Thread: How do I get faster?

Fly to Vegas, find LAM and slap him in the face and call him a Pu$$y. Trust me, you'll soon learn to run very very fast.

It's amazing what you're capable of when your life depends on it.

Seriously though, if you have access to a programable treadmill you might consider setting it up to cycle through a jog/sprint exercise. I usually set mine up to Sprint for 2 minutes and jog for 5 (you can set your actual speeds to fit your ability). I'll run this cycle for 35 minutes (5 cycles) and then do a 20 minute cool-down.

I'm not really a sprinter by nature, I just do this to improve my 2-mile run time for the army and also for the intense calorie burn.

Good luck.

Oh..... I almost forgot. Stretching is a must. Groin Stretch, Calve Stretch, Hurdle Stretch, etc. Failure to properly stretch can be catastrophic when pushing yourself in sprints.

Originally Posted by Witmaster

Fly to Vegas, find LAM and slap him in the face and call him a Pu$$y. Trust me, you'll soon learn to run very very fast.

It's amazing what you're capable of when your life depends on it.

Seriously though, if you have access to a programable treadmill you might consider setting it up to cycle through a job/sprint exercise. I usually set mine up to Sprint for 2 minutes and jog for 5 (you can set your actual speeds to fit your ability). I'll run this cycle for 35 minutes (5 cycles) and then do a 20 minute cool-down.

I'm not really a sprinter by nature, I just do this to improve my 2-mile run time for the army and also for the intense calorie burn.

Good luck.

Oh..... I almost forgot. Stretching is a must. Groin Stretch, Calve Stretch, Hurdle Stretch, etc. Failure to properly stretch can be catastrophic when pushing yourself in sprints.

So there arent any machines that help?

Originally Posted by Witmaster

Fly to Vegas, find LAM and slap him in the face and call him a Pu$$y. Trust me, you'll soon learn to run very very fast.

I did that, and now i hold the World record in the 100 meter dash. He beat me down with his massive upper muscle though.

Well sure, Strength training is always good but frankly if you want to improved your run speed, you need to run.

You can do squats, Dead Lifts, Leg Presses, to increase your overall leg strength and endurance but the bottom line is, you need to put your feet on the ground and haul some ass to improve your speed.

I do work my legs routinely to increase strength and size but not just for running. My lifestyle involves carrying a heavy load for considerable distances on foot so endurance is a MUST in my life.

Like I said, I'm no sprinter. I'll defer to the experts. These suggestions are merely what has worked for me in the past. IMO though, machines won't increase your speed as effeciently as executing the actual sprint on a routine basis.

You need to work on


1)Sprinting form-I will guarantee you are off by at least a bit on this and this can mean a world of difference time-wise. Form runs and tempo runs are good, but work on form sprints before tempo. The basic jyst of this is to start with good form going very slow and gradually getting correct form at faster speeds.

2)Explosiveness-Explosive lifts and plyos

3)Limit Strength-Work on deep squats and such.

Go to the hardware store and buy some wooden paint mixing sticks. Lay the sticks on the ground like rungs on a ladder. Lay the 1st 3 sticks at 18 inch intervals, then increase the distance by 4 inches with every subsequent pair of sticks (there should be 22 inches between sticks 3-4 and 4-5, 26 inches between sticks 5-6 and 6-7, and so on.) Thirty one sticks will take you out past 38 yards and the final two strides will be more than 6 feet apart.

Start where the sticks are close together. In a 90-100% sprint, step in between the sticks, keeping your knees high, with your toes landing right before each stick. Throughout the sprint, you'll go from short quick steps, to long driving strides. Do 4-6 sets of sprints with complete recovery in between. If you can increase your stride length by 2 inches, you will increase your stride by 40 inches over a 40 yd dash. That's the difference between a 4.6 and a 4.4 second, 40 yd dash.

Remember to always pump your elbows when sprinting ... bend your elbows at 90 desgrees and pump them hard. The faster your elbows move, the faster you will run.

I've heard of that being a good w/o as well. I would also suggest plyos and lots of running. Suicides are always good, I hear. (You know, foul line to the free throw and back, then to 3 point line and back, etc.) The adductor muscles (inner thigh) can be worked either by a specific machine (the one you watch the hot chicks use) or dumbbell sumo squats also are good. (One heavy DB on the floor, wide stance, squat, grab, lift, lower, repeat.)

I have no idea how that will help your speed, or if any of these things work really well. I hate running. I don't even run in from the car when it's raining.

To train to be fast, you must move as fast as possible. This would mean you don't want to use weight training to do anything but gain strength, whereas to become fast you must perform moves specifically to what you hope to achieve. Specific means exact; not similar.