To improve in speed, you must increase your stride rate and improve maximum sprinting velocity by minimizing ground contact time and time spent in the air for the leg exchange. Regardless of your genetic makeup, you can increase speed by improving your stride rate and stride length and developing your fast-twitch muscle fibers.
Expert Insight
Sprint start speed is one of the major discriminators between elite and sub-elite athletes. In the results of a clinical study published in "The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research," incline treadmill sprints and resistance towing improved sprint start speed. Treadmill-based incline speed training, with progressive grade increases set between 0 to 35 percent twice a week for six weeks, provided mechanical load that initiated adaptations to stride rate: steps per second, stride length --distance between two successive placements of the same foot--and recruitment of fast twitch muscle fiber, which gives your body explosive power and strength.
Recommendations
In the first few weeks, mix up times from 8 seconds to 45 seconds at the various grades and speeds on the treadmill. The last two weeks, as running form adaptations occur, lower time length to a maximum of 10 seconds at high speeds with grades no steeper than 20 percent. In summer months, sprinting up hills and ramps with similar grades offers an adequate change-up.
Alternative
Resistance towing such as the Gill Bullet Belt System can offer an effective way to recruit the fast-twitch muscle fibers to develop sufficient strength and power in your legs for acceleration. The use of a Bullet Belt consists of an athlete secured in a belt that attaches to a breakaway strap that has Velcro on both sides. An assistant is needed to hold the 4-foot-long strap in back of the sprinter.
Process
The assistant restrains the athlete until he wants breakaway to occur, then pulls on release cable. The athlete starts in a three-point stance with a simultaneous push-off from both the lead and rear foot while driving the legs hard and fast for distance of 3 to 20 yards until the assistant releases for breakaway. The athlete, in an over-speed mode, then sprints hard another 20 to 50 yards to achieve maximum benefit.
Sprint Mechanics
Proper form and technique are crucial to all phases of sprinting. According to speed specialist Dale Baskett, to achieve maximum efficiency in sprinting, focus on four areas when doing sprints: 1. Alignment: Consists of the leg, upper body and the head in a connected line of force from the ground up during every stride. 2. Synchronization: The upper and lower rotation of the arms and legs must be in rhythm with the limbs rotating front to back from the shoulder and hip joint. 3. Foot strike phase: The foot lands on the ball of the foot and the leg is pressed downward when the leg returns to the front of the body on every rotational cycle. 4. Arm angle: Must be in a 90-degree angle at all times with movement at shoulder joint only. The hand stops even at the shoulder before coming down.
References
- "Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research"; Predictors of Sprint Start Speed: the Effects of Resistive Ground-Based vs. Inclined Treadmill Training; G. Myer, et al; 2007
- "American Monthly Football"; Speed Report; D. Baskett; 2006
Member Comments