Complete Speed Training

First Step Quickness - Acceleration Development

Let’s get down to the simple math of teaching athletes how to run fast. If you want your athletes to get from point A to point B in less time, there are certain things that need to be done. And it all comes back to their start. We need to fix the athlete's start.

So the next time you're at practice, the next time you're working out with your athletes, I want you to look for two things. The first thing is I want you to see, whether they're coming out of a three-point stance or a four-point stance or out of blocks, I want you to see how short that first step is. That first step is going to be very short. A lot of your athletes, the majority of your athletes are just going to kind of step out and then just start running. And that is an improper way to do it.

The second thing I want you to watch out for and the reason why they're taking that very short first step is I want you to see if they get triple extension – that means full extension at the ankle, the knee, and the hip – on the drive leg or the front side leg before the back leg or the quick side leg touches the ground. Now if they're driving out at a 45-degree angle to the ground getting full extension of the ankle, knee, and hip, then they're in good shape. But I can promise you, my friend, that they are probably not doing that because it's difficult for athletes to learn how to do that.

Now the byproduct of that, the effect of that, is that their start and their stride length is too short right off the bat and athletes just start spinning their wheels and try to start running as fast as they can as quick as they can, and that's not the solution. Speed is about – to get speed, you have to kind of wait for it. Maximum speed by minimum effort. Athletes are trying as hard as they can as fast as they can, and that's where the problem is.

So what you need to teach your athletes how to do in simple terms, here is the simple math, you need to be able to get your athletes to cover the same distance in two steps that they're covering in three steps without losing energy, without putting themselves in a bad mechanical position.

So let's look at some simple math. Now this is not to scale so relax. Just think about it conceptually, think about the analogy. Right now your athletes are taking three steps to cover, say, ten meters. Nice round number. What you want to do is get your athletes to be able to cover that distance, that ten meters, in two steps. Even if those steps take a little bit more time, which they will, it's still going to be faster than taking three steps. If you coach hurdlers, you already understand this is the case. It's always faster to three step than it is to four step or five step. Your athletes are going to be faster to the first hurdle if they can get there in eight steps as opposed to your more inexperienced and weaker hurdlers who are still taking nine steps to get to the first hurdle.

So let's say for simple numbers – and why is that, right? You can say that to your athletes but they're just going to stare at you because they don't really understand. Or they're going to take these huge – going kind of back to my hurdle analogy, they're going to look like inexperienced hurdlers trying to three step, taking those huge, bounding steps as strides where the foot lands way out in front of them. And that's not effective or efficient or explosive or powerful either and, therefore, not fast.

So how is it faster to cover more ground in less steps? Well, assuming certain things are in place, let's say that you're going to cover that ten meters in two steps and let's say that it takes one second per step to cover that ten meters. But your athletes are currently taking three steps, and let's say because they're taking three steps, those steps are going to be a little bit faster than the ones they're taking now.

So let's say they can cover each step in .75 seconds. All right? .75 times three is 2.25, right? It's going to take them two and a quarter seconds taking three steps to cover ten meters. But if I take two steps, I'm going to cover that ten meters in two seconds even though the steps mathematically, statistically speaking are significantly longer only taking two steps. They're slower, per se, going two steps. Yet you cover that distance in less time.

That is the key to getting your athletes to run faster. And if you were to extrapolate that improvement of a quarter of a second over that first ten meters out of a 40 yards or 60 yards or 55 meters, 100 meters, 200, 400, you would see that that increases their speed exponentially or at least reduces their time because it sets them up for a faster top speed. It helps them get to top speed later. It really is conducive to better overall acceleration.

Assuming certain parameters are in place, right? Assuming that the foot strike still takes place underneath the hips. Assuming athletes have the strength to overcome the inertia and not kind of get stuck on the ground or fall and cast themselves or collapse at the hip and at the knee.

So it's really important that we get our athletes to do this and teach them how to do this. The first thing athletes need to be able to do is get to triple extension. That's going to be the main key, and you'll find that it is extremely difficult to get your athletes to triple extension. And so there are a lot of different ways and means you can use to teach that particular skill. You can use medicine ball throws, plyometrics, Olympic lifts. Just practice coming out of blocks and coming out of that position. Bounding. Jumping. All these types of things are going to help your athletes get to that ten-meter mark in two steps instead of three because right now they're doing it in three for the most part. They need to get there in two if they really want to get faster.

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So the question is what specifically can you do to make that happen. Well, the answer is you have to make them stronger, more explosive. You have to improve their running mechanics. And you have to give them the repetitions with their speed work on their quality days to put all that in place. So create a program.

And it's very simple, guys. All you have to do is just go right in your Complete Speed Training program and decide what you want to do. Need some speed drills? You want to teach speed drills? Make sure the feet get underneath the hips. You can check that out on DVD number five.

You want to know exactly what speed work is and how to set it up and what the mechanics and the techniques are that you need to look at when athletes are running at full speed? You need to know what the major problems are that most young athletes have? DVD five of your Complete Speed Training program.

Need to improve physical strength, get in the weight room, teach athletes how to lift correctly, do the Olympic lifts? DVD number four, High Power Training. Need your plyos and medicine ball throws? That's all in DVD number four as well.

Got to make sure they get warmed up properly so they don't hurt themselves. That's in DVD number one. Got field and court sport athletes? Need to work on that starting quicker and changing direction speed? That's on DVD number two.

Conditioning, general strength, that core work. Remember, power is transferred through the core. You want to take care of that and make sure athletes are in a position to be able to actually maintain that good body position, that good drive angle. Should take that all out of DVD number three, Hard Core Conditioning.

Here's the solution to your problems, my friends, but the key is, first and foremost, setting your athletes up to be able to cover more ground in less steps. But maybe even more efficient and more explosive and more powerful than the way they're currently doing it. You do that, you're going to have faster athletes. It's just that simple. It's all a matter of putting a program into place that's designed to teach those skills and develop those qualities in each one of your athletes. Go out and do that and your athletes will get better, your program will get better, you'll get more kids out and everything.

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