The Need for Speed. Developing the Hammer and the Nail

In my time as a coach, across multiple sports, I have never come across an athlete that doesn’t want to be faster. And I don’t blame them. Speed can ultimately be the difference maker in the vast majority of sports, in fact, I’d struggle to think of a sport in which you gain an advantage over your opponent for being slower.

Soon, I’ll be releasing an E-Book via this website, detailing my philosophy for developing faster athletes - something I have been quite happy to hang my hat on, particularly whilst working in football. Many roads lead to Rome, but I feel that there are a few key factors that are often overlooked in the hunt for faster running, more aggressive acceleration, or more sustainable speed.

There are, some outstanding practitioners operating in the UK, especially when it comes to speed development. Jonas Dodoo & Sam Portland spring to mind, as not only well established practitioners, but also ones that are willing to be quite open when it comes to sharing content with onlookers via social media.

Consider this blog post a brief overview of what is to come in the E-Book, hopefully enough to wet the appetite, and spark some interest, as opposed to being too vague and ambiguous…

Positions, Patterns, Power There are multiple different ways to run fast. Just compare the running styles of Usain Bolt to Tyson Gay, Asafa Powell, to Christophe Lemaitre, or Dafne Schippers to Dina Asher-Smith and it is clear to see that there are stylistic differences even between the gold standard for running fast. But instead of comparing differences, we can look at what are the commonalities that unite these high performers, and can we develop these commonalities within our own performance to translate speed to the pitch, field, or track. These commonalities (similarly referred to as “attractors”, popularised by Frans Bosch), enable us to establish key positions that are commonly executed by high performers and allow for a technical model for us to push towards. Many athletes don’t have a basic understanding of fundamental positions, and so seldom hit them when sprinting, leaving room for improvement purely by increasing familiarity. Once established, we can begin to sculpt the patterns (sometimes slightly more variable, athlete to athlete) that move us from one position to another. Whilst establishing these effective and efficient patterns, we can start to try and display them through more powerful and velocity specific actions (e.g. actual sprinting!).

Stiffness & Reactivity Speed and running fast is a battle with and against time. It is in fact a matter of impulse. Can you produce more force, in less time, than your opponent? And can you appropriately translate that through kinetic links, and into the floor without excessive deformation. Stiffness, relates specifically to the ability to transmit force generated in the contractile component (the muscle), through the elastic component (e.g. tendon) and into the ground in exchange for acceleration (or maintenance of top speed if you’re already there…). Something that can be developed by a combination of intensive and extensive loading, in highly specific and distant correspondence exercises, incorporated to a well structured programme. Reactivity, relates to the ability to generate “pre-tension” (again, something covered in depth in some of Frans Bosch’s work), in order to remove muscle slack and minimise latency. Again, a trainable trait, reactivity comes through the ability to create tension through tissue prior to ground contact, therefore minimising braking forces and amortisation (the time between eccentric and concentric force production) and allowing a larger net propulsion.

Proximal Strength (The Hammer) I would go as far to say that not many athletes miss this one out. Large portions of force generation occurs proximally when running fast and accelerating. A strong, stable, and well functioning anatomy between the knee, to the lower back, and in particular the pelvis, is crucial for generating force. However, developing force production capabilities isn’t quite as simple as shifting big weight on a box squat twice per week. Force needs to be expressed at varying quantities, at varying contraction velocities, with real intent, via different means, regularly. A well structured programme will tick these boxes (not necessarily all at once!) and will ultimately lead to more force, and a bigger hammer…

Ankle, Foot and Toe Function (The Nail) Now imagine you’ve spent 16 weeks following a “well” designed gym programme. You’ve put 15% on your back squat 1RM, you feel stronger than ever before, you’re producing more force and you’re ready to let that translate onto the pitch. Imagine you’ve upgraded your toolbox hammer, into a sledgehammer. But now imagine, instead of hammering a steel nail and transmitting that new found force into the surface, your flimsy rubber nail sends a bit of force back up the chain, and only transmits a small amount into the surface… Now think of the nail in this analogy as your foot. Your foot, is the final part of the chain, and an inability to appropriately translate all that force into the floor, probably isn’t going to equate to a great deal of speed increase. I’m not just talking about stiffness here too, the ability to mobilize the foot, and even your toes is key to getting the most out of all that forceful extension and poor foot function is a stumbling block I’ve often come-across. Factoring in additional foot health/function work into your programme doesn’t need to be crazy, it doesn’t need to be strange, and it doesn’t need to have you flexing your toes on the gym floor, but it can make a huge difference if implemented sufficiently - particularly in the pursuit for faster running.

Developing Technical Endurance Unless you’re a 100m sprinter, with days between heats and finals, then chances are - you’re going to have to sprint, then sprint again, then sprint again, within your sporting competition. Even in court-based, and racket sports, max effort acceleration is incredibly frequent. It is therefore important when developing familiarity with the positions and patterns mentioned earlier, that you also establish an element of fatigue resistance to these patterns to ensure your running remains efficient and effective as the clock ticks on - giving you the best chance of pipping your opponent at the post when it really matters.

Execute, Analyse, & Sculpt Finally, to get faster, the best thing to do is sprint. All of the aforementioned can be integrated into warm ups, gym sessions, technical speed work, speed training etc, but ultimately, you have to expose yourself to high velocities and the forces associated with them at an appropriate frequency to develop. This should act as the perfect opportunity to film yourself, or have someone else film you, to see how you sprint, analyse your execution, and refine your technique. Your start point, your sporting demands, your training schedule, your commitment, and your personal footprint, will play a significant role in an appropriate designed programme to develop speed.

Long? Yes. Sound interesting? I hope so. If you want to hear more - sit tight for the E-Book coming soon, or inquire today about getting started with PRPerformance. Maximise your performance, and take your game to the next level.

Be sure to follow on Twitter and on Instagram @_PRPerformance to get updates on new blog posts and site updates, as well as to stay in the loop with the E-Book’s, and more exciting opportunities in 2020.

Thanks for reading,

Paul