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The 4.4 40

Blog| ByChris Korfist

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Hand-Time with Stopwatch

“Facts are stubborn, but statistics are more pliable.” – Mark Twain

“There are lies, damned lies, and statistics.” – Mark Twain

“Cognitive psychology tells us that the unaided human mind is vulnerable to many fallacies and illusions because of its reliance on its memory for vivid anecdotes rather than systematic statistics.” – Steven Pinker

It is getting close to camp time, which means coaches get out their stopwatches and time 40s. I am always amazed at what I hear. High school athletes strut around and claim 4.4s or 4.5s like they are an everyday occurrence. But these are 15- and 16-year-old adolescents. More often than not— in fact almost all of the time—the math doesn’t seem to add up.

The athlete with a 24-inch vertical jump doesn’t run a 4.4. A 55m sprinter who runs a 6.9 FAT doesn’t run a 4.4. An 11.5 100m dash does not equate to a 4.4. It is mathematically impossible for an athlete to run that time and still get a 4.4. Yet that is what I hear. I think that track is catching on with college recruiters because it is easy to see who truly is fast. Timers don’t lie. Electronic timers provide facts. A 4.4 is a statistic or other things according to Mark Twain, who ran 4.47 in Clinton, Iowa, in 1871. A 4.4 is an illusion for most. So let’s look at this magical number more closely.

How the 40 is being timed is the first question that needs to be asked. The only measure that makes sense to me is a true electronic-to-electronic timer. Athletes start the clock when their hand comes off a touchpad, and stopit when their bodies break an electronic barrier of some sort. That is the most exact method I can think of (such as Freelap timers).

Even the NFL combine is slightly off. Scouts sitting near the finish line manually start each player. To my knowledge, there is no research on the time difference between purely electronic and combine style. In track, the conversion between FAT and handheld in a 55mm dash is .24 seconds. From that point, it is the Wild West.

Two different papers in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning found that hand timing is significantly faster than electronic timing. In both papers, the researchers claim that the handheld timers were experienced. I am guessing that means they practice with electronic timers to see how close they get to its results. In the 2010 paper, the differences between the timers ranged from .14 to .19. The result was a difference between .22 and .31 between pure electronic and hand-held (personally, I range from .24 to .3 with the Freelap). That is a substantial difference in a world that lives in the hundredths. Now, throw in high school coaches using their thumbs to stop the watch or their cell phones, and numbers can be crazy and incredibly inaccurate. And how many of those coaches have not timed a 40 since the previous summer? I can see 4.4 in this scenario.

The next variables are shoes and surfaces. There are huge differences in time when these are added. When we run fly 10s, the range when athletes wear spikes or flats is from .03 to .06. My faster runners have bigger differences. Stretch that out 20 more yards and those hundredths start to add up. This does not take into account the start, when athletes need the most traction. I have no numbers for this because everyone always seems to remember to bring spikes on start days.

Surfaces make a huge difference too. A hot, hard track is always faster than poorly groomed turf, a basketball court, or the parking lot. Training shoes don’t do so well on a basketball floor.

What brings me to this rant is the fact that most high school athletes think they should be running incredible times. But their numbers don’t match reality. I have an NFL player who plays slot, gunner, and anti-gunner. He has run 4.47 and 4.48 for three NFL teams. His current team told him that he is their 3rd fastest. He ran 40s on an old track in 4.71 on the Freelap. (His Nike Frees are about the worst shoe you can run in. They tip your foot forward and cause your forefoot to jam into the ground, hence becoming a brake.) At the same time, same practice, my best sprinter (10.83 FAT) ran a 4.51 40 in spikes. Is one faster than the other? They are close, but on this day, with different shoes, they were different.

Now the dose of reality. These are positional averages for NFL combines from 2007 to 2012, thanks to Wikipedia. Remember, being the best in each position usually has some correlation with speed.

Table 1. Positional averages for NFL combines from 2007 to 2012. Source Wikipedia.
Position Time
Wide receiver 4.55
Cornerback 4.55
Running back 4.59
Safety 4.62
Outside Linebacker 4.74
Tight End 4.77
Fullback 4.80
Inside Linebacker 4.80
Quarterback 4.87
Defensive End 4.88
Defensive Tackle 5.13
Offensive Center 5.30
Offensive Tackle 5.32
Offensive Guard 5.36

 

These are hand-started, beam-finished averages. That means for each WR who runs a 4.4, another runs a 4.7. And your fastest guys rarely weigh more than 190 pounds. So, if you’re a running back or wide receiver with a 4.4, welcome to the top of the class!

What are some good markers for HS athletes? My base workout distance is 10m. I like meters because athletes focus too much on trying to convert to a 40 time rather than on finding top speed. Anything under 1.0 in the fly 10 is really good for a high school athlete. My best HS athlete’s time was .95. If they are slightly over 1.0, they can still run a 4.4/4.5. The start is a huge component. In fact, most NFL 4.4s have great starts but never stand up for top-end speed. Your sub-4.4s are the ones who can transfer from acceleration to top-end speed.

Our starts are in yards. Guys who end up running decent times can go under 3 seconds electronically in the 20yd and 4 seconds in the 30yd. Those are realistic marks for good high school athletes. Any high school athlete under 5.0 in a 40 electronic is fast.

Now, this is all only relevant if you are truly interested in seeing your players get faster and checking if your program is making athletes faster. You don’t have to share these times with the college recruiters. Let them figure it out on their own, or subtract 0.3 from their best Freelap 40.

Since you’re here…
…we have a small favor to ask. More people are reading SimpliFaster than ever, and each week we bring you compelling content from coaches, sport scientists, and physiotherapists who are devoted to building better athletes. Please take a moment to share the articles on social media, engage the authors with questions and comments below, and link to articles when appropriate if you have a blog or participate on forums of related topics. — SF

 

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Chris Korfist

Chris Korfist has been a high school coach in track and football for almost 30 years, with more than 80 All-State athletes. He has also been a strength coach at the college and high school levels, working with many sports. Korfist owns a private facility called Slow Guy Speed School that helps develop athletes ranging from World Champion to middle school. He has consulted with professional sports teams all over the world, including the NFL, MLB, NBA, and Rugby League.

Korfist has published research on sprint training and is an advisor for Auckland University of Technology’s SPRINZ. Additionally, he co-owns Track Football Consortium (@TFConsortium), is co-founder of Reflexive Performance Reset, and has discussed training in countless blogs and podcasts.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Terry

    March 9, 2017 at 9:35 am

    I have a freelap system that I use for my son I am a former post college sprinter that believes that you have to have real time see if you are improving during your training process. my son seams disappointed with his times using the freelap. based on what he reads on times other kids are supposal dropping I cant find any posts on what others are running using the freelap system.

    16 years old will be 17 in a week
    5′ 10″
    158 pounds

    10 yard start with touch pad 3 point start
    1.68 best time
    10 meter block start with touch pad
    1.81
    15 meter 3 point start
    2.48
    flying 20 yards
    2.00
    flying 20 meters
    2.20
    3.31 flying 30 meters ( after doing other fly work )
    40 yards 3 point start with touch pad
    always measure out the pods to 80 cm or 31.50 inch’s beyond the finish line

    any suggestions would be helpful

    Reply
  2. Bryan Mann

    March 19, 2017 at 7:30 pm

    Chris,

    I think you’re talking about one of my papers where we referred to experienced timers, I’m guessing based off of the spreads and the verbiage since there were no references. What that means is that I and two other people had experience hand timing athletes for years. 16 years in fact when we collected that data. We didn’t sit around and time against electric timers. I don’t have enough spare time to see my daughter let alone do something like that.

    Reply
    • Phil Campbell

      January 2, 2020 at 4:44 pm

      Good article. Good standards. I’ve had 18,000 athletes for a two-day speed technique camp over the last 30 years focusing on the 20. I’ve probably had 250 who have told me they ran a 4.3, 4.4. I’ve seen around 10 legitimate 4.3s in 30 years. I’ve only seen two under 4.3, and I have to see it two and three times before I believe it, Ricardo Lockette and Jabari Geer. Edelman was close.
      I like the standards, but there are two kinds of QBs today. Pocket passing 5.0 guys and running QBs 4.6 to 4.8. Peyton Manning or Tom Brady would never pass the 4.8 test and may struggle for a 5.2, but these two did pretty well in the NFL.

      Reply
      • Brandon

        September 14, 2020 at 1:47 am

        I just turned 17 went to a combine for football and ran a 4.55 and never ran track and never been taught properly how to start I used a 4point stance and the field was soft from the rain what pointers can you give me? I am rank #1 wide receiver in the state of West Virginia my name is Brandon Wiley

        Reply

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