STRONG DOESN'T MEAN FASTWhy strength is the base, and speed is a skill you still have to train

Strength Is the Foundation

Let's be clear: getting stronger makes you faster. When researchers pooled 15 studies covering 510 athletes, the bigger the gain in squat strength, the bigger the improvement in sprint time (Seitz et al., 2014). Across those studies, sprint times improved by an average of 3.11%. In speed sports, that is the difference between winning the ball and losing it.

So the gym work matters. But strength alone does not make you fast, and plenty of strong athletes are slower than they should be.

Strength alone won't make you fast, SPEED IS A SKILL

In a classic study, Weyand and colleagues tested runners with top speeds from 6.2 to 11.1 metres per second. The fastest runners applied about 1.26 times more force to the ground. Their legs did not swing through the air any faster. Faster runners hit the ground harder, not faster in the air (Weyand et al., 2000).

The catch: that force has to go in very quickly. A foot is on the ground for roughly 0.09 to 0.12 seconds at top speed. A heavy squat takes far longer than that to complete. Being able to produce force slowly in the gym doesn't mean you can produce it in a tenth of a second on the track.

Contact times fall as you speed up: about 0.2 seconds on the first step, down to roughly 0.09 to 0.12 seconds at top speed. Your muscles, tendons and joints need to be trained for those short windows.

Train the Joints and Muscles at Speed

Strength gives you the engine. Speed work teaches it to fire fast. To run fast, your ankles, knees and hips, and the muscles and tendons around them, need to practise producing and absorbing force at sprint speeds. That doesn't happen from heavy lifting alone.

•      Sprint, with full rest. Short accelerations of 10 to 30 metres and flying runs, with enough recovery that every rep is fast.

•      Jump and hop. Pogo hops, bounds and jump variations train fast, springy contacts. Build up gradually.

•      Throw and swing fast. Medicine ball throws and light, fast lifts train quick force. Move the weight with intent.

•      Keep the strength work. Heavy lifts build the force capacity. Speed work teaches you to use it.

•      Go fast when you're fresh. Do speed work early in the session, before you're tired. Fatigued sprinting teaches sloppy mechanics.

How and Where to Contact the Ground

Where your foot lands changes with the phase of the sprint. In a study of accelerative and maximum-velocity sprinting, the foot lands behind the centre of mass on the first step and moves further in front of it as speed builds (Wild et al.). Coaching cues that follow from this:

•      Acceleration (first 10 to 20 m): lean forward from the ankles, with your foot landing at or behind your hips. Drive the ground back and behind you, not up. Contacts are longer here (about 0.12 to 0.20 seconds), which gives you time to build force.

•      Top speed: stand tall with hips high. Land on the ball of the foot with a stiff ankle, close to your body rather than reaching out. Keep the contact short and springy, and pull the heel up towards your hips as you recover.

•      Avoid overreaching. Reaching out in front tends to brake you rather than drive you forward. Think "push the ground away", not "reach for the next step".

Simple cue to start with: "Quiet feet, stiff ankles, push the floor away." Film yourself from the side and check where your foot lands relative to your hips.

The Takeaway

Get strong, then get fast. Strength builds the capacity, and speed training teaches your joints and muscles to use it in the short time your foot is on the ground. Do both, and keep the speed work regular, short and sharp.

Ready to train it? The 4 Week Speed & Acceleration Drills program takes you through the progressions step by step: view the program.

Coach Sunz  |  CS Performance Strength & Conditioning

This material is for general educational purposes only and is not individualised coaching advice. Undertake any training program at your own risk and consult a qualified health professional before starting.