Widening your running stride, typically referred to as lengthening your stride, is the act of increasing the distance between your feet as you extend your legs to run. According to the website Half Training, lengthening your running stride is one of two ways to increase your overall speed and pace while running. Raising your turnover rate, or foot strikes per minute, is the other. While increasing your running stride can be difficult, it can improve your mechanics and speed if executed correctly.
Running will both increase your cadence and lengthen your strides, depending on what style of running you would like to perform. If you are a casual runner, chances are your stride and cadence will only increase a slight amount...
By holding your breath, either above or underwater, you can increase your lung capacity, which in turn can improve your abilities as a runner.
Running is popularly believed to increase dopamine production in the brain. And while that's true, the impact of that action in a runner's brain is more complicated than merely making you feel good. That's because dopamine is m...
Running has been part of the pitcher's regimen for decades. Running across the outfield -- known as running the poles -- is an exercise that pitchers have used to develop their stamina. Having a high endurance level enables a p...
It measures the fitness of your aerobic energy system. The more oxygen your blood can carry to muscle cells, the harder and more productively you can work out. Improved cardiovascular conditioning from running combined with wei...
Resisted running is less stressful on your joints than plyometric exercises and weightlifting, and focuses exclusively on the muscle groups important to running speed and power. Resisted sprints are best done with longer exerci...
When it comes to increasing your running speed dramatically, the simplest answer is, run fast. Running faster will condition your body to running at those speeds. Incorporate intervals and speed training into your running sched...
Sprinters and athletes in team sports apply the same principles as they use jump-rope routines to increase running speed. You can adopt this simplest of training techniques to improve your speed in track events as well as acros...
It also takes a strategic decision to increase your speed throughout the race because your previous pace was not fast enough. Running positive and negative splits will help you increase your pace. A positive split is a training...
Sprinters are all about improving their strength, quickness and technique. Sprinters have to work on conditioning to train hard for their events; the nature of taking off and accelerating to top speed can lead to muscle injurie...
Like most responses to exercise, the degree of hormonal response depends on both your training intensity and duration. This hormonal response, particularly the increase in thyroid and growth hormone levels, contributes to the a...
Speed is a valuable aspect of being successful in any sport. Good running technique significantly affects how fast a child can run but does not always come naturally to a child. Coaches and parents can use drills, motivation an...
Whether you are starting a new running training program or recovering from an injury that had you sidelined, you will need to increase running mileage over time. Long distance runners have something called the 10 percent rule. ...
Including lower body strength exercises, such as squats, in your program can help to develop the strength and power in your quadriceps, hamstrings, calves and gluteals, which will carry over to your running performance. By perf...
Soccer is a sport which requires you to have a high level of fitness and muscular endurance. You also need an adequate degree of strength and agility in order to keep up with the demands of this high-tempo game. To get in shape...
Running hill repeats is one exercise that increase both speed and agility. With hill training you incorporate aspects of interval training and use the weight of your body for resistance. During repeats you will build muscular s...
Many sports require athletes to run at fast speeds, whether for a short or long distance. Many speed-enhancing exercises can increase your running speed on the field, court or track. Implement sprinting, skipping and jumping dr...
While many runners go from training for one event to another without a break, consider taking time to improve your base speed by taking 10 to 12 weeks to focus on running efficiently without greatly increasing your distance or ...
Strength training and explosive training are often used to increase leg strength and power, which will positively impact running speed. Jumping rope is effective for increasing running speed, both for those who participate i
When it comes to training for enhancing speed, there are right ways and wrong ways. If you have been using leg weights as a means to increase running speed, medical experts like those from MayoClinic.com suggest using other, sa...
Speed and quickness are skills that can make a good baseball player a great baseball player. Great speed can allow for more stolen bases, an increase in extra base hits and the ability to chase down fly balls in the outfield. Q...
Running turnover is how fast each foot pushes off the ground. Distance runners' average turnover speed is 0.3 and 0.5 seconds, and a sprinter averages about 0.1 second per foot on the ground. Reducing the amount of time that ea...
You can run from cone to cone in a pattern conducive to improving speed, agility, power and endurance. The placement of the cones and the pattern you run can vary widely, thus increasing your body's ability to adapt to the fast...
Running is a great way to get in a full-body workout. But you should increase your mileage and speed gradually. Doing too much, too quickly can lead to injury, fatigue and burnout, derailing your fitness goals. Additionally, we...
Speed has become a dominating factor in the sport of football and is dependent on two variables: stride length and stride frequency. In order to increase your running speed, you must improve one of these two without hindering t...
Increasing your running intensity can make you a faster and stronger runner as well as help you burn more calories during your workouts. If you want to increase your running intensity, there are several ways to go about it, ran...
Sprinting is found in many sports such as track and field, football and soccer. Sprint speed can make or break your game. Speed does not come without practice and discipline. To increase sprinting speed, certain exercises are r...
Isometric exercises work your muscles to maintain strength and provide conditioning. By working your leg and core muscles, speed can effectively be increased. Isometric exercises do not require movement, only the contraction of...
This could lead you to believe that running has increased the amount of air your lungs can hold, but it has really increased the amount of air you can use. Training can increase the efficiency with which your body gets and uses...
Stride rate and stride length are directly related to each other and are imperative to increased speed as a runner. While some individuals naturally run faster than others, there are steps you can take in order to increase your...
While some runners are hesitant to incorporate weight training for fear of bulking up and slowing down, appropriate strength training exercises may actually increase your running speed. Consider incorporating regular weight and...
Learning how to use various pieces of equipment and calculators to measure your running distance and training efforts can help you design an effective plan to increase the distance you run. To effectively increase distance, you...
Track spikes are designed to increase traction, speed and overall performance while sprinting, running and performing field events. The spikes of track shoes vary for sprinting, mid-distance and long distance running.
Being a high impact exercise, every time you run you build strength in your bones. Because this exercise is a cardiovascular activity, it aids in your breathing and oxygen levels to improve your heart health. To increase your s...
Gym machines may seem taboo to purist runners who dislike employing mechanical assistance in any way, but machines can be helpful and it is the wise runner who makes the best use of them. Developing speed can, of course, be as ...
But with strength training, cardiovascular exercise, the proper diet and special attention paid to drills that will help you increase your foot speed, you can get faster when you are in that age group. If you have been relative...
Many runners want to achieve faster running times. By interval training runners can burn more calories and increase speed and cardiovascular fitness, according to the Mayo Clinic. Interval training is composed of short, quick b...
This increased rate of breathing is necessary because of the increased demand of your oxygen-starved muscles. You are born with a particular maximum lung capacity called VO2 max. VO2 Max stands for maximum rate of oxygen flow. ...
For you, the finish line is still yards away. A good resistance-training program can make the difference between coming in first or last place in the big race. Targeting the appropriate muscles with correct movement patterns, r...
For runners, downhill training is a form of speed work also called overtraining. It results in an increase in foot turnover--the number of steps you take in a period of time. The faster your turnover is, the faster you go. Down...
While many runners focus on cardiovascular exercises to improve running speed, the best way to increase running speed is to improve your strength and endurance through a combination of cardiovascular and strength training. Runn...
The few seconds lost on a bad start may be the difference between first and last place. A proper start from the blocks will accelerate a sprinter forward and create a smooth start to increase speed. Take the time to practice st...
Common distances range from 60 meters to 400 meters. Being an effective sprinter is all about balance. You need the right combination of speed and strength, a stride that isn't too long or too short, and a training program that...
Improving your running speed can help you to compete at your best in nearly every sport. It will also help your coordination and your overall fitness when you can run faster. In order to gain more speed, you can do drills that ...
They don’t care about their times, preferring enjoy the feeling of running. Others participate in races and work hard to keep their running times as low as possible. Running at a faster speed can increase your calorie bur...
The good news is, if you lose weight, you will automatically increase your speed because you have less weight to carry when you are running. The bad news is, this takes discipline and you are going to have to make multiple sacr...
Downhill training is a useful speed-building tool for all runners, from sprinters to long-distance competitors. Unlike flat or incline terrain, downhill running works the leg muscles differently, and actually can condition your...
Sprinters require a quick reaction time, tremendous coordination and excellent footwork. Drills, including uphill sprints and downhill sprints, are only a couple of the drills that sprinters incorporate into their workouts to g...
Whether it's chasing down your opponent, cutting to the ball faster, or breaking free to score, good running speed is of benefit to most athletes. The good news is that practicing a few drills a couple of times a week can impro...
Increased running speed is the goal of many athletes, regardless of the sport they play. Doing some very basic drills can increase stride length (how much force is applied to the ground with each step) and stride frequency. The...
Sprinters may not want to hear this, but increasing the miles you run will increase foot speed. First of all, the endurance training will help reduce your overall fatigue, which will increase your foot speed. Now, if your event...
As the old saying goes, "Practice makes perfect." This is true for running drills to increase your speed. Perfecting and improving your running motion can improve your speed as much as anything. Therefore, do some basic sprint...