It's one thing to have a goal in mind and start doing work to make progress. It’s another thing to have a goal and start doing the work that works to make progress. When it comes to a science backed approach to sprinting and getting faster, here are some proven techniques to run faster. You would likely get faster quicker, avoid potential injury, and even enjoy the process more because you'd be training smarter, not just harder.

Your muscles are made up of two primary types of fibers: fast-twitch (Type II) and slow-twitch (Type I). Slow twitch muscle fibers are responsible for, you guessed it, more of the slower efforts. That doesn't mean they don't play a role in sprinting, because they do -more on that in a minute- but the slow twitch fibers primarily support sustained, low-intensity efforts like endurance running or cycling.

Fast twitch muscle fibers shine when talking sprinting speed. These fibers are your body’s go-to for short, intense bursts of power and speed. However, these fibers have the downside of fatiguing quickly since they rely on your anaerobic system for energy.

To improve your sprinting speed, focus on maximizing the sustained energy output of your fast-twitch fibers while strengthening them for peak performance. Also, don't neglect your slow twitch muscles because those help with the endurance necessary to sustain that higher effort running you want when sprinting.

Just like most things, if you want to improve you need to focus on well rounded, well thought out training. What does a well rounded, well thought out training protocol look like? You will check the boxes on each form and mechanics, strength, improving acceleration, endurance and recovery. Let's unpack each of these more in depth.

You wouldn’t approach a 100 kilo bar and haphazardly rip it off the ground. At least I hope you wouldn’t. Instead, you would set yourself up. Focusing on your breath and proper body positioning, you would deadlift the bar with proper form and mechanics in an effort to avoid injury. You need to approach your sprinting the same way. But not simply to avoid injury, although that's a massive added benefit. Sprinting with proper form and mechanics makes you more efficient and ultimately faster. 

When doing any type of running, form and mechanics are important but since sprinting is often an effort short in duration, it is even more crucial that form is dialed. “Fall forward” is a cue that can help runners new and old because that's what you are essentially doing. Running requires a slight lean forward at all times. No break in the hip, rather your body moving as a whole unit propelling forward. With sprinting, an intentional push off the ground while driving the knees high is important. A lackadaisical leg drive won't produce much force, therefore likely won't produce much speed. A strong push off the earth coupled with an intentional knee drive helps bring the speed. 

Your upper body isn't just along for the ride. Use it. Keeping arms bent at 90 degrees, making sure you are driving them back and forth rather than side to side across your body is something to remember. Another common mistake people make when sprinting is their arms tend to go across the body rather than front to back. This is more often seen when fatigue sets in but it's even more important to avoid this when fatigue sets in. Make your arms work for you, not against you.

Being strong is never a bad idea. Especially when it comes to sprinting. If you are looking to improve your sprinting speed, get stronger. More specifically, focus on strength training that incorporates power exercises so you yourself become more explosive. A few specific exercises to start incorporating in your training would be the traditional deadlift, squat and even box jump. But since you are focusing on explosive strength, adding in olympic lifting like the power cleans and even things like a kettlebell swing can be to your advantage. 

Another way to focus on getting strong and improving your explosive strength more specifically would be incorporating plyometrics in your training. You want to develop and train the fast twitch muscle fibers which are critical for acceleration, more on that in a minute, so jumping, hopping and bounding can all be added to training as a way to improve your sprinting speed. 

To get better at something, the solution is often to practice it more. If you want to get better at accelerating, practice it. Incorporating practice of the first phase of a sprint can improve overall sprinting speed. The start, from a dead stop to top end speed is often the slower part of a sprint. Refining mechanics and simply practicing that portion of a sprint can improve your overall pace. 

With accelerating, specifically at the start, you want to make sure you are using all you have available to you. That means that you want to use your upper body just as much as your lower to get to that top end speed as quickly as possible. Focusing on a hard drive off the ground with each step, driving the knees high and also pumping your arms forward and backwards, as mentioned in improving your form, will help those starts and ultimately get you faster. Repeats of 10-30 second sprints so you are practicing the start over and over is something that can be incorporated in training and help.

Improving your general endurance can also help improve sprinting speed for a number of reasons. Sprinting is primarily an anaerobic effort, but the ability to recover quickly between sprints or sustain a higher effort for longer durations comes from aerobic fitness. When you improve your endurance you also improve your ability to maintain proper form and mechanics as you start to get to the end of the sprint and fatigue sets in. 

Improved endurance also improves your lactate threshold. Lactic acid will build up as you are working at a challenging effort. As lactic acid builds and fatigue sets in, you inevitably slow down. If you can prolong the time it takes for either of these things to happen, you will be able to maintain top end speed for a longer period of time as well. 

Training for speed endurance specifically can look like adding interval training to an endurance workout. Earlier we had recommended practicing just the start, the first 10-30 seconds of a sprint. But there is also an added benefit to adding sprinting intervals upwards of 200m efforts to your training. This allows for your endurance at those higher end, not necessarily top end, paces to improve. These types of effort improve your ability to maintain high speeds over longer distances. Try adding in 200m efforts at 80-90% effort, so not a true top end speed, with 2-3 minutes of walking rest in between to allow for a full recovery before attempting your next interval.

As I always preach, your next workout is only as good as your current recovery. If you are constantly beating yourself to a pulp but never allowing for full, adequate recovery, you won't be able to bring the necessary intensity and effort to training. With that, the changes and adaptations you are looking for and expecting will likely be slow to come, if they come at all. So prioritizing and optimizing recovery is another way to improve sprinting speed. Paying attention to any niggles and not allowing them to turn into full blow strains or pulls is important.  

The foundational aspects of optimizing recovery include a few things. Adequate nutrient intake, both in the form of macro and micronutrients. Eating enough and enough of the right things can help ensure you recover well so your next workout can do what it needs. The small things that have big payoffs when it comes to recovery also include adequate sleep, staying hydrated and allowing yourself enough rest between workouts in general.

Things that can also be used to improve recovery and performance would be foam rolling, stretching and proper warm ups and cool downs. Mobility and other forms of body work like massage and chiropractic care can also help.

The one area that mustn't be overlooked is consistency. Yes, form, strength, acceleration, endurance and recovery are the critical components of improving sprinting speed. But none of them matter if you aren't revisiting them, refining and incorporating them into your regular training. While our Peak strength app can help with that, make sure you are doing the boring work, showing up and prioritizing the right things in order to see the improvements you are expecting and hoping for.