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Increasing your sprinting speed can be hard whether you're an experienced college athlete or whether you're just starting out.
It's even harder to do this safely because when you're running at max speed so many things can go wrong, and if you overtrain, it's game over for a long time. (Just ask any sprinter who's ever pulled a hamstring!)
This is why your workouts have to be just long enough to improve your muscles and nervous system, but short enough to prevent overtraining and injuries.
These following workouts are exactly what you need!
We ranked them from easiest to hardest, so if you can do the first one, you can try out the next one until you feel like you're being challenged enough.
P.S.- Many of these workouts can be done on a treadmill as long as you're still exerting the proper effort. This, however, is more dangerous than simply doing them on the track.
1. The Coordination and Form Workout
The goal of this workout is to increase your basic coordination and sprinting form.
Improving sprinting form is key to improving speed, because nearly every runner out there has something they can improve in their form.
Coordination is also important because if your brain doesn't know where your arms and legs are at all times, your form will break down and your speed will suffer.
Here's the workout:
20 meters of butt-kicks
20 meters of high knees
10 meters of a skip, 10 meters of b skip, 10 meters of c skip focusing on form
A skip = alternating high knees
B skip = a skip except you extend your legs
C skip = same as a skip except you do a high knee in front and then a high knee on the side.
50 meter long stride training- jog/sprint for 50 meters while trying to take as few strides as possible. You will look silly, but just do it.
50 meter short stride training- jog/sprint 50 meters while trying to take as many strides as possible. You will look even sillier while doing this.
40 meters sprint while focusing on your amrs.
40 meters sprint while focusing on your stride length
100 meters sprint for time.
That's it!
Here's a short video about doing a, b, and c skip if you're not familiar with what that is.
2. Ultimate Form Training
This workout focuses mostly on form because as we've established earlier, form is very important.
One of the biggest issues people have is not using their arms properly, so here's a quick explanation for how they should work:
Always keep a 90 degree angle in your elbow.
Swing from the shoulder, starting with your hand by your pocket and ending with your hand just at the height of your neck.
Swing front to back, not side to side.
Make sure to swing from the shoulder and not from the elbow! This is a mistake I've seen a ridiculous number of runners make and it costs them a ton of speed.
Here's the workout:
Sitting arm swings- Sit down on the ground with your legs straight. Swing your arms as if you were sprinting. You should feel yoruself getting off the ground a tiny bit. If you're not getting off the ground you're probably swining from the elbow and not from the shoulder. Do this for 30 seconds.
2*40 meter sprints while focusing on arms. Really make sure to drive these arms from the shoulder. Rest in between sets until your heartrate is at 120 beats per minute.
20 meters a skip.
40 meter sprint focusing on raising your leg up almost like in a skip and driving through the ground.
20 meters a skip.
40 meters sprint with focus on leg form.
100 meter sprint for time.
3. Ultimate Speed Training
At this point your form should be set so now it's time to focus on pure speed and acceleration.
Sprint 60 meters as hard as you can while trying to maintain good form.
Rest until your heartrate is at 110 beats per minute.
Get in a plank position and then set a timer for 11 seconds. When the timer goes off, get up and sprint for 60 yards. This will help you train your explosiveness, reaction time, and acceleration.
Rest until your heartrate is at 110 beats per minute.
3*20 meter sprints with rest until your heartrate is at 120 beats per minute. Make sure to avoid trying to get out fast by shuffling your legs and having a really short stride. Instead focus on having a powerful start.
Timed 100.
There you go! Now you know how you can increase your speed! We also recommend weight lifting, but that's a completely different topic that I can write for hours on. If you do lift weights however, here's a quick tip: don't run after leg day!
