In Pursuit Of Speed: 6 Sure-Fire Tips To Make You Run Faster

New Exercise and Fitness Review

There’s something innately primal about running fast. Since a young age, we all knew how to run fast without being taught, but have probably lost touch with these instincts over time. Since we no longer need to sprint the distance to the kitchen to chase down our quarry of breakfast pastries, some of us instead test our speed-oriented mettle on the sports field.

Even if you choose to flail your arms and legs on the treadmill, being able to run really fast is correlated with increased power and strength throughout the body. The faster you can run, the more power and strength you have. Plus, sprints really kick fat in the behind.

Run speed is largely influenced by genetics, body type, and body structure, but you can still improve it with diligent training, proper planning, and the right programming. Here are six things to consider when you aim to run like the wind.

1 Perfect your sprinting form

While intrinsic power and strength can get you far (and fast), you need to work on the technical aspects of your sprinting form. It’s a lot more nuanced than most people think. Take the Olympic-level track athletes, for example. Notice that almost all of the runners look similar when they dash to the finish line.

Each possesses a good forward lean and pumping arms while keeping his or her head down during the acceleration phase. Gradually, the athlete transitions into a taller stance, emphasizing short ground-contact times and quick turnover with minimal hip sway in their form as they finish out the race. Basically, imagine the less cartoonish version of the Road Runner. You’ll also notice a very relaxed jaw, with their cheeks comically flopping about during a slow-mo replay.

This precise use of energy and transfer of power ensure that all of their efforts go into propelling themselves forward, faster.

While intrinsic power and strength can get you far (and fast), you need to work on the technical aspects of your sprinting form.

What to do:

Don’t waste energy when you sprint. Pump your arms forward and in tandem with your moving legs, keep your hips steady, tuck your chin in, and don’t stride longer than necessary. Lean forward slightly and land on your midfoot. (In some cases, you might even feel like you are falling forward, but continuous momentum will keep you up.) Finally, focus on the propulsion in the forward direction rather than focusing on driving your knees upward.

2 Warm up, but avoid static stretches

Static stretching, in which you hold a stretch for a prolonged period of time, has been shown in the literature to slightly impede sprint and power performance. This, of course, carries a lot more weight for the high-level competitor, where the difference between winning and losing can be a nose hair, but if you want to run faster yourself, exploit every advantage you can get!

Besides, there are better ways to warm up for a sprint than simple static stretching.

What to do:

Focus on dynamic drills that keep your body temperature up. I recommend that you warm up with 5-10 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity, such as a light jog. Next, perform dynamic mobility drills to loosen up your shoulders, hips, and ankles.

Dynamic Hip Stretches
Watch The Trailer – 00:50

The so-called “Spiderman” stretch is a particularly great drill to hit all three of these crucial areas, especially if you add in some upper-body rotation (you can see me working into it at around the 15-second mark in the video). To do this, lunge forward, keep one elbow close to the knee in front, and touch the ground. Twist your upper body toward the front leg, and push your leg out slightly to open up your hip. Then, extend the free arm straight up. You should feel a stretch in the adductors, hip flexors, upper back, and chest. Hold for a few seconds and twist again, this time facing away from the front leg. Then, repeat on other side.

The ABCs of running

A-skip: Stand tall and drive your knees upward with each step.
B-skip: Same as A, but extend your leg forward at the bottom and “paw” back at the ground.
C-skip: Aka “butt kicks.” Bring your heels up with each stride.

You can also perform what the running community calls “form drills.” Some examples include: A’s, B’s, C’s; high knees (running in place but raising your knees to waist-height); and strides (sub-maximal sprints).

The better prepared your body is for sprinting, the better you’ll sprint and the less likely you’ll be to pull a muscle.

3 Practice sprinting

Better lace up those sneakers.

According to the SAID principle (specific adaptation to imposed demand), you have to actually practice sprinting to be better at it.

Sprint workouts can be performed 2-4 times a week depending on your training season and sport. Research suggests that training programs longer than eight weeks can improve speed development compared to shorter programs.¹

What to do:

Perform 20-60-yard maximal sprints with full recovery between sets. This will improve your conditioning for any sport you play. Be sure to practice refining your sprint mechanics to further improve form and coordination, as well as run speed.

If you are playing a field sport, you can perform acceleration and deceleration drills and change of direction exercises (pivot drills) during the same session to improve your footwork and agility on the field. Implementing better running form during scrimmages will also provide opportunities to practice accelerating for when it really counts.

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4 Crank up the resistance

When flat ground starts to feel easy, it’s time to turn it up a notch and move to resisted sprints. With respect to increasing your strength specific to sprinting, resisted sprinting will translate to a more powerful sprint on a flat surface. This is where hill sprints, sled drags (running while dragging a sled behind you), and parachute (air-resisted) sprints come into play.

It’s time to turn it up a notch and move to resisted sprints

What to do:

Find a moderately sloped hill and perform hill repeats; run as fast as you can up that hill for several repetitions (see sample workout below), then hit the showers.

1. Warm up for 5-10 minutes with easy jogging.


2. Perform dynamic stretches and form drills for 15-20 yards each.


3. Find a hill that is not too steep. Start at the bottom and sprint up for 15-20 seconds. Walk down and repeat 10-12 sprints.


4. Cool down for 5-10 minutes of easy jogging

5 Lift for speed

The gym isn’t just for building better bodies; it builds faster bodies as well. Simply put, you can’t run fast if you aren’t strong.

Combining resistance training has been shown to be a better method of improving speed compared to performing each of these training methods individually.¹

What to do:

Incorporate a progressive strength-training program that focuses on exercises such as deep squats, deadlifts, power cleans, and lunges. Don’t worry about being fancy. These recommended exercises transfer over to the tarmac and improve your ability to recruit the fast-twitch muscle fibers necessary for powerful locomotion. I recommend implementing these exercises into your program 2-3 times a week to improve your relative and absolute strength levels.

Incorporate a progressive strength-training program that focuses on exercises such as deep squats, deadlifts, power cleans, and lunges.

Here’s a sample strength and power workout:

• Squat jump (with barbell on back)
  3 sets of 5 reps (2-min. rest in-between sets)


• Single-leg depth jump
  3 sets of 8 reps per leg, 30-sec rest between legs and sets


• 
  

  1 rep is a hop onto the box, hopping off, landing, and immediately doing another rep.

  
  

  
  



• Conventional deadlift
  3 sets of 5 reps (2-min. rest)


• Rear-foot elevated split squat
  3 sets of 6 reps per leg (2-min. rest)


• 
  

  Note: Stand as fast as you can for each rep. Use a straight weight for all sets.

  
  

  
  

6 Do some plyometric training

Ready to add more pep to your step?

Explosive plyometric training like squat jumps, hurdle hops, and bounding has been shown to increase speed by shortening ground contact times and increasing stride frequency.² Basically, that means that with the proper amount of plyometric training, your lower body becomes a blur of pistons. It’ll also improve the stiffness of your tendons and muscles so that with each stride your energy is used much more efficiently and geared toward powerful speed.

Box jumps

What to do:

Incorporate plyometric training during the same sprint session, after your sprints. Things like jump squats, box jumps, and bounding drills after sprints can work.

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References

1. Bolger, R., Kenny, I., Lyons, M., & Harrison, A. (2014) Sprinting Performance and Resistance-Based Training Interventions: A Systematic Review. Journal of Strength Conditioning Research, epub ahead of print.


2. Macka?a, K., & Fostiak, M. (2015) Acute effects of plyometric intervention – performance improvement and related changes in sprinting gait variability.Journal of Strength Conditioning Research, epub ahead of print.

About The Author

Jon-Erik Kawamoto, CSCS, CEP

Jon has coached and helped numerous clients reach and surpass their fitness goals, including high-level athletes, emergency personnel and more.

Bodybuilding.com Articles

In Pursuit Of Speed: 6 Sure-Fire Tips To Make You Run Faster

Gym Motivation: 8 Surefire Tips For A Great Workout

New Exercise and Fitness Review

Showing up, Woody Allen famously said, is 80 percent of success. But let’s be honest: Woody wasn’t heading to the weight room to do battle with the iron. When it comes to lifting, getting to the gym is still crucial, but so is doing quality work while you’re there.

The difference between leaving feeling triumphant—”What a great workout!”—and leaving disappointed—”What a royal beat-down!”—can seem like a mystery, but it shouldn’t be.

Before you start resorting to a bunch of weird metaphors about plateaus and mesas, try these eight techniques to make the most of your precious time in the gym. You’ll be surprised by how big a difference they can make!

1 Sip Water Throughout The Day

Hydration is an often overlooked element of prepping for a workout, but it’s a must—particularly if you train intensely. “Hydration is a key factor in being able to push yourself to the limit,” says Dymatize athlete Lawrence Ballenger. “You’ll lose roughly 10 percent of your strength from being dehydrated.” Studies have shown that even mild dehydration can also negatively impact your mood, mental acuity, and energy level—even if you don’t feel thirsty.

“Hydration is a key factor in being able to push yourself to the limit,” says Lawrence Ballenger.

Many people walk around all day long without realizing they’re in a partially dehydrated state. The best way to avoid this is to make a water bottle a fixture in your life at home, on the road, at work—everywhere. Make sure you’re sipping it throughout the day, so your tank is full when it comes time to train.

Quality intra-workout blends such as Dymatize’s AminoPro contain electrolytes to help your body hold on to water during long workouts. If you’ve been debating whether to use an intra-workout supplement like BCAAs, consider this a point in their favor as well.

Remember: If you’re thirsty, you’re already dehydrated. At that point, stop sipping and get gulping, because gulping speeds up the rate at which your body absorbs water. Your best bet is to keep from becoming dehydrated in the first place!

2 Press Play

If your first stop after rolling out of bed and throwing on some shorts is the gym, you’re probably going to be less than enthusiastic when you pick up your first heavy object of the morning.

Before you get under the bar or hop on the treadmill, give yourself an extra jolt of energy in the form of your favorite tunes.

Ballenger swears by using music to help pump him up for his lifting. “Put in some headphones and play one of your favorite songs to get you in the zone while warming up on the treadmill for five minutes,” he says.

Need some inspiration? Ballenger shared his personal playlist, which starts off with Rob Bailey and the Hustle Standard’s “Hungry.” Listen, and you’ll want to lift.

3 Squeeze Until You Can’t Squeeze Any More

Wondering why you don’t “feel it” where you think you should after a certain workout? The answer could be a squeeze away. You may be doing this at the top of biceps curls, but it works just as well—maybe better—south of the border.

One trick that IFBB Pro Jennifer Dawn Chapman raves about is squeezing her glutes as hard as possible whenever she’s doing a move—any move—that engages her backside. “The uglier the squeeze, the hotter the strut,” she says.

If you’re doing glute bridges, for example, squeeze your glutes tightly at the top for four seconds before releasing and moving on to the next rep. This can work with squat or deadlift variations, too.

4 Lighten the Load

The more you maintain focus and control during the set, the greater your strength gains will be.

The first thing many people do when they feel a bit weak in the gym is test themselves against a really heavy weight. Maybe they think it’ll kick-start their mojo somehow. Maybe they’re just trying to prove that they still have “it” when their body is feeling whiney. Either way, it’s a bad idea!

Rather than adding more weight to the bar, try taking a few pounds off. By lightening the weight, you’ll really dial in your technique and pay attention to precisely what’s going on in your body.

Try to feel each muscle contracting as you move through the movement—remember the squeeze? The more you maintain focus and control during the set, the greater your strength gains will be.

Train this way for a few sessions and you’ll be surprised by your increase in strength and workout quality. Train with your ego holding the wheel, though, and you’ll end up feeling beaten up by sloppy form. The choice is easy!

5 Pick Your Pre-Workout Carefully

Quick: What’s the most important ingredient in your pre-workout? If you’re like most people, you’ll say something like caffeine or beta-alanine, since these two ingredients are great at making you feel energized at the start of your workout—particularly in caffeine’s case—and helping you survive a grueling heap of reps.

But let’s be honest: In a great workout, you do more than just survive. You thrive! Try a product that boosts blood flow to produce a stronger muscle pump and improve endurance. Don’t just push through sets; push blood into muscles!

Lawrence favors Dymatize Xpand 2X before his hardest sessions, since it backs up its caffeine and beta-alanine content with pump-boosting ingredients like agmatine sulfate, beet root extract, and an exclusive high-polyphenolic pomegranate extract.

6 Hammer Your Weaknesses With Variable Resistance

People often think they’ve reached their ceiling with big lifts like the bench press, squat, or deadlift, when they’re actually just getting worn down by a certain sticking point in that lift.

This is when a knowledgeable set of extra eyes can come in handy—and don’t be surprised if your helper recommend you dial down the weight and add some extra resistance to the lift in the form of strength bands or chains.

“Adding chains or resistance bands to your strength training allows you to use a lighter weight and increase your lifting speed so you can push past the plateaus,” explains Ballenger. You’ll feel the difference right away, but after a few weeks of practice, don’t be surprised if you find yourself waving bye-bye to your previous PR.

7 Watch The Clock

We’re all guilty of it: rest periods that drag on a little longer than they should, eventually becoming chat sessions or mirror ‘mirin. There’s nothing wrong with taking a breather between sets, but that’s all it should be. Rest periods shouldn’t be mini rest days!

The answer is right there on your phone, or up on the wall in the gym: the clock! The longer you allow the muscle to rest, the more pump you lose, and the less momentum you’ll have going into your next set. Make sure your rest break is long enough for you to go on and maintain optimal weight and form, but no longer.

If your program has recommended rest periods, follow them to the second!

8 Stay Seated

If you typically perform isolation exercises such as curls, overhead triceps extensions, and lateral raises while standing, switch things up. Next time, try doing them while seated.

Overhead Triceps Extension

Sitting will help ensure you aren’t using any momentum to help fuel the movement, like swinging your arms back and forth with each biceps curl. You’ll immediately find that you’re able to focus far more effectively on performing a slow, controlled movement. Hello, pump!

This goes in the other direction, too. If you’re always parked on your can in front of the dumbbell rack, stand up. Doing the same thing in a different way is a great technique to shake off a slump and give your body a fresh stimulus. Never stop growing!

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About The Author

I’ve been working in the field of exercise science for the last 8 years. I’ve written a number of online and print articles.

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Gym Motivation: 8 Surefire Tips For A Great Workout