Speed Exercises
There are many great speed exercises you can do to help you run faster. Speed training exercises are essential for anyone looking to improve their speed as speed training requires a very specific set of exercises. You always want to properly warm up before doing any speed exercises. Start with a light 10-15 minute jog to get your muscles warm and then also do some stretching exercises as well.
Speed Training Exercises
Lunges - To do a lunge start with your feet a little less than shoulder width apart and take a long step forward with one of your legs. Slowly lower your body weight down and then push off your extend leg and return to standing position. Now repeat with the opposite leg. Do about 3 sets of 10 reps.
Jump Squat - the jump squat is similar to a regular squat except that you should use considerably less weight and the form is also different. Begin like you would with a regular squat but when you start to bring the weight back up you want to jump up instead of just standing up. This is a great speed exercise to do to increase your explosiveness.
Box Jumps - stand on a box that is around 2-3 feet high. Step off the box and as soon as you land on the ground you want to jump up as high as you can. You want to limit the amount of time you are on the ground. So as soon as you touch the ground, jump up.
Sprints - sprints should only be done a couple times a week. You want to do 3-5 sets of 30 yard sprints to help to increase your acceleration. These are one of the best speed training exercises.
Cone Hops - use a 6-12 inch cone and hop from one side of the cone to the other. You want to limit the amount of time you are on the ground so as soon as you touch the ground immediately hop back over the cone.
Parachute Sprinting - this speed exercise will require a speed chute or you can pull a weight as well. Perform short sprints with the parachute connected to your waist.
Bounding - from a standing position jump forward off both feet while swing your arms forward to get more momentum. As soon as you touch the ground jump forward again and continuing for 6-8 jumps.
These are just a few speed training exercises you can perform to help you increase your speed. You speed training should always be varied to help make sure you do not plateau. These speed exercises are a great place to start to help you run faster.
