Why You Should Sprint Every Week
Over the last couple of years, I’ve been more open to the concept of sprinting more as a training method, and it just makes so much sense. Whether you play a team sport or individual sport, integrating a regular dosage of sprinting in your weekly training schedule will do you, and particularly your hamstrings and tendons a world of good.
Speed is king, if you haven’t heard that phase before, you will definitely be hearing from me more often. What is speed? Speed is the rate at which an athlete can cover a specific distance, and the goal should always be to push that rate up. Use it or lose it. If you are in a sport that requires regular sprinting, whether its over 5m or 100m, you shouldn’t rely just on your training or games to get your speed work in. This of course does not apply to track athletes, who will get more than enough exposure to speed work, this is more so relevant for team sport athletes who don’t usually get exposed to specific sprint training in their tactical/technical sessions.
Why is sprinting so important? The hip extensors, especially the hamstrings play a significant role in sprint acceleration performance via horizontal ground reaction force production. The hamstrings also play a huge role in eccentrically (contracting whilst lengthening) decelerating the lower leg during the swing phase of sprinting. Running mechanics, especially the force production and the application technique can affect repeated sprint ability (JB Morin, Samozino, 2011). Due to sprinting being a high intensity activity, it also prepares the neuromuscular system adequately for competition. Therefore, not only is sprinting beneficial for performance, it also vaccinates against potential injury risk. Other than playing your sport, sprinting is the next best way to keep performance standards up and stay healthy.
Although I will not go into specific detail here, I’m going to give jumping, namely plyometrics a special mention here. The ability to produce and absorb force via the development of the stretch shortening cycle (SSC) is just as important as sprinting and complements speed training tremendously. Plyometrics usually falls into 2 categories, slow SSC & fast SSC. Slow SSC is more associated with acceleration due to the longer ground contact times and explosive concentric strength, whereas fast SSC is associated with shorter ground contact times, increased braking forces, and greater eccentric strength demands. By adding a multitude of jumps and throws to your sprinting, not only are you helping your sprint performance, you are also giving your tendons the best possible chance to deal with the demands of your sport.
The best thing about training and maintaining speed is that doesn’t have to be difficult. Most times all you need is, a stopwatch, a smartphone, and friend. Timing yourself keeps you honest and gives you times to try and beat each week. Make sure you go through a thorough warm-up, and you give yourself enough recovery between runs. The aim is to sprint with maximal intensity, do not turn it into a speed conditioning session. A general session could be 6x20m sprints with 2 minutes of full recovery between sprints. Then in the next session you could do to 8x20m with 2 minutes of full recovery. Give yourself time to build gradually, you do not want to overload your nervous system by doing more than what your body can take.
This is not a call for all athletes to turn into track and field athletes, the aim of this post was to try and get you as an athlete or coach reading this to see the many benefits of sprinting regularly. I hope you can find a way to integrate this into your programs.
Sprint Fast, Sprint Often.