Best Linear Speed Drills for Superior Speed [Pt. 2]

Progression is key when it comes to building speed. There is no single linear speed drill or exercise that will serve as a magic pill. In order to really build elite speed, you have to look at your entire sprint, and carefully select drills that build certain motor patterns involved in the sprint.

Today, I want to share 3 more of theย best linear speed drills that will help you progress your motor patterns in your sprint.ย  These drills are insanely simple, which may cause many short-attention-span athletes to overlook them. However, if you use them regularly, you’ll notice your top speed mechanics begin to sharpen.

3 Best Linear Speed Drills

The linear speed drills I’m about to share with you are a progression. That means they build upon each other to instill particular motor patterns.

In this case, we’re improving the rate at which an athlete recovers from a stride and gets into triple-flexion. If we can achieve this goal, this will improve the athlete’s top speed mechanics, and allow them to maintain high speeds without sabotaging themselves.

Many athletes who are slow to get into triple-flexion end up slowing themselves down. They lose stability and fluidity in their sprint. And of course, this adds seconds to the clock, whether they’re running a 40 or a 60 yard dash.

With these 3 linear speed drills, you’re progressing through a series of motor patterns to get them to stick.


High Knee Run

The first linear speed drill is the standard high knee.

I’m looking for the athlete to be able to flex the hip rapidly while keeping the ankle cocked in dorsiflexion. Again, this focused on hip flexion to build an athlete’s ability to pop the thigh.

Butt Kick Run

The next one is a butt kick.

There are a few things I’m looking for here. The first is, I want to make sure that ankle stays cocked. Again, many athletes lose the dorsiflexion in their ankle and this results in bad sprinting habits that drain your speed.

The second thing I’m looking for is the athlete to smash their hamstring with their calf. This will raise the thigh up towards their hip, but not quite raise it to hip level.

There’s a good reason for this…

If your knee stays vertical, or perpendicular to the ground, during the butt kick run, this promotes poor running mechanics. When you smash your hamstring with your calf, you raise the thigh slightly, which allows you to work on knee flexion.

Again, this plays a big role in getting the athlete to get into triple flexion rapidly.

High Knee/Butt Kick Run

After I’ve raised the threshold on the previous two drills, I introduce the high knee/butt kick run.

The high knee/butt kick run combines the hip flexion aspect of the high knee run with the knee flexion aspect of the butt kick run.

You should raise the knee to hip level while simultaneously smashing the hamstring with the calf. Be sure to maintain dorsiflexion as well.

Make These 3 Linear Speed Drills Work For You

Integration is the final piece of getting these linear speed drills to work for you.

You’ve spent time building the proper motor patterns, rapid-firing into triple-flexion. The only piece left is to put these drills together into a full on sprint.

And that’s the goal with these 3 linear speed drills.

You want to isolate the proper motor patterns and introduce them to your body individually. Then, you want to raise the threshold of them. Finally you want to integrate them into a full on sprint, so your body gets a chance to use those elevated motor patterns.

That’s the method behind the madness here, as well as the method highlighted in Athletic Speed System.

Athletic Speed System was built upon the isolate, elevate, and integrate method, as well as the 3 pillars of speed mechanics. These 3 pillars are based on aspects of speed that the fastest guys have in common.

And I share exactly how to build these pillars inside of Athletic Speed System.

If you want to read more about it, hit the link below:

Click Here to Elevate Your Speed in 30 Days or Less

 

 

 

 

 


overtimeathletes
overtimeathletes

The best sports performance training on the internet. We help underdogs become elite level athletes.