3 Acceleration Drills to Implement this Summer

Last week, I talked about the purpose of drills and when to progress. Today I want to share some specific acceleration drills and their progressions that we use so that you have something practical to take away.

3 Accel Drills + Their Progression. 

To review from last week, the purpose of acceleration drills should be to work on projection and orientation. 

If an athlete projects well but doesn’t orient their body horizontally, then it’s not good orientation. 

Athletes will not be able to run fast without being able to project themselves forward and throw themselves forward into space. 

Being able to apply forces down and back and creating a horizontal force is extremely important for accelerating well, so those are two things that our acceleration drills can and should help improve. 

Here's a 3 step acceleration drill progression. First drill: 

Banded Marches 

Banded Marches are an introductory acceleration drill that reinforces posture and limb mechanics. The goal is to lift and swing from the hip while focusing on driving down with power. Watch: 

Banded Bound

Banded bounds are a special strength drill that reinforces and trains horizontal power and hip displacement.

Use these drills when struggling to apply specific strength and power qualities in the run.  Getting better at bounds will improve the ability to have high hip displacement and step length. Watch: 

Banded Sprints

Banded sprints are where we start to get a lot more specific with our acceleration drills.

The resistance allows the athlete to achieve deeper angles and apply more horizontal force for longer. Watch: 

Banded Combination 

Finally, we can put it all together. Banded combo drills such as:

Banded March --> Bound

Banded March --> Bound --> Sprint

These drills build context across the drill and cement learning, making patterning easier to grasp. The drill intensity starts easier and builds harder. The speed goes from slow to fast. The forces go from low to high.

Master each drill individually then put them together to really feel the patterns emerge. Watch: 

I go through a bunch more acceleration drills in this video or if you want deeper explanations you can check out my digital speed courses.

Always remember to start slow/simple then build up to complex with your progressions. Especially at the youth level or if it's an athlete you haven't worked with before. 

LET'S BUILD.