How to Train to Increase Running Speed
Speed is important at any level of any sport but very observable in football. Fast forwards getting past defenders and scoring goals or what is now very popular having wingbacks open up defences with overlapping runs as showcased expertly by Liverpool’s Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold. However, speed is something that every player in any position of the pitch can use to elevate their game and use to improve their game. Midfielders getting forward and supporting attacks like Aaron Ramsey or even as a defender like Virgil van Dijk not just being physically strong and commander but have the speed to match forwards and snuff out the danger.
So, whoever you are and whatever position you play increasing your linear speed is important to progressing yourself as a football player. Now many people will argue that the fastest players are naturally gifted and it’s down to their genetics that they have acquired their blistering pace. This is true to a degree however if you haven’t already specifically trained your speed then I can guarantee that you can make some improvements. Having said that it isn’t quite possible to turn a strong, commanding centre back into the next Raheem Sterling but that same centre back can improve on what speed they have. Even if it’s only a small amount in absolute speed it could prove the difference in being able to keep up with a forward, getting to a loose ball first or even losing a defender in the box to score on a set piece. You still owe it to yourself to improve every aspect of your game and if you aren’t the fastest player to begin with you can still up your game by increasing your spring speed.
So how do you do it? Speed comes down to 2 defining principles; 1. Strength and power and 2. Sprinting/Running Mechanics. When you move your body in any way it comes down to generating enough force to move the mass of your body. Therefore, the more force you can generate the faster you are able to move. A car with the biggest engine goes faster (if engine size is the only difference). The human body generates this force through many different processes and there are different types of training and strength to train. Muscular strength is how much force the muscle can generate to move an object (normal a weight) whereas strength speed is the ability to generate as much force as possible in the quickest possible time. If you want to get faster the goal is to train the strength that’s specific to making you faster and from the above statement you would think it would be to train strength speed. However, the different types of strength all play a part in getting faster and increasing your sprint speed. Increasing your strength speed is the overall goal; get stronger to move quicker but if you don’t train to increase your muscular strength you limit how much force you can generate with each stride and therefore will reduce how much you can increase your speed. Just the same with strength/muscular endurance, even though it isn’t directly involved in increasing your speed, the ability to produce the force over a period of time and after multiple repetitions (or over 90mins) will affect your ability to maintain your level of performance.
Now you’ve increased the power output of your muscles you then need to train your body how to use that force, specifically in a way to increase your sprint speed. In short, your muscle memory. We all know that by training a specific skill like shooting and dribbling our bodies remember how to move to perform that skill correctly. And it’s the same for any physical movement. Therefore, additionally to training your strength to produce more force you need to train your body to move and run in the correct way. Moving in an incorrect way can be caused by many things; injury, bad technique and fatigue but it can all be corrected (as long as your body isn’t physically impaired through injury or illness) through training. This training comes under Running Mechanics. If training for strength to increase the force output whilst running, then training running mechanics will train your body how to use that force in the most efficient way to increase your speed. This is done by reducing the amount of movement you do whilst running so that more of the energy you are producing is channelled into running faster. This also has the added benefit of reducing the rate at which you fatigue due to less energy being expended. An example of this is the movement of your arms whilst sprinting. We all get taught to pump our arms when running to help generate force and movement (to feel this just try running without moving your arms). The force generated through your arms will help move your body in whatever direction that force is moving, Newton’s 2nd Law of Physics (an object with a force acting upon it will continue to move in the direction of the force being applied until another force acts upon the object). So, if you watch a lot of people run, you’ll notice that their arms have an outward swing, some more then others. This outward swing is generating force in a direction other then forward which will make it harder to increase running speed and also hinder the ability to maintain balance. So, to correct this you can do an exercise specific to sprinting called a straight arm pump.
Start by kneeling on one knee making sure your body is facing forward and as straight as possible.
Raise one arm to the front until it is level with your shoulder and raise the other arm to the back in the same way.
Keeping your arms straight swing both arms down and back up to the opposite position and go no further than level with the shoulder. Do this in a nice relaxed and smooth motion. Keep the arms as close to body as possible
Repeat this for a set amount of reps (5 on each arm)
After the last rep bend both arms at the elbow to 90 degrees, have your palms facing inwards, and fingers straight.
Now copy the motion you did before, but this time pump your arms and hands as fast as possible.
The idea is to train the movement slowly and then apply it with force as you would when sprinting.
(to see this being performed click here <insert link> and view it on youtube)
Now that is just how you can train your arm movement to help increase your sprint speed and by applying this training and other mechanics training you will see and feel how much of a difference it makes. A great source of knowledge for running mechanics and training is the book <insert book title and author>(which you can find on amazon through this <link>)But like all training nothing happens over night and the greatest progression will be observable over time.
That is one example of how the running mechanics can be trained to help your sprint speed and if you think of that as the macro level of muscle memory then the micro level would be the way your muscles work to move and generate force. One such way is the Stretch Shortening Cycle (SSC). This is the process the body goes through to generate and release energy in the muscles to create movement of the body. The muscles of our body have elastic properties. When they are stretched muscles store energy, like a rubber band, and this energy is then used when the muscle stops being stretched and contracts. If you look at the movement of the legs when sprinting you can see and understand how this is important to know when training to increase running speed. To train the SSC the type of exercises will be ones that work on loading the muscles with the stretch reflex and then use that energy in an explosive movement. For example step down box jumps or squat jumps. By stepping down off of a height you force your body to absorb the force of landing by bending your joints. This will cause muscles to stretch and lengthen as your body shape changes. You then use the energy caused by the stretch reflex to jump up onto the box or to jump as high as possible. This is just one way to train your SSC and in turn your application of strength into explosive power.
By doing just one of the types of training mentioned above will help you increase your sprint speed in one way. So, you can imagine how much you can improve if you implement all the different types of training into your programme. The best way to be able to do this is the expand your knowledge. YouTube is great with loads of people posting different training they do in order to increase sprint speed and being on YouTube it has the added bonus of being able to see how to perform the exercises and training. Another option is books, articles and magazines. It will take longer to read and extract the information yourself, but the extra knowledge will give you a greater understanding of why the training is affective. Or you can always ask a trainer. They are the professionals and the reason some charge the money they do because they do the research and make sure the training is the up to date and the best to improve you as an athlete. Just remember that like with any training measure and record yourself performing a fitness test before, during and after training to track your progression. When training for sprint speed complete a 20m or 40m sprint test to tract your progress.