PBR Weekly Blog: Speed Training: Can You Be Taught To Get Faster?

September 19, 2016

By John Vickers
Explosive Performance Academy

For insider information and scouting notes from the PBR staff during the 2016 spring and summer seasons visit the 2016 Ontario Scout Blog by clicking here.

Interested in attending a PBR Ontario event? Check out our schedule by clicking here.

PBR Weekly Blog: Speed Training: Can You Be Taught To Get Faster?

I’ve been in the sports performance business for almost 12 years now and have heard for many years that people can’t get faster. Well, I’d like to tell you that isn’t necessarily the case.

Can we turn a kid that runs a 7.8 60 yard dash into a 6.5 60 yard dash kid? No… but we can take a couple tenths of a second off a 60 yard dash.

You ask how?

Going through various speed protocols and teaching somebody proper technique is how you teach them how to run a faster 60 yard dash. There are various things we teach to make a kid faster. 3 things to be exact and the include:

Stride Length
Stride Frequency
Force Application

Stride length is the distance covered per stride. It is not the how far you reach your leg in front of your body but how much range of motion you have in your cycle (how high you pick your knees up in front of your body and apply force into the ground). A taller individual should have a larger stride length than a shorter athlete. Stride length can be improved by learning proper mechanics and understanding the importance of proper shin angles and force being applied to the ground.

Stride frequency is how quickly you can turn your legs over during a cycle. Stride frequency is normally faster for a shorter athlete than a taller athlete. Stride frequency is a little more difficult to increase but can be improved by learning proper sprinting mechanics through shortening the lever and limiting “backside mechanics”.

Force application has been found to be the largest determination of linear sprinting speed as this will increase stride length, cover more distance and help an athlete achieve triple extension (extension at the hip, knee and ankle). We use a few different modules to increase force application including resisted sprinting, heavy sled pushes, bounding and various plyometrics.

You too can increase your speed by improving your stride length, stride frequency and force application. Sprinting is a skill and all skills can be improved through proper practice. If you have any questions about speed development or training in general, feel free to email me at [email protected] or visit our website at www.xplosiveperformanceacademy.com.