Purpose of Profiling Athletes 
 
When profiling an athlete’s speed capabilities we generally look for two main things: 

1. Their individual weakness
2. Their positional/sport demands 

Rather than just saying “This athlete is a good accelerator, this athlete is a bad accelerator”, it’s important to be able to identify this with objective measures. 
 
So what qualities make them a good or bad accelerator, and how do we fix it? 
 
Is it something technical, or is it something from a physical standpoint like power that we can now manipulate to make them a better accelerator?
 
That is the entire goal of profiling.
 
It allows us to bucket athletes - and place them into different categories based on their physical and technical needs. 
 
After we profile, we can individualize the process to automate a lot of the decisions, which is a topic for another day.
 
At it’s core, the goal of profiling is to objectively identify these KPIs and then deliver quality programming that’s individual to that athlete, within a group setting. 
 
The example I love to use is the weight room - When you take your team into the weight room, not every athlete benches the same… There’s a very individual number based on maxes, or peak strength. 
 
Finding ways to individualize in a team setting for speed is very similar. Maybe it’s a load, a distance, or a volume - but we want to identify these things to help athletes get better through individualized training. 
 
That leads to how we get there: 
 
In order to identify an athlete’s area of weakness, there are typically 3 layers: 

1. Speed Tests
2. Physical Properties 
3. Implementation 

The Speed Tests cover Force Velocity Profiles (FVP) and Load Velocity Profiles (LVP) which give insight into how they accelerate and what loads to prescribe. Both of these topics have enough detail to be their own email, so if you want to learn more about those here are some videos you can check out on LVP and FVP. 
 
Today I’m focusing on identifying the physical properties.
 
For the physical tests - we’re essentially finding out what the athlete’s raw ability is. 
 
The main ones we use are Jump tests, Range of Motion tests, and Dynamic Strength Index. (All can be tracked using Output)  

Jump Testing
 
From jumping testing, we’re trying to answer these questions:
 
Are you powerful?
Are you reactive? 
Are you balanced? 
 
With these measures, we can individualize the power, reactivity, and transfer from side to side. 
 
There are two main jump tests we conduct: 
 
CMJ Test
 
CMJ is a measure of power - the #1 outcome with this test is figuring out how powerful is the athlete. 
 
RSI Test
 
This is a measure of reactivity. We’re looking at jump height and ground contact time. Our goal is to improve both. Jump higher and do it faster. 
 
A contact time greater than .25 seconds is not a measure of reactivity anymore, so using something like a drop jump would make the jump height too high. 
 
So when doing this test we’ve used a 10/5 RSI. We’re measuring 10 repeated hops and taking the average of the top 5.

 With both jump tests, what we’re looking for is the athlete’s weakness. 
 
So if the athlete has a better CMJ relative to RSI? They need more reactive plyometrics. 
 
If they have better RSI relative to CMJ? They need more power-oriented plyometrics. 
 
Range of Motion Testing 
 
When we’re looking at range of motion testing, this is a way for us to see if we have the range of motion in the posterior chain. 
 
We want to identify if the athlete has the ability to get into the proper ranges passively. 
 
We’ll use different tests in order to tell us, shared below: 
 
Active Straight Leg Raise 
 
This is testing the athlete’s core and pelvic control as well as hamstring flexibility. One of the major KPIs of running is being able to control your pelvis when you’re running. 
 
At toe-off, if you anterior tilt your pelvis, where your lower back has a massive curve in it, it’s going to cause the leg to swing out behind you a little bit longer. 
 
The ASLR is an easy way for us to measure that in a field setting. 
 
The aim of this test is to demonstrate the interaction between hip flexor and hamstring flexibility which has been considered a potential risk factor in sprinting. 
 
To measure this, the athlete is lying on their back, and we’re measuring the thigh angle from the top leg (knee to hip) to the bottom leg (knee to hip).
 

Jurdan Test
 
The Jurdan test is a modified Thomas Test and Active Knee Extension test created by Jurdan Mendiguchia. 
 
It’s an easy way for us to capture on a photo or video an athlete’s ability to separate their thighs and create range of motion as they run. 
 
The best part about all of these tests is that they’re easy to implement, can work for coaches who are on a budget, and don’t take a lot of effort or time from your athletes. 
 
Another reason I’d recommend checking out Output is the solid pricing considering everything that the tool is capable of testing. 
 
The tests mentioned today aren’t the only things that matter and are just a piece of what it takes to build a well-rounded speed training system, but they’re low-entry ways to get started. 
  
LET’S BUILD.