How to Start Getting Faster: Intro to Sprint Training
Essential basics for speed training and how to approach getting faster and more explosive
Sprinting is a Plyometric, and Will Make You Strong
As discussed in our prior piece on plyometric training we explained that plyometrics are essentially a rapid, reactive display of force at high velocities. Though forgotten as such, sprinting is actually a plyometric itself, just as jumping is.
You are bounding your foot into the ground and propelling yourself forward with each leg repeatedly as rapidly and powerfully as you can in order to move as quickly as possible. Since our bodies are designed in large part for running and our largest, most powerful muscles (glutes/hams/quads/etc), as well as the strongest tendon in the body - the Achilles, are the most involved pieces of a sprint action, Sprinting is our bodies most powerful expression of rapid explosive power.
Sprinting is excellent because it has been shown not only to develop power in the body unlike any other movement but the full body stimulus is so great that it can even potentially improve strength levels when lifting heavy weights.
Benefits:
• Sprinting will improve speed (obviously) and also power in the entire lower body. (Note: Power in the lower body usually translates to upper body power in most contacts because they are often used in unison)
• Sprinting also improves max force output in the legs (specifically the strength in a shallow knee bend “athletic” position)
• Sprinting also builds a preventative strength in the lower body to prevent muscle strains specifically in the hamstrings → this also helps develop hamstring thickness as well as the hamstrings are a very fast twitch dominant muscle group
There are many studies providing evidence to these claims however I will provide a couple here:
Sprint training improves power output and strength by factors of 10% (which is very good): https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17530960/
Sprint training improves (lowers) hamstring injury risk: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31332988/
Sprint training improves power in jumping, repeat power endurance, and aerobic capacity: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21869624/
Sprint ability demonstrates high correlation to overall physical ability: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5548166/
A quick summary/takeaway is:
Sprinting will make you more powerful, explosive, and healthy and by participating in it you will retain and develop your youthful athleticism by not allowing your potential and capacity to run at higher speeds to degrade.
It is common that you sprint naturally through play in your youth but by your mid 20s it is common for people to completely lose disability from year after a year of never engaging in any hi effort running whatsoever. Even engaging in a very small dose but with regularity will maintain your ability to produce high forces in velocity when called upon four years.
Like everything we speak about on here, it is not a clock that takes away your sprint ability – it is your abandonment of it.
How to Start Sprinting
Especially if you have not sprinted recently or perhaps have a history of sprinting complications, it is very wise to gradually build capacity to sprint before pushing the intensity of the sprint. Like everything we preach on here making sure that the prerequisite foundations are adequately in place will keep you healthy and improve your results.
In last weeks post we gave a routine recommendation on how to build capacity for plyometrics and recommend that you follow it first if you have not already. We will provide some sprint-specific recommendations below as well and recommend that you follow these strictly for a minimum of 3 to 8 weeks before engaging in maximum intensity sprint training depending on your training history and current health status/time absent from sprinting.
Begin first always with a short but effective warm-up for sprinting.
Sprint Warm up:
Bodyweight RDL’s or Glute bridges - 10 to 20 reps (can be done single leg also)
2 to 5 minutes of very light pogo hops
2 x 15 to 20 yard lateral shuffles
2 x 15 to 20 yard Cariocas shuffles
30 seconds of high knees
30 seconds of butt kickbacks
Run a 5 yard (very short) – At 30% of the maximum intensity you will be sprinting THAT DAY - ie if you are going to run at 75% capacity that day, this is 0.3 x 75% (estimate)
After resting for 20 - 30 seconds run a 10 yard dash at the same intensity
After resting again run another 10 yard dash at 50% of the max intensity for that day
Repeat this for 75% max intensity for the day 2-4 more times (As needed - be conscious of how comfortable your body feels with the sprinting and regress the intensity if needed. We are taking the lowest hanging fruit possible first)
Run another sprint at the distance you intend to be covering for your session that day (i.e. if you are running 20 yard dashes you can now run at 20 yards) And sprint at 80-90% OF WHAT YOUR MAX WILL BE *THAT DAY*. (Keep in mind - This is not necessarily 80 to 90% max speed)
You should be comfortably ready to engage with your sprint session in earnest now
For those that need it the visual demonstration of form here will be more useful than anything in writing:
The following is how I would recommend you progress your sprint sessions/intensities over the course of two months starting from zero.
Sprint Progression:
Start with one or two days a week on days where you are most recovered in the lower body or before a lower body training session (if applicable)
The below prescriptions are your max intensities for sprinting – the prior described warm-up should still be done as written then followed by the following routines.
Perform each step of this progression for each week - they can be done twice a week if you would like and can handle it.
Note: as a rule of thumb rest about one minute per 10 yards sprinted between sets. This is a rule of thumb and generally you should rest as long as you feel you need. This is not cardiovascular work so you should not be heavily out of breath.