3 Exercises to Improve Your 40 Yard Dash Time

Last month, I had a football player come to me to help him prep for the combine. He’s a DB, so obviously one of his biggest goals is to improve his 40 yard dash time.

Now, this athlete is big, and freakishly strong. However, his power is nowhere near where it should be for his strength level. And his speed mechanics have never been touched, so they definitely needed some work.

For the past month, I’ve had him in the gym two times a day. One hour is dedicated to developing elastic strength. The other is dedicated to improving the 40 yard dash.

And I want to share 3 exercises/drills I’ve been using with him that can also seriously help you improve your 40 yard dash, if that’s your goal.

The aim of these exercises is to make you more explosive and shave time off your first 10 yards.

Even better, you can perform these exercises and drills multiple times throughout the week to really improve your 40 yard dash time.

Let’s take the plunge:

1. 10 Yard Technique Starts

The area of the 40 yard dash where the most mistakes occur are in the first 10 yards. And this is because there’s so much involved.

There’s the start itself, which is highly technical, and will make or break you. Additionally, the first three steps are vitally important. All in all, the first 10 yards set the tone for the rest of the 40 yard dash.

And that’s why the first 10 yards are the place where I start with any athlete looking to improve their combine events.

This said, 10 Yard Technique starts are a great way to draw attention to the start and steps of the first 10 yards. With these starts, you get a clear look at any weak components of the start and the first three steps. And once you see what’s weak, you can elevate it.

Additionally, I want to share some research that displays the importance of the start:

1. Researchers have found that if you start a sprint with backside dominant mechanics, you can’t correct mid-sprint. You’ll have to finish out that way.
2. After just the first step of a sprint, an elite sprinter is moving 2 mph faster than an average athlete, and with each subsequent step the gap gets larger and larger

These two facts alone should display the importance of getting extremely sharp on your start.

2. Wall Drill

The wall drill emphasizes acceleration mechanics, and it’s a drill I like to perform before technique starts to get the athlete used to accelerating in frontside mechanics.

To perform the wall drill, you’ll extend your arms out right under your nipple line and place them on a wall. Next, you’ll stretch out off the wall. Keep the core tight, and the glutes tight, and pop one thigh above hip width. Then, you’re going to claw at the ground, pulling with the glute, and pop the other thigh up. Repeat this for desired reps.

As I said above, if you pair this with the 40 yard dash, it’ll do wonders to improve your 40 yard dash.

3. Staggered Broad Jump

One of the biggest issues I see among athletes in their 40 yard dash is that they push off of one leg in their start.

Now, common sense tells you that you’d be more explosive, more powerful, and produce more force if you push off of two. So, if I see an athlete making the one legged mistake, I give him staggered broad jumps.

To perform a staggered broad jump, you’ll get your feet where you would for your 40 yard dash start, and perform a broad jump.

It’s that simple.

However, you want to make sure that your heels aren’t lifted off the ground. It’s okay if you have tight ankles and your heels are naturally a little raised, but you don’t want to do it on your own.

If you do it right, this movement will teach you to explode off of two legs out of your start. This will result in a faster first few steps, and overall, a faster 40 yard dash.

Improve Your 40 Yard Dash Time Even More

If you’re serious about improving your 40 yard dash time, or just your overall speed, you might want to check out Athletic Speed System.

Athletic Speed System is my newest, most-up-to-date, speed development system.

It uses a unique Isolate, Elevate, and Integrate method.

Put simply, this method is about identifying the weak components of your sprint, isolating them, raising their function, then reintegrating them for a faster sprint.

It’s that easy.

Plus, you’ll get full plyometric training, strength training, and core training.

It’s the most complete and effective speed system out there, from what I’ve seen.

To read more about it, head over to the link below:

Click Here for More Help with Your 40 Yard Dash and Overall Speed