Everyone wants to lift big, but do you want to run fast? You should. Sprinting is the most basic display of human performance and athletic ability, making it a vital training variable.
You don't necessarily need to train for the Olympics, but improving your sprinting speed will improve your overall fitness and health. But how should you train to sprint faster? This article will show you.
Learn how to get faster at sprinting and elevate your training.
What Is Sprinting Exactly?
We can sometimes use casual language to misdescribe things. For example, we will often say we're going for a "run" when, in reality, we're going for a jog.
Even this includes some nuance, as there's no set difference.
However, a jog is a "slow run," usually described at a pace of 5mph or slower. This makes a run quicker than that. Biomechanically, a jog is performed when one foot remains planted on the ground. On the other hand, running includes brief periods of going airborne.
Cool. But what's sprinting?
Sprinting is running at maximal speed. This is key, though, as every race technically runs at a maximum pace for a certain distance.
Sprinting stands out because you are reaching your maximum speeds. This is comparable to the difference between your 10 rep and 1 rep max.
Sprinting is like your 1 rep max run.
For this reason, sprint races are short in duration. The longest official sprint distance is 400m or ¼ miles.
How To Sprint Faster: 8 Key Factors
Even though sprinting is a "natural" movement, if you want to sprint faster, you need to specifically train to sprint faster.
This follows the principle of specificity in strength and conditioning, which states that your body will adapt to the stimulus you place on it. Therefore, you need to improve the things that'll make you faster.
As you'll see, there are many ways to sprint faster besides running drills.
1. Improve Form
Proper sprinting is a different beast than just running fast, as it's a technical movement. Learning and improving the proper biomechanics is going to make a huge impact on your overall sprint performance.
This is especially true for beginners. Comparing this to weight training, it would be like trying to perform the snatch without learning the movement.
It can always be better even if you think you have good form.
Breaking down proper sprinting form reveals 4 parts that require specific training.
Phase 1: Starting — You can sprint from either the blocks or a stationary position. This begins in a crouched stance, feet staggered and fingers touching the ground. Firing off this position is where developing explosive power is crucial.
Phase 2: Acceleration — Use short strides that gradually lengthen, ensuring firm and early ground contact, and increase arm movement to build the power needed to reach top speed. At this point, the body should be leaning forward, gradually coming up from the lower position during the start.
Phase 3: Top Speed—As you gain speed, your strides will gradually lengthen, and your torso will become more upright. Your goal here is to minimize ground contact with your foot and strike the ground with your foot directly beneath your center of mass.
Phase 4: Braking—Yes. Learning to stop safely is an essential part of sprinting. You are bringing your body to top speeds and must slow down without causing injury. Improving braking ability will lessen the stress placed on your body and joints. Learn to decelerate gradually, avoid contact with the ground in front of your body, avoid braking with your heels, and keep your knees from locking.
It would be wise to hire a proper sprinting coach to optimize your form. If that's not an option, find one online or at least some good videos.
2. Improving Power Increases Sprint Speed
Sprinting is often associated with strength, and there is a correlation. However, power production is just as if not more important.
Power is the ability to produce high amounts of force as fast as possible. Returning to sprinting form means you must be able to produce force to propel your body farther during the short time your foot is planted on the ground.
Research has shown that the ability to improve power, specifically horizontal power, results in the ability to sprint faster.¹
3. Improve Lower Body Strength
In addition to improving power, lower body strength can improve your top sprint speed.
At the same time, there does seem to be an upper limit where increasing strength will have no effect.²
Therefore, this is especially important for beginners who start with a weaker strength base.
For comparison, elite sprinters often demonstrate higher relative levels of strength and power compared to other athletes.³ A goal of hitting a squat of 2.0 times bodyweight seems to offer the most benefits.
The timing of strength training can also affect sprint performance. If you compete, you should perform most strength-specific training outside of the pre-season.
However, strength training will also improve your joint and bone health, making you less susceptible to injury.
4. Improve Body Composition
Notice that we mentioned sprinters have great relative strength above. It's important to keep your body weight low, as every extra pound on your body will amplify the amount of work you must perform to sprint.
This is why an elite sprinter will not just put on mass for aesthetic purposes. At some point, that mass will begin to weigh you down and offer no benefit.
While deciding the perfect amount of muscle can be tricky, your fat is not. Fat offers no benefit in sprinting, so you want to keep your body fat down to as low as reasonably possible.
For comparison, elite sprinters have less than 10% body fat. This doesn't mean you need to hit single digits, but knowing that you are losing fat is a sure way to run faster, even if all other variables remain the same.
5. Improve Core Stability
The core is often overlooked in sprinting ability, which is a mistake. One reason is that people associate a strong core with sit-ups.
In reality, the core's primary function is to stabilize the torso and maintain ridges. As a result, it can resist forces. Core stability training is absolutely necessary if you want to sprint faster.
During sprinting, a stronger core allows a person to sprint while maintaining level hips.⁴ In addition, you can generate more force with stronger arm pumps.
6. Pay Special Attention To Your Glutes And Hamstrings
Sprinting requires a quick and powerful transition between hip flexion (driving the knees up) and hip extension (pulling the leg back once planted).
However, hip extension is responsible for increasing speed as it pulls your body forward. As your foot is planted on the ground, it extends, pulling your body forward.
At the same time, this also makes hamstring injuries more common in sprinting, making it an area of particular concern.
7. Lengthen Stride
Two things determine your overall speed:
- Stride length
- Stride rate
We'll discuss stride length here. This simply means how much ground you cover with one step.
Let's pretend you were running a 400-meter sprint. Now, let's say your stride length is 1m. This would mean you'd need to make 400 strides to reach 400m.
Let's say your stride is 2m. You would only need to make 200 strides.
This takes time as you improve your form and ultimately requires you to improve the flexibility and mobility of your hips (flexors and extensors).
7. Improve Stride Rate: Minimize Ground Contact & Increasing Force
As mentioned, in addition to improving your stride length for top speed. You'll also need to increase the stride rate. This is the amount of steps they take per minute.
Think about if your stride rate was 1.5 meters. For the sake of math, let's say you would run a 150-meter race. This means you would need to take 100 strides to get there. It doesn't matter how fast you run; it will always take you 100 strides. Therefore, being able to perform 100 strides will get you there faster.
Depending on your body, the ideal relationship between stride length and stride rate can differ.
8. Include Unilateral Training
Although sprinting uses both legs, it can be considered a unilateral movement. Remember that sprinting occurs with only one leg planted at a time to pull the body forward.
Therefore, your strength and power training should include unilateral training. For example:
- Lunges
- Bulgarian squats
- Single-leg deadlift
- Box steps
First of all, these will train the legs in a more specific way to sprinting.
But that's not all. Unilateral training will:
- Improve balance
- Improve stabilization
- Strengthen knee and hip joints
This is crucial to runners of all disciplines. For example, there's a condition known as Trendelenburg gait. This condition reveals itself in runners as their hips sag during their gait while walking or running.
The most common issue is weak hip abductor muscles, specifically the gluteus medius. Therefore, strengthening hip abductors is critical to a faster sprint.
It's important to keep in mind that the research on unilateral training's superiority for transferring to performance is mixed.
Some research shows that unilateral training improves unilateral movement patterns to a higher degree than bilateral training.⁵ On the other hand, some studies show that bilateral and unilateral training offers the same amount of benefit.⁶
But also, don't forget the benefit of joint stability from unilateral training, which can help prevent injury.
Therefore, be sure to use both.
6 Types of Exercises To Sprint Faster
Now that you have the basic parts of sprinting faster let's look at some exercises to help you sprint faster. These refer to resistance training exercises that should be used in addition to improving form and sprint drills.
Before we begin, you should understand that you must decide what is most important to you. It's pretty common knowledge that endurance training can interfere with strength training, and while you can include both, you should focus on one and prioritize it.
1. Back Squat
As mentioned above, lower leg strength is important for a sprinter, and the back squat is the best way to achieve it.
When training, you should primarily use a strength protocol. This includes heavy loads (85-95% 1RM), low reps (1-5), and long rests (2:00+). Keep it simple and use progressive overload.
Again, elite sprinters have a back squat of 2.0 times body weight. That should keep you motivated.
2. Resisted Sprinting
Resisted sprinting: See a trainer use a sled or parachute attached to their hips as they run as hard as possible. Ultimately, this will increase a lifter's horizontal strength and power.
Studies have shown that this training style will improve sprint performance, specifically during the acceleration phase.⁷ Some studies suggest that a load of 20% body weight provides the most benefit during the initial acceleration from the start.
Keep in mind that some coaches warn against overusing and resist sprinting for long durations. While it can help improve power production off the blocks, it will ultimately slow down your mechanics overall. This could potentially result in muscle memory having longer ground contact. Therefore, doing too much could negatively affect form, so use it with a well-rounded training program.
3. Squat Jumps
Jump squats are another lower body power movement that produces explosive speed.
Further, it tends to be the preferred power exercise to improve sprinter performance.⁸
You can use various implements, but we like the trap bar. The trap bar allows you to hold a load down to your side, bringing the load towards your center of gravity and down to your side, making it safer and easier to handle loads.
4. Lower Body Plyometrics And Ballistics
Plyometrics and ballistic exercises are similar to power movements.
Plyometric exercises focus on improving your stretch-shortening cycle (SSC). The SSC occurs when a joint is opened quickly, stretching the muscle and ligaments. Just like a rubber band, this quick stretch stores energy, which is then released. Think of pulling back before a punch.
In comparison, ballistic exercises aim to produce maximal amounts of force throughout the entire concentric contraction. Generally, this is associated with throwing movements such as a box jump.
Regardless, performing both of these will improve power production in slightly different ways. More importantly, they will help improve your running economy.⁹
This occurs as your muscles will be trained to fire quicker and more powerfully.
Ballistic movement will help with overall force production, especially during the start of an acceleration phase, while plyometrics will improve the ability to increase foot turnover during maximal speeds.
Some good movements for sprinters include:
- Countermovement jumps
- Broad jump
- Depth jump
- Single-leg horizontal jumps
- Skips
- Bounds
These can be included with or without ladders or hurdles.
5. Nordic Curls
Nordic curls are one of the best hamstring exercises to improve strength and protect against injury.
They consist of getting on your knees and anchoring your ankles. Starting with an erect torso, you then lower your body slowly as far as you can.
These are intense, making them so effective in strengthening your hamstring for higher sprint performance.
In fact, a 2018 study produced some awesome results using two groups of trainees. One group followed their "as usual" training, while the other included Nordic curls.
The Nordic curl group not only saw a greater increase in sprint performance after the training program but retained this advantage after a 3-week detraining period.¹⁰
6. Lunges, Split Squats, Single Leg RDLs
As mentioned above, unilateral training should definitely be a part of your training. This can include:
- Split squats
- Lunges
- Single Leg RDLs
Sprint Faster Workout Routine
Here's a sample workout routine to help you sprint faster.
You will complete two workouts a week plus 2 sprint training days. Before each workout you should perform a 5-10 minute dynamic warm up.
Make sure you have a rest day in between the workouts and sprint training days.
Workout A:
| EXERCISE | SETS/REPS/REST |
| Squat |
*Use 85-95% of 1RM |
| Lunges |
*Rest 1-2 mins |
| Nordic Curls |
*Rest 1-2 mins |
| Single Leg Deadlifts |
*Rest 1-2 mins |
Sprint Workout:
Make sure to complete a dynamic warm up plus 5-10 minutes of jogging before attempting your sprints.
| Sprint | 100m x 5 |
Workout B:
| EXERCISE | SETS/REPS/REST |
| Box Jumps |
|
| Skips w/ hurdles |
|
| Broad Jumps |
|
| Depth Jumps |
|
| Single Leg Horizontal Jumps |
|
Sprint Workout:
Make sure to complete a dynamic warm up plus 5-10 minutes of jogging before attempting your sprints.
| Sprint | 100m x 5 |
How Often Should You Train For Sprinting?
It's crucial to remember that sprinting is a high-intensity activity. Again, it's equivalent to performing a one-rep max deadlift or squat.
Sprinting at maximal speeds repeatedly demands high levels of work, which results in a build-up of fatigue and stress. Therefore, the general population shouldn't repeat maximum sprints often.
The exact amount can vary greatly depending on your personal factors. This could include:
- Body Weight
- Body composition
- Training Level
- Experience with sprinting
- Goals for sprinting (primary sport or an accessory to training)
With that said, the general recommendation is to perform maximal sprints once every two or three days. In addition, the total distance sprinted is generally around 1,000m weekly for your general athlete.
Again, this can go up dramatically for professional or elite sprinters. On the other hand, it could go down to just a few 100m for beginners.
If you don't know where to start, your first and best options are to find a proper coach or find a training plan online.
Other than that, the principle of progressive overload applies similarly to lifting. Begin slowly with a few 10m sprints a week, then build up slowly.
Final Comments On Sprinting
Whether you're a bodybuilder, a powerlifter, a strongman, or participate in track and field, sprinting should be part of your training to some degree.
Getting faster is the same as getting stronger– it will only benefit you. At the same time, the same basic principles apply regardless of where you are in relation to level. Continue to focus on the variables in this article and gradually increase over time.
References
- Haugen, Thomas A., et al. “Sprint Mechanical Variables in Elite Athletes: Are Force-Velocity Profiles Sport Specific or Individual?” PLOS ONE, vol. 14, no. 7, 24 July 2019, p. e0215551, journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0215551, https://ift.tt/mrHvak9
- Nuñez, Javier, et al. “Strength Training in Professional Soccer: Effects on Short-Sprint and Jump Performance.” International Journal of Sports Medicine, 24 Sept. 2021, https://ift.tt/uBtZP8c.
- Loturco, Irineu, et al. “Performance and Reference Data in the Jump Squat at Different Relative Loads in Elite Sprinters, Rugby Players, and Soccer Players.” Biology of Sport, vol. 38, no. 2, 2021, https://ift.tt/1DChdZE.
- Afandi, Mohamed Azizul Mohamed, et al. “The Relationship between Core Strength Performance with Sprint Acceleration.” Journal of Physics: Conference Series, vol. 1793, no. 1, 1 Feb. 2021, p. 012056, https://ift.tt/6h8s7oz.
- Zhang, Wenfeng, et al. “Effect of Unilateral Training and Bilateral Training on Physical Performance: A Meta-Analysis.” Frontiers in Physiology, vol. 14, 13 Apr. 2023, https://ift.tt/wjnEiMp.
- Moran, Jason, et al. “Effects of Bilateral and Unilateral Resistance Training on Horizontally Orientated Movement Performance: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.” Sports Medicine, vol. 51, no. 2, 26 Oct. 2020, pp. 225–242, https://ift.tt/ZzKx0rE.
- Bachero-Mena, Beatriz, and Juan José González-Badillo. “Effects of Resisted Sprint Training on Acceleration with Three Different Loads Accounting for 5, 12.5, and 20% of Body Mass.” Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, vol. 28, no. 10, Oct. 2014, pp. 2954–2960, https://ift.tt/Or0zABv.
- Loturco, Irineu, et al. “Squat and Countermovement Jump Performance across a Range of Loads: A Comparison between Smith Machine and Free Weight Execution Modes in Elite Sprinters.” Biology of Sport, 2022, https://ift.tt/yhitnrM.
- Berryman, Nicolas, et al. “Effect of Plyometric vs. Dynamic Weight Training on the Energy Cost of Running.” Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, vol. 24, no. 7, July 2010, pp. 1818–1825, https://ift.tt/myAK5wd.
- Siddle, James, et al. “Acute Adaptations and Subsequent Preservation of Strength and Speed Measures Following a Nordic Hamstring Curl Intervention: A Randomised Controlled Trial.” Journal of Sports Sciences, vol. 37, no. 8, 27 Oct. 2018, pp. 911–920, https://ift.tt/wgZSvGx.
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