WATCH ANY ATHLETIC contest, and you’ll immediately see drastic differences in the athletes’ level of conditioning, strength and speed. The saying, “Speed kills your competition” is absolutely true.
A faster athlete always has an advantage over his opponent. At any time, a player can turn a small opening into a back-breaking big play. If a player is outmatched on speed, he can never afford a mistake. His technique must be perfect because he won’t have the speed to recover.
Speed is the difference maker at every level of football — from the youth leagues to the NFL. While speed is among the hardest attributes to develop (“Great sprinters are born, not made.”), there are tools available to help your improve your players’ speed. With player effort and dedication, you can help them reach their maximum speeds.
Speed-Training principles
1. Reduce Their Body Fat. Players carrying too much body fat will simply be slowed down. Players can lower their body fat percentages through training and a reasonable diet.
2. Stay In Shape. Players must never allow their bodies
to get out of shape. It is too hard to get back into top physical condition.
3. Test - Test - Test. By testing your athletes and charting their progress, players will see results. If something is working for them and they believe in it, they’re more likely to stay with the program. Players should practice the tests that your program deems important. If a player will be tested in the 40-yard dash, he should practice it.
4. Strength Train. Top sprinters are strong. Not only are they strong in their lower legs, hips and core areas (abdominal and lower-back), but they also possess good to great overall body strength. Good speed-building exercises include leg presses, squats, calf raises, leg extensions, leg curls and hip abductions.
Speed Mechanics
All great sprinters practice and develop the key mechanics to win a race. Each is easily applied to the football field.
O Stance. Players must be comfortable with their stance and be able to explode from it.
O Start. Most close races are won or lost within the first 10 steps. Players must emerge from their stance low and not raise into a full upright position until after the 10th step.
O Middle Portion. Players should exhibit smooth, fluid running mechanics. This means running with good hip and leg flexion, body straight, arm action moving forward and back (not across the body) and head still.
O Finish. Run through the finish line (or assigned area), not to it. Do not slow down until the whistle blows.
Running Power Drills
You can develop running power in your players by utilizing power drills. Coaches should be careful not to overdo it; they should use only one or two of the drills per workout, and drills should be varied throughout the week.
- Bounding. - Plyometric Drills.
- Parachutes Running. - Sled Pulls.
- Running Harness. - Rubber Band.
- Aquatic/Pool Workouts.
With resistance drills, players must not alter their basic running movements or patterns. If they are running unnaturally, then they are working against too much resistance. Drills should apply only a 10 to 20 percent increase in resistance.
King Of The Mountain
Jerry Rice and the late Walter Payton are classic examples of “mountain men.” Both ran hill climbs as part of their personal training programs. Running hills forces players to develop the good forward lean, arm drive and mental toughness that is not found in other drills.
Ideally, hills should be of various lengths, inclines and distances. If no hills are nearby, you can also use stadium steps.
Stride Length
There are ways to “trick” players’ bodies into running faster by increasing their stride frequency. This can be accomplished by players working out with strength cords, running downhill and riding a stationary bike to “trick” the arms and legs into running and moving faster than normal.
Stride length can be developed by constantly stretching the muscles and through drills. A great training tool for stride length is the “Stride Checker.”A 40-yard linear cloth that is marked progressively by 4 to 6 inches with each step, it trains an athlete to maintain the same type of foot speed and high stride frequency as in a sprint. Cones and sticks can also be used for the same result.