Why Is Speed So Important to An Athlete?

Watch just about any athletic contest on TV, and right away you will be able to see drastic differences in the athletes level of conditioning, strength and speed. The old saying "speed kills your competition" is so true. The faster athlete will always have an advantage over his opponent. He is able to get to the corner quicker, get out on a fast break faster or run down a long baseball hit that you thought for sure would fall in for a single. Speed makes big plays! Just knowing that at any time your opponent can turn a small opening into a back-breaking big play puts a lot of pressure on you. You can never make a mistake; your technique has to be perfect because you do not have the speed to recover.

Speed is so important for a athlete that NFL coaches are willing to spend large amounts of money on the player that has the speed to make big plays, rather than draft a player who has more size or strength. Legendary NFL coaching great Paul Brown is credited with creating the craze to find players who could cover 40 yards faster than any one else. Colleges and high school coaches were soon to follow suit and adapted the 40 yd dash as the standard to rate players by. The 40 yd dash is one of the most important 4 to 5 seconds in an athlete's life. It can make him or lose him millions of dollars in the annual NFL draft. It is the measuring stick by which NFL players earn their keep.

During the '70's, coaches beliefs gradually changed. Thanks in large part to coaches Boyd Epley at the University of Nebraska, Dan Riely at Penn State (he also has worked for the Washington Redskins and Houston Texans of the NFL), and Kim Wood of the Cincinnati Bengals. Now almost every high school, college and professional sports team has a well-run, year round, strength training and conditioning program.

Speed is a difference maker in the NFL, college athletics, high school athletics and even recreational and little league programs. Most coaches will agree that true speed is one of the hardest athletic attributes to develop "Great sprinters are born, not made", is a very old saying in the coaching world. But there are some things that you can do make yourself faster, like going from a 5.00 40 yd time to a 4.99 - 4.88 time. With consistent training and effort you can get faster. But Barney Fife from Mayberry is never going too able to out run Carl Lewis. That is why NFL coaching great Dick Vermeil once stated without hesitation: "If you're going to work with athletes, start with somebody who has something you can't coach…great speed."

Being blessed with great natural speed is no guarantee of NFL success. There have been numerous stories of fast "track guys" who tried to catch on with a NFL team. You have to be able to show coaches that you can harness that speed to make catches and plays.

The following are training principles that you should follow to reach your true top speed. Remember with consistent effort and training you will make yourself a better athlete. The speed training and conditioning company SpeedCity suggests the following guidelines for speed development:

Below is the difference training can make. The first column is your current speed, the second column is the expected speed:

6.0	5.98 - 5.55
5.9	5.69 - 5.48
5.8	5.60 - 5.40
5.7	5.51 - 5.33
5.6	5.43 - 5.25
5.5	5.34 - 5.18
5.4	5.25 - 5.10
5.3	5.16 - 5.03
5.2	5.08 - 4.95
5.1	4.99 - 4.88
5.0	4.90 - 4.80
4.9	4.81 - 4.73
4.8	4.73 - 4.65
4.7	4.64 - 4.58
4.6	4.55 - 4.50
4.5	4.46 - 4.43
4.4	4.38 - 4.35
4.3	4.28 - 4.25

If you look at these changes, there is not much of a drastic improvement. Small changes will come only from consistent training and effort on the athlete's part. One only needs to look at the progression of the 100-meter dash to see this. In October of 1968, American Jim Hines ran the 100-meters in a world-record time of 9.95 seconds. Since then, the record has been broken 8 times, most recently American Maurice Greene who ran a 9.79 times. So in 31 years the record has improved a grand total of 0.16 seconds. Not very much of an improvement.

SPEED TRAINING GUIDELINES

1. Reduce your body fat percentage. Excess body fat does no muscle work for you. Carrying to much body fat will do nothing but slow you down. Have ever seen a fat man win the 100-meter dash? Follow a reasonable diet, train hard and get your body fat percentage down.

2. Always stay in some type of reasonable shape; never let your body get out of shape. It is too hard to get back into top physical condition. NFL great Chris Carter was able to play 16 seasons in the big show because he worked out and trained as soon as the season was over. He was probably in better shape when he retired than when he was a rookie.

3. Test - Test - Test! By testing yourself and charting your progress or lack of progress you will be able to see for yourself your changes. If something is working for you and you believe it helps you run faster, you are more likely to stick with your program. Always try to run your best times on the exact same course or track. Practice the tests that you are going to be tested on. If you are going to be tested in the 40-yard dash, you better be practicing it!

4. Strength Train! Top sprinters are strong! Not only are they strong in their lower legs, hips and core (abdominal and lower back) areas; but also they have good to great overall body strength. This also goes back to our 1st guideline - fat does no work for you - it is excess baggage you have to carry down the track. Good exercises for the sprinter include: leg press, squat, calf raises, leg extension, leg curl, hip adduction and hip abduction.

5. Train the Mechanics of a Great Race. All great sprinters practice and develop the following parts of a race:

6. Speed X Strength = Power! You can develop running power by utilizing the following power drills into your training program. Do not over train in this area. Only do one or two of the following drills per workout and do not do them every workout. It is important to remember also not to change any of your basic running patterns or movements when training in this area. Only add or apply enough resistance to cause a 10 to 20% overload in resistance. If you are running unnatural you are working against to much resistance.

7. King of the Mountain! NFL greats Walter Payton and Jerry Rice are classic examples of Mountain Men. Both incorporate hill running into their regular training program. Running hills will force you to develop a good forward lean, arm drive and mental toughness not found in other drills. Hills can and should be of various lengths, inclines and distances. If there are no hills around you, you can also use stadium steps.

8. Stride Length + Stride Frequency = Speed! You must teach the body to run faster than it thinks it can by increasing your stride frequency. Utilize stretch cords, running downhill and even stationary bike work to trick your legs and arms into running and moving faster than normal.

Stride length can be developed by constantly stretching the muscles, along with drills to develop stride length. A great training tool to use is a "Stride Checker" by the SpeedCity Company. This is a linear cloth of approximately 40 yards in length and has marks on it that are progressively increasing four to six inches with each step. This pattern mimics the foot placement used during a sprint. The idea is for the athlete to generate foot speed and thus high stride frequency at the start of the Stride Checker, and then maintain that frequency as the stride marks increase in length. Cones and sticks can also be used if you do not have a "Stride Checker".

In conclusion, being blessed at birth with great sprinting genetics is the best way to guarantee sprinting success. Some things can be changed with training and effort. Remember it has taken 31 years to lower the 100-meter world record one tenth of a second. This tenth of a second is about the distance of one meter. In those 31 years we have seen advances in training programs, clothing, shoes, track surfaces and all kinds of training tools. Take advantage of these tools when you have a chance, but always remember, nothing replaces sweat, effort and dedication to reaching your personal goal. Like most fitness improvements, the key to your success will come from a sound strength training program, a good nutrition program and taking advantage of a good sprint training program.

Best of luck in your efforts to reach your true top speed. See you at the finish line!