I've never been in a staff meeting, or on the social medias, and have heard or seen a coach proclaim, "Y'all, I want our team to get SLOWER." But I have witnessed the coaches that want their team to get fastER run ("condition") their team out of speed and into the world of- injured, tired, and slow.

If you're practicing the right way, using: small sided games, 1-on-1's, competition periods, and up-tempo periods then you're already conditioning for your sport as much as needed. The only way to truly get in "game shape" is by playing live games against an opponent.

The Speed Zine: In-Season Speed Training

That's why scrimmages, jamborees, and kickoff classics are so important for high school athletics- they prepare you for when the games count. If you've watched an early season NFL or college football game the players will often pull hamstrings, tear ACL's, and miss a ton of tackles. Why? Because practice just can't prepare you for the mental, physical or psychological pressure of games.

The Schedule

But there's good news- we can continue to train speed in-season and reduce or mitigate some of those pesky injuries that rise up when athletes hit top-end speed, or near it, in games after not having hit those 95%+ intensities all week in practice.

With sports like rugby and American Football that only play one time per week an acceleration day early in the week, and a max velocity day later in the week can provide great benefits to your team's speed.

With sports like soccer and lacrosse that play twice per week, I would find a day approx. -1/+1 (1-2 days removed from a game and 1-2 days prior to a game) to hit max velocity sprinting.

The Science

Caption: Residual Training Effect from Cal Dietz

Keep in mind that Max Velocity sprints can be done quickly and effectively, as long as the athlete has one minute rest per every 10 yards or meters sprinted. An example would be if you're sprinting 30 yards for a Fly10 (20into10) your athlete needs to rest three minutes before their second rep.

Your athletes are NOT getting faster if: 1- they don't get ample rest (1m:10y, walk back and take deep breaths) between reps and 2- if they sprint longer than six seconds per rep.

Also- If you don't plan on hitting max velocity speeds at least one session per week, you're not going to see any improvements and may actually lose speed.

Much like Trust, speed is the slowest quality to gain, and the fastest to lose. You only have a 4-10 day residual training effect from speed training, compared to 30-40 days from strength training.

The Programming

The early week Acceleration session is going to be focused on technique, and winning the first three steps. The plyometrics will be extensive, and the timed sprints will be shorter. I would time Static 10's and 5into10 Fly10's on acceleration days.

For the mid-week Max Velocity session, the plyometrics are intensive, and the speed work is longer and more 'track-based.' Max Velo days use bounds and 20into10 Fly10's as that's the distance for most team sport athletes to hit their top-end speed.

Getting FastER

Everyone says they want their team to be fast and play fast, but are they programming speed properly to get their desired outcome? If you want to program in-season training for your team contact me at justin (dot) dottavio (at) gmail (dot) com

Let's get fastER. Access the Speed Zine: In-Season Sprint Training by clicking here!

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