Speed Training Program for Improving Athletic Performance

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Without a doubt, a good speed training program comes at a premium since the most coveted prize in sports today is speed.  Think about it sport by sport . . .

Basketball

No longer a game structured around a big lumbering center who you stick on the block and space around.  How many dominating low post centers can you name in the NBA today . . . Dwight Howard, (crickets), ????  Instead it’s a game that is now dominated by guard play, defenses picking up 94 feet, offenses with interchangeable parts, and 7-footers who step out and shoot.  It’s a much more mobile game that requires all the players to be athletic in order to succeed.

Baseball

Now that we thankfully have the steroid era behind us, organizations have gone back to building their teams around speed, pitching, and defense.  How do you think the low-budget Tampa Bay Rays compete with the deep pockets of the Yankees and Red Sox in the AL East?  You guessed it . . . SPEED!!  They’re the most athletic team in Major League Baseball and put a tremendous amount of pressure on the other team’s defense with their base-running abilities.  Not to mention, there aren’t many gaps for base-hits in their defense because of their ability to track down the ball off the bat. 

Football

Talk about a change in schemes.  We’ve gone from the I-formation to the Spread in which coordinators try to literally spread the defense and allow their jet-like skilled players to get their touches in space and take advantage of their speed.  On the other side of the ball, we’re seeing a trend toward faster line-backers who can cover the backs out in the flat instead of the big bruisers from yesteryear that were more accustomed to plugging the gaps on fullback dives.    

Like I said, speed is a game-changer, and every coach, trainer, and parent wants the recipe for it. 

The key to the recipe is understanding that the ingredients needed for improving athletic performance should be less concerned about top speed and more focused on starting speed and acceleration drills.  When you consider that elite athletes may take up to 40-50 yards in a linear path to reach top speed, you realize that top speed is overrated in team sports as there are so few times during the course of a game that an athlete will be in position to access his top speed. 

The lower the caliber of athlete, the faster the athlete will reach top speed, but the argument still stands since sport is clearly made up of short bursts.  So, training our athletes beyond the range of acceleration is a waste of the athletes’ time and doesn’t translate to better performance on the field or court.

If you’ve never considered the difference between starting speed, acceleration, and top speed take a look at how these variables change throughout the process . . .

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STRIDE LENGTH–> Initially, the athlete’s strides are short and increase to moderate and finally to longer strides during the course of acceleration.  The goal is to maintain stride length during top speed.

GROUND CONTACT TIME–> In order to move the body from a static or relatively stationary position, the athlete must generate a lot of force in the ground to start and accelerate.  This leads to longer ground contact times at first with a transition to shorter ground contacts as the athlete approaches top speed.

FLIGHT TIME–> This is the time the athlete spends in the air on each stride.  Initially, flight time is short as the athlete begins to accelerate during the first few strides but becomes longer as the athlete nears top speed.

SHIN ANGLE TO GROUND–>This is measured as the angle between the tibia and the ground.  At first this angle should be small, about 45 degrees.  This angle places the athlete in a position to put a lot of force in the ground by pushing down and BACK, providing the physics to accelerate most efficiently.  As stride length increases and the body starts to incline, the shin angle will also increase to about 85 degrees where it is maintained at top speed. 

VELOCITY–> Obviously, velocity is slowest at the beginning of a sprint and increases rapidly over the first 20 yards.  For an elite athlete, velocity increases more gradually for the next 20 or so yards until top speed is reached.  It may sound odd to say, but the faster the athlete, the longer it takes him to get to top speed, because their peak is so much greater.  

For example, it takes Usain Bolt 55-60 yards to reach top speed, whereas it probably takes the average middle school athlete about 25 yards to get there.  Bolt is certainly accelerating faster; his top speed is just astronomically higher for him to reach. 

Speed Training Program

Another consideration about top speed velocity is that it can only be maintained for 10-15 yards, or about 2 seconds.  I know you’re probably doubting me on this, but it’s the truth. 

And, when you see a defensive back ”accelerating to run down a wide receiver who has gotten loose in the secondary for a long run” consider that what is really happening is that the defensive back is simply decelerating from his peak top speed at a slower rate than the wide receiver.  Looks can be deceiving.

STRIDE FREQUENCY–> Because of the force production and long ground contact time at the beginning of acceleration, stride frequency is slow at first, increases rapidly, and then is maintained at top speed. 

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So, if nothing else, you can now appreciate the importance of designing a speed training program that takes all of the above information into account to ensure that the athlete’s time is spent improving athletic performance relative to his sport rather than simply performing generic speed drills. 

Before going any further with this topic, I wanted these concepts to wash over you first.  In the coming days I will piggy-back this post with a more specific plan toward training starting speed and acceleration.  Talk to you soon . . .

Your Coach,

Brian Utley

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