A common excuse heard from coaches is "we don't have time to train speed".
Below you'll see what you can prioritize when training speed in a small amount of time.
Remember, there are often many factors that play a role in the kinds of training you’re providing. We have numerous digital speed courses that talk about these additional factors at length, which you can check out here if you’re interested.
What to prioritize with limited time?
Before jumping into the outlines, here's a recommendation of what to prioritize in terms of the 3 buckets of speed.
For youth athletes in offseason training it's typical to prioritize in the following order:
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Stimulus
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Physical
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Technical
Stimulus = Running fast.
Physical = Resisted sprinting & jumping.
Technical= Drill work, coaching cues, & technique.
To expand a little bit on why this is ordered the way it is, think of it this way:
Which of these takes the most time to develop?
The answer is the technical qualities! Changing someone technically is not easy.
So if you've only got 5 minutes, you will almost always want to focus on Physical development & stimulus.
Power, strength, and reactivity. Getting the right stimulus with the right dosages.
For those questioning if this is actually effective, we’ve seen it work in 5-15 minutes in the work we’ve done with the U.S. Men’s National Soccer team.
Let’s take a look at a few guidelines used for training sessions that are short in length. . .
Training with Different Amounts of Time
Although the buckets above are ranked in terms of importance, it doesn’t necessarily mean this is how they should be ordered during a training session.
Here’s how you could break it down for youth athletes in offseason training:
Keep in mind there are other factors at play here, but the outline above is what you should generally follow when working with the different timeframes.
If implemented correctly, this is an effective way to improve speed with hardly any time at all. We're looking forward to the day when we stop hearing that “we don’t have time for speed.”
It’s not about the time, it’s what you do with it!