To start off let’s discuss what speed is. Speed is usually referred to as how fast a person can run. No matter what sport you play, being able to run faster will improve your performance. Speed can be your strength, your endurance and your top speed. The athlete’s special strength, mobility, endurance, strength, and techniques are all influenced by speed. Working on increasing your speed is something that should always be incorporated into your training.

So, how can athletes develop speed? You can use sprinting drills where you start with a slow jog and then slowly work your way up to running as fast as you can. You always want to do a proper warm up and get your muscles loose. To improve your stride length you wan to work on training your msucle strength and power.   Speed drills take a different approach than other training and require you to develop great flexibility. You always want to be focused on increasing your strength and speed together in running specific exercises. You need to work on using proper technique to be able to run at your fastest speed possible.

Speed training is done by performing high velocity for intervals that are brief or short. Doing high reps or long duration exercises will work on your endurance and not your speed and quickness. It is very important to keep in mind that the improvement of speed in running is a complex process which is controlled by your brain and your nervous system.

For a runner to be able to move faster and more quickly the muscles of the legs must contract much more quickly and the nervous system and brain must control these movements more efficiently. If you have consistently maintain a certain speed training all throughout a year, both your nervous system and your muscles will not lose the feeling of moving at fast speed, thus the brain will not have to learn again the right control patterns in the future. Follow these tips and you are sure to increase your speed and improve your performance on the field.