Progression of Linear Speed Drills for Athletic Speed

I’ve created two posts (here, and here) about linear speed drills and their progressions over the past couple of weeks. This will be the third.

If you don’t know already, in order to developย serious,ย elite speed, you need progressions. Linear speed progressions lower the barrier to entry of speed training because you can start simple. As you begin to master a certain drill, you can move on to more advanced drills that work different components of a sprint.

It’s that easy.

However, it takes a trained eye to compile linear speed drills into progressions in a way that give you results.

That’s where I come in.

In this post, I’m going to share four more linear speed drills that fit into a progression. I’ll share them from the most basic to the most advanced.

Also, it’s important to know that you probably won’t be able to perform all of these drills out of the gate. Some guys take 2-3 years before they can perform certain drills efficiently. But, that’s why I share progressions. So that you can master basic components of a sprint before you move on to more intricate mechanics work.

But, do what you can.

And if you’re struggling with a certain drill, sideline it. Master the basics first. Then come back to it. You’ll thank me later.

Let’s jump into four more linear speed drills for athletic speed:

Working Backside Mechanics/Recovery Phase

These four drills are working on backside mechanics, and more specifically, the recovery phase of a sprint. If you don’t remember, backside mechanics take place on the backside of the body. The recovery phase of a sprint occurs after ground contact and is initiated by the big toe and dorsiflexion of the ankle.

Recovery phase is the phase in which the sprinter gets into triple flexion and punches the knee up into drive phase.

The series of linear speed drills here are designed to work the recovery phase, so you can get into triple flexion faster, and punch the knee a lot higher. This way, you’re a little more in frontside, which will allow you to produce more power and speed.

Single Leg High Knee

The first drill in the linear speed progression is the single leg high knee.

This drill helps the athlete quickly recover from ground contact and get into triple flexion. If you don’t know, triple flexion is flexion of the hip, knee, and ankle.

Here, we’re rehearsing that pattern over and over again to avoid the long swooping motion in the backside that slows most athletes down.

Single Leg Cycling

The next progression after the single leg high knee is single leg cycling.

This drill is similar to the single leg high knee, but as you punch the knee to the highest level, you release the lower limb. As you may know, once the lower limb starts to extend, the popping of the thigh stops.

Athletes who release the lower limb too early don’t get into triple flexion and literally slow themselves down by making ground contact too quickly.

Learning to release the lower limb properly also prevents injuries to the hamstring.

This said, single leg cycling mimics the sound components of the spring that occur from recovery phase to drive phase.

Step Over Run/Dead Leg Run

To get a little more aggressive with ingraining this motor pattern, you can pick one of two movements to progress.

The first is a step over run. This movement may look like a regular run, but it’s actually more of a motor pattern rehearsal.

Alternatively, you can perform a dead leg run. This keeps the drill on one side so you can continue to focus on the cycle motion.

Whichever you pick, all we’re doing here is adding a horizontal force component to the linear speed drills earlier in the progression.

Single Leg Bounding

Single Leg Bounding is a highly advanced drill that I usually only use with my top athletes. But, I love it.

Reason is you’re cycling with the leg and performing bounds all the way down your sprint terrain. This exposes you to high amounts of both horizontal AND vertical force.

In other words, this movement forces you to maintain proper sprinting mechanics while being exposed to higher than normal amounts of force. This is because you don’t have the dead leg holding you up vertically. So, you have to propel yourself down the field horizontally, while also fighting gravity, all while maintaining that cycling motion of the leg.

It’s the last and most aggressive progression for working the recovery phase into the drive phase.

Try these out.

Just know, before I prescribe these, I like to analyze where the athlete is at. Sometimes I can have a guy come in with elite mechanics, who’s strong and also has good relative force.

Other times it can take 2-3 years before I can use some drills with them.

You just have to understand that speed is a progression, and in order to build it,ย you have to lay a foundation.

And you can find how to build a foundation that will help you build elite sprinting mechanics inside of Athletic Speed System.

Athletic Speed System is my newest, most up to date speed training program.

And it contains all the progressions you need to quickly develop athletic speed.

I’m so confident that Athletic Speed System will work for you that I offer a Faster in 30 Days Guarantee. That means, if you don’t get faster in less than 30 days of performing the program exactly how it’s laid out, you can just shoot me an email and I’ll refund your money with a smile. Plus, I’ll point you in a direction that will help you achieve your goals.

To grab your copy, or read more about it head over to the link below:

Click Here to Advance Your Speed

 

 

 

 


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