7 Drills for Increasing Your Speed

By using the term “speed”, this article will be associating “speed” with linear acceleration.  There are numerous ways to improve an individual’s ability to accelerate.  A well-balanced and well-planned performance program that incorporates the multiple facets of training (strength/power, flexibility/mobility, plyometrics, and recovery) should be used to improve this ability.  This article will provide drills that can be used when a full program, as mentioned above, cannot be fully started.  It should be advised that an individual have some baseline form of training under his/her belt in order to make the following exercises effective and safe.  

1) Flexibility / Mobility: Specifically of the hip flexors, quads, and hamstrings.  Increased flexibility and mobility around the hips is key for an athlete to position and maintain angles that are necessary to the acceleration movements.  Teaching proper technique requires reprogramming of the muscle to fire in the correct pattern (will be addressed later).  When certain muscles are overactive, they shut down the effectiveness of other essential muscles in the acceleration movement.  Specifically, when the hip flexors and the quads are excessively tight and over-dominant, they inhibit the glutes and hamstrings to from firing in the correct pattern and firing productively.  Excessive tightness in the hip flexors and not enough core strength can cause a collapse in torso positioning during the acceleration phase.  There also needs to be flexibility through the hamstrings to allow the leg to raise up to the acceleration position.  An exercise for each area can consist of:
    Quads/Hip Flexors: Kneeling Quad/Hip Flexor Stretch.  This exercise can be done after an appropriate active dynamic warm-up and in-between repetitions or exercises.  Focus on doing approximately 6-10 repetitions on each side holding for 3-8 seconds for each repetition. 
    Hamstrings: Active Hamstring Raise.  This exercise can be done during the active dynamic warm-up and in-between repetitions or exercises.  The exercise should be done one leg at a time with the other leg bent with foot placed firmly on the ground.  Actively raise the non-support leg while keeping it straight and with the toe dorsi-flexed.  Slightly increase the speed of the movement to allow the stretch and make sure you keep the hips on the ground at all times. 

2) Linear Acceleration Wall Drills: When teaching the technique of linear acceleration, understanding the proper positioning and firing patterns of the movements should be the first step.  Use of the Wall Drills allows the athlete to feel the positioning and movements in a self-stabilized position.  Insert Photo  The athlete should be focusing on maintaining proper body positioning of being in a completely straight line.  Maintaining a lean stance and posture in the start and end position of each repetition teaches the body to achieve full range of motion while maintaining correct body postural positioning of the non-moving regions.  Wall Drills will allow the athlete to retrain his/her body to properly fire the muscles in the correct biomechanical pattern.  These patterns will be necessary for all the other exercises necessary for linear acceleration.  See Linear Acceleration article for a detailed breakdown of the correct firing patterns and form.  Once the athlete becomes comfortable with the positioning while doing single, double and triple switches, he/she can advance to the same switches but with one hand supporting the body on the wall.  This will force more stabilization throughout the body and better prepare the athlete for the resisted and unresisted movements to follow.  It should be noted that Wall Drills should not only be thought of as a baseline tool to do and not revert back to.  Wall Drills should be used as part of a warm-up or CNS Activation drill to initiate proper firing patterns before going into a more complex movement workout.  It is also a great teaching tool to revert back to between sets of complex linear acceleration drills since it will reiterate the same movement patterns the athlete is trying to achieve in that drill. 

3) Resisted Form Running: Resisted Form Running focusing on the same movement patterns in the Linear Wall Drills are some of the best exercises to use as intermediate steps from a self-supported position into a fully unsupported position.  Just as in the Linear Acceleration article, the resisted movements of marches, skips and runs allows the athlete to maintain a lean and posture and perform the proper movement mechanics in a resisted/supported position that in turn forces the athlete to stabilize and coordinate bilateral movements.  A key point to focus on is that the athlete should focus on maintaining position and proper firing patterns before trying to pull as much weight as possible.  No matter which way the resistance is applied (sled or partner), the athlete should not feel as if he/she is trying to pull the resistance with them from the start.  Focus for pulling the weight should be on keeping proper form and promoting more ground contact force to pull the weight.  If the focus is not on keeping the movement like this, the athlete will most likely break form and reach which then affects stride length, frequency and force application.  Once the athlete can maintain the form and effectively produce force into the ground, he/she can gradually increase the speed of the movement. 

4) Acceleration Ladder Drills: Now the focus should be on performing the linear acceleration movements at full speed.  The introduction of the Acceleration Ladder can be done as early as the first workout.  Depending on the athlete, this drill can take a long time to develop and perfect.  Maintaining proper form and acceleration technique in this drill will have the most transition to the playing field.  Just as in the Linear Acceleration article, the athlete should focus on starting with each leg forward an equal amount of times.  A staggered stance approach is most effective in teaching the proper push out and leg drive positioning.  It is important to keep the proper angles of the upper body, hips, knees and ankles in order to perform this drill correctly.  Focus on being forceful from the start and through each individual leg drive.  Focus on full extension and proper coordination bilaterally and coordination between the upper and lower body.  As mentioned before, Wall Drills and Resisted movements can and should be done in between repetitions or sets of Acceleration starts.  This will help to reiterate those firing patterns again.

5) Core/Stabilization Training: While developing the proper movement mechanics of the body through practice of the previously mentioned exercises, it is important to realize that complimentary exercises should also be done to ensure that proper body position can be maintained and that strength and power can be increased throughout those movements.  One big problem that occurs in linear acceleration is the collapse and/or lift of the upper body/torso throughout the movement.  The collapse of the torso forward can be caused by the excessive tightness of the hip flexors pulling the torso down, over flexion at the hip joint in the lift phase, or most likely weakness in the strength and stabilization of the core region.  The lift of the torso can be caused by this weakness too since the body does not feel comfortable maintaining the lean necessary for acceleration and signals the brain to extend the body up.  A flat back should be emphasized in acceleration.  If the core breaks and the body cannot maintain a straight-line position, power generated through the hips and lower body will not transition efficiently through the upper body.  A collapse in the torso is often the cause of the lift as well.  If the body is falling forward, the brain has the notion of falling forward and elicits the back extensors to fire to allow this not to happen.  This then causes more problems throughout the rest of the acceleration movement.  If the body lifts up, then the athlete is not in the approximate 45 degree lean needed to accelerate appropriately.  When the body lifts up, the stride opens up from a piston like drive and starts to reach out in front of the body further placing the athlete’s body out of the acceleration position.  So the reasoning behind Core/Stabilization Training for improving acceleration is set.
    Core/Stabilization Training should consist of exercises that focus on strengthening the transverse abdominus and the surrounding musculature that work to brace the abdominal/core region.  These can consist of isometric exercises with increased time and resistance.  Also any type of strengthening exercises that force the core region to stabilize while the appendages (legs/arms) are moving around.  Many of these exercises can be seen in previous articles.  

6) Resisted Platform SL Squats: Once an athlete learns the proper technique associated with acceleration, he/she will see improvements in overall efficiency.  In order for those improvements to continue, the athlete will need to improve overall strength of the lower body musculature, which in turn can increase power output and lead to increase force production into the ground during acceleration.  Although double leg strength exercises will definitely increase overall lower body strength, single leg strength exercises can be more effective in developing speed.  The athlete may not be able to move as much weight, but the benefits of bilateral stabilization, balance, and correct firing patterns are exceptional for increasing force application and stride length.  
    Platform SL Squat: There are many variations of resistance for this exercise.  It can be in the form of dumbbells or barbells.  It can be front or back loaded, held out in front of the body, and down by the sides.  The important thing to remember is that the athlete does a position and resistance that is suitable for him/her.  The simplest way is to start with dumbbells held by the side.  A platform or box approximately 3-6 inches in height is used because it allows the athlete to get slightly below parallel which hits the high hamstrings and glutes effectively.  The athlete should place one foot completely on the platform with the heel close to the edge.  The foot should remain flat throughout the movement keeping a balance between the front and back of the foot and keeping the arch in place.  The athlete should balance on the single leg and slowly lower his/her body down.  The opposite leg should kick back behind the body toward the floor.  Emphasis should be placed on keeping all/majority of the pressure on the leg on the platform.  The back leg can touch the ground, but a lowering and push is not advised.  The eccentric movement should be controlled until the knee of the back leg touches the ground (not bounced off the ground).  The change of direction should be smooth and the athlete should focus on initiating the push through the heel of the foot.  This doesn’t mean that the foot rolls back.  It should remain flat but the glutes and hamstrings should initiate the upward movement.  Full extension to a standing position should be achieved with the opposite leg punching up to a knee up- toe up position just as in the linear acceleration movements.   Sets and repetitions can change due to the training phase, but focus on keeping equal volume and intensity on each leg. 

7) DL and SL Plyometric / Power Exercises: Once form and strength are addressed, explosiveness and force application should then be addressed.  Two exercises will be identified that will help promote the acceleration movements in a more explosive manner.  Each should be done as a double leg movement and then progress to a single leg movement. 
    Dumbbell Squat Jumps: With dumbbells by the side of the body, the athlete will go into a quarter to half squat position sitting the hips back with the knees slightly bent.  The feet should remain flat.  The athlete should push through the full foot in an explosive manner jumping straight up in the air.  The athlete should achieve full extension of the body (straight line).  When approaching the ground, the athlete should dorsiflex the ankles and sit the hips back on contact with the ground to land in the same position that he/she started from.  This can be done single leg with the push off of a single leg and a double leg landing.
    Box Jumps:  This should be done with the athlete’s body weight.  Make sure the athlete starts at a lower height (6-12 inches) before approaching greater box heights.  This is for safety reasons as well as form reasons.  The athlete should stand a couple inches away from the box.  The focus should be going straight up; the body will naturally move forward with the flight.  If the athlete is too far away from the box and focuses on jumping forward, the knees tend to slide forward allowing the emphasis to go to the quadriceps instead of the glutes and hamstrings.  Full extension should be achieved before the legs are brought up in front of the body to recover and land on the box.  This is why a shorter box should be used first to make sure the athlete can fully extend and recover without catching his/her feet on the edge of the box.  This exercise can be done on a single leg as well where the same leg is used to jump and land.  Box height for the single leg jumps should be drastically lower in order to focus on proper technique and safety.  

These 7 drills/ideas can effectively improve an athlete’s speed if a full program is not available to that individual athlete.  Please be advised that each individual athlete’s experience level should be taken into account in order to provide for safe and effective training.