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How to Run FasterEvery coach and athlete wants to learn the secret information and techniques that the best athletes use when designing a program on how to run faster. The most important thing for anyone interested in this topic to learn is the simple fact that speed is a skill that can be developed in any athlete. The primary thing to learn or understand is that there must be an effective speed training system in place in order to make that happen. That being said, there are three overriding topics that must be addressed to ensure that athletes are put in a position to succeed. In order to truly create a quality system focusing on how to run faster, you must focus on three major categories: Speed, Strength and Technique. We’ll start with Speed. I’m sure you are saying ‘Well that is obvious.’ However, many coaches and athletes mistake conditioning and endurance training for speed work. It is the reason why they show so much inconsistency in their training and could be one of the many reasons why you are reading this article today. When it comes to speed development, most sports rely heavily on acceleration development. Other than track and field sprinters, the majority of athletes never reach full speed in their games. Thus, acceleration development (standing still until the point that maximum velocity is reached) must be the focus of the training program. Therefore it is important that we define what speed work actually is. We define speed work as 2-8 seconds of full intensity sprinting with full recovery between repetitions. By full recovery I mean at least 3 minutes of rest before running the next repetition. A general rule of thumb that works well is to rest approximately one minute for every 10 meters (or yards) that the athlete runs. So if you are running, for example, a workout that consists of 8x50m sprints. I suggest resting for five minutes before the next interval. The reason for such long rest periods is the fact that in order to improve an athlete’s ability to accelerate quickly and effectively, there must be no fatigue present. If there is, muscles do not fire as efficiently and the workout becomes a conditioning or speed endurance type workout. While beneficial for all sports, this will not improve an athlete’s fastest overall time from the start to, say, 40 yards. The next key component in your quest to discover how to run faster is the element of strength training. Speed comes from the ability to apply greater levels of force to the ground. This is simple physics. Well, all things being equal, the only way to learn to apply greater levels of force is to increase an athlete’s raw physical strength. Most programs (other than football) place very little emphasis on the weight room. However, in order to make the biggest speed gains athletes must use the weight room as a major part of training. This training should focus on strength and not body building. Therefore, athletes should perform a low number of repetitions for each set, using heavy weights and, again, getting full recovery between sets. Finally, it is important that athletes have good technique. Some strength coaches out there will tell you that speed drills and technique work is not necessary. I find this to be inaccurate in my experience. All athletes have significant mechanical problems that must be addressed by retraining the nervous system and muscles to move in patterns that maximize the strength levels that are being addressed in the weight room. If drills are not used, then athletes will continue to reinforce the bad habits that are holding them back in the first place. While all of these training elements will improve speed on their own, the best way to take full advantage of each athlete’s innate abilities is to train them together. If your goal is to understand how to run faster, you will combine all of these elements by using a complete speed training program that covers each of these modalities in detail.
Speed
Training Agility
Training Speed
Training Workouts Strength
Training for Speed |
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