Sprinting speed

[Scott Kustes]

All types of explosive training are good....med balls, plyos, and sprinting. As the season progresses, I phase out the slow lifts in favor of explosive work. I don't use med balls much, but that's because I haven't bit the bullet and bought a new one.

[Jay Ashman]

Originally Posted by Scott Kustes

Most people are fading at the end because they neglect working the 50-100m part of the race. So by default, if you win to 50m, you likely win to 100m. However, that's a pretty poor race strategy. Build up the speed endurance that your opponents aren't working because they are focusing on how fast they are off the blocks and how quickly they accelerate, as you just suggested.

that sounds pretty good to me, I'm not a specialized sprint coach I just go by what I know worked for me and the few I have helped several years ago. Its an area that I am looking to learn more about for sure.

The end of the race is at least as important as the beginning. From about 60m on, it's speed-endurance...you are slowing down.

wouldn't longer sprints help that as well? do some 200's and 400's to build up the speed endurance for example?

Note, Carl Lewis was rarely the first one out of the blocks. He won by smart race strategy...lengthening his acceleration (rather than trying to get up to top speed as fast as possible) and overtaking them at the end (with superior speed-endurance, aided by not hitting hit top speed till later in the race). Prime example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVRl8gihrHM

Carl Lewis was also a freak of nature as well, he's not the norm for a sprinter, he had an incredible ability to turn it up a notch at the end.

The same could be said of Bolt's race in Beijing...he was the last one out of the blocks, though he's a freak of nature that doesn't conform to many "rules" of sprinting.

Yea, we can look at Usain and say that he follows very little rules of sprinting. His strides per 100 is insanely low compared to other sprinters, his stride is a lot longer... I just hop that he is clean. I'd hate to see another tainted athlete of that caliber.

[Jay Ashman]

Originally Posted by Scott Kustes

All types of explosive training are good....med balls, plyos, and sprinting. As the season progresses, I phase out the slow lifts in favor of explosive work. I don't use med balls much, but that's because I haven't bit the bullet and bought a new one.

plyos are great, but I never overdo them with any athlete. Med balls do the job well in training you to become explosive without the added stress of high-rep plyos.

[Gant Grimes]

Originally Posted by Jay Ashman

basically, sprint more.

Work on power development for your legs and foot speed, as well as sprinting technique.

double-unders (for foot speed and quickness), box jumps, footwork drills, starting drills (off the blocks), overspeed training, parachute training, etc..

there are a lot of things you can do...

why do you want to improve it? for track or for fun?

Sorry for the thread-jack, but DUs are a pet peeve of mine. DUs are absolutely the wrong place to start. In fact, the way most people do them, it doesn't train foot speed at all. CF has screwed up the general understanding of jump rope training as bad as they have medicine ball training.

[Jamie J. Skibicki]

Gant,

Can you expand on that last comment?

[Jay Ashman]

Originally Posted by Gant Grimes

Sorry for the thread-jack, but DUs are a pet peeve of mine. DUs are absolutely the wrong place to start. In fact, the way most people do them, it doesn't train foot speed at all. CF has screwed up the general understanding of jump rope training as bad as they have medicine ball training.

I don't care about CF's definition of it, I care about how it applies to foot speed and turnover speed. Think about it, if you rebound effectively and learn how to quickly jump up and down (rope or not, the rope just teaches coordination) that can apply to sprinting where you have to learn to fly and not keep the foot on the ground for any length of time at all.

Med ball training is another world. I have never programmed in wallballs in my workouts or for others, I gave my wife a wallball workout once for fun, but it was a 10 pound ball - 20 pound balls are pointless.

[David Lawson]

How to increase max speed or which drill does it?

How to increase acceleration speed?

How many sets or reps?

I've seen that some ppl do dumbbell arm swings, what are those good for and are those useful.

Originally Posted by Jay Ashman

David, Ben Johnson had a fantastic squat and deadlift, of course he was on winstrol but he still had to train.

Squat heavy, build strength up. As that strength increases you need to work the fast twitch fibers to make yourself powerful and explosive. Power Cleans will help with the explosive part of it.

Perform Better has a speed and agility section that has some good stuff in it.

For now do what Steven suggests. Most 100m runs are won in the first 50m. Not many HS athletes have that 5th gear to turn it up like we sometimes see the elites one do. Its all in how fast you are off the blocks and how quickly you accelerate and maintain top speed. Work that hard.

Get stronger and do some drills to increase explosiveness and quickness.

I also suggest medicine ball work - http://www.medicineballs.com/education/howto/howto.html especially the drills where you are bouncing the ball of the thighs explosively as you stride.

And to answer your question about training the entire body, yes. Have you ever seen Ben Johnson, Usain Bolt, Carl Lewis, etc.? They are not "smooth". They are muscular. Sprinting hard means your arms are pumping hard, your core is working and your entire body is working together to keep you running fast.

What's HS?

What kinda suggested exercises to do for the whole body or do they do just any random exercise for every muscle one at a time. Thx you very much

[Jay Ashman]

Originally Posted by David Lawson

How to increase max speed or which drill does it?

How to increase acceleration speed?

How many sets or reps?

I've seen that some ppl do dumbbell arm swings, what are those good for and are those useful.




What's HS?

What kinda suggested exercises to do for the whole body or do they do just any random exercise for every muscle one at a time. Thx you very much

David, read Scott's article for some clarification on how to program a workout based around speed training, its covered there very well.

[Gant Grimes]

Originally Posted by Jamie J. Skibicki

Gant,

Can you expand on that last comment?

Yes. DUs are an advanced basic skill that should be practiced after mastering the basic bounce, alternating leg bounces, shuffles, skiers, bells, and single-leg bounces. DUs can have benefit in a rope training program when mixed in with other elements. CF likes them because they make people tired (from jumping 12" into the air and landing on their heels repeatedly).

I can come close to 180-190 rpm on alternating bounces when I'm jumping frequently. That's great for foot speed and quickness, but it has limited application for sprinting. DUs are even worse because you spend more time in the air. A good plyo and drilling program works better.

Like Jay said, the 20# med ball is stupid. There is rarely any benefit in going over 6 or 8#. If you pick up a ball over 10#, it should be an Atlas stone.

[Jay Ashman]

Originally Posted by Gant Grimes

Yes. DUs are an advanced basic skill that should be practiced after mastering the basic bounce, alternating leg bounces, shuffles, skiers, bells, and single-leg bounces. DUs can have benefit in a rope training program when mixed in with other elements. CF likes them because they make people tired (from jumping 12" into the air and landing on their heels repeatedly).

I can come close to 180-190 rpm on alternating bounces when I'm jumping frequently. That's great for foot speed and quickness, but it has limited application for sprinting. DUs are even worse because you spend more time in the air. A good plyo and drilling program works better.

I can't argue with that at all. Those are all good training methods. I was thinking in terms of rebound speed because whether or not you have to spend time in the air or not, in DU's you better pick those feet up quick. Essentially you are correct, if you are a sprinter the time it could take to learn the DU would be better spent doing specific drills to increase acceleration and foot speed.

Like Jay said, the 20# med ball is stupid. There is rarely any benefit in going over 6 or 8#. If you pick up a ball over 10#, it should be an Atlas stone.

I spent a lot of time with sport specific training in the past and we did a lot of med ball work. I remember when I was benching 400+ and doing 225# for 38 reps (this was when I played football) and I was deadlifting over 550 at the time... well we had a coach who decided to throw in some medball training for a week to show us what we were lacking in. Most of us laughed at it at first because it was an 8# ball and being that I was a lineman and pretty goddamn strong I thought this was a joke; the only reason I published my lifts was to give you an example as to where my ego was at in reference to an 8# ball.... By the end of the week most of us were embarassed because our coordination, reflexes and explosiveness was sorely lacking. Not to mention the fact that I was literally in a pool of sweat from every single drill.

It definitely showed a part of my game that was sorely lacking.