When designing a comprehensive speed program for athletes, the most important question to ask yourself is “will this help bridge the gap from training to sport?” Using specific training modalities to jump higher and run faster are important—athletes need to train for positive adaptations—but if those positive adaptations are not showing up in competition when it matters most, then you are missing the point of an effective training program.
At FSQ Sports Training, a private training facility in a rural town just outside of Pittsburgh, PA, my coaching staff and I work with over 1,000 different athletes each year, ranging from professionals to youth league players (including over 20 teams throughout the year). Football, baseball, basketball, soccer, competitive cheerleading: you name the sport, there’s a good chance we train it! And for 10+ years, we have been utilizing curved sprinting in our program with every single one of our athletes.
When SimpliFaster reached out to me to put this project together, I did a Google search on “Curvilinear Sprinting” to see what was out there. I could not believe the lack of resources regarding how to implement and progress curved sprinting. There is a massive surplus of information regarding straight-line speed and change of direction. But if coaches are only focusing on straight-line speed OR change of direction, are we fully preparing athletes for sport?
Athletes need to train more than perfect straight lines. Movement is not black or white, there is a ton of gray area, and curved sprinting variations help cover everything in between those straight lines. Athletes need to TRAIN THE PLANES!
Athletes need to train more than perfect straight lines. Movement is not black or white, there is a ton of gray area, and curved sprinting variations help cover everything in between those straight lines, says @T_Cortazzo. Share on X“But Tim, the shortest distance from Point A to Point B is a straight line!” Correct. Now imagine a 400m race in the Olympics, but the track is square instead of rounded. The racers fly through the straight-away, only to slow down and come to a complete stop at the corner of the square track. They re-accelerate down the next straightaway, come to a complete stop again at the next corner…and this is without any impediments on the track! Not only would this race be slower, but the amount of energy exerted would be significantly higher. Athletes are problem-solvers—they adapt in real time, quickly searching for the most efficient way to accomplish the task. The athletes who do this the best in their sport have what we call “game speed.” And curved sprinting is one of the keys that help unlock game speed.
Video 1. Examples of curved sprints from a range of different sports.
“Specificity” Matters
Before I go into more detail regarding how we program curved sprints, I need to touch on the SAID Principle. The human body’s response to physical activity will be specific to the type of activity performed. Let’s say that your athletes spend all off-season pulling sleds and testing fly times: they will most likely improve their acceleration and top-end speed. But if that is ALL you program, you are creating faster, single-plane robots.
I am not advocating for throwing resisted sprints and flys out the window, we use them consistently year-round—but, athletes need a broader range of tools to be more effective in their sport. So, if athletes sprint in curved patterns in their sport, coaches need to include that aspect as part of their training programs to better prepare their athletes for the rigors of competition.
“Speed is the tide that lifts all boats.” — Tony Holler.
I agree with Coach Holler 100%. And I am sure he would agree with me that those same boats are sinking if the athletes can’t harness and use their newfound speed to their advantage in competition.
If athletes sprint in curved patterns in their sport, coaches need to include that aspect as part of their training programs to better prepare their athletes for the rigors of competition, says @T_Cortazzo. Share on XImplementing Curved Sprints
Here is exactly what we do with our athletes—we implement curved sprinting the same way we implement linear sprinting and change of direction. We keep it simple and progressive! We start with lower intensities at lower volume—and the best place to get lower intensity and lower volume work is in the warm-up.
The goal of any warm-up should be to gradually prepare the body for higher intensities. So, if the sport requires high-intensity curved sprinting, I think there is a ton of value in establishing movements and positions at lower intensities prior to competing. The idea is no different than warming up with an unloaded or lighter barbell for squat or bench, or using certain exercises like a skip to prepare the athlete for sprinting at high velocities. When starting off-season training, we immediately add curved-sprint warm-up variations and continue to revisit them year-round.
Video 2. Warm-up variations that prepare athletes for curved sprinting and “using their edges.”
We like to begin incorporating curves into our warm-ups with forward and backward “Snake Runs,” “Figure 8s,” and “Crop Circles.” We also love the idea of using multi-directional, single-leg hops to begin to acclimate the athlete to using their edges and dealing with forces both medially and laterally. Emphasis should be placed on getting comfortable with leaning at different angles and using the inside and outside edges of the feet. Programming this in our warm-up is preparation for higher intensity and added volume down the road.
Progressing Curved Sprints – Smaller Radii
The smaller the circle, the smaller the radius. Smaller radius curves will decrease the speed of the drill relative to an athlete’s max velocity. However, small-radius curved sprints will require more bend and lean, and that will create more intense ranges of motion for the athlete’s feet, ankles, knees, and hips to operate. If your athletes are new to drills involving curved sprinting, this may be uncomfortable. Hence, the need to first implement these exercises with closed, pre-determined drills at lower speeds and lower volumes, like I recommended doing with warm-ups.
Small-radius curved sprints will require more bend and lean, and that will create more intense ranges of motion for the athlete’s feet, ankles, knees, and hips to operate, says @T_Cortazzo. Share on XWe start early in the off-season training program and progress with added intensity and added volume as the rest of the program progresses—just keep in mind the overall daily and weekly volumes of straight-line sprinting, changing direction, and curved sprinting.
Performing closed drills allows each athlete to get comfortable with how fast they can sprint and how much they can lean. This also gives the athlete the opportunity to experiment with controlling when to speed up and when to slow down. Ultimately, that is where game speed is so critical. The more comfortable the athlete is while leaning at a diverse range of angles—and the more they understand when they can speed up and when they need to slow down—the more effective the athlete can be moving in space in their sport.
Video 3. Athletes performing a range of sprint drills and races on curves with smaller radii.
Progressing Curved Sprints – Larger Radii
The larger the circle, the larger the radius. Broader curves (larger radius) will increase the intensity due to a higher velocity of the drill. With larger radius sprints, less bend and lean will be required. Less bend and lean will allow the athletes to more easily gain speed as they sprint the path, and they will only need to slow down if the path deviates into a different direction or tighter curve.
The bigger the radius, the more closely it will be associated with a straight-line sprint. In our speed program, as we progress the athletes’ linear sprinting out to longer distances and faster velocities, we also progress their curved sprinting to longer distances and faster velocities progress in tandem.
Video 4. Athletes who have progressed to longer curved sprints with broader curves.
We use a ton of different variations for both larger and smaller radii curved sprints. Some of the drills involve accelerating into and throughout the entire curve; other drills involve sprinting in a straight line and increasing to a faster velocity before then slowing down into a curve. We also love the idea of redirecting and changing direction completely while in the middle of a curve.
I highly recommend adding in competition, which will instantly increase the intensity of the drill. We consistently put our athletes into situations where they can race and chase each other, says @T_Cortazzo. Share on XI highly recommend adding in competition, which will instantly increase the intensity of the drill. We consistently put our athletes into situations where they can race and chase each other. Opportunities are endless with curved sprinting. Taking the sport into consideration also influences the types of drills that we use. For example, if working with a football team, we recreate the tighter curves of a defensive end rushing the quarterback, a wide receiver running a Speed Out, or a running back running a sweep. Every single athlete on the team benefits from sprinting curves at multiple angles and radii.
In curved sprinting, the size of the circle makes a radiical difference (I have two kids—I can make a radii dad joke if I want).
Final Progression – “Open” Drills
Use closed drills to acquire or improve a skill…then use open drills to enhance the improved skill. People talk all the time about certain skills being “Second Nature.” Tying your shoes, writing, brushing your teeth. If you’re reading this, I hope that all of you feel that these skills are “second nature.” Well, if you have kids, you realize that none of those skills are second nature at first. Those skills are things that my 5- and 3-year-olds work on improving every single day. And then suddenly, one day, these skills seem to work on autopilot. Developing athletic skills works the same!
Using closed drills to help with posture, body positioning, foot positioning, etc. will help athletes acquire new skills or help improve skills (obviously dependent on the legitimacy of the modalities being used and the expertise of the coaching involved). Closed drills slow everything down and allow the athlete to feel what they are doing and focus specifically on one thing; and, regardless of how naturally gifted each athlete is, there is merit to everyone using closed drills. Professional athletes use closed drills in training and practice every single day.
Adding in open drills is where the real magic happens. It’s where you see those improved skills that you drilled repeatedly come to life, says @T_Cortazzo. Share on X
Video 5. Open drill variations and games that promote curved sprinting actions.
Adding in open drills is where the real magic happens. It’s where you see those improved skills that you drilled repeatedly come to life! Open drills can be both general and sport-specific. We love to use fun, general “Tag”-based games like Sharks & Minnows and Capture the Flag. We also tailor drills to the sport team we are working with. Our football teams play a ton of “Goal-Line Tag,” where an offensive player tries to score a touchdown on a defensive player without getting two-hand touched. Our basketball teams use open drills involving playing offense or defense around the 3-point arc. We have a wide variety of variations that emphasize larger radii or smaller radii curved sprinting.
Final Thoughts
Curved sprinting is an absolute must for reducing the risk of injury in healthy athletes and for return to play purposes with previously-injured athletes. The forces and stress of sprinting and changing direction can only be created by sprinting and changing direction. The same rules apply for curved sprinting. Return to play situations should be programmed with the exact same progression discussed in this article: start with low intensities and low volumes by adding various curves into the warm-up. Then, progress to longer distances, faster velocities, higher intensities, and higher volumes.
Finding a way to test for improvement is also an absolute must. There really is no perfect way to test progress for curved sprinting, simply because there are so many variations that are possible. And, like all testing, the question becomes whether the athlete is getting better at the test or are they improving an attribute? It’s perfectly fine to come up with your own creative test regarding curved sprinting, just make sure it’s repeatable. I like the idea of using timing gates and sprinting one of the painted curved lines on the field/court: it’s easy to recreate without having to perfectly measure out radius, angles, distance, and so on.
Make sure to check out the videos above to see how we utilize curved sprinting in our programs! If you are looking for more information regarding curved cprinting or anything else related to Athletic Performance, please give me a follow on social media @T_Cortazzo or send me an email timcortazzo@gmail.com. You can also join my newsletter at the link here—I talk about simple, practical, applicable ways to help your athletes run faster, jump higher, and get stronger. Would love to see you there.
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