The 60 yard dash is to baseball what the 40 yard dash is for football. A test that has been passed down through the ages more for show rather than a true test of applicable baseball speed. Today, I’m going to discuss how you run fast for the 60 yard dash.

I’m not sure why the 60 yard dash is so important to baseball. They could probably have the pros run a 40 and get the same information they need from it. But, I digress. Dissecting those reasons is not today’s post. We need to find out what you need to do to run faster for your 60 yard dash.

In my research, if you can run between a 6.3 and a 6.5, then that is an excellent time and will raise some eyebrows. I couldn’t find anything official, but your speedsters like Ichiro or Carl Crawford have reportedly run this fast.

6.5 seconds to 6.8 is considered good and 7 seconds or less is considered acceptable. Your average major leaguer runs a 6.9. This number is where it’s at based on certain positions not really requiring true speed i.e. catcher.

Here are the things you need to work on to run faster at the 60 yard dash (not necessarily in any particular order):

1. Your Start
2. Your Mechanics
3. Your Acceleration
4. Your Speed Strength
5. Your Body Type

The start of the 60 yard dash is much like the start for the 40 yard dash. It can make or break your good time by the first 10 to 20 yards. You want your first step to be a big one and to get your first 10 yards in about 5.5 to 6.5 steps.

Stay low as you are firing out and keep your head tucked the whole 10 yards. After that you can start gradually raising your head to look straight down. If you immediately lift your head up, you might then straighten your body quicker, thus popping you up and not getting the time you want.

I would do some reverse hypers to strengthen your lower back which will help you keep in that low/firing out position longer. I would also do some standing broad jumps to help with horizontal explosion.

If you don’t change your running mechanics, then doing the other items for this 60 yard dash will be a waste of time. You want everything leaning forward before you start and firing forward once you start.

That head stays tucked for the first 10 – 15 yards, you have a forward body lean, and your arms are pumping hard in 90 degree angles. As you are running, try to envision with each step you are pushing off the ground as hard as you can with your legs. To run faster, pump your arms harder.

To improve your acceleration and speed strength, the drills that you will use will go hand in hand. I like to do single leg exercises for the speed strength, such as lunges or a one legged squat. Once that leg strength is getting up there, you can improve the acceleration with something like hurdle jumps. Place 4 or 5 hurdles in front of you at a certain height (depending on your ability 20 or 30 inches) and jump over them in rapid fire session.

I like to build the strength up first in the legs, then start applying this plyometric drill. The leg strength needs to be at a certain level before implementing plyometrics. A good gauge is to see if the athlete can standing broad jump his height. If he can, then he could be ready for these hurdle jumps.

The plyometric jump you are doing for your acceleration will help you get up to your top speed quickly. You will continue to accelerate to about 40 yards if you are a real good sprinter, then after that you need to maintain that speed as best you can for the remaining 20. That is where the speed strength exercises come in. The stronger you are the longer you can maintain that speed.

Finally, body type comes into play basically if you have too much body fat. Change that percentage around so you have more muscle to fire with because more fat doesn’t do anything, but slow you down.

They tell me that baseball pundits like the 60 because from home to second or first to third is 60 yards. I would argue obviously it is not a straight shot, so why bother running 60 yards straight. But, this is something that is going to be run, so you need to know how to beat the test. Improve these areas and I guarantee you will be running a faster 60 yard dash for your next baseball combine.