Rare Speed Drills To Improve First Step Quickness

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I have received a bunch of comments about an article I posted last week: "BIG DIFFERENCE: Max Speed vs Acceleration." Let me take it a step further with 3 more tips on how to improve quickness and first step explosiveness.

But before I get into that, I need to re-emphasize the difference between first step and max speed. Different muscle groups and energy systems (depending on duration) will be used. All running isn't created equal!

3 Tips to Improve First Step Speed
1. Get your first step reps in! To train the explosiveness required to cover ground with the first step....train the first step. Sounds common sense right? Well here is where it gets tricky. Which is better for first step speed? Running 10 x 20 yard sprints or 10 x 5 yard sprints? 10 x 20 is 10 first steps plus another 19 or so yards. 10 x 5 is 10 first steps plus 4 yards. If you are training for pure quickness, choose the shorter distance to minimize fatigue. Here is an example that might bring by point home. If you are training max bench press, you won't do your max, then 19 push ups and expect your max to get better on the next set. The muscle group would be too fatigued. Same applied to sprinting and quickness.

2. Make quickness an unconcious habit. An athlete must be able to perform quick and explosive steps as if they were second nature. I'll apply the learning curve to an educational model - Gordon's 4 Stage Learning Ladder.

Stage 1 - Unconcious incompetence. The athlete doesn't know that they have a speed deficiency or that they need quickness at all.

Stage 2 - Concious incompetence. The athlete knows that they need to be quick and realize the the value of quickness for their sport.

Stage 3 - Concious competence. The athlete needs to concentrate on the drills in order to perform them. Practice is the most effective way to move to the final stage.

Stage 4 - Unconcious competence. The athlete is quick and fast without thinking about it. Quickness and speed become second nature and they can perform other tasks while being quick (ie, handling a stick in lacrosse, reading blocks in football, etc).

Our goal at Synergy is to get them to stage 4 in the fastest way possible. We practice quickness and then work out to max speed development. Most athletes come in at stage 2 or 3, but rarely 4.

3. Train explosiveness during speed - Jumping isn't just for dynamic effort training. During our drills, we work deceleration into explosive acceleration. Both two leg and split leg drills are VERY effective and are incorporated in our 6 Weeks of Speed program (found in the Synergy Athletics Store). Check out the video below.

Speed Training Tips Video


The above video is available in HD as well (just double click on it so it opens up in Youtube and change it to higher resolution in the bottom right corner).

- Joe Hashey, CSCS -

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• running speed
• speed drill
• speed drills
• first step speed
• first step quickness
• quick
• how to get quick
• how to get fast
• how to improve speed
• how to improve quickness
• be a better athlete
• speed and agility
• improve agility

[SFO14]

Good vid!! Not sure how "rare" these speed drills are, but they are definitely good and will help to improve explosiveness/power

[jhashey]

@SFO14 ha, agreed. The first two exercises are very common (20 yrd shuttle and sprints). The deceleration to broad jumps and vertical jumps are the ones I never see anywhere else - but "some common and some uncommon speed and acceleration exercises" made for a long and boring title, haha! Thanks for checking it out and commenting! - Joe

[Gammack]

Im assuming thats a variation of a depth jump they are doing? Because that is not at all like ones I have seen before. Its like A Depth Drop with a paused jump squat. Is that what you were going for?

[jhashey]

@Gammack Good question - it is much different than a depth jump (those minimize ground time). This is a controlled decelleration into explosion. We always teach the athletes that they need to know how to land before they bother jumping. It also helps get them low for the explosive movement (broad or vertical jump) so they get use to exploding on the first step or a sprint. I hope that helps!

[nvcn86]

damn that guy in blue looks fast at the side-sprint thing!

have you seen dan john's way of doing the broad jump? not applicable in the way you do it, with the declaration, but still interesting.

[WarrenGifford]

this is police case training for youths haha

[chrstilen5]

This makes me feal so weak O_o

[DoubleTrouble0101]

we did all of these for rugby training. it really helped with my speed and stuff. loved it :)

[TheMRschmiel]

I'm big on increasing speed and when it comes to the 40 it's all about the start. These kids do a good job at powering out but they need to open up those first few strides. To get a good time, it's all about that first 10 yds.

[K1rkHammet]

WHAT THE FAAAAUUUCCCCKKKKK1!! woooow he/they jumped faaaaaaaaaaar