Recently, someone had purchased my Run Faster Method and said that this blog you are currently reading was great.  It almost had TOO much speed information on it.  He felt like he was getting speed overload.  That is great!!  That is what I want from this website.  I’ve always felt that you could create a good speed training workout just be going through the posts of this site.

Here’s how nice of a guy I am.  I’m going to tell you exactly what you need to do to create a speed program. It will be the exact theories and training methods I do for the Run Faster Method with our clients.  We’ll chalk this up to getting into the holiday spirit early this year.

Organizing your speed program will be the key to how soon you see speed improvements.

You want to begin with a warm-up and not just any warm-up, a dynamic warm-up.  What this means is doing movements that will put your body parts in the greatest range of motion possible actively.  At the same time, putting your body in similar positions that you will be doing when you do your speed training work.

A few good dynamic exercises are the following:

  • High Knees
  • Butt Kicks
  • Walking Toe Touches
  • Duck Walks

Now that you are warmed up, you want to work on your running mechanics first.  Do this when you are fresh.  If you are fatigued, it is harder to do these drills correctly.  If we do them first, you can then apply these running techniques into some of your other speed drills you will do later on.  If you don’t change your running mechanics, not only will it keep you slow, but it could cause injuries.

For some of the better mechanical drills, guess what.  I already have them listed on my site.  Read my Top 10 Speed Drills and pay special attention to the A Skips, Toy Soldiers, and Striders.

Now you have done your form drills, which if done properly should take 10 minutes or so.  We want to do the power work that will really help your speed.  This will be the time where you will train your body to develop the necessary leg power to get you running faster.  Early on your focus will be plyometric drills, specifically jumping.  This will get your body prepared to handle the high impact running has on your body, plus the explosive strength needed for sprinting.

After several weeks, you will want to start implementing resistance/assistance runs.  These types of runs have been shown to really improve your speed.  But, take caution.  You need to make sure you aren’t sacrificing your running mechanics when doing these drills.  Otherwise, it won’t help you as much as you think.  When resistance is added, you want to add enough that challenges you, but your form still looks good.  That will help develop the proper muscle memory you need to run faster.

Go back to my Top 10 Speed Drills.  The plyometric drills you want to incorporate from this list are Hurdle Jumps and 1 Leg Horizontal Jumps.  Two very demanding drills that you want to use 3 or 4 weeks into your program.  Start with regular two footed horizontal jumps until you develop the strength to jump 1 legged.

Do the Speed Sled and Overspeed Runs for the other drills.  Remember, maintain your running mechanics and you will do fine.  Be especially careful with the Overspeed runs.  Make sure you aren’t going too fast and fall down.

The next part of the workout would be to improve lateral quickness or foot quickness.  This is where you have to understand the athletic demands of your sport.  Meaning, if you play a game like basketball where you got to move laterally quick and forward/backward, what do you do to get that speed enhanced.  Likewise, if you are a sprinter in track, you don’t need all that, just straight away speed, so drills for that need to be done.

For these foot quickness drills, you could use an agility ladder, you could use step hurdles, (and if you need a cheap device for this click here), or you could get a jump rope and probably cover all bases.  The better you get at jumping rope, the quicker you will become and that coordination translates directly to speed.

Finally, you want to make sure you are strength training your body to get it stronger.  The stronger you are the better you can develop force that will be transferred to speed on the field.  I wrote a great post about the secret strength exercises to use to improve speed.  Check that post out and you would have the bare minimum that you need to get you stronger.

There you have it.  That is how you put together a speed program for yourself.  This is what I do with my athletes.  Obviously, I have the luxury of knowing a ton of different drills for each category to use, but you understand this concept, then you can become a faster athlete.  Feel free to comment in the box below.