Footy season is back and it’s my favourite time of year to get out and watch some of our athletes mix it up on the field along with the incredible athletes in the NRL.
The one thing that holds true every year at this time is Speed is King!
The fastest players when given a little space and opportunity hold the potential to change the momentum of a game in a matter of a few seconds.
Being a former player I’ve been on both ends of this too (not me being the fast guy, but rather some of the fast guys I played around). Momentum shifting towards one side when a half chance opens up the field to a runaway try which completely sways momentum the other way.
The biggest thing here is how do you develop this incredible speed if you don’t have it naturally.
Speed is largely a genetic predisposition with a lot of the fastest people around being that way often in spite of how they train rather because of it.
But,
Everyone has a degree in which they are able to improve upon their speed and acceleration through the right training. Key word being the right training there.
There’s a couple of key points when it comes to training to develop speed including the following
- Running Mechanics
- Relative Strength and Power
- Transfer of power to speed
Firstly, if you don’t run efficiently you’re going nowhere fast… Overstriding, choppy short steps or even as simple as a lack of mobility to achieve the correct positions are all simple things that will hold you back from achieving your potential.
Tips to work on these include sprint drills like A-skips, Wall Drills and even as simple as actually practicing sprinting will be a game changer here.
Secondly, speed comes down to your ability to produce a large amount of force into the ground quickly as you only have a very limited time in which your feet are in contact with the ground.
Now if you don’t have a great force production capacity aka strength, good luck getting anywhere fast. This is often why young guys are able to improve speed in a relatively short time frame simply by lifting weights.
Multiple studies have shown that athletes who are able to squat and deadlift more than 2x their body weight have the quickest sprint times… Remember these are done relative to athletes of the same level. I have a great deadlift to bodyweight but I very rarely practice sprint work now so it’s limited as to how much of that strength I can utilise during sprinting.
That leads me to our last factor for developing speed, transferring that power to your sprint work.
Here’s where a lot of gym bound guys like myself get stuck. The ability to produce force quickly requires practice…
One of our favourite training methods to teach this is Contrast Training. This is where you begin with a strength exercise like a Back Squat for a few reps and then alternate with a dynamic movement either a jump, sprint or throw.
The heavy strength movement creates a post activation potentiation effect allowing more motor neurons to fire quickly in the dynamic movement.
Other means here can simply be sprint training or sled sprints to help bridge the gap between low speed and high speed movements.
So if you’re looking to add that extra yard of pace make sure you’re drilling technique, building your strength to bodyweight and lastly focusing on transferring your power to the field.
Last thing to remember is nobody gets fast by turning their speed work into conditioning…
Rest is key to make sure you are able to fire your high threshold motor units.
Shoot for 1:5 or more work to rest ratio or simply 30s for every 10m in a sprint effort.