Increasing Speed

AGREE WITH bILL 100%. I HAVE ALWAYS WENT ON A SIMPLE FACT THAT "SPEED" IS DICTATED BY STRIDE LENGTH AND STRIDE FREQUENCY. ANYTHING I COULD GET MY GUYS TO DO IN THE WEIGHT ROOM, LEARN FROM A GOOD TRACK COACH, ETC. TO ENHANCE THIS FACT IS WHAT I PROMOTED TEAM-WISE. BUT, THE GENE FACTOR IS PROBABLY THE MOST DOMINANT FACTOR OF THEM ALL.

Coach Easton

You can't ever take a 6'4 290 lb Offensive Guard that NEVER broke 5.0 in the 40, & teach him to beat a 180 lb. RB that runs 4.31! If you can come even CLOSE to pulling that one off - you will be a MULTI-MILLIONAIRE instantly!

I worked off-season speed training on 3 levels going back to 1961. You SEE some improvement in 40 times thru weight training, form running, "plyos", etc., etc, but you cannot improve on nature to any degree of significance! The ABILITY to DO THAT was already present!

Check out the Training Manual by Dan Riley - it is MUST reading.

Lou - you know that James Farrior (Steelers LBer) & Darren Perry (ex-Steeler player & current Steeler Asst Coach) played for me. They once told me that their 40 times had not imroved since early in their college careers. Another good example is D'Angelo Hall (DB for the Falcons). He played at Deep Creek HS shortly after I retired there. He ran essentially the same times there that he ran at Va Tech, & in the NFL - he is one of the 2-3 fastest individuals in the NFL (in the 4.2's).

One of the schools I now help had a bunch of kids electronicaly timed at the U Va. Camp this Summer. One ran a 4.31/40, & that was the same he ran there 2 summers back (goes to speed camps each summer).

ALL of us have the programs in place to improve speed. As you know - what you REALLY improve on is teaching the kids to properly use what they were BORN WITH!

I used to visit with Dan Riley when he was in Washingtom (1980's & 1990's). He is one of the best ever. Quote on page 39 in his Conditioning Manual: "Speed & quickness are abilities you inherit from your genetic pool".

PS: Hope you had a good season, Lou! Enjoyed working with you in W. Va. this Summer.

DO NOT KNOW IF ANY RESEARCH HAS BEEN DONE ON THIS ASPECT OF SPEED, BUT HAVE ENTERTAINED THIS THOUGHT FOR A LONG TIME: GENETICS DICTATE MUSCLATURE STRUCTER,IE. BIG TRAPS NATURALLY, BIG GLUTES NATURALLY, ETC. AND WE ALL KNOW THAT THESE CAN BE ENHANCED BY WEIGHT TRAINING JUST AS SPEED CAN BE SOMEWHAT IMPROVED BY TRAINING AND USE OF ALL THE VARIOUS METHODS AVAILABLE FOR ACCOMPLISHING THAT.

But have often wondered if there are different TYPES of muscle tissue in the human being. I once had a Bilogy Professor tell me that if human beings had the type of muscle tissue that the lowly grass hopper has in it's legs, that we could, literally, jump to the moon! Why do some have a vertical of 40 + inches, while others struggle to hit 30? It seems to me that what you inherit genetically certainly is the overpowering reason for this. This would make a good topic for a Senior Thesis wouldn't it?

Coach Easton

I agree that you can be a better raw athlete than someone else, but not be a better fb player. But if you take a good football player and make him quicker, stronger, and faster, he will be able to perform at a higher level than before.
Blocking, tackling, dodging, chasing, etc all can be made easier by being faster and stronger. Enhance the genetics as much as possible and those fundamentals will improve, in my opinion. Your best players are the ones who make plays, no matter how fast they can run. But I think you can make your play makers even better by enhancing their physical abilities.
As a side note, the freakiest athlete I have ever been around as an athlete or coach was a player I wish I had never put on the field, and this kid actually liked football (is currently playing in college). He had no toughness or understanding of the game.

Article about one of my former players:

Sweat Spot: James Farrior
By Carrie Stewart
ESPN Magazine

Editor's note: For most athletes, working out is just part of the program. Lifting weights, sprints, batting practice. They know the drill. But for the top athlete working out is more than just a routine. It's a way of life and they do just about anything to push their bodies to the next level. Sweat is regular feature in ESPN Magazine and on ESPN.com that takes a look at the players who know no limits when it comes to sweating it out.

James Farrior races down a football field at Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. Normally a blur at 6-foot-2, 243 pounds, Farrior feels slow today, with good reason. Trailing five feet behind him is a black-and-lime parachute. After 40 yards, the Steelers linebacker comes to an abrupt halt, the chute collapses and Farrior is asked what his time is.

He scoffs, "About a 4 ... ever."

For nine years, the 31-year-old Farrior has used the "power chute" to help maintain the 4.58 40 speed that helped make him an All-Pro the past two seasons. Attached to a harness around his waist, the chute is tossed in the air by trainer Tom Shaw when Farrior takes off.

"The resistance makes you stronger, which increases stride length," says Shaw, who's been training athletes with the power chute for 12 years.

Farrior's stride length is up to 6¼ feet -- near that of an Olympic sprinter -- which could be the difference between running down Rudi Johnson or watching the Bengals' bowling ball roll right by.

"Without the harness on," says Farrior, who led the Steelers with 121 tackles in 2005, "I feel lighter and faster."

Just Rudi's luck.

I'm sorry Coach Mountjoy but after reading your first response I jetted STRAIGHT down to the bottom (only SKIMMING the other comments and posts) to right a wrong here.
It is a VERY simple thing to increase a football player's speed. The late great Coach Easton is correct stride length and stride frequency are the key factors. Every good speed coach knows this. Which should answer your question wouldn't people have gotten filthy rich off of a speed program, yes coach they have, even the ones that don't really increase speed by much have made a good amount of money. Genetics means very little if you have the right tools and training techniques available to the athlete.
On AVERAGE a good speed program that (emphasizing straight line speed alone) is implemented on a SKILL POSITION player, can drop his 40 time by 4 to 6 tenths of a second! And for those of us that don't have all the fancy equipment and techniques (but are blessed with good geography and the internet) there are most definitely answers to improving a players speed. And they are simple answers no less.

Proper weight training will increase speed because you need some explosive power to generate good speed. This applies to everything, even having stronger and thus heavier arms can translate to better speed because you're arms swing harder and faster increasing your stride frequency.

Running in sand increases hip and leg strength (helpful)

Correcting running mechanics (not as simple as you think) greatly increases the ABILITY of a person to run faster

Running UP a hill (as the James Farrior article pointed out) increases stride length. Running up a hill is the EXACT SAME THING as running with a sled or parachute. Resistance running causes the athletes legs to stretch further thus increasing stride length which is essentially how far the athletes feet REACH to touch down on the ground. This is where the phrase to "run like a deer" comes from. You'll generally see great stride length in taller, lankier runners (due to their longer legs)

Running DOWN hill increases stride frequency. This is the same thing as running with an overspeed chord which PULLS the athlete at a faster pace than his body is capable of running. Overtime this causes the athletes muscles to fire off at a much faster rate. Once this becomes instinct for the body his stride FREQUENCY (basically how many times his feet hit the ground) will increase. You generally see great stride frequency in shorter more robust runners.

These are the BASIC factors that can help increase speed. But be very WARY because knowing how to and putting someone on a program are two very different things. Speed work is LIGHT and NEVER difficult and should never be done more than twice a week. Reason being is if an athlete is tired or fatigued his running mechanics will break down and his body will be hard wired to literally sprint incorrectly. This is why coaches and athletes who think running the 40 over and over again to the point of being out of breath generally never EVER get faster.

For any other questions about football speed, speed training, and how to get faster, and more agile, email me at adsports@live.com.

I know people out there want answers about speed and don't want to believe in the whole "speed can't be taught" and "it's all in the genes" can of bull. Those who want to believe I am here to tell you, there are answers out there, and I have just been lucky to pick up a TON of the ones regarding speed along the way.

I'm sorry but when you work with kids and they drop from 5 flat to 4.4 or 4.5 that's just not genetics. Genetics is the wall you hit, not how smart you work on top of how hard you work to become FOOTBALL fast.

- Coach J

One of my former players:

ESPN.com: NFL

Wednesday, June 7, 2006
Updated: June 8, 3:23 PM ET
Sweat Spot: James Farrior
By Carrie Stewart
ESPN Magazine

Editor's note: For most athletes, working out is just part of the program. Lifting weights, sprints, batting practice. They know the drill. But for the top athlete working out is more than just a routine. It's a way of life and they do just about anything to push their bodies to the next level. Sweat is regular feature in ESPN Magazine and on ESPN.com that takes a look at the players who know no limits when it comes to sweating it out.

James Farrior races down a football field at Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. Normally a blur at 6-foot-2, 243 pounds, Farrior feels slow today, with good reason. Trailing five feet behind him is a black-and-lime parachute. After 40 yards, the Steelers linebacker comes to an abrupt halt, the chute collapses and Farrior is asked what his time is.

James Farrior
James Farrior sprints with his parachute.

He scoffs, "About a 4 ... ever."

For nine years, the 31-year-old Farrior has used the "power chute" to help maintain the 4.58 40 speed that helped make him an All-Pro the past two seasons. Attached to a harness around his waist, the chute is tossed in the air by trainer Tom Shaw when Farrior takes off.

"The resistance makes you stronger, which increases stride length," says Shaw, who's been training athletes with the power chute for 12 years.

Farrior's stride length is up to 6¼ feet -- near that of an Olympic sprinter -- which could be the difference between running down Rudi Johnson or watching the Bengals' bowling ball roll right by.

"Without the harness on," says Farrior, who led the Steelers with 121 tackles in 2005, "I feel lighter and faster."

Just Rudi's luck.

Sweat also appears in ESPN The Magazine.