Speed is the ability to move the body with high velocity in the shortest amount of time possible. This is a very important aspect of sports like football, baseball, basketball, soccer and track. The quicker you can move your body, the more well-rounded player you will be. Workouts that increase speed have a number of details involved with them.
Leg Training
To be able to move quickly, you need to posses powerful legs. Strength training can help give you this power. Exercises like squats, leg presses, step-ups, lunges, hamstring curls, straight leg deadlifts and calf raises can be performed. Plyometrics are another type of exercise that can develop force production and power. Exercises like jump squats, box jumps, bounding, leaping lunges and one-leg hops are examples of these. Weight training exercises should be in the eight- to 12-rep range with three to four sets of each. The plyometric exercises should be done in the range of six to eight reps and five to six sets should be done.
Core
When you are doing explosive movements like sprinting, a lot of power is being generated from the core. This makes it an important muscle group to incorporate into workouts to increase speed. Exercises like hanging knee raises, reverse crunches, overhead medicine ball throws, side bends, bicycle crunches and regular crunches can all be performed. Ab exercises can be done in the range of 15 to 20 reps.
Added Resistance
When you are training, you can add resistance to your body to help increase your weight. This will make your body feel heavier than it actually does. Then when the weight comes off, you will be able to move faster. Weighted vests are an example of added resistance. Once the vest is put on, you can do wind sprints with it. These are done by warming up for five minutes with a light jog, then sprinting all out for a set time or distance. For example, you can sprint for 10 seconds or 50 yards. You then take a long enough rest period to fully recover and repeat for a series of sprints.
Strides
Overspeed training, or "assistance training" as it's sometimes called, is a tactic that can force you to run faster than you are capable of going. The idea is to increase the speed at which your feet touch the ground while you are running. A way to do this is by running down hills. You can do this type of training the same you would do sprints. The hills you run on should have no more than a 2 percent grade.
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