Greatest Speed Exercise Ever?

By Jon Doyle, MA, CSCS

Listen, I'm going to get right to the point…Speed is determined by 3 things:

1. Stride length
2. Stride frequency
3. Ground Force production

Sounds easy, yet a number for factors go into the above.

Here's a little secret…if you want to improve your speed, you'll have to do things that aren't that sexy…

Chances are, that goes against everything you've heard.

After all, you've probably been told by a wanna-be coach that "plyometrics" is the key.

Plyo's are great, but not for teenagers and amateurs. They are great for world-class athletes. Besides, jumping around like an idiot is not true plyometric training.

I've witnessed "trainers" put young kids through "plyometrics" and they might as well have been playing hop-scotch and double-dutch. It would be comical, except for the negative long-term effects it's having on the young athletes.

Back to my point, if you want to get faster you must do the following.

• Run properly. Learn how to run free and easy. Long strides (for your body) and the ability to turn your feet over frequently.
• Increase Range Of Motion/flexibility. In all honesty, you're posterior chain (hamstrings, calves, glutes, lower back) and hip flexibility, both dynamic and static, probably sucks. Spend 10-15 minutes a day on this. You'll not only be healthier, a better athlete, but you'll begin to run faster, much faster.
• Lastly, you need to develop strong, powerful, explosive hamstrings. All great runners have them. The good news is, you can develop them

Here's a video of, hands down, the most effective hamstring developer ever created. Word to the wise, it's not easy, but extremely beneficial.

The Glute/Ham Raise

As you can see, you basically "curl" your entire body with your hamstrings. The hamstrings have similar function as your biceps. That's why, in years past, they were commonly known as "leg biceps". But while your arm biceps are all show and little go, your hamstrings will determine how fast, or slow you really are.

You must be careful with this exercise. It places so much force on your hamstrings, you MUST be thoroughly warm-up before you begin. Even then, your hamstrings may immediately cramp up because they are not used to working so hard.

My advice is to do a few "negative" reps where you just lower yourself and do not try and curl back up. This will get your hamstring accustomed to the force. This is also how to begin if this exercise is too difficult for you initially. Build up to 10 negative reps, then on the next set you can try to curl yourself up once. (This is also the best way to grow into a pullup, FYI).

When you are strong enough to do 10 Glute/ham Raises, add a 3-5 sec pause at the top. You'll basically be squeezing your glutes as hard as possible to stop yourself from falling. Then lower and explode up.

Always, try to lift with your legs and not do a pushup.

Keep your hips in line with your knees and shoulder and do not let your hip get pushed back at any time during the exercise.

Work up to great performance on this exercise and watch your speed go through the roof!

ADD TO YOUR SOCIAL BOOKMARKS: Blink Del.icio.us Digg
Furl Google Simpy Spurl Technorati Y! MyWeb