The 7 Things You Aren’t Doing To Increase Your Speed
Scouts and coaches have always said that the fastest athletes are determined at birth. Yeah maybe some, however genetics alone will not help you achieve your highest speed potential.
In team sports, the best athletes are not necessarily the ones who can outrun a cheetah on a straightaway, but the athlete who can accelerate to a “hole” or ball the fastest. The problem is, most athletes don’t train for this all-important ability.
Through training and drills you can learn to start and accelerate better while increasing your sprint speed. The following bullet points are seven things you’re (probably) not doing that can have a dramatic effect on your speed development:
#1 – Train for Function Not Muscle Size
Training for speed should have everything to do with performance and nothing to do with “how big can I get?” If you’re training to add muscle bulk then you’re probably doing it at the expense of your speed. Train to develop better balance, coordination, and neuromuscular control. Train to develop better single leg strength and core stability. Functional training is no longer a “buzzword” in strength & conditioning, it’s the standard. If your strength coach can’t explain to you why you’re doing a particular exercise (as it relates to performance) then run the other way.
#2 – Perform Carefully Executed Explosive Lifts & Plyometrics
Explosive lifts and Plyometrics trains your body overcome inertia “with authority” and become more explosive. Both, however, require surgical precision to detail and good coaching. Explosive lifts have a greater degree of risk associated with them because you’re dealing with an external load, whereas Plyometrics are safer but often “over-trained” with most athletes. Both forms of training can have a huge impact on your speed development and are an important component to helping you develop better acceleration.
#3 – Lift for Maximal Force Production
Every opportunity you get, lift a weight with as much force as possible – you’ll get stronger. Obviously, anything too light will become a projectile (ballistic training), but if you properly select a heavy enough load [even at a moderate level] you can recruit more motor units/muscle fibers by moving the weight with as much speed as possible. Newton’s Second Law of Motion states that the “force applied to a body produces proportional acceleration.” The basic equation F=ma demonstrates that. For speed development, the more force you exert with your body into the ground, the more the ground exerts against you to propel and push you forward. Lifting for maximal force production will get your legs stronger and allow you to run faster.
#4 – Cycle Your Exercises Every 3 to 4 Weeks
Your body is an adaptive organism. Fitness entrepreneurs have raked in millions coining new terms like “muscle confusion” (P90X) to explain the need to cycle your exercises. Often times, changing the rep ranges, load parameters, and rest intervals can be enough, or to get really creative you can introduce some instability or the way you position yourself for the exercise. Your body will respond by engaging new muscle fibers and developing more strength.
#5 – Condition With the Goal to Sprint Faster Not Win the Boston Marathon
Trainers who send their athletes off on a 15-minute run to “get faster” do not understand the principles behind speed development. Doing long, slow, and steady state running does not develop explosiveness or greater speed. To train your Energy System as it relates to helping you sprint faster, perform short & explosive intervals in a competitive environment with your peers. Next time your coach sends you off on a 5-mile run politely remark that “you’re killing my wheels coach.”
#6 – Perform Mobility Work Everyday
Your ankles, hips and shoulders need attention everyday. Keeping these joints healthy and mobile is critical in your quest to run faster. All undergo a tremendous amount of stress and develop “tightness” as a means of protection from further trauma. In addition to performing mobility work everyday, invest in getting a good massage from a practitioner who understands the stress you endure.
# 7 – Drill, Drill, Drill Starts & 10 Yard Sprints
Drill the guts out of becoming a better “starter” and 10-yard sprinter. You’ll expend a significant amount of time and energy getting “out of the box” and up to speed. Once you’ve overcome inertia and gained some momentum accelerating becomes easier. Focus on driving the ground away and taking fewer steps. The best sprinters cover the first 10-yards in 5 steps! You can’t take less steps running upright. Be comfortable training in a “controlled fall” when learning how to accelerate.
I love this post. I have a toddler son and have been reading a lot about building self-esteem in kids. One of the things that I read is that it’s absolutely essential to praise kids on their effort, not on their natural abilities. Studies have found that when kids have a failure, those individuals who have been praised on their efforts are willing to work harder to achieve. In contrast the kids who have been praised on their natural abilities are crushed because they think they can’t do any better because they’ve reached their inherent talent/intelliegence. So, I love what you wrote about training to enhance your speed. Also, I played competitive Ultimate frisbee for a loooong time. One of the things that helped my team the most is the cross-training time we did at the track. Plyometrics, agility drills, and ladder sprints made a crazy amount of difference in my team’s performance.
Wendy Maynard´s last blog ..How to Develop Your Online Personal Brand