parachute is a good option for
sprinters, athlete, and sportsman to increase their speed, even though it has the potential of adversely affecting younger sprinters who are still working on technique.
“The resistance that speed parachutes provide forces your glutes, quadriceps, hamstrings, and calves to contract with greater explosiveness. When you’re wearing a parachute, the chute doesn’t open until you’ve picked up a bit of speed. While the tool won’t necessarily help with improving acceleration, it is effective at improving performance during the drive phase of sprinting, which is after you’ve taken off and are working to reach your top speed.
“Wearing a speed parachute has the potential of adversely affecting your sprinting technique. Because of this, according to Jeremy Sheppard of the Physiology Department of Australian Institute of Sport, resisted sprinting tools like a speed parachute should only be used by athletes who are physically mature.
“When you wear a speed parachute, it could cause you to increase the amount of time your feet are in contact with the ground and increase how far you are leaning forward.
“Therefore, to avoid causing problems in your sprinting biomechanics, master sprint technique before incorporating speed parachute training.”