Speed

Depp

Whats the best training for developing straight line quickness? thanks a million for replies

Transform

lots of leg work first - squats, front squats, step ups, lunges, glute/ham raises etc

plyometrics

practice running really fast!

Eglinton

Hill sprints and flat short flatout sprints

Try 6 x 40 metre flat out hill sprints. 1.5 minute recovery walking back to the start in between. Reasonably steep hills but don't overdo it. 1.5 minute recovery is not long after the 4th or 5th!

Also try 8 x 60 metre sprints on the flat. Run to your maximum ability. Walk back one minute in between.

Warm up very very well before you do these. Sprinting is very severe on certain muscles, ligaments etc. Also make sure you use your arms well. There should be controlled and your hands should move from almost 90 degrees to your waist and then up to your eyes in tandem with your legs.

slemons

Give this a try...
http://www.charliefrancis.com/store/Scripts/prodView.asp?idproduct=23

In 12 months you'll be fast enough

LightningBolt

Watch this



Then go out and set 40-60 metre markers down. Do a basic warm up with something like 40m of bounding off your feet, walk back to start and repeat two more times. Run backwards bounding off your feet again, do three more times. 3 sets of side shuttles and ins and outs.

Work on your mechanics, so things like running with your torso up straight, face, neck and shoulders relaxed, arms swinging up to your face with hands pointed like blades (work on pushing your elbows back as quick as possible, this is what powers you through), knees up high pushing back down as quick as possible. Start of at a jog at 30%, do one at 40%, then 50% and so on. When you hit the 80% mark take a much longer rest in between sprints. When you go all out do it three to four times and warm back down. Your groins will be fecked after all that.

Throw in some heavy squats, deadlifts, lunges as per Transforms recommendation and you'll gain an extra second if not more depending on your current sprinting technique. The slowest guy that sprinted with us tonight caught up with a lot of the lads once his technique improved!

O.P.H

I used to do athletics, 800 metres, and did sprint work every week. Basiclly you want to improve your fast twitch fibres and the best way of doing that is by doing drills that shock your nervous system. So obviously you warm up well and do your stretch etc. Now before our sprint work we used to do a series of short (i.e 10 metres) skipping type drills to really make sure you were fully warmed up and for technique work. Anyway the sprint work was just really short distances. Started off with 5metres, a few stes of that and worked up to like 60 metres but that was max, never any more then that. So lets say, 5, 10, 20, 30, 60 metres kinda thing. Everything nearly flat out, looking for explosive stuff. Its good to train with someone and race every distance, it helps with shocking your nervous system. Thats as much as I remeber anyway. So basicly, short distances, explosive pase and never do enough to knacker ya out.

104494431

Aside from running sprints, how should your feet be hitting the ground? I have a tendancy to run by planting my heel then my toe on the ground (like I'm walking) however a friend told me that I should be moving on my toes (ie: not my full foot). I seem to 'plant' myself with every step when running or walking so I don't know how to adjust or whether this is correct or not.

Eglinton

104494431 wrote: »

Aside from running sprints, how should your feet be hitting the ground? I have a tendancy to run by planting my heel then my toe on the ground (like I'm walking) however a friend told me that I should be moving on my toes (ie: not my full foot). I seem to 'plant' myself with every step when running or walking so I don't know how to adjust or whether this is correct or not.

Your heal shouldn't touch the ground at all. Many sprint spikes have no support whatsoever in the heal. You should either stay on the tips of your toes to the ball of your foot, nothing more. Try the exercise where to stand straight, then rise up on your toes slowly, hold, then lower slowly to flat. This is also a good warm up before sprinting.

O.P.H wrote: »

Anyway the sprint work was just really short distances. Started off with 5metres, a few stes of that and worked up to like 60 metres but that was max, never any more then that. So lets say, 5, 10, 20, 30, 60 metres kinda thing. Everything nearly flat out, looking for explosive stuff. Its good to train with someone and race every distance, it helps with shocking your nervous system.

I used to hate those. They're very good though.

What we used to do, and maybe the OP could try this too, it to do the 5, 10, 20, 30, 40, 60 and then back down in the same increments (40, 30, 20, 10, 5 - Only do the 60 once). The recovery time should be the time it takes to walk back to the start after each one (with a max of 1 minute). So in theory you get longer recovery the longer the sprint. However you get very tired once you've reached the 60 and have to start the shorter increments again.

EDIT: Remember to use your arms. They're vital for momentum and speed. It's amazing the number of people I've watched over the years (who wouldn't be natural sprinters, maybe more long distance), who never move their arms when attempting sprints. Check out the YouTubes of some top sprinters and watch how they use their arms.

--amadeus--

The best way is to join an athletics club and get specialist coaching.

104494431

I do KFM (martial art) and I play soccer once a week, aside from that I have a weights program to help with the martial arts and I walk about 5km a day usually.

Does sprinting and also plyometrics increase my endurance or is it just going to make me faster in a straight line. I'm not overly concerned with being very fast but I really don't want to concentrate on strength (from a weight lifting perspective) and I'd much rather work on power and applying force.

I'm 6'2" and 92kg.

thirtyfoot

Just a couple of things based on what some people have said -

- Do not aim to land on you toes, you will lose too much energy. You should be landing on the balls of your feet. Check the pic in this of the guy in black - http://www.athleticsireland.ie/content/?p=9041 - his foot is dorsiflexed and ready to hit the ground in an almost flat footed but more ball of foot state with his foot landing beneath his hips.

- The role of the arms is overstated. Pushing your arms back as fast as possible will not drive you through. The reason - when this arm is pushing back and the other arm is pushing forwards, by that logic do we assume that the pushing arm forward on the other side is driving you backwards.

Depp

im actually trying to get speed for rugby

Transform

what are you currently doing in training?

Remmy

Depp wrote: »

im actually trying to get speed for rugby

What position do you play?