Top 5 Jealously Guarded Secrets of Athletic Speed Development

Hard hitting truths about athletic speed and strength once only available to elite level athletes.
Secret #1: Speed is best developed by putting force into the ground, not by moving feet faster in most athletes.
Running speed is a combination of stride length and stride frequency. Many athletes spend way too much time on ladder drills and the like that focus on how quickly the feet move. Most young athletes benefit much more by focusing on stride length which requires the athlete to put more force into the ground, and actually taking fewer strides. That is how all athletes improve by an average of more than 0.3 seconds in their 40 yard dash time in four weeks.
Secret #2: Top speed coaches never use lots of gadgets and tools to get their athletes fast.
Some will use ladders and cones occasionally, but most of the top coaches seldom use them, and a large number never use them. As a general rule, the more gadgets the coach uses, or the more often they use them, the less competent they are as a coach and are relying on “toys” to bail them out. I realize this comment may step on a lot of toes, but it is true more times than most. The primary focus should be on learning HOW to run properly, not doing more training that has poor carryover to speed.

Secret #3: Define a specific goal with strength and speed training – perfect practice makes perfect
You would think that all athletes join a speed and strength program, for specific results, but often this is not the case. Often athletes think they got a great speed workout if they feel exhausted afterwards. If your goal is to get faster, then you should train to get faster. Sounds elementary doesn’t it? You would be surprised. While many speed training exercises make the athlete tired, not all do. If an athlete cannot hold proper positions due to fatigue, the athlete must stop the exercise. It is a training protocol called Autoregulation. Autoregulation is a phenomenon where the muscle cannot fire at the optimum speed as the workout progresses and the nervous system, not the muscles, will tell the athlete when the exercise should be shut down. When it comes to training for speed, practice does make perfect, perfect practice makes perfect. Exercises that make you tired will not necessarily help your speed, and exercises that help improve speed, do not necessarily make you tired.
Secret #4: Learn proper plyometric techniques
The number of athletes who use so-called “plyometric” training in their conditioning program is staggering. I have never seen a more abused training technique as I have plyometrics. Please do not misunderstand, they are awesome when used correctly. In fact, they are perhaps one of the best training tools that I know. However the execution of plyometrics is so poorly taught by coaches (because most of them do not understand it themselves) it is dangerous. Learn proper technique if you are an athlete. Plyometrics tend to be overdone since the exercises do not make the athlete feel tired – yet they are very high intensity. Develop your ability to do these exercises in the proper progression with each level of complete mastery attained before moving on. These exercises can make of break an athlete. Let them make you.
Secret #5: Arms drive the legs
When developing speed, the arms are the boss of the legs – so to speak. Many of the running errors that we see in the lower body can be corrected by fixing the over or under compensating opposing muscle groups in the upper body. The right arm drives the left leg and the left arm drives the right leg. Proper arm drive dictates proper leg drive.

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This entry was posted on Sunday, November 22nd, 2009 at 6:34 pm and is filed under 40 yard dash, Speed Kills. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

3 Responses to “Top 5 Jealously Guarded Secrets of Athletic Speed Development”

1. taha Says:
   November 22nd, 2009 at 9:56 pm

   Hello jeff,

   can you recommend some books of plyometric to look into?

   thank you

2. Tamara Robertson Says:
   February 21st, 2010 at 3:23 am

   The world cup is only 6 months away. Thanks for the info as I am a football fanatic

3. Juan Parvis Says:
   February 21st, 2010 at 5:35 am

   Great info here on football. I cant wait till the world cup. It will be huge.