ACCELERATION WORKOUT #1
- Travis Hansen
- Sep 22
- 2 min read
Hello everyone. Before we get started, it's vital that you perform a thorough dynamic speed-based warmup before performing any of the acceleration work to follow. Not only will this help facilitate speed gains, but it will absolutely help prevent any injuries from occurring as well. If you don't have a complete warmup system, you might want to visit the link below:
Now, after the warmup has concluded, next comes the fun stuff. I think it's no surprise that the obvious initial selection for acceleration training would be the start position. Bottom line is you can't be successful at subsequent phases of a sprint without having a stellar start, or best case, you put yourself at an automatic disadvantage that you'll have too unlikely overcome. To keep things simple in this article, I would suggest using the traditional 3-4pt. start that you see at NFL combines. Although not typical in most sport settings, it provides higher levels of power, coordination, and its hip dominant, which are all key to running faster regardless of the type of athlete.
After you've practiced a few of these starts, other variations can be appropriately added to the mix. Drills like Reactive Prone Starts, Lean and Falls, Lateral Starts, and more offer lots of value as well.
Next up in your acceleration session would be the strength work portion of training. As it relates to the start specifically, "Starting Strength" Exercises should be your natural choice. The reason is that they demand you to move a large region of your body from a completely still position, as fast as possible. As such, these drills closely mimic the nature of a sprint start and also provide higher intensity and overload as an added benefit. The result? A faster start! Exercises such as Box Squats, Iso-Trap Bar Deadlifts, Back Squats, Hang Cleans, and Standing Split Hip Drives are the top picks here. And for the upper body, Squat to Chest Pass Med Ball Throws, Overhead Throws, Dynamic Effort Upper Body, and Split Jerk variations are going to be hard to beat.
The final area of emphasis for your start in the weight room would be the quadriceps. Now this isn't to say that the Glutes, Hamstrings, and Hip Flexors aren't important. They absolutely are. However, partial attention has been given to these aforementioned areas over the quadriceps in the industry. Please keep in mind that the Quadriceps are responsible for the production of high levels of vertical forces which occurs at the start, since there is more knee and body angle involved. Vertical forces play a huge role in generating more speed off the start according to research. Just check out the chart below:
In closing, if you or anyone you know is looking for a comprehensive athletic training program, please visit the link below:
Comments