You wouldn’t think that launching a new business in the middle of the pandemic would be a recipe for success, but Salto Heat Treating is proving this wrong.

For privacy reasons YouTube needs your permission to be loaded. For more details, please see our Privacy Policy.I Accept This drill focuses on teaching your feet to move quickly in tight areas. Performed correctly, the drill improves your balance, footwork, and acceleration mechanics. Set up one cone at the beginning of the drill. Five yards in front of that cone, set up a pair of cones side-by-side and staggered just a bit to the right of the first cone. Five yards in front of those cones, set up a pair of cones as your finish line. Begin on either the left or right side of the first cone. Circle around that cone as fast as possible while keeping your shoulders square (just like the Circle-Around-the-Cone Drill) before accelerating to the pair of cones in front of you. Transition to a backpedal between that pair of cones before accelerating through the finish line. Coaching Points Stay tight to the cones. Sprint in a straight line between the cones. Sprint 3 yards past the last cone. Sets/Reps: 6 total reps (3 starting on the left of the first cone, 3 starting on the right of the first cone) 3. High-To-Low Drill For privacy reasons YouTube needs your permission to be loaded. For more details, please see our Privacy Policy.I Accept This drill focuses on the transition from a sprint to a backpedal (and vice versa). Arrange four cones in a straight line, about 2 feet apart. Five yards beyond the final cone in the line, set up a pair of cones as your finish line. Begin about 8-10 yards back from the first cone. Skip into the drill, emphasizing arm action and high knees. Once you hit the first cone, lower your center of gravity and run to—but not past—the fourth cone. At the fourth cone, switch to a backpedal. Run backward to all the way to the first cone. Then sprint to the third cone. When you reach it, backpedal to the first cone. Repeat the pattern for the second cone, then sprint from the first cone through to the finish line. Coaching Points Skip into the cone setup. Keep your hips square to the finish through the entire drill. Keep your chin over your toes during the backpedal. Backpedal and transition at each cone in the set-up. Sets/Reps: 3-5 total reps 4. Speed Ladder Change-Of-Direction Drill For privacy reasons YouTube needs your permission to be loaded. For more details, please see our Privacy Policy.I Accept This drill helps you develop faster feet and the ability to turn and run on a dime. Lay down a speed ladder in an open area. Eight to 10 yards beyond the end of the speed ladder, set up a pair of cones as your finish line. Starting at the beginning of the speed ladder, either backpedal or move laterally through the ladder. No matter the variation, follow the same pattern—two feet in, two feet out. Once you complete the final rung of the ladder, turn and accelerate through the finish line. Coaching Points Walk through the drill first, then perform as fast as possible. Go through the ladder both laterally and backwards. Stay tight to the ladder and keep your hips low. Turn and explode into the sprint at the end of the drill. Sets/Reps: 4-5 reps of each variation (backward, laterally to the left, laterally to the right) 5. Left-To-Right Jumps For privacy reasons YouTube needs your permission to be loaded. For more details, please see our Privacy Policy.I Accept This drill focuses on single-leg explosiveness and balance. Using nine mini-hurdles, mimic the set-up shown above. Make sure the hurdles create 90-degree angles with one another. Start in front of the first mini-hurdle standing on one leg. Hop over the first hurdle, then immediately hop over the hurdle to your right. Hop back over that same hurdle to get back in the middle of the drill, then immediately hop over the next hurdle in front of you. Follow this pattern until you clear the last hurdle, then burst through the finish line. Hop on only one leg throughout the drill, then repeat the sequence with your opposite leg. Coaching Points Stay balanced with your chin over your toes. Be quick off the ground. Explode into a sprint at the end of the drill. Sets/Reps: 6 total reps (3 on each leg) 6. Single-Leg Hops For privacy reasons YouTube needs your permission to be loaded. For more details, please see our Privacy Policy.I Accept This drill focuses on rapid turnover and teaches you to produce a tremendous amount of ground force through your foot. Arrange eight mini-hurdles in a straight line. Allow roughly a yard of space between each mini-hurdle, though this number can be adjusted based on your size and skill level (hurdles that are closer together will be slightly easier). Start in front of the first mini-hurdle, standing on either your right or left leg. Hop over each hurdle, emphasizing quickness off the ground and explosive arm action. Once you clear the last hurdle, burst into a 10-yard sprint. Coaching Points Focus on rapid turnover and quickness off the ground. Explode in the sprint as you clear the final hurdle. Allow for full recovery between sets. Sets/Reps: 3 sets on each leg 7. Single-Leg Swiss Ball Squats For privacy reasons YouTube needs your permission to be loaded. For more details, please see our Privacy Policy.I Accept This drill focuses on single-leg strength and stability. If one of your legs is weaker than the other, your sprint speed will be seriously hamstrung (no pun intended). Grab a Swiss ball and find an open spot on a flat piece of wall. Put the Swiss ball against the middle of your back. Pressing against the Swiss ball and standing on either your right or left leg, lower yourself into a Single-Leg Squat. Once you master the movement, add light dumbbells. Coaching Points Keep your back flat against the ball. Squat until your thigh is parallel to the ground. Begin with no weight and progress from there. Sets/Reps: 5×8 on each leg (superset with Single-Leg Jumps) 8. Single-Leg Band Jumps For privacy reasons YouTube needs your permission to be loaded. For more details, please see our Privacy Policy.I Accept This exercise helps you learn how to generate an awesome amount of single-leg power and explosiveness with the help of an exercise band. Find a sturdy beam or pull-up bar that gives you plenty of clearance for jumping. Loop an exercise band around it and pull the slack through. This should create a “handle” for you to put your elbows inside as you hold the band. Loop the band around your elbows and grab hold of it with both hands. Assume a single-leg position. Lower yourself into a Single-Leg Squat (also known as a “Pistol Squat”) before launching yourself off the ground and into the air. Coaching Points Squat down slightly past parallel. Keep the weight on your heel as you lower. Explode upward and land softly. Sets/Reps: 3×3-10 on each leg

“The advantage of going digital is that we can remotely monitor everything about the system,” said Mehanna. “If there’s any error, the burner goes down, or the furnace troubleshoots, I get notifications on my phone. We couldn't do that with some of the other equipment on the market. I can receive emails updating me about our furnaces and I can fix or troubleshoot right from my laptop. I can have our automation engineers go in and fix any problems rather than having to go onto the shop floor in many cases, which makes fixes much quicker and more efficient.”

McCleskey also knows that an athlete can never reach his full-speed potential if one leg is stronger or more powerful than the other. That’s why he emphasizes single-leg training during his workouts. “We’re trying to get both legs even. Most people’s right leg is stronger than their left leg. So we really want to concentrate on single-leg movements. You play football, you play other sports, on one leg,” McCleskey says. “Speed is measured by how much force you put into the ground. If I’m running and my right leg is stronger, I’m decelerating [every other step] because my left leg isn’t putting the same force into the ground. Just getting that left leg stronger will get you considerably faster.”

Salto’s custom-designed, fully automated IQ line is a furnace that can reach temperatures of 1,850 degrees F to surface harden drill rods for mining exploration. Images: Salto Heat Treating

This drill focuses on teaching your feet to move quickly in tight areas. Performed correctly, the drill improves your balance, footwork, and acceleration mechanics.

Begin on either the left or right side of the first cone. Circle around that cone as fast as possible while keeping your shoulders square (just like the Circle-Around-the-Cone Drill) before accelerating to the pair of cones in front of you. Transition to a backpedal between that pair of cones before accelerating through the finish line.

Loop the band around your elbows and grab hold of it with both hands. Assume a single-leg position. Lower yourself into a Single-Leg Squat (also known as a “Pistol Squat”) before launching yourself off the ground and into the air.

Keep up to date with the latest news, events, and technology for all things metal from our pair of monthly magazines written specifically for Canadian manufacturers!

Start in front of the first mini-hurdle, standing on either your right or left leg. Hop over each hurdle, emphasizing quickness off the ground and explosive arm action. Once you clear the last hurdle, burst into a 10-yard sprint.

“Uniformity is very important to provide quality heat-treating services,” said Mehanna. “With this we can ensure that from the first to the last rod, each is the same hardness.”

“There is a lot of variety in terms of what we can offer,” said Mehanna. “Upwards of 85 per cent is focused on the mining industry with the remainder in agriculture and forestry. With low-frequency induction hardening, our scanners can go up to 7 ft., whereas most can only do up to 3 ft. We are one of very few companies in Ontario that can do this.”

Starting at the beginning of the speed ladder, either backpedal or move laterally through the ladder. No matter the variation, follow the same pattern—two feet in, two feet out. Once you complete the final rung of the ladder, turn and accelerate through the finish line.

Perhaps this fact is no more apparent than in football. A football field is only 100 yards long and 53.33 yards wide. The faster a player can navigate that space, the more dangerous he will be.

“While Salto has only been open for the last 2 ½ years, I’ve been in the heat-treating industry for 30 years,” said Christophe Mehanna, general manager, Salto Heat Treating. “It’s always been my dream to run my own shop, and when I realized a great opportunity presented itself, I reached out to a good friend of mine, Felix Lopes Jr.”

Working in the mining industry, Mehanna has seen significant changes in the parts that come in for heat treating over the years, and mining parts are often treated very differently than automotive or aerospace components. In recent years, there has been a push to make mining components that can be used more than once.

Begin about 8-10 yards back from the first cone. Skip into the drill, emphasizing arm action and high knees. Once you hit the first cone, lower your center of gravity and run to—but not past—the fourth cone. At the fourth cone, switch to a backpedal. Run backward to all the way to the first cone. Then sprint to the third cone. When you reach it, backpedal to the first cone. Repeat the pattern for the second cone, then sprint from the first cone through to the finish line.

“While we have eight furnaces, the IQ furnace is the only one that does the hardening on all the different applications for us,” said Mehanna. “Once they are removed from the IQ furnace, we can put them in other furnaces for tempering and stress relieving, depending on part requirements.”

Arrange eight mini-hurdles in a straight line. Allow roughly a yard of space between each mini-hurdle, though this number can be adjusted based on your size and skill level (hurdles that are closer together will be slightly easier).

Salto is ISO 9001:2015 certified and a member of the Metal Treating Institute. Additionally, all of the company’s furnaces and probes are calibrated and certified. Mehanna noted that not all other heat treaters calibrate their furnaces, but at Salto, they ensure that when they say the furnace is 1,500 degrees F, that’s exactly what is it.

Set up one cone at the beginning of the drill. Five yards in front of that cone, set up a pair of cones side-by-side and staggered just a bit to the right of the first cone. Five yards in front of those cones, set up a pair of cones as your finish line.

Luminoso has a bachelor of arts from Carleton University, a bachelor of education from Ottawa University, and a graduate certificate in book, magazine, and digital publishing from Centennial College.

Decoud hones his speed under the guidance of speed and conditioning coach J.J. McCleskey, a former cornerback who played six seasons in the NFL and is now director of training movements at ME Sports in Madisonville, Louisiana. McCleskey firmly believes efficiency and explosiveness are two pillars of speed. “Speed is everything in the National Football League, but [it’s about] being able to be efficient with your speed. In and out of cuts, those transitional parts. Everyone talks about running the 40, but you never run a 40 in football. Being able to start and stop and be violently coming out of your transitions is important,” McCleskey says.

This exercise helps you learn how to generate an awesome amount of single-leg power and explosiveness with the help of an exercise band.

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Grab a Swiss ball and find an open spot on a flat piece of wall. Put the Swiss ball against the middle of your back. Pressing against the Swiss ball and standing on either your right or left leg, lower yourself into a Single-Leg Squat. Once you master the movement, add light dumbbells.

Find a sturdy beam or pull-up bar that gives you plenty of clearance for jumping. Loop an exercise band around it and pull the slack through. This should create a “handle” for you to put your elbows inside as you hold the band.

Lindsay Luminoso, sr. editor/digital editor, contributes to both Canadian Metalworking and Canadian Fabricating & Welding. She worked as an associate editor/web editor, at Canadian Metalworking from 2014-2016 and was most recently an associate editor at Design Engineering.

One player who knows the importance of speed? Treston Decoud. The former Oregon State cornerback was recently drafted by the Houston Texans thanks to his combination of size, speed, and athleticism. “Speed is everything—speed kills. That’s what a lot of NFL coaches, college coaches, high school coaches look for,” Decoud told STACK.

More recently, the company invested in a high-frequency induction scanner after a globally recognized customer requested it. While the team had no experience using the high-frequency scanner initially, they were able to lean on Mehanna’s experience with low-frequency scanners and learn with the help of metallurgists and the customer how best to use this new heat-treating device.

Starting at the beginning of the speed ladder, either backpedal or move laterally through the ladder. No matter the variation, follow the same pattern—two feet in, two feet out. Once you complete the final rung of the ladder, turn and accelerate through the finish line.

Easily access valuable industry resources now with full access to the digital edition of Canadian Fabricating & Welding.

Begin on either the left or right side of the cone. To start, shuffle in front of the cone before backpedaling behind it. Move as quickly as possible while maintaining good form. Once you’re around the cone, burst forward and accelerate through the finish line.

Begin about 8-10 yards back from the first cone. Skip into the drill, emphasizing arm action and high knees. Once you hit the first cone, lower your center of gravity and run to—but not past—the fourth cone. At the fourth cone, switch to a backpedal. Run backward to all the way to the first cone. Then sprint to the third cone. When you reach it, backpedal to the first cone. Repeat the pattern for the second cone, then sprint from the first cone through to the finish line.

For privacy reasons YouTube needs your permission to be loaded. For more details, please see our Privacy Policy.I Accept This drill focuses on teaching your feet to move quickly in tight areas. Performed correctly, the drill improves your balance, footwork, and acceleration mechanics. Set up one cone at the beginning of the drill. Five yards in front of that cone, set up a pair of cones side-by-side and staggered just a bit to the right of the first cone. Five yards in front of those cones, set up a pair of cones as your finish line. Begin on either the left or right side of the first cone. Circle around that cone as fast as possible while keeping your shoulders square (just like the Circle-Around-the-Cone Drill) before accelerating to the pair of cones in front of you. Transition to a backpedal between that pair of cones before accelerating through the finish line. Coaching Points Stay tight to the cones. Sprint in a straight line between the cones. Sprint 3 yards past the last cone. Sets/Reps: 6 total reps (3 starting on the left of the first cone, 3 starting on the right of the first cone) 3. High-To-Low Drill For privacy reasons YouTube needs your permission to be loaded. For more details, please see our Privacy Policy.I Accept This drill focuses on the transition from a sprint to a backpedal (and vice versa). Arrange four cones in a straight line, about 2 feet apart. Five yards beyond the final cone in the line, set up a pair of cones as your finish line. Begin about 8-10 yards back from the first cone. Skip into the drill, emphasizing arm action and high knees. Once you hit the first cone, lower your center of gravity and run to—but not past—the fourth cone. At the fourth cone, switch to a backpedal. Run backward to all the way to the first cone. Then sprint to the third cone. When you reach it, backpedal to the first cone. Repeat the pattern for the second cone, then sprint from the first cone through to the finish line. Coaching Points Skip into the cone setup. Keep your hips square to the finish through the entire drill. Keep your chin over your toes during the backpedal. Backpedal and transition at each cone in the set-up. Sets/Reps: 3-5 total reps 4. Speed Ladder Change-Of-Direction Drill For privacy reasons YouTube needs your permission to be loaded. For more details, please see our Privacy Policy.I Accept This drill helps you develop faster feet and the ability to turn and run on a dime. Lay down a speed ladder in an open area. Eight to 10 yards beyond the end of the speed ladder, set up a pair of cones as your finish line. Starting at the beginning of the speed ladder, either backpedal or move laterally through the ladder. No matter the variation, follow the same pattern—two feet in, two feet out. Once you complete the final rung of the ladder, turn and accelerate through the finish line. Coaching Points Walk through the drill first, then perform as fast as possible. Go through the ladder both laterally and backwards. Stay tight to the ladder and keep your hips low. Turn and explode into the sprint at the end of the drill. Sets/Reps: 4-5 reps of each variation (backward, laterally to the left, laterally to the right) 5. Left-To-Right Jumps For privacy reasons YouTube needs your permission to be loaded. For more details, please see our Privacy Policy.I Accept This drill focuses on single-leg explosiveness and balance. Using nine mini-hurdles, mimic the set-up shown above. Make sure the hurdles create 90-degree angles with one another. Start in front of the first mini-hurdle standing on one leg. Hop over the first hurdle, then immediately hop over the hurdle to your right. Hop back over that same hurdle to get back in the middle of the drill, then immediately hop over the next hurdle in front of you. Follow this pattern until you clear the last hurdle, then burst through the finish line. Hop on only one leg throughout the drill, then repeat the sequence with your opposite leg. Coaching Points Stay balanced with your chin over your toes. Be quick off the ground. Explode into a sprint at the end of the drill. Sets/Reps: 6 total reps (3 on each leg) 6. Single-Leg Hops For privacy reasons YouTube needs your permission to be loaded. For more details, please see our Privacy Policy.I Accept This drill focuses on rapid turnover and teaches you to produce a tremendous amount of ground force through your foot. Arrange eight mini-hurdles in a straight line. Allow roughly a yard of space between each mini-hurdle, though this number can be adjusted based on your size and skill level (hurdles that are closer together will be slightly easier). Start in front of the first mini-hurdle, standing on either your right or left leg. Hop over each hurdle, emphasizing quickness off the ground and explosive arm action. Once you clear the last hurdle, burst into a 10-yard sprint. Coaching Points Focus on rapid turnover and quickness off the ground. Explode in the sprint as you clear the final hurdle. Allow for full recovery between sets. Sets/Reps: 3 sets on each leg 7. Single-Leg Swiss Ball Squats For privacy reasons YouTube needs your permission to be loaded. For more details, please see our Privacy Policy.I Accept This drill focuses on single-leg strength and stability. If one of your legs is weaker than the other, your sprint speed will be seriously hamstrung (no pun intended). Grab a Swiss ball and find an open spot on a flat piece of wall. Put the Swiss ball against the middle of your back. Pressing against the Swiss ball and standing on either your right or left leg, lower yourself into a Single-Leg Squat. Once you master the movement, add light dumbbells. Coaching Points Keep your back flat against the ball. Squat until your thigh is parallel to the ground. Begin with no weight and progress from there. Sets/Reps: 5×8 on each leg (superset with Single-Leg Jumps) 8. Single-Leg Band Jumps For privacy reasons YouTube needs your permission to be loaded. For more details, please see our Privacy Policy.I Accept This exercise helps you learn how to generate an awesome amount of single-leg power and explosiveness with the help of an exercise band. Find a sturdy beam or pull-up bar that gives you plenty of clearance for jumping. Loop an exercise band around it and pull the slack through. This should create a “handle” for you to put your elbows inside as you hold the band. Loop the band around your elbows and grab hold of it with both hands. Assume a single-leg position. Lower yourself into a Single-Leg Squat (also known as a “Pistol Squat”) before launching yourself off the ground and into the air. Coaching Points Squat down slightly past parallel. Keep the weight on your heel as you lower. Explode upward and land softly. Sets/Reps: 3×3-10 on each leg

“Felix saw that this opportunity made a lot of sense,” said Mehanna. “So, he invested and that’s how it started. With my experience in heat treating and his vast experience running many successful industrial businesses, we spent over a year on the road looking for equipment and planning and designing a fully automated, state-of-the-art heat-treating facility.”

“It was very important for us to go after the latest technology to be able to provide the best production and quality standards that our customers have come to expect from us,” said Mehanna. “Felix was adamant that we have the best equipment with the latest technology. That’s why we decided to custom build our furnaces rather than just buy what was available on the market.”

Lay down a speed ladder in an open area. Eight to 10 yards beyond the end of the speed ladder, set up a pair of cones as your finish line.

Perhaps this fact is no more apparent than in football. A football field is only 100 yards long and 53.33 yards wide. The faster a player can navigate that space, the more dangerous he will be.

Image

Begin on either the left or right side of the first cone. Circle around that cone as fast as possible while keeping your shoulders square (just like the Circle-Around-the-Cone Drill) before accelerating to the pair of cones in front of you. Transition to a backpedal between that pair of cones before accelerating through the finish line.

Arrange eight mini-hurdles in a straight line. Allow roughly a yard of space between each mini-hurdle, though this number can be adjusted based on your size and skill level (hurdles that are closer together will be slightly easier).

The setup here is simple—all you need is one cone right next to you and a pair of cones about 5 to 8 yards downfield as your finish line.

Mehanna and his team spent over a year on the road looking for equipment, planning, and designing a fully automated, state-of-the-art heat-treating facility.

“I can honestly say that in our few short years of operation, we have always been able to deliver on our promised time commitment,” said Mehanna. “And while it is challenging to find good employees, I’m blessed with the talented team we have here. Working in heat treating is my passion and I look forward to coming to work every day and seeing the team. Every day brings a new challenge and opportunity and that keeps us motivated.”

Arrange four cones in a straight line, about 2 feet apart. Five yards beyond the final cone in the line, set up a pair of cones as your finish line.

One player who knows the importance of speed? Treston Decoud. The former Oregon State cornerback was recently drafted by the Houston Texans thanks to his combination of size, speed, and athleticism. “Speed is everything—speed kills. That’s what a lot of NFL coaches, college coaches, high school coaches look for,” Decoud told STACK.

Start in front of the first mini-hurdle, standing on either your right or left leg. Hop over each hurdle, emphasizing quickness off the ground and explosive arm action. Once you clear the last hurdle, burst into a 10-yard sprint.

Set up one cone at the beginning of the drill. Five yards in front of that cone, set up a pair of cones side-by-side and staggered just a bit to the right of the first cone. Five yards in front of those cones, set up a pair of cones as your finish line.

The northern Ontario shop, located in Coniston just outside of Sudbury, opened its doors on May 4, 2020, and has been successfully providing heat-treating services to customers across Canada ever since.

McCleskey also knows that an athlete can never reach his full-speed potential if one leg is stronger or more powerful than the other. That’s why he emphasizes single-leg training during his workouts. “We’re trying to get both legs even. Most people’s right leg is stronger than their left leg. So we really want to concentrate on single-leg movements. You play football, you play other sports, on one leg,” McCleskey says. “Speed is measured by how much force you put into the ground. If I’m running and my right leg is stronger, I’m decelerating [every other step] because my left leg isn’t putting the same force into the ground. Just getting that left leg stronger will get you considerably faster.”

Located in an industrial park, Salto employs eight people, including Mehanna; six are on the shop floor and two are in the office. It has 24,000 sq. ft. of floor space that has been meticulously designed with eight furnaces, including the shop’s custom-built, fully automated Integral Quench (IQ) line.

The fully automated line serves its customers well and allows the shop to take on projects that its competitors might not be able to do.

On any given day, Salto may have a variety of different parts coming through the doors, but one thing that remains the same is its commitment to a 24- to 48-hour turnaround. The day always starts with a safety talk and then the dedicated team begins loading parts into the baskets. Operating on the premise of organization and efficiency, the shop aims to create its schedule for the entire week ahead. However, with numerous tasks and jobs arising at various times, and to meet the tight turnaround and it’s own set standards, the team tackles whatever comes in right away.

The setup here is simple—all you need is one cone right next to you and a pair of cones about 5 to 8 yards downfield as your finish line.

This exercise helps you learn how to generate an awesome amount of single-leg power and explosiveness with the help of an exercise band.

The rod induction systems are fully automated and outfitted with heat sensors to ensure that each rod reaches the exact same temperature.

Arrange four cones in a straight line, about 2 feet apart. Five yards beyond the final cone in the line, set up a pair of cones as your finish line.

Lay down a speed ladder in an open area. Eight to 10 yards beyond the end of the speed ladder, set up a pair of cones as your finish line.

Accuracy and uniformity are essential for good heat-treating practices and having equipment that could perform both to a high degree was necessary. The IQ line is highly automated and includes digital equipment and controllers. To meet surface smoothness requirements, the shop added probes and pyrometers inside the furnace to monitor the temperatures.

Begin on either the left or right side of the cone. To start, shuffle in front of the cone before backpedaling behind it. Move as quickly as possible while maintaining good form. Once you’re around the cone, burst forward and accelerate through the finish line.

This drill focuses on single-leg strength and stability. If one of your legs is weaker than the other, your sprint speed will be seriously hamstrung (no pun intended).

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“The parts we see today are more advanced and are designed with a longer lifecycle, which means they need to be more durable,” he said. “Heat treating hardens the part so it can be used more than once while providing a longer life as opposed to being disposed of for not holding up to harsh conditions.”

Start in front of the first mini-hurdle standing on one leg. Hop over the first hurdle, then immediately hop over the hurdle to your right. Hop back over that same hurdle to get back in the middle of the drill, then immediately hop over the next hurdle in front of you. Follow this pattern until you clear the last hurdle, then burst through the finish line. Hop on only one leg throughout the drill, then repeat the sequence with your opposite leg.

Loop the band around your elbows and grab hold of it with both hands. Assume a single-leg position. Lower yourself into a Single-Leg Squat (also known as a “Pistol Squat”) before launching yourself off the ground and into the air.

Lopes Jr., president of Lopes Ltd., a Coniston-based steel fabricator, was approached by Mehanna to invest in a new heat-treating company in the city.

While the shop has only been open for a few years, it has always expanded into new areas as customer demand dictates. “We are looking at investing in a pit furnace for drill rods that are used for blasting on highways rather than mining applications,” said Mehanna. “We see this as an area of opportunity and feel like right now, without the pit furnace, we are missing out on quite a bit of work. These furnaces are designed for longer rods, up to 12 ft. long, and right now, we just don’t have the capacity to handle something of this length. Fortunately, we are always growing and expanding so I anticipate this will be something we can offer in the future.”

The shop provides various heat-treating processes, including annealing, through hardening, case hardening, carburizing, air hardening, normalizing, stress relieving, high- and low-frequency induction hardening, along with cutting services and a metallurgy lab with a digital hardness tester and metallurgical analysis.

This drill focuses on single-leg strength and stability. If one of your legs is weaker than the other, your sprint speed will be seriously hamstrung (no pun intended).

“Our IQ line is very unique because of the customization we were able to put into it,” said Mehanna. “There are furnaces out there that are a lot bigger than ours, but most standard furnaces that shops are working with are a lot smaller than what we have.”

The shop’s custom-designed, fully automated IQ line is a furnace that can reach temperatures of 1,850-degrees F (1,010-degrees C) to harden different parts for mining exploration.

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Start in front of the first mini-hurdle standing on one leg. Hop over the first hurdle, then immediately hop over the hurdle to your right. Hop back over that same hurdle to get back in the middle of the drill, then immediately hop over the next hurdle in front of you. Follow this pattern until you clear the last hurdle, then burst through the finish line. Hop on only one leg throughout the drill, then repeat the sequence with your opposite leg.

Decoud hones his speed under the guidance of speed and conditioning coach J.J. McCleskey, a former cornerback who played six seasons in the NFL and is now director of training movements at ME Sports in Madisonville, Louisiana. McCleskey firmly believes efficiency and explosiveness are two pillars of speed. “Speed is everything in the National Football League, but [it’s about] being able to be efficient with your speed. In and out of cuts, those transitional parts. Everyone talks about running the 40, but you never run a 40 in football. Being able to start and stop and be violently coming out of your transitions is important,” McCleskey says.

Grab a Swiss ball and find an open spot on a flat piece of wall. Put the Swiss ball against the middle of your back. Pressing against the Swiss ball and standing on either your right or left leg, lower yourself into a Single-Leg Squat. Once you master the movement, add light dumbbells.

Most of the work that Salto undertakes is destined for through hardening, which is done in an atmosphere-controlled furnace, where parts are heated to an exact temperature and then quenched in oil, ensuring minimal warping and uniform properties to the parts. Through hardening is a process that hardens the part all the way through to the core. This process differs from case hardening, which tends to be a more cost-effective option with fast turnaround. Although it only provides hardening of the surface, it still delivers improved part or component wear resistance. What often dictates the type of hardening required is the material type. For example, through hardening only works on specific materials such as 4140 steel, whereas 8620 steel can only be case hardened.

Find a sturdy beam or pull-up bar that gives you plenty of clearance for jumping. Loop an exercise band around it and pull the slack through. This should create a “handle” for you to put your elbows inside as you hold the band.

This drill focuses on teaching your feet to move quickly in tight areas. Performed correctly, the drill improves your balance, footwork, and acceleration mechanics.