Training Methods to Improve Sprint Speed
A female sprinters focusing point is that of her speed from the starting blocks to the finish line, once you reached elite level you have most likely reached you maximal ability in the field therefore it will become a mammoth task for an athlete to further they’re already admiral abilities in that field to better your competitors. This is why when at this level yourself or at least your team of trainers should be knowledgeable on the best training techniques and methods for you to get that little bit better without overloading and causing yourself injury.
Sprint speed relates to various other factors in someone’s ability suPtch as agility, leg power (vertical jump) and co-ordination (Vescovia 2008), there are numerous amount of different training methods used to improve these attributes. Cottle (2014) conducted a study to investigate the effects of sled towing on sprint starts in athletes, the study consisted of seventeen athletes (10 men, 7 women; 20.9 ± 1.1 years) comparing the GRF (ground reaction force) generated in three different sled pulling tests ( unweighted, 10% body weight, 20% body weight). The study found that towing sleds with 10% bodyweight showed significant difference in propulsive GRF impulse (0.18 ± 0.01) front leg (0.19± 0.03) back leg, compared to that of unweighted towing (0.16 ± 0.01) front leg, (0.18 ± 0.03) back leg. Although towing of 20% bodyweight showed the most significant difference in GFR (0.20 ± 0.01) front leg, (0.21 ± 0.03) back leg. This study shows that to improve GFR resulting in an increase in sprint speed a load of 20% of the athlete’s bodyweight would be optimum to use.
Antti (1989) conducted a similar study in respect of an investigation of towing to improve sprint times. The study compared the effects on maximal runs, supramaximal runs with horizontal towing and maximal bounding exercises to increase sprinting ability. The study found that supramaximal training increased sprinting velocity by 7.7% which is of high significance for elite athletes wanting to improve their sprinting ability. Antii (1989)’s study results also showed that bounding exercises were a great way for sprinters to increase power/ strength because I was a very relatable and the muscle activity level was near that of sprinting. This study shows that supramaximal sprinting is an effective way to improve sprinting ability because velocity can be increased aswell as stride rate and length (Antti 1989).
Jumping squats can also be an effective way also to improve an athlete’s sprint speed, Sleivert (2004) found a significant relationship between jumping squat power and athlete’s acceleration in sprinting. The participants in the study were thirty athletes (height: 183.8 ± 6.8 cm, and mass: 90.6 ± 9.3 kg; mean (SD)) the participants completed 6- 10m sprints, their acceleration was recorded using a recessed force plate to measure the first ground contact once the sprint had commenced. Sleivert (2004) found that average and peak power in the split squat [7.32 (1.34) and 17.10 (3.15) W/kg] and the traditional squat [7.07 ± (1.25) and 17.58 ± (2.85) W/kg] related highly to the athletes five-metre sprint time (r=−0.64 to −0.68, P<0.001), which shows that development in some resistance exercises such as squats could be very beneficial in the development of an athlete’s acceleration from the starting block with is the quintessential element of a sprinting event.
Buchheit (2010) investigated the development of sprint ability when doing explosive strength (plyometric jumps) training compared to repeated shuttle run training. A ten week programme determined the results of this study consisting of fifteen young football players (14.5 ± 0.5 years), the results where testing by timing ten,twente and thirty metre sprint times once a week over the ten week programme. The study found that there was a greater development in sprint ability after training repeated shuttle runs when compared to ExpS [explosive strength training] (−2.90 ± 2.1 vs. −0.08 ± 3.3%, p = 0.04). Although ExpS showed significantly greater improvements in countermovement jumps (14.8 ± 7.7 vs. 6.8 ± 3.7%, p = 0.02) and also in hop height when compared to repeated shuttle runs (27.5 ± 19.2 vs. 13.5 ± 13.2%, p = 0.08, ES = 0.9). Repeated shuttle run training has evidently shown the greater development in this study because it showed the greatest improvement in the test most relatable to a sprinters task (repeated sprint ability).
Lockie (2012) researched a variety of training methods relating to the development of sprint ability (free sprinting training, weights, plyometric, resisted sprinting) testing thirty-five athletes who divided into four groups for the four types of training to be assessed. The methodology for investigation was the four group to perform they’re separate training methods twice a week for sixty minutes over the seven week period before assessing the changes of a thirty-metre sprint compared to before the programme. All of the test groups increased they’re 0-10 metre velocity by 9-10% with the FST, PT, and RST groups all improving they’re reactive strength index derived from a 40-cm drop jump, whilst the weight training group also increased in strength by 15% (measuring using a 3-rep max test). This study has shown a variety of training methods can be used to develop acceleration in athletes (Lockie 2012).
Harrison (2009) performed yet another study into the investigation of resisted sprint training to improve sprint performance. His method was to randomly assign fifteen athletes aged (20.5 ± 2.8 years) into two groups one of which would complete resisted twenty-metre sprint training twice a week for a 6 week period whereas the other group would do no resisted sprint training. As you can see by the graphs below labelled (Figure 1 & Figure 2) there was a significant improvements (p = 0.02) in five-metre and ten-metre sprint times in the group that performed resisted sprint training twice a week when compared to the control group of whom had no significant results which shows again that resisted sprint training can assist the development of sprint ability and acceleration.
Figure 1 Figure 2
Seitz (2014) conducted a study to determine if increases in lower-body strength through resistance training transfers to increases in the development of sprint speed, the study successfully found a strong correlation (r = -0.77; p = 0.0001) between lower-body strength in athletes and their sprint performance. This was determined through the comparison of subjects squat strength and the sprint speed over 100m of five-hundred and ten subjects altogether across fifteen studies, strong correlations where also found between sprint speed and the frequency of resistance training sessions per week (r = 0.50; p = 0.001), overall improvement in speed was 3.11% which evidently shows that resistance training and an athlete’s strength play an important role in their sprint speed.
Zafeiridis (2005) investigated the effects of acceleration and maximum speed performance when trained using resisted and un-resisted sprint training. This study consisted of 22 students (age 20.1 ± 1.9 y, height 1.78 ± 7 cm, and weight 73 ± 2 kg) 50% of which completing resisted sprint training RS and the remaining completed sprint training using no resistant US. The evaluation was done by recording stride length and frequency and the sprint times of various events from 0-10m to 0-50m. The study found significant improvements from the resisted sprinting group in the 0-10m and 0-20m sprint times, whilst also showing greater improvements in stride rate and length when compared to the US group as shown in the table below.
Research has shown there is evidence to support sprint speed development through resisted sprint training, repeated shuttle sprint training and the use of resistance training to increase leg power. Although there has not been a clear cut optimum training method for developing sprint speed I think to get the best results the athlete needs to perform an optimum balance between sprint specific (resisted sprint training etc.) and non-specific (Strength based resistance training, plyometric) training methods in order to inherit the optimum development. An example of such a balance would be to perform resisted sprint training twice a week because research has shown it to predominantly increase acceleration in the first twenty metres, whilst also performing other methods on other days of the week such a repeated shuttle runs and strength training to develop a greater sprint speed for the rest of the race post twenty metres.
References
Jason D. Vescovia & Michael R. Mcguigan. (2008). Relationships between sprinting, agility, and jump ability in female athletes. Journal of Sports Sciences. 26 (1), 97-107.
Cottle, Casey A.; Carlson, Lara A.; Lawrence, Michael A. (2014). Effects of Sled Towing on Sprint Starts. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. 28 (5), 1241–1245.
Antti Mero, Paavo V. Komi. (1989). Comparison of maximal sprint running and sprint specific strength exercises. Journal of Biomechanics. 22 (10), 1055.
Gordon Sleivert, Matiu Taingahue. (2004). The relationship between maximal jump-squat power and sprint acceleration in athletes. European Journal of Applied Physiology. 91 (1), 46-52.
Prof. Christophe Delecluse. (2012). Influence of Strength Training on Sprint Running Performance. Sports Medicine. 24 (3), 147-156.
Buchheit, Martin1; Mendez-Villanueva, Alberto; Delhomel, Gregory; Brughelli, Matt; Ahmaidi, Said. (2010). Improving Repeated Sprint Ability in Young Elite Soccer Players: Repeated Shuttle Sprints Vs. Explosive Strength Training. Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research. 24 (10), 2715-2722.
Lockie, Robert G.; Murphy, Aron J.; Schultz, Adrian B.; Knight, Timothy J.; Janse de Jonge, Xanne A.K.. (2012).The Effects of Different Speed Training Protocols on Sprint Acceleration Kinematics and Muscle Strength and Power in Field Sport Athletes. Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research. 26 (6), 1539-1550.
Harrison, Andrew J; Bourke, Gillian. (2009). The Effect of Resisted Sprint Training on Speed and Strength Performance in Male Rugby Players. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. 23 (1), 275-283.
Seitz, Laurent B. (2014). Increases in Lower-Body Strength Transfer Positively to Sprint Performance: A Systematic Review with Meta-Analysis. Sports Medicine. 44 (12), 1693.
Zafeiridis, A; Saraslanidis, P; Manou, V; Ioakimidis, P. (2005). The effects of resisted sled-pulling sprint training on acceleration and maximum speed performance. Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness. 45 (3), 284-290.