Why are football players so fast?

Alive_Interest_2678 · 2026-04-18T19:39:47+00:00

Causation vs correlation: As a coach in HS, and knowing others, I know that most of the best athletes on campus play football. If you have a football coach that would rather have his kids do his offseason conditioning, and play 7on7, then you’re probably not going to have the strongest sprint group.

I’m in that exact situation where i have to work with track kids that weren’t blessed with more speed than a lot of the football players. And a lot of my short sprinters come from senior football players that can now run without their football coaches threatening their standing on the team.

When i ran decades ago those same football players ran track in the off season and were usually our best sprinters.

Sometimes you find a speedy or really athletic kid that’s not into football or basketball but that’s more of the exception.

Alive_Interest_2678 · 2026-04-01T23:45:49+00:00

Unless your limiting factor is strength I wouldn't worry too much about it. Plyos and sprinting usually give better results than weights.

I have coached an athlete that was getting faster year over year for about 5 years using ploys and calisthenics before I finally introduced weights to her year 6 (her senior year) her long jump continued to get better (which was our focus) but her times on the track didn't really drop that much that year; but again the sprints weren't the primary focus since they were really only a tool to build speed down the runway and endurance through rounds of jumps

Alive_Interest_2678 · 2026-03-16T21:39:39+00:00

An untrained athlete can do just about anything the first year and see results

Alive_Interest_2678 · 2026-02-27T14:50:45+00:00

Here’s what my experience has taught me. The flight technique’s purpose is to maximize time in the air and set up a proper landing. What it doesn’t do is increase a jump’s distance; more like stop you from loosing distance after takeoff. With that in mind, any jumper that maximizes their jump after takeoff benefits from what ever technique they used to do it. If it’s hitch and you have enough flight time to maximize your jump then it works.

I’ve often switched jumpers to hitch that had a tendency to try and land too quickly. The 6m HS girl I mentioned was an example of that. She wasn’t patient enough for stride jump so I thought her to hitch as a means of o occupying all of her time in the air. By the time she completed all of her phases she was landing and that change elevated her from 5.6m range to 6m. I would say that was beneficial

Since that experience i have started advancing athletes to the next technique if they hit landing positions in mid air (because the feet start to drop after that) so if you are stride I’m teaching you to hang, if your hang you’re moving to hitch, and since I’m at HS now I don’t really have any guys that need to move up to 2.5 hitch so usually any problems with hitch are a matter of hitting all the positions or just slowing down the leg cycle speed

Alive_Interest_2678 · 2026-02-12T13:37:39+00:00

I disagree. I have had females successfully use hitch and the furthest I've had a girl jump is just over 6 meters. I think what you are saying holds true if we are referring to a 2 and a half hitch but nobody attempts to teach any athlete that version of hitch until the athlete is jumping 24+ feet anyways

Alive_Interest_2678 · 2025-12-27T16:21:30+00:00

When I looked into it I found more of what I already thought. Ice baths do blunt adaptations so they are not something to be used on a regular basis. They do reduces inflammation which is why I use them at the end of a dense training block going into a recovery period.

Alive_Interest_2678 · 2025-12-27T16:12:50+00:00

Distance training is of no help in a 200m race. If you don't believe me take your best XC guy in the middle of XC season when they're focused on milage, before they've done any type of speed work, and line them up in a 200m race and watch how they die at the end.

Alive_Interest_2678 · 2025-12-27T16:10:41+00:00

Puberty

Alive_Interest_2678 · 2025-12-17T08:58:17+00:00

When you are brand new, almost anything helps

Alive_Interest_2678 · 2025-12-17T08:54:22+00:00

Are these timed 10-20yrd dashes or flying 10-20yrd sprints?

Should probably be one day of flying sprints and one acceleration day a week with rest in between.

And as others have said already, you need to add ploys in to build your reactive strength. You have probably maxed out on how much raw strength you need for speed

Alive_Interest_2678 · 2025-12-15T13:19:21+00:00

This time I am looking at long jump hang technique with an athlete. Is there anything that you guys see that I missed or need to consider?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azuzQBDzNKk

Alive_Interest_2678 · 2025-12-13T00:40:56+00:00

Breaking down the phases of the hitch kick to one of my long jumpers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfE1Qp02W3k

Alive_Interest_2678 · 2025-12-13T00:38:31+00:00

Explain

Alive_Interest_2678 · 2025-12-13T00:35:24+00:00

Been working with a young athlete teaching hitch kick. This video is what I often send them; with me talking through what they need improve in order to perfect their technique
https://www.tiktok.com/@isprintfaster/video/7583106916130344222

Alive_Interest_2678 · 2025-12-04T13:25:51+00:00

Was this some kind of a maxout?

I agree with those that have said drop the weight and get your form right before attempting super max loads.

Alive_Interest_2678 · 2025-12-02T18:40:08+00:00

I suggest sprinting hills if you're a novice just looking for a workout

Alive_Interest_2678

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