Run Fast to Run Fast....Wait, What?

Ask any number of field or court-sport athletes (think football, soccer, rugby, basketball, baseball, etc) if being faster would be valuable to their success in their chosen sport code, and I’m confident that not a single one would answer you with a “no”. However, the baby who continually turns down 50% more cash from Capital One, that may be an entirely different story (her parents must be so proud).  Now ask that same group of athletes to provide you with the best method for attaining that sought after speed, and the answers are likely to be much less homogenous.

The one commonality between the answers you received would almost assuredly be the inclusion of some sort of speed training gadget or tool.  From parachutes, to weighted vests,to giant bungee cords, to elaborate banding systems, tools designed to make humans run faster have become one of the hottest training commodities out there; and athletes have been more than happy to indulge in their use.  This borderline fanaticism over these products appears to be justified, as multiple research studies have found the use of these often pricey training aids to be capable of enhancing running speed. 

(My personal favorite option for improving an athlete's speed)

So what about those athletes who are not fortunate enough to have the means to purchase one of these tools on their own, finance a membership at a speed training facility, or attend a school or university who sees value in strength and conditioning and provides funding to a well rounded sport conditioning program?  Are they simply doomed to a life of mediocre speed development? In short, no way Jose.

(Jose.....Yeah, he wasn't what I expected either)

While it may be true that the use of many of these training aids has shown to be effective in improving speed, another very interesting finding was recently reported last year as a part of a literature review published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning.  What was this finding you ask?  Well, it appears as though one incredibly cheap alternative consistently matches or exceeds the results attained through the speed training aids.  This alternative, it’s commonly called a piece of flat ground.

 

No need to reread the previous sentence; it was not a figment of your imagination. Simply going out and sprinting has been found (on multiple occasions) to be equally capable of improving sprint performance when compared to the use of training aids such as parachutes, resistance bands and the like.  To be fair, one study examined within the review, which included works spanning from 1970 – 2010, did find some evidence that resisted sled pushes improved initial acceleration beyond that of a sprint only group.  So if you do have some extra cash burning a hole in your pocket and you also harbor aspirations of becoming a faster human, a weighted sled would be the supplemental aid that I would invest in.  Beyond that, it appears as though there is no vastly superior substitute to finding some open space and running fast.