Speed Training Equipment

Speed Training Equipment

Unless you currently work with elite athletes or are one yourself, spending a bunch of money on speed training equipment is a big waste of time. I know that it has become popular to go out and grab sleds, parachutes and bungee chords to use as speed training aids, but I assure you that spending your resources on these items is putting the cart before the horse.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that these pieces of speed training equipment don't have any value at all. I do use them with some athletes and they can have a positive impact on training. However, there are so many reasons why athletes are not running as fast as they should be, could be or want to be that are not going to be solved by towing your teammates or athletes up and down the track.

For example, sleds and chutes are good at providing resistance. And resistance work is good for helping teach the fact that in order to run faster athletes must learn to apply force to the ground. However, sled runs and chute work can only be used part of the time for training, they are a means to an end. Ultimately, the best way to get faster is to practice running at full speed. But these devices don’t allow that and should be used to break through training plateaus once technique and experience have been fully developed. If athletes have poor running form, do not do core work, address flexibility and range of motion or do the right type of strength training in the weight room, it doesn’t matter how fancy or expensive their speed training equipment is. They’re still going to have bad for and these ‘tools’ will only create new problems that must be dealt with.

Bungee chords and tow ropes bring another entire set of problems. One of the main problems athletes face is what is called ‘reaching’ or ‘breaking’. As athletes run, they do not use the active leg to step over the opposite knee and drive the foot down into the ground so that the foot lands underneath the hips. Instead, they allow the active leg ankle to continue to travel out past the support leg knee and swing out past the hips in an pawing type motion. The foot then lands out in front of the body with the toes pointing down toward the ground. This places extreme stress on the body and is one of the main reasons many athletes suffer from plantar fasciitis, knee problems and hamstring strains and pulls as the season wears on. Running like this, in a way, is like driving a car while pumping the break. You will still move forward, but it puts a lot of undue stress on the vehicle and eventually it will wear down and break down. I don’t like to use tow ropes and I don’t like to use overspeed training because it reinforces some terrible mechanical problems and promotes increased likelihood of injury.

If you want to get faster, skip out on the fancy gadgets and spend your resources on a proven speed training system that covers all the elements of speed development proven to create faster speeds. Most speed training equipment does not serve as a useful means of getting faster.

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