Are your athletes getting faster or are they just getting better at your drills? In the world of sports development and enhancement, we’re constantly inundated with equipment dealers peddling every imaginable “speed development” product known to man. Many of these products claim to make your athlete faster, and in many cases, they will.
The purpose of this article is to separate fact from fiction. I will give you some insight into how to ensure that your training is actually benefiting your athletes, not just getting them better at your drills.
1. Speed ladder
We’ve all seen the speed ladder. They’re in every equipment dealers’ catalog and have been a staple in every high school coach’s weight room since 1220 BC. Honestly, my first thought when I look at this piece of equipment is that it works a very small movement pattern. Seriously, which sport moves in a twelve-inch by twelve-inch square? However, because I’m always looking for new ways to challenge my athletes, I figured I would look for a way to implement it in my program (I got one for free).
I first looked at my warm up. We start with small movements and progress to big ones. That was an “Ah ha” moment. My dynamic warm up starts with small movement patterns, and the speed ladder does just that. I put it in my dynamic warm up, and it has worked like a champ. We started with quick feet, went to high knees, and then moved to the lateral shuffle. We were then ready to move on to larger movement patterns like lunge and twists and the world’s greatest stretch.
2. Resisted sprinting
The speed sled and the parachutes are both things you’ve probably seen in any sports performance program. When programmed correctly, these are both great tools in the tool box of any performance coach. The key word in that phrase is “when programmed correctly.” These items are great for working on force production and stride frequency, but they neglect stride length.
For sprinting and acceleration, it’s important to remember the following formula:
Stride frequency + stride length = speed
It’s imperative not to forget the stride length and force production aspects. Just as one would balance a resistance training program with press movements and pull movements, the performance coach should balance frequency drills with length drills. My favorite for developing stride length and power are push-up starts. With push-up starts, you start with the athlete’s front foot and both hands on the starting line. The rear leg should be completely straight. Then have the athlete drive off of the front leg and pull the rear leg through as quickly as possible. Again, the point of the drill is to teach the athlete to “get long” when sprinting.
3. Cone drills
I still use cone drills such as the three-cone drill and the pro agility drill among others in my agility training. The thing is, when in sports do we ever have a set movement pattern? This kind of goes back to number one. When do we ever play sports in this fashion? We don’t.
Developing real athletic speed
People learn in three ways. They are visual learners, auditory learners, or tactile learners. Besides the fact that it’s a set movement pattern, the cone drills only address one third of the equation—the visual learners. In sports, we must be able to learn by all three methods.
- Offensive American football player listening to the quarterback’s cadence = auditory
- Defensive lineman feeling which way the offensive lineman is pushing him = tactile
- Soccer player reacting to a passed ball = visual
This is what I mean by “are your athletes just getting better at your drills?” Much of the testing that is done by strength coaches and sport coaches alike are based around these cone drills. Just because an athlete is getting better at the said drill doesn’t necessarily mean that he will be better at his given sport.
Here’s a way to integrate all three areas of learning. I call it the lying reaction pro agility drill. In this drill, the athlete starts in either a prone or supine position, and the coach gives him a verbal cue to begin the drill. I say “Go.” As the athlete rises to his feet, the coach gives him a visual signal to show him which direction to begin the drill. From there, the athlete finishes the exercise by completing the pro agility drill and touching the cones or floor at each change of direction point.
Getting away from set movement patterns
As I mentioned earlier, I have yet to see any sport that has a set movement pattern. So why does it make sense to train that way? Why not shift more toward open movement patterns?
Here are a couple drills that you can implement into your speed training that will have more of a real life carryover.
Reaction drill
In this drill, the athletes are given a verbal cue to begin. Then they’re given a visual cue (the coach points) as to which direction to go.
Change drill
In this drill, the athlete is given a verbal cue to begin sprinting. From there, the coach will give him a verbal cue to “change.” For the change, you can have the athlete switch into either a slide or a lateral run depending on how much distance the athlete must cover. In this video, the athlete is a basketball player, so he will change into his defensive slide.
So there it is. These are a few ways to make sure your athletes are developing real athletic speed, not just getting better at your drills.
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Jason Nunn is a personal trainer and sports performance coach in Indianapolis, Indiana. He is the owner of Nunn’s Performance Training, LLC. He works with clients of all levels from weekend warriors to division I athletes. Check out nunnsperformancetraining.com for more information. 
Good premise, however one important thing to remember is that solid multi-planar movement requires sound mechanics. You can’t learn mechanics by simply running through reactive, open ended, chaotic drills.
One thing I think you’re missing is that every thing in training should move forward on a progression scheme. There is a time and place for every thing, including set patterns around fixed cones. I refer to those as ‘programmed, non-reactive’ agility drills, and they are one of the earliest stops on the progression ladder. Once the athletes have grasped the basics of body awareness, body weight control, deceleration, and how to properly move their extremities through their respective joint’s ranges of motion effectively, they should then move on to ‘non-programmed, reactive’ methods…and after that, they keep the progression going by adding competition into the mix: reacting to the movement of another athlete and racing them through the drill.
A clear example is the video of the young athlete in red you’ve included. There are several break downs in the way he executes much of his movement (i.e. high center of gravity, poor bending & body lean, not using the edges of his feet while changing direction, and absorbing his weight with his joints as apposed to his muscles). This athlete would be much sharper in his movement if these areas were addressed. Point in case: It is very difficult to correct these types of errors without breaking movements down, and reducing the complexity of the training, so that total focus on the execution can be given, and retention occurs.
That being said; you are spot on with the idea that there is more direct carry over to on-field performance with reactive/chaotic agility drills…however it can’t be overlooked that many athletes are only ready for this type of training after enough exposure to the simpler, more traditional means.
Thanks Donnell,
I totally agree with you. I do use fixed cone drills some in my training. The point I was trying to make was that it isn’t the end of the progression. Maybe I should’ve been more clear on that. Yes, the athlete in the video does several movement pattern problems. That’s actually my reasoning for shooting the video. It’s just the only thing I had that was usable. Thanks for reading.
Also, the link is NunnsPerformanceTraining.com, not Nunnstronger.com
Thanks!
you make a very good point…that is similar to the model we implement for the summer: we are approaching the final 3 weeks, where roughly 75% of our on-field training contains a reactive, chaotic and/or a competitive aspect; the fixed drills are very limited at this point. We still do utilize them to stay fresh on the mechanics we’ve developed over the first 5 weeks of summer and in the winter.
thanks for sharing.
I am only saying this because you put these videos up as part of a article on how to make athletes faster. Hopefully this will be taken as helpful criticism. The pushup start your athlete should be up on the ball of his foot, his shin angles should be 45 degrees and still in a pushup position minus the fact that he now has one leg pulled underneath his hip because that is what area of the body you want to benefit from his leg pushing. When he comes out of that position it should look like he is hanging in the air with slow reaction time because of him focusing on getting triple extension and pulling his next z-line up high to get more force in his downward stroke of his next leg. Stride length is determined by your femur length and how much force you put into the ground propelling you to a new distance with your second foot. Reaching to run “long” will only slow you down because your foot will be landing out in front of you slowing you down because of physics, for every reaction there is a equal and opposite reaction which would be in the backwards direction. High knees is also not a speed drill because for something to be a speed drill the ball of your foot needs to hit underneath you and your hips have to move because of it, that is a solid law. High knees is a drill that should not be used anymore. Agree with you on the the idea of drills and how to not just make your athlete better at those drills, just remember your athletes have to have strict and solid mechanics and that is how you will get them to move on the field more efficiently and with body control.
Speed ladder = choreography
Great article. There’s a lot of people getting awesome at drills out there!
Good article, and excellent points made by Donnell.
Great article! I have been using standard drills for the first few weeks of training my college soccer team and mechanics are on point. Now, I am looking to progress and fortunately you came through right on time with this article to get my wheels spinning on what do progress to next. Thank you.
Jason
I have to agree with Donnell, that movement progression is key to speed development. I do agree with you use of the ladder as part of your warm-ups but feel that you may not be giving it enough credit for helping to aid in the development of speed.
I find that it is great for helping to link the mind and body connection of the athlete (turns on their body). Also I find that allot of the drills that you can perform with the ladder help with movement transition (change of direction speed). By having proper footwork you can enter and exit your cuts or routes more effectively (or drills).
I do feel that parachute work is to unilateral for the small training performance center in terms of costs. A better tool I feel would be jump stretch bands do to their multiple applications.
As far as athletes getting faster by just doing the same drills over and over I agree that it is an issue like training for the combines. So there needs to be drill progression which helps to remove that effect.
Thank you for your article, anything that gets me reflecting about my training I greatly enjoy.
We must be careful not to confuse speed and quickness. Greg, your points about running mechanics are spot on…for a track runner. Your stride should not be overextended because it slows you down…BUT…you can’t change directions with such a narrow base. Keeping your feet directly underneath you produces the most efficient straight line sprinting stride, but it makes cutting exponentially harder, and getting tackled exponentially easier. It’s the quickness that non-running athletes are really after, not raw speed…most of the time. You are correct that high-knees aren’t a speed drill, they’re a “don’t get tackled by your feet” drill. Running in a straight line doesn’t put much of a strain on the joints, but quickly changing speed/direction will if you don’t learn how to involve your muscles more, and your joints/connective tissue less. Speed and quickness are two different sides of the same coin.
B.C. you are correct and my response was pretty much only to the push up sprint video which was for a forceful triple extension. Side to side movement yes you are not hitting underneath your hips with both legs.
Greg, I’m pickin’ up what you’re layin’ down now.
Stride length is based on improving power production into the ground which is a product of resisted sprinting methods. Resisted sprinting methods are not designed for improving stride frequency as you quote in your article, rather stride length. Assisted work is used for improving stride frequency.
People have to risk heading too far to learn just how far a person can really go
Highly unique. Keep those topic flowing.