We’ve entered an era in sports performance where the concept that speed is trainable is not only accepted, but often heavily promoted. The thought process has transitioned from “you’re either fast or you’re not” and “speed can’t be taught” to an entire speed-based industry in and of itself. This is not a hot take, as I’ve personally benefited from a coaching background that is heavily focused on speed training, which I now consider one of my competitive edges. But that’s not the purpose of writing this article; the purpose is to highlight how to do it at a high level.
However, speed training is still administered through the same method as all other training: coaching. Because of this, the challenges lie in the same age-old problems experienced in any coaching scenario: working with large numbers of athletes and having a limited amount of space and/or equipment. I’ve coached in the private sector with one athlete for an hour with $20,000 of equipment, and on the flip side I’ve had 100 athletes on a turf football field in the middle of July with no equipment and 35 athletes in a weight room with a strict 15-minute time limit. It would be very easy to lean into the limitations and abandon speed training altogether, deferring to simpler and more traditional training methods (such as lifting) to check off the box of helping your athletes become better. Put succinctly, I’ll be addressing solutions for:
- Challenges with large numbers.
- Issues with space limitations.
- Problems due to lack of equipment.
Video 1. Here’s a video of my athletes performing a “Banded A-Run to Sprint.” This is a great drill because it only requires 10 yards of space, involves twice the number of athletes at once, and one band only costs $30 (something I’ve written about before).
I’m not suggesting I have a few magic tips that will make speed training with 100 athletes as simple as coaching a one-on-one session—let’s be honest. But what I am saying is that with a mindset shift and a few creative ideas, you can significantly level up your speed training and get even better results for your athletes despite functional limitations. I can summarize this in a simple alliterative phrase: compromises and complexes. Let’s get into the solutions by addressing these challenges.
With a mindset shift and a few creative ideas, you can significantly level up your speed training and get even better results for your athletes despite functional limitations, says @CoachBigToe. Share on XCompromises & Complexes
The first and most foundational concept here is understanding that coaching speed training sessions and working around these limitations is not always going to be ideal. Taking a 100% perfect speed training session and turning it into 75% or even 50% as effective will do significantly more for your athletes—short and long-term—as opposed to the alternative of it being a 0% effective session (not doing it at all). You’ll have to make compromises when programming, structuring, and running your speed training sessions to ensure completion, which is one of the most important variables when getting your athletes faster. With this in mind, let’s get into our first challenge, as well as possible solutions.
1. Speed Training for Large Groups of Athletes
Although not a unique limitation to speed training, one of the keys to effective training sessions with large groups of athletes is to keep everyone moving. This increases athlete engagement, makes the sport coaches happy (if they’re watching), and minimizes the opportunities for athletes to lose focus/become distracted.
This can create a conflict in true speed training, however, because athletes need to be recovered enough (rested between reps) to run fast enough to actually make speed gains (+95% of their fastest speed, which I’ve written about ad nauseam at this point). So, needlessly moving around just for the sake of moving around can potentially defeat the purpose of the session.
The general rule of thumb for this is 1 minute of rest for every 10 yards sprinted. Now, what happens when you’re doing flying 10-yard sprints with a 30-yard build? Three to four minutes rest? And here’s another question: does rest have to be standing around?
Another rule of thumb (to make it a rule of thumb-thumb): rest time per sprint ends up being about the same time as a slow walk back from that distance of sprint. A hard 10-yard sprint and 10 to 15 yards of a controlled deceleration turns into 20 to 25 yards of slow walking back, which ends up being around a minute.
Another rule of thumb: rest time per sprint ends up being about the same time as a slow walk back from that distance of sprint, says @CoachBigToe. Share on X“But Matt, they can still get distracted walking back with their friends.”
You’re absolutely correct, reader. But you can mitigate this by setting the expectation from the beginning: “We’re doing sprints of X yards, decelerate and slowly walk back. However, I’m giving you the responsibility to find the line to focus during your sprint, relax and talk on the way back, and lock back in for the next rep.”
Video 2. Here’s an example of athletes running in “waves.” I had my athletes in lines of five to perform our Flying 10’s.
The next compromise is simply just being creative in trying to incorporate most (if not all) athletes at once. This can be dividing the group into X number of “waves” and having the waves take turns instead of having one athlete run at a time. If you have 20 athletes, divide them into four groups of five. If you have 100 athletes, divide them into 10 groups of 10. If you have 50 athletes and the space, divide them into 25 groups of 2 for “partner races.” That way, once the round is complete and you’re into the flow of the workout, all the athletes are either sprinting or walking back.
Although this does make it a little harder for you as a coach to actually coach—because there are significantly more athletes to watch at once—the output given by the athletes can be significantly increased. You can coach it like this: “Make groups of three. Within your group, find people you want to beat in a race and also talk some trash to. Line up in your groups.” Boom, effort levels just increased by 100%.
Another option is “waterfall starts:” have athletes go one after the other with a one- to two-second delay. This keeps them focused so they know when their turn is and allows you to coach them one at a time. Yes, watching 10 to 30+ athletes basically in a single-file line is a skill. But that’s where the compromise is: fewer athletes allows for more detailed coaching and more athletes limits you to less-detailed coaching. The waterfall start allows for quick feedback for each athlete, so coaching can be as simple as “more knee drive, good rep, stay smooth, big arms, more knee drive, good rep.”
Fewer athletes allows for more detailed coaching and more athletes limits you to less-detailed coaching, says @CoachBigToe. Share on X
Video 3. An example of a “waterfall” start with my athletes performing Banded Bounding. This has athletes go one-by-one down the line.
Last, almost anything can be made into a partner drill. A great example would be a multi-direction agility series with one-steps and crossovers—instead of having 3 groups of 10 with me doing all the pointing, I had all my athletes partner up. One partner is reacting and one partner is pointing. This is actually more beneficial to me as a coach because instead of pointing and organizing the drills, I say: “Let’s get two rounds of six points per partner. I’ll be walking around and coaching.”
This does create a little bit of (controlled) chaos, which isn’t for every coach, but gives you another tool to do better speed training for your athletes.
2. Speed Training with Limited Space
The foundational question you must ask yourself when dealing with limited space is: “How do I maximize not having a lot of space in order to set myself up for success during the times when I will have a lot of space?” The type of speed that requires the most space is top speed, as acceleration and change of direction can be easily done in 10 to 20 yards.
The type of speed that requires the most space is top speed, as acceleration and change of direction can be easily done in 10 to 20 yards, says @CoachBigToe. Share on XFirst, let’s break down what goes into effective top-speed running and whether you need space for it: 1) actually running at top speed—needs space; 2) good top-speed mechanics—does not need space; and 3) the qualities that make someone fast, such as lower body stiffness—does not need space. Only one of the three components of top speed, albeit the most important one, needs space.
Using the dribble series as an example, here’s a great way to groove smooth and upright top speed cycling that only requires 5 to 10 yards of space. Although it doesn’t take forever to learn, it’s boring and there are only so many variations of this you can do. But that’s the compromise: becoming a “dribble warrior” and perfecting those drills during winter might be boring, but it will set you up for significantly more success than starting your top speed technique from ground zero on the first day of spring.
Lower body stiffness is a necessary quality to run a fast top speed, as athletes experience multiple times their body weight in force during ground contacts of around 100 milliseconds. Plyometrics are a fantastic way to develop that quality—building up stiffness of the ankles, knees, and hips requires little space and is a great foundation to ensure your athletes can handle top speed forces when they do get space.
Video 4. Here’s an example of my athletes doing drills in limited space to improve their top speed sprinting. This includes the dribble series and straight leg bounds.
Bonus: fast hip flexors are an underrated piece of good top speed mechanics that can also be developed with zero space.
3. Speed Training with Limited Equipment
I’m extremely excited to add onto my “c” alliteration from above and expand from “compromises and complexes” to “complexes and controlled chaos.” Controlled chaos with complexes can be the answer to limited equipment because it eliminates the bottleneck on training sessions. Instead of long lines forming to use equipment, athletes losing focus, and the flow of the session being disrupted, complexes both utilize equipment and keep all the athletes moving.
The foundational concept of this lesson isn’t a question, but rather a statement: just because you have a thing (equipment) in your training doesn’t mean it has to be the only thing. Equipment doesn’t have to be used by all the athletes all at once, it just has to let the workout be efficient and effective.
Video 5. Here’s an example of a speed complex: a heavy resisted sprint to a medball throw sprint ending with a timed acceleration in timing lasers. Instead of twelve athletes for one piece of equipment if it were to be one exercise at a time, using a complex turned it into four athletes per one piece of equipment.
A complex in speed training is just like super-setting exercises in the weight room: performing one exercise then the next and so on until all the exercises are done once, then going back to the first one. Is this ideal? Sometimes, yes. Complexes can be used for potentiation and higher output when sequencing the exercises in a heavy-medium-light order, where the previous exercise’s feeling makes the next exercise easier. Other times, it’s not ideal. Sometimes athletes need to groove an exercise for three, four, or even five straight reps to receive coaching and feedback, put it into practice, then solidify the improved technique. But again, sometimes speed training requires compromise and won’t always be ideal.
A complex in speed training is just like super-setting exercises in the weight room: performing one exercise then the next and so on until all the exercises are done once, then going back to the first one, says @CoachBigToe. Share on XLet’s say you have 5 sleds and 15 athletes—you could definitely have athletes line up in groups of 3 and take turns, but that involves a lot of standing around. Instead, you could have 5 athletes doing a technique drill on the wall, 5 athletes doing a sled sprint, and 5 athletes racing each other, then everyone rotates to the next exercise.
This is where the controlled chaos comes in: you aren’t going to have as much control and you’ll have to give some autonomy to the athletes to navigate through the complex themselves. However, it’s super easy to set the expectations: “There’s a lot of you (athletes) and only five sleds. We have a wall drill, a sled sprint, and a race. Each group of five will rotate to the next exercise together. I’m going to stand in the middle and watch and coach. Let’s get three rounds in. But if we can’t do this appropriately, we won’t use the nice things (the sleds) and we’ll do something boring instead.” This creates a better speed workout than not using the sleds at all.
You aren’t going to have as much control and you’ll have to give some autonomy to the athletes to navigate through the complex themselves, says @CoachBigToe. Share on XLastly, keep in mind the number of athletes you’ll be consistently working with. For example, I’ve hugely benefited from using a 1080 Sprint in my career. In my previous job at a private facility, I worked with 1 to 12 athletes at a time, where the 1080 Sprint makes a ton of sense. And although I’m sad I don’t have it at my current job at a university, it doesn’t make the most sense in this type of training with 30+ athletes at once. It makes more sense to have equipment that I can get more of (i.e., is cheaper) that can incorporate more athletes at once, like my favorite double-band set up.
Conclusion
Speed training can be done effectively and at a high level regardless of the number of athletes or amount of space and equipment. The only difference is that it won’t always look the same. Solutions for maximizing an hour of training with one athlete are significantly different than with 100 athletes, although the same principles still apply.
If I had to summarize working around the common challenges in speed training, it would be simple answers to this question: “How do I compromise to help me maximize the current situation (a lot of athletes, limited space/equipment) to move the needle towards helping my athletes get faster?” Be creative! Get more athletes involved and moving at once and incorporate technology as a piece of the puzzle instead of the whole puzzle itself.
