The 3 Laws of Speed Development (video)
As promised, today I’m going to explain why having your athletes do ‘fly 40s’ during the first week of practice is a mistake (no matter which sport you coach or compete in) and what you should be doing instead.
To do a workout like this so early in the season shows a frightening lack of coaching knowledge and effort . But, fundamentally, it ignores the First Law of Speed Development.
The First Law of Speed Development: Speed is a Skill
The dividing line between ‘good’ and ‘bad’ (if you believe in such concepts) coaches starts with understanding that running fast requires developing technical skill in your athletes, regardless of sport.
Ignore, neglect or dismiss this Law and your athletes have already lost.
Running fast requires significant degrees of coordination, consistency and deliberate repetition. Because most athletes have never been taught the specific qualities inherent in the fastest athletes, they need the skilled and watchful eye of a coach in order to make consistent improvements and/or experience consistent success.
Think about how many steps your athletes have taken in their lives during practice and competition. If they’ve never been taught the Skill of Running Fast, every step they’ve taken has further ingrained bad habits into their neuromuscular system. As coaches, our responsibility is to teach athletes to unlearn these bad habits and replace them with specific skill.
Acceleration is the most important component of running fast. If we can’t accelerate properly, we’ll never actually hit top speed. For sprinters, this would be the Kiss of Death. For field/court sport athletes, the problem is the same, it just manifests earlier in the competitive environment.
But for today’s purposes, let’s look at acceleration. Here are 8 specific skills athletes must be able to successfully and consistently execute before they reach top speed. For subcollegiate athletes, top speed will be reached somewhere between 20-30m. This means athletes must be able to coordinate the following within 3-4 seconds:
- Drive the lead arm
- Drive out at a 45 degree angle
- Take a big first step
- Triple extension before first contact
- Drive the arms/hands down and back
- Push the ground back and away (foot strike below or behind the hips)
- Low heel recovery for the first 6-8 steps
- Let the upper body unfold naturally
As coaches, the above list should be common knowledge to us. If we don’t already have a system for introducing, teaching, cueing, correcting and adding to this list, then we are not doing a sufficient job of coaching our athletes. It’s just that simple.
To make things a bit clearer, check out this video that breaks some of these steps down in greater detail.
The Second Law of Speed Development: Run a ‘Short to Long’ Program
This is where the inefficacy of ‘fly 40s’ during the first week of practice comes into full light. A ‘Fly 40’ (or any ‘fly’ run) is considered a top speed exercise. If you’re unfamiliar with what a ‘fly’ run is, here is a quick description.
A cone is set up at the starting line (0m), 25m, 65m and 95m. The athlete sprints to the first cone using the skills they are learning under the umbrella of the First Law of Speed Development. Once the athlete reaches top speed (25m) they should be fully transitioned to top speed mechanics and effort (a topic for another day). They (attempt to) maintain top speed mechanics during the ‘fly’ portion of the run (25m – 65m) which is where the term ‘fly 40’ comes into play. At 65m they shut it down, coming to a full stop NOT before they reach the 95m cone.
Here’s the problem: The purpose of the ‘fly’ run is to focus on the 25m-65m portion of the repetition, i.e. teach/cue holding top speed and slowing the rate of deceleration that begins roughly one second after reaching top speed (25m).
If this type of workout is done during the first few weeks of the season, it becomes the ultimate example of putting the cart before the horse. Because the coach has ignored the First Law, athletes have not developed the appropriate Skill of Acceleration. Therefore, their ability to accelerate is wildly inconsistent and inefficient. They’ll never reach their potential top speed at 25m, so having them try to maintain and develop the Skill of Maximum Velocity before acquiring the Skill of Acceleration is simply impossible.
Such a practice is the coaching equivalent of sending a kid to college before they start high school. It’s a recipe for disaster, or, at the very least, a recipe for a mediocre program.
A ‘fly 40’ with a 25m buildup is a run of 65m total. Your athletes can’t sprint for 65m, with an appropriate degree of Skill, before they’ve learned how to run properly for 55m. They can’t sprint for 55m before they’ve learned to correctly sprint for 45m. They can’t sprint for 45m before they’ve learned to correctly sprint for 35m. They can’t sprint for 45m before they’ve learned to correctly sprint for 25m.
To the educated coach, this is common sense. A student doesn’t have the knowledge base to complete their senior year of college if they never completed their junior year. They don’t have the knowledge base to complete their junior year of college if they never completed their sophomore year. And so on back to the beginning where fundamentals are taught. Generalization before specialization.
This is why the Second Law of Speed Development is the ‘short to long’ program.
My athletes start out running 20m accelerations. Once they show proficiency at 20m, we go to 30m. Display proficiency and we go to 40m. Now that we’re running reps at distances putting us at top speed, we introduce fly runs using the same principle as with acceleration development.
First we do ‘fly 10s’. Once athletes develop top speed proficiency doing a ‘fly 10’, we go to ‘fly 20s’. Once athletes develop top speed proficiency doing a ‘fly 20’, we go to ‘fly 30s’.
This is the structure of the ‘short to long’ program and it is the most effective method for teaching and developing the Skill of Sprinting.
The Third Law of Speed Development: Speed Work IS the Workout
You can’t get fast if you practice running slow just like you can’t get better at chess by playing checkers.
So, if the goal of training is to get faster, you have to look at your quality work/high intensity work as the workout. Most training is based on an endurance model which is why most coaches default method of training is distance work and submaximal interval work.
In terms of developing speed, submaximal (less than 90% intensity) training is designed to supplement and aid in recovering from full speed training so that you can…..
….do more full speed training!
So when designing training (especially for true speed/power sports like football and track sprinters) you must focus your intentions on your speed/power workouts and use submaximal training (aka ‘conditioning’) as a training modality whose purpose is to build the qualities which allow your athletes to do a higher volume of high intensity training.
The fatal flaw in most coaching/sports programs is that coaches do the exact opposite. They focus on running and increasing the volume of repeat 100s/150s/200s, etc. which only trains athletes to be good at running slow. Great news if you’re training athletes for a 5k, but otherwise not so much.
If you really want to develop faster athletes, spend your time addressing the speed, strength and power qualities which serve as the foundation of faster times and not the general training, low intensity work that is *indirectly responsible for getting results.
These are the 3 Laws of Speed Development. Make them the foundation of your speed training and you can’t go wrong.
To your success,
Latif Thomas CSCS, USATF Level II (Sprints, Hurdles, Relays)
P.S. If you’re looking for more detailed information on teaching/implementing the 3 Laws of Speed Development, I recommend the following:
Complete Speed Training 2 – Addresses all 3 Laws with a focus on the First Law: Speed is a Skill
How to Build the Perfect 100m Sprinter – Created by Brown University sprints/hurdles coach Marc Mangiacotti, this program addresses all 3 Laws, focusing on the demands of the 100m sprinter. (The 100m should be taught to *all* sprinters *and* jumpers!!)
Complete Program Design for Sprinters – Addresses all 3 Laws, but focuses specifically on the Second Law: ‘Short to Long’ programs and Third Law: Speed Work IS the Workout
March 25th, 2010 at 9:56 am
I believe you are located in Attleboro MA and I leave in a near by town (Cumberland). Do you have any summer camps that you would be running in the area? If so where and what ages?
>>>I haven’t committed to any summer camps at this point. Summer is usually my down time. However, I may speak/coach at a couple this summer as a guest. I’m undecided at this point, but keep an eye out for my emails as I will surely make an announcement should I decide to get involved this summer.
LT
March 25th, 2010 at 10:16 am
I think this is the best video I have seen in regards to acceleration. Thank you
March 25th, 2010 at 10:43 am
Good stuff. Exactly what I have been doing with great results. As a new sprints coach taking over a position previously held be one who was well respected but doing it all wrong in my opinion this is a nice confirmation. Can’t believe how difficult it was to get the older team members to buy in. “why we doing this short stuff? We need to be doing something like 10×200’s in 25 sec. each.” I was like are you guys serious first week of Indoor practice? Well the results spoke for themselves. Numerous school records and PR’s, runners up in State Finals with no super stars. Needless to say I don’t get many complaints any more. I really like what you have going on here on the web, well worth the expenditure.
>>>Thanks for the post. When I started at my last program, I had a similar reaction from the older kids. The idea of running for 30m and then resting for 3 minutes while I explained how I actually wanted them to run was difficult for them to get their mind around. How could they run fast or get in shape if they weren’t running exhausting workouts? It was even difficult for me to comprehend when I began studying speed development. But, like you, it didn’t take long for the results to speak for themselves and then everyone bought in. The last 2 years have been the most successful the program has seen (at the state level where it counts) and, similar to you, it was done with no true ‘freaks’. (To me, calling someone a ‘freak’ is the ultimate compliment.) Keep up the good work!
LT
March 25th, 2010 at 11:39 am
HELP! my daughter is a sophomore in HS. She has played softball until this year she went out for Track. She ran her first race two weeks ago (200m,55m) and said it was more exiciting that all of her softball combined. She wants to get faster, but when I ask what her what she does in pratice. She said nothing??? Other than reading your articles and emails I don’t know anythig about running/sprinting. Which one of your programs would be better for her,and I appreciate any other advice you can give me? Thank You!
>>>Unfortunately, your daughter’s situation is far more common than you might think. I recommend the following program. It is designed in such a way that it simplifies the process of coaching athletes, even if you’re not experienced and thousands of parents have used it to coach their kids around substandard high school coaches:
http://www.CompleteSpeedTraining.com
LT
March 25th, 2010 at 9:30 pm
hi latif bought both you programs with some success she is only 13 and very immature body wise for her age i have asked various coaches should she be in the weight room and they say give her another year as she is only tiny about 34kg for her age but the thing is all the coaches say she runs out behind and i am finding very hard to rectify is there anything else you can tell me to do to help her over come this problem which is her biggest fault at the moment tryed to get intouch the other way with no reply can you help thrnking you so much .
>>> There is no actual evidence that says lifting weights is harmful or damages growth plates (the common baseless argument). Admittedly, I’m still affected by this false belief. So I would say, based on her physical immaturity, to hold off on the weight room for another year. Instead, focus on body weight exercises where you would normally be in the weight room. I’ve gotten some great results just with body weight work. If she’s getting out slow, it is most likely due, primarily, to lack of physical strength and power as those two qualities are fundamental to getting out quickly.
Generally speaking, posting questions in the blog is the best way to get an answer. I get so many emails it is overwhelming, so I rarely respond to them. But posting here helps other people and I check the blog daily, so this is how to get an answer.
LT
PS – Check your email
March 26th, 2010 at 12:46 am
I am veteran runner (Age 50+ and a male living in Andhra Pradesh, India, Asia) seen your videos and read your articles. I started running two years ago. I have no coach to guide to improve my speed ( I do 100, 200, and 400 meters) now after going through your articles I feel I can improve the speed. I understand the mistakes I am committing.
Thank you,
With regards
CAGVRamana
>>> Always great to see new sprinters come into the world of track and field. I’m glad my information has been helpful in your training. Best of luck in your training.
LT
March 26th, 2010 at 1:12 am
Hi Latif,
Once again, some good practical advice. For the past 3 years I have used your advice to great success. My question is regarding the acceleration video. Would it be possible to download this video? I would like to use it in training to give my athletes a visual of how “it” should look. I believe a picture paints a thousand words. If the kids have it in their minds it will be easier for them to execute. Thanks.
>>> Thank you for your ongoing support. That is a good question and, in truth, beyond my technical expertise. I will contact my technical guy and see what I can do. In the meantime I suggest sending your athletes to the site to view it, though I’m sure you’ve already thought of that!
LT
March 26th, 2010 at 7:29 am
Great video. Really detailed, practical pointers. I’m a little confused though. You said you wanted to keep the foot on the ground as long as possible to take advantage of the force/push and yet later you suggested running on coals to DECREASE the time of contact??
thanks
Stephen
>>>Stephen – Excellent question! (During acceleration) you want to cue athletes to continue to push/drive the foot into the ground until triple extension/toe off is reached. Inexperienced athletes come out of blocks (or whatever) and just try to move their legs as quickly as possible (I call it ’spinning their wheels’) under the false premise that the faster they move their legs, the faster they accelerate. In truth, the best way to set up top speeds is to be patient.
While it sounds counterintuitive, we have to wait for speed. It can not be forced. By pushing the ground back and away and continuing to push until toe off, we apply more force to the ground. More force allows us to overcome inertia and maximize the efficiency of our acceleration. And speed of efficient acceleration, according to Tom Tellez, is 64% of the 100m. That’s why driving down is important.
Where the ‘running on hot coals’ cue comes into place is in the RECOVERY of the swing leg. Driving down into the ground is only half the technical demand of taking a stride. The other half is quickly recovering the heel underneath the hips so that we can get back into position to maximize force application for the next stride. Lazy heel recovery leads to excessive backside mechanics, but more importantly, it prevents athletes from getting into position to apply greater amounts of force into the ground with subsequently shorter ground contact times.
So, it’s not the swing time (amount of time leg spends in the air) we’re trying to improve/decrease. Because when you look at the swing time of elite sprinters vs run of the mill sprinters, the difference in swing time negligible. Again, the critical factor is getting back into position to maximize efficiency. What you’ll see in inexperienced sprinters with lazy heel recovery is excessive backside mechanics. This forces athletes to slap the foot onto the ground, run heel to toe, etc. (as opposed to ’step over, drive down’) because they’ve wasted so much time with the slow heel recovery, they have to drop the foot to the ground to avoid falling down. Hope this makes sense, it’s a great question and one that is often overlooked. If I haven’t been clear, please let me know where I can clear it up.
LT
March 26th, 2010 at 9:12 am
Thank you! i placed order today.
March 27th, 2010 at 9:15 am
what do you mean by long first step. Is it long because of the strong push off at the start. I though the steps started small and increased in length gradually until optimum length was reached at top speed.
>>>your first step should cover as much ground as possible *as long as* footstrike takes place underneath the hips. steps start small and increase gradually until top speed on their own, you never want to try and limit your stride length. think of a hurdler. a slow 3 stepper is almost always going to be faster than a 4 stepper who takes quicker steps.
LT
March 27th, 2010 at 4:07 pm
Hey Latif. I am just want to say that I can not be more impressed with your product. I have been using it for our season and I have a girl already running 12.5 this early, when last year she was 13.0! I also have parents asking if I am going to put on a summer clinic and they want me to coach our other sports. If anyone is unsure about getting complete speed training, GET IT. I just want people to hear that it works and how well it works. You do have to still put in the time as a coach though. Also I have not truly figured out the whole thirty minute conversation, should I just shoot you an e-mail?
March 29th, 2010 at 11:23 am
hi latif
u said only squat deadlift and olympic lifts in weightroom.ok but how many sets and reps? and how can I design good weight training program for 100m & 200m?
tanx for answers.
>>> I didn’t say ‘only’, I said make those the priority and add supplemental lifts based on time available and training age. sets and reps, generally speaking, should be in the 2-5 sets of 2-6 reps range.
Want to create a good weight training program:
http://www.completeprogramdesignforsprinters.com
LT
March 29th, 2010 at 12:28 pm
Latif,
Thanks. I’m beginning to understand, but I’m not quite there yet. I appreciate the push and drive out of the blocks in order to maximize acceleration. But once out of the blocks, the instant a runner’s foot touches the ground they can either PUSH off, or PULL up to the butt to replace (or PUSH for a while and then pull….). It seems like you’re advocating pushing for awhile but that isn’t running on coals and immediate replacing either. I’ve gotten good results with Dr Romonav’s “pose method” of running and am trying to reconcile your advice with his.
Thanks,
Stephen
>>>Good question. I’m advocating both. Push with the leg that is on the ground (the support leg) until toe off and Pull with the active/swing leg to recover the heel under the hips in order to get back in position to…..
Push with the leg that is on the ground (the support leg) until toe off and Pull with the active/swing leg to recover the heel under the hips in order to get back in position to…..
LT
March 29th, 2010 at 2:08 pm
when I take a big first step,my fist ground contact time takes long.what can I do?
>>>Make sure foot strike is taking place underneath the hips, drive the foot down and back until toe off and get in the weightroom.
LT
March 30th, 2010 at 4:17 pm
I noticed a few things with this video and would be interested in getting your feedback:
1. It looks as if she first comes up vertically and then comes forward. Her lead arm kind of hangs, pauses, and then shifts forward. Shouldn’t the lead arm come forward immediately?
2. It looks as if the line of force travels from the ground up to her thoracic spine and then, because she’s a bit rounded, it travels outside her body. Is this efficient?
>>> 1. Yes, it should. 2. No it is not. The lesson here is that even great sprinters have issues they can improve. We’re rarely, if ever, going to have an athlete or find a piece of footage that is mechanically and technically perfect. Good eye though, Rich.
LT
March 30th, 2010 at 7:53 pm
Latif, you are right on the mark. Most coaches and trainers don’t address the speed, strength, and power qualities which truly are the foundation of faster times. Well done.
March 31st, 2010 at 1:57 pm
As always, very good information. I appreciate the quality information you put out and have ordered 2 of your programs that validated what I have been training and were very well put together. Thaks for sharing your knowledge and passion.
Darrin Nicoli
http://www.thenextlevelsportstraining.com
>>>Thanks for the support Darrin. Got your other message, but that ’site’ is just for my track kids. Join our AthletesAcceleration fan page, we’ll be posting info there soon.
LT
April 1st, 2010 at 12:04 am
Really good article and thought the video was great. I appreciated the comment you made here that speed comes in time if you do he work on technique and practice what you are teaching consistently. Your speed development advice is spot on and much aprreciated.
April 1st, 2010 at 12:55 am
latif, what’s your athletes 100m 200m best quality?
>>>focus – the ability to execute they way they’ve been taught. you don’t need to be a freak to run fast sprint times, you just need a good program and the ability to do what you’re told.
LT
April 5th, 2010 at 1:07 pm
Which exercises should be avoided in weightroom? u said no hamstring curl,i hear it’s good for hamstring injury prevention!
>>>I think there are better exercises. if you’re doing a hamstring curl to develop strength through a range of motion or a patter of movement that the hamstring doesn’t go through during sprinting, I don’t see how it is an effective exercise for injury prevention. If you want to do it as a general training exercise during anatomical adaptation or during general prep, no problem. But for specific strength development it is a waste of weight room time in my opinion. So I avoid single joint movements whenever possible.
LT
June 6th, 2011 at 7:43 am
[...] Regardless of your situation, check out the 3 Laws of Speed Development. [...]
June 6th, 2011 at 9:33 am
Latif,
Great article, could not agree more. Since I started training my vaulters at the club last summer using your guidelines I can’t believe the results I’m getting in their progress. It is amazing to me how many vaulters and long jumpers can’t actually run correctly on the runway. As a result of the increased speed training program this year, the club was able to qualify 16 out of 17 members for the state quals in the vault. Seven(7) members made it to the state championships. My best vaulter(elite)recently jumped 5.70M and just missed 5.80M. I’ve been working on changing his speed program to get more out of his approach and its been working fantastic. Hopefully, it will show up in the National Championships later this month. Keep it coming!
Warmest Regards,
Al Berardi
Heights Unlimited Vault Club
June 6th, 2011 at 11:37 am
Wishing I had this video 3 months ago. Thanks, Latif.
June 6th, 2011 at 4:16 pm
these information about the law of the speed is true.Because my two daughters
they start the accleration drills in December and is too late when they start in February the competitive phase and is too late. They start low for the 60 mts.
Sportfully,
Prof.Jorge Vélez Pacheco
Track Coach Youth
Personal Trainer IFA,IFPA
Yauco,Puerto Rico
June 7th, 2011 at 5:32 am
Hi Latif,
great video – and I like the detailed breakdown into the single skills to follow the rules. I´ve only one question to the first two or three steps specifically in this video: Wouldn´t it be even more efficient, when the foot of the front leg doesn´t move so high above the ground before contact? I always try to teach my squat to stay close to the ground with the front foot in order not to loose time by moving the foot down in the first steps.
Best regards
Uli
June 7th, 2011 at 12:33 pm
Hi Latif,
First of all i just want to say i love your videos and have been watching them for some time now. I am now going to be a college freshmen and going to try out for the track team. But i was wondering if you could explain the “short to long” and “long to short” concept with me. I dont quite get it. Thanks.
June 12th, 2011 at 12:52 am
hai coach ,
its realy worth and informative one to the beginners and also for those who whant to correct the body mechs to acheive the result in time. your pedagogic lesson are needed for me and to my athletes . my Q what is low heel recovery for first 6-8 steps.
June 21st, 2011 at 10:06 pm
I never thought that speed has 3 laws. All I know though is speed determines how fast or slow something/someone is!
July 19th, 2011 at 3:23 am
Respected Sir,
I have send this message to ask you about some of my doubts.My first doubt is for a sprinter(100m ,200m) what is the advantage or disadvantage of a spikes which has 6 spikes and 8 spikes on its spikes plate, Does having more amount of spikes increase the grip or does it give more stability on tracks?My second doubt is by improving the sprint form will a person be able to achieve better timing.I am a high school boy of 16years and in my school we do not use the starting blocks so we do the crouch start, I wanted to know which is the best out of these starts. Bunch start or Elongated start or Medium start?sorry but i don’t know the names of these properly.I hope you can help me.
August 11th, 2011 at 4:48 pm
Great video Latif,
Speed is demonstrated correctly if taught correctly. Good job. Speed is a skill that has to be practiced frequently. People forget that.