How Do I Train for Speed?

As of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China the following are the record for the 100m dash for men and women: Usain Bolt 9.69 secs. and Florence Griffith-Joyner 10.62 secs.  Most people consider the winner of the 100m dash to be the outright fastest person alive.  In putting together a program to develop speed, I would want to know what is the denominator that accounts for the 1 second difference?

Flexibility?  Probably not.

Mechanics?  Not likely, I would assume men and women Olympic athletes have access to the same quality of instruction.

For many of the most respected strength and conditioning coaches in this country, the answer is... STRENGTH!  Quite simply the act of ACCELERATION ( which is what we are considered with in sports such as baseball, softball, volleyball where the max distance we will run straight ahead is never over 30 yards) is overcoming one's own body weight to get moving.  How do we overcome our own bodyweight?  We need to be STRONG of course.  Speed = stride frequency x stride length.  It is very hard to increase stride frequency, but we can increase stride length by increasing our relative and absolute STRENGTH.

Speed=power, velocity on the fastball=power, vertical jumping ability=power, hitting a fastball to an area of the park that is not playable, yep, power!  If you want to be powerful you better be strong.

So when is a good age to start a SUPERVISED strength training program?  An overwhelming majority of physicians, fitness professionals, and physical education teachers advocate kids starting a supervised program as young as the 5th grade to protect themselves from injury and jumpstart a healthy lifestyle; then when you get to high school you are physically ready to turn up the heat and really get after it!  Consider starting your program to success now!

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