Speed Report – Doing What’s Best for In-Season Speed Training

Playing football is not kind to football speed during the season. While off-season work must focus on mechanical execution and coming into camp running fast, as was covered in our article last month, speed maintenance is the focus for in-season speed training.

Football is a game that is played the best when each athlete can move aggressively fast. That benchmark should have been established in the summer speed sessions. Once the season begins, the objective is to maintain the speed gains that were accomplished during the pre-season.

Playing football results in contact. Speed relies on efficient muscular contractions. As I’ve pointed out in the past, you don’t take a world-class sprinter to a tackling session to peak his speed. Soft tissue being hammered isn’t the optimal condition for maximizing high twitch fibers to perform well week to week.

Every program should be doing speed work during the season, but many programs don’t. They claim they’re too busy with football. 

Your in-season speed package should be designed to maintain speed while absorbing daily contact. The process should be technical training. The time allowed for speed training will be less than that of the off-season simply because the weeks are crammed with more to do than you can get done. Two days per week is plenty of time for inserting your speed plan week to week. The speeds should be intense and multiplicity involved – not just straight lineal sprints. Remember, your time spent training is fast but, as usual, high recovery and low reps is the prescription. Technique and lighting up the nervous system doesn’t require heavy reps, just high intensity on the reps.  

How does the weight room fit into the picture? 

The weight room, obviously, is a huge part of football. But speed doesn’t come from the square room with thousands of pounds of steel. Running and lifting are two different skill applications which have little in common for developing football speed, yet both are important to overall football development. 

Football coaches and trainers often regard the weight room as the most important source for developing a football player for the rigors of the game. True enough, it does provide important physical requirements to be prepared to perform at a high level. But football programs should provide both speed training and weight training to be properly prepared to play. 

Although power and force are the dominant entities necessary for providing movement, we can’t hang our hat on the fact that power alone will be responsible for speed gain. Running mechanically sound, as I’ve mentioned many times before, is responsible for how well power and force are being distributed. I have a difficult time convincing some people of that fact but it’s the sole control factor for utilizing power effectively. These characteristics should be developed by the time the season begins, and then speed training during the season merely preserves the technical effectiveness. 

What You Should Consider

Football’s tough on speed and retaining good skill applications is most important. How often should you train for speed during the season? No more than two days per week with a day in between sessions. Always do your training at the beginning of practice and never lift then run. The neural system will not adapt well to what it needs if you tire the system before you run. The high twitch system will not respond at the proper level required to gain maximally and therefore you’re merely working but not receiving what’s needed. 

Another component for tapping the nervous system properly is to train light, take off the helmets and shoulder pads before you do your speed work. I’ve been applying this tactic for years. You have to carry the gear around constantly, so technically your players are load training every time they run in uniform. When you remove the gear, the players are able to create greater frequency, which lights up the nervous system in a more quality manner. This provides stimulus that will be very beneficial week in and week out.

Last, but certainly not least, is the progression of training. It’s not advisable to use the same speed drills over and over again – you will lose focus. Mental stimulation is very important for keeping the mind challenged. Athletes should be using visual perception every time they work with speed drills.

If you utilize the same old drills and sprints throughout the year you’ll lose your athletes’ focus. They begin to just go through the motions. I suggest you design a series of speed work that changes every two weeks so you can keep them tuned in and reaching for improvement.   

Summing Up

Starting out, you most likely will have two-a-days or something relative. The first two weeks you should center mostly on foundational training of mechanical execution at moderate speeds. The reasoning is that the legs are going to be tired during this phase and trying to run fast would be counterproductive for initiating quality contractual twitch.

Weight training should not be applied before a speed session, especially leg work. The most excruciating leg work that affects speed work is squats. Be conscious of squats as you design your speed days, since they have the most negative impact on frequency work. Remember, you must run fast to become fast physiologically. Quality always overrides quantity when putting your players through a series of speed training. In-season is different than any other time of the year.

The following drills can be used to maintain speed during the season. These drills have multiple movement patterns and contain an aggressive sprint phased into the course. Mechanical execution is most important during all training.

Uniting Movement and Speed Work Collectively:

Diagram 1 – The small arrows on the laterals indicate the direction the eyes and hips are facing. All sprints and laterals must be at 85 to 90% for short control application. Eyes must remain level on all straight and lateral phases.

Diagram 2 – The weave must be executed at maximum intensity, while leaning left/right slightly through the course. When decelerating, athletes must stay tall over the top of foot strike. Sprint phase must be aggressive but with good mechanical efficiency.

Diagram 3 – Aggressive sprint during first zone, controlled lateral decal for second zone, and intense sprint weave in last zone. Don’t let intense energy destroy mechanical function.

Diagram 4 – This drill is pedal to the metal. Eyes stay level at all times and limb speed is maximal during all transition phases. All plants are short and quick.

Visit my new web site to learn more about football speed training. A member-based organization, the web site includes many resources that you can use to train your athletes - www.speedtrainingforfootball.com.