How to Sprint Faster

In order to sprint faster, you need 3 basic things: Power, good technique and a good training plan. I’ve been coaching sprinters for 30 years and have used these methods to develop many champion sprinters. These truths helped them and they will help you, too. Here is a breakdown of the three:

Strength and Power to Sprint Faster

Power is more important than strength to sprint faster, but you can’t have power without having a base of strength, so we’ll talk about both. Strength is the ability to move against a force. Power is the ability to do it quickly. The stronger you are, the more powerful you can be. Therefore, you should definitely be involved in a good strength training program 3 days per week. I also recommend that the program be a full-body, functional strength training program rather than a bodybuilding type program. You can learn about Strength Training for Runners.

In addition to strength training, it’s important for a sprinter to be involved in a power training as well. This would be activities like:

• Olympic lifting
• Medicine ball exercises
• Plyometrics, etc.

I recommend doing these activities at the beginning of your strength or sprinting sessions because they are best performed when you are fresh. Doing them at the end of a session when you are fatigued can lead to injury and may also be counterproductive.

Proper Technique to Sprint Faster

Having good technique, AKA running form is essential to sprinting faster. Here’s what you need to know. Sprinting can be broken down into 2 broad categories: Starts and top-end running.

Starting (Accelerating)

Proper technique for starting is, in my opinion, not natural. While most humans allow their legs to move through a full cycle (range of motion) in front of and behind their center of gravity, when starting (accelerating), athletes should attempt to minimize the back side and maximize the front side. Also, as strange as it seems, the best movement is to not allow your feet to rise above the ground, but rather to move forward only. The basic focus is to force the leg on the ground to fully and powerfully extend while the leg moving forward to stay low to the ground. This lasts for approximately the first 4-6 steps. After, that, the athlete should still stay low while they gradually transition to upright, top-end running. Other points:

• The body should stay in a low angle
• Your feet should strike the ground behind your knee

Full Speed-Top End Running

Once you reach full speed, you should be running tall and upright.

• The overall arm action of a sprinter is very large and with primary emphasis on the back swing. When the arm is swing forward, the angle at your elbow will decrease to that your hand comes up to and close to your face. The range of motion of the arms is one where the hands reach as high as your face and then back past your button the back swing.
• Kick butt should happen from underneath rather
• Extend hip-high knee
• Extend knee-reach out
• Pull down-touch ground underneath runner
• Land on toes
• Continue through the cycle

Training Plan to Sprint Faster

• Mondays: 2-3 power drills followed by 8x120m at 70% speed working on good technique and speed endurance.
• Tuesdays: Full body strength training.
• Wednesdays: 2-3 power drills followed by 10x75m at 90% speed working on turnover and accelerating.
• Thursdays: Full body strength training.
• Fridays: 2-3 power drills followed by 8-10x100m at 80% speed working on good technique and speed.
• Saturdays: Full body strength training.
• Sundays: Rest

Extra Tips

These are some other tips that will help you run faster.

Assisted Running

Running with a bungee pulling you forward or running down a slight downhill forces you to turnover your legs faster than you can on your own. This conditions your nervous system to move your legs faster.

Resisted Running

Running while pushing a resistance or having a resistance pulling behind you improves your power which results in running faster.

There’s a lot of information floating around the internet and hard to filter through what’s right. I am writing articles weekly and also have a YouTube Chanel with lots of good videos.  If you need help and would like to save yourself from a lot of research, look into ways I can help you.

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