when you search Google for it, you find everything from whackadoodle theories to videos of Usain Bolt training ...it is a bit like searching for hay in a stack of needles!
please share articles, links, videos you have found for training programs for Developing Sprinting Speed that you think are particularly helpful
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The best thing is doing some drills for form (skips, but kicks, high knees...) and then just some sprinting.
Form plus sprinting regularly helps the most. Doesn't have to be a complicated program, just do like 150 feet 5 times as hard as you can with 2-3 minutes of rest in between. If you do that like 3 times a week and improve your form you will get faster.
Of course you can also do plyometrics, squats, pulling sleds, uphill, downhill... but I don't think that will make you any faster than just sprinting and improving mechanics. Many kids just have very bad mechanics and are not used to cycle their legs fast because they don't do it often and hard enough.
http://aqspeed.com/articles/the-running-motion/
Three articles that explain sprinting in phases. You can learn a lot about what to train without buying anything. I still believe hip flexors are the key and are often overlooked. Buy some ankle weights, squat, deadlift, and run hills (up and down). Your speed will increase.
It is important that you fully rest. Hard training doesn't make you faster. I read an article about some good Greek sprinters like a decade ago and someone saw them training. He said they would take a 60m sprint and then fool around for 10 minutes (sitting around, listening to music...) and then do another sprint so that overall they would be there for more than an hour but only do like 6-7 sprints and then go home. That is probably extreme but it shows that you are doing sprints better when fully rested.
That is really important. Do sprinting before anything else (of course after a warm up). Then do a rather low volume with long rest but really had intensity.
Regarding weight training there are some great sprinters who lift really huge weights. Ben Johnson allegedly squatted 600.
However kim collins (world champion 03 and first 40 year old to run under 10 last year) said he didn't lift any weights until a couple years ago and even now he doesn't go really heavy. He is built like a stick and is still one of the best on the first 30 meters albeit he has lost little on the last 30 meters.
So I don't think strength has a lot to do with speed but it also doesn't hurt unless you weigh like 220+ or so.
Again, I agree in part. With young athletes, max effort sprints as part of training program are going to produce positive results. However, as you will read in either Mike Boyle or Eric Cressey's articles, getting stronger and more explosive is a must, if you want your child to reach full potential. Incorporating bilateral and unilateral squats, deadlifts, plyometrics, etc. are going to provide the most bang for the buck IMO. The weight needs to be appropriate and in cases of younger athletes with limited training experience, body weight exercises are a great place to start. However, there should be a progression once they master movements using their own weight.
As Dominik pointed out, sprints need to be performed with max effort and appropriate rest between each sprint or you are conditioning the athlete instead of developing speed. I would start out with a 12:1 rest to work ratio as EC recommends. Make sure you monitor athlete closely. Once you recognize fatigue or times slowing significantly, end the session.
Another good recommendation is to always work on speed development prior to strength/power training. Final recommendation is to find a performance coach who is knowledgeable in regards to strength, speed, and agility training and has a great reputation. They do this for a living!
https://ericcressey.com/the-5-...ty-coaching-mistakes
Couple of paragraphs from Mike Boyle:
"The problem is fast feet don’t use the ground well to produce force. Fast feet might be good on hot coals, but not on hard ground. Think of the ground as the well from which we draw speed. It is not how fast the feet move, but rather how much force goes into the ground. This is basic action-reaction physics. Force into the ground equals forward motion. This is why the athletes with the best vertical jumps are most often the fastest. It comes down to force production.
Often coaches will argue the vertical vs. horizontal argument and say the vertical jump doesn’t correspond to horizontal speed, but years of data from the NFL Combine begs to differ. Force into the ground is force into the ground. In spite of what Brett Contreras may say, vectors don’t seem to matter here. The truth is parents should be asking about vertical jump improvement, not about fast feet. My standard line is “Michael Flatley has fast feet, but he doesn’t really go
anywhere. If you move your feet fast and don’t go anywhere, does it matter? It’s the old “tree falling in the woods” thing.
The best solution to slow feet is to get stronger legs. Feet don’t matter. Legs matter. Think about it this way: If you stand at the starting line and take a quick first step but fail to push with the back leg, you don’t go anywhere. The reality is that a quick first step is actually the result of a powerful first push. We should change the buzzwords and start to say “that kid has a great first push.” Lower body strength is the real cure for slow feet and the real key to speed and to agility. The essence of developing quick feet lies in single-leg strength and single-leg stability work… landing skills. If you cannot decelerate, you cannot accelerate, at least not more than once."
Yes force is more important than quick feet. However the force is very different from a squat or deadlift, it is mostly hip extension with an already extended leg. That specific strength is also gained by sprinting itself.
Squats can help but more important is specific strength. Countless sprinters ran sub 10.5 without ever lifting. Squatting simply doesn't have much to do much with speed.
It can help at the highest level but jesse owens never squatted and he ran 10.1.
I'm not against squatting but I think more important is the specific strength gained by sprinting fast.
Here is a great analysis of Carmelita Jeter, she probably he currently the best sprinting mechanics.
She is showing very modern sprint mechanics. The modern mechanics emphasis the front side mechanics a lot and tries to shorten the back side mechanics. The coaches used to teach butt kick then high knee but today they teach doing the butt kick and knee Lift at the same time so that the foot doesn't swing back but comes up vertical in a straight line under the butt (step over the stance knee). Then when the knee is up and starts to come down the leg extends so that it grabs the ground almost extended and the leg generates force more in a pulling or pawing rearward motion rather than an extension and push off.
It is more of a pulling running rather than the classic triple extension that used to be taught.
I don’t want to get in to a debate because I have already recognized the benefits of max effort sprints in my initial response. However, IMO, I would recommend that you take a closer look at how one can improve RFD. Absolute strength is most definitely going to have an impact on sprint performance. Cherry picking world class sprinters who did not lift years ago... IMO... is not a good way to justify sprints as the holy grail of improved sprint performance. These are freak athletes we are talking about. I would also be willing to bet that far more world class sprinters are in the weight room, then not.
Most successful sprinters have incorporated maximal strength training into their program along with explosive weight training, plyometrics, and sprint training. To focus on one end of the strength-speed continuum and avoid the other components is doing a disservice to the athlete. Again, I am going to refer those who want to gain a better understanding of this topic to Eric Cressey. Here is link to short video with explanation of strength-speed continuum.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0ge2TYDllw
Just like velocity, it boils down to genetics, you can not run faster than your body is capable. Getting to your peak can be improved in many ways. How much money do you have to find out - Cressey and many others want to know?
From another article: it boils down to factors that affect either stride length or stride frequency that really determine whether someone is faster or slower than the next guy.
Factors affecting stride length: height, optimal femur to tibia proportions, leg length, lean muscle mass, coordination, balance, flexibility, running technique, etc.
Factors affecting stride frequency: proportion of fast and slow twitch fibers, lean muscle mass, etc.
From another article: Why is Usain Bolt so much faster than everyone else in the 100 meter dash?
But assume that Bolt has at least the same proportion of fast-twitch to slow-twitch muscle fibers as other elite level sprinters, and is able to achieve at least the same turnover. So combine average to above-average turnover with his huge stride length from his height, and you get the fastest man of all time.
From another article: Turnover rate = hip flexors
What I used to do with no money when I was a kid and faster than most everyone: Simple and cheap way to improve hip flexors = run hills up an down hills, run bleachers up and down, do sprints on a graded pavement up and down, ankle weights (24x7 except when running), light running up stairs with leg weights (walk down), high knees running in place, old school sit ups with straight leg
If you want to see if you have strong hip flexors, stand on one leg, grab your other shin with both hands and lift your knee to your chest. Let go (try not to fall over). If you can keep your knee against your chest, you have strong hip flexors and have worked them hard to get there!
Btw at a young age it is better to work on turnover than on force production/ stride length. At the world class level there is a higher correlation with force production but you also need a high turnover. And high cyclical movement turnover is a motor skill that is very hard to learn. Kids who have a slow turnover at 14 usually do not improve it but force production is easier to improve.
So work on the motor skills of fast legs (not feet, so not that 5 inch ladder steps) at a young age a lot. A good short recovery on the backside mechanics helps a lot with that- I repeat my prior post, pull the foot straight up under your butt once the cog moves past the support foot. The top sprinters in these days all emphasize front side mechanics and cut the push off short because they spend all their energy in a short burst at foot strike already.
The cycle is lift the knee, extend leg a little and then accelerate the thigh back and down into the ground as hard as you can and then all your energy is spent and you pull up the knee and foot straight up again so the cycle can start over.
