How To Train for Speed PLUS An Example Week of Training

In the spirit of summer and football season nearly here, I’m in a very sharing mood.

If you were ever curious to see how I structure speed and strength training programs for athletes that I work with, you’ll enjoy the sample week of training that I’ve been putting a group of athletes through recently (2 football players; 1 HS, 1 College; and 1 female College soccer player). We have a unique situation in that I only see them 4 days out of the week (M, T, Th, F); Normally I would prefer a 3-day training week, but this schedule worked out for everyone. Also, due to scheduling and other group programs being run, we have 2 days in the actual facility itself where I work for traditional strength work; the 2 speed days are out at a local park that has a nice set of hills and flat grass field- perfect for us! Ideal schedule/template? There are “better”, but it actually has worked out really well. Some would stress out about this, but you gotta make it happen!

Weekly Breakdown

Mondays and Thursdays: These days are devoted to getting the athletes FAST and EXPLOSIVE. Since these qualities are in higher priority for all 3 of these athletes, I placed them on days where they had at least 1 full day of rest prior to engaging in this type of work. We work on different qualities on this day including: speed drills, speed mechanics, explosive medicine ball throws, hill sprints, short COD (change of direction) drills like the pro-agility or 3-cone drill, and some basic 1 and 2-legged jumps. Usually we are done in 55-60 minutes tops, including the warm-up. Sounds short, but if you are truly training for explosive power and speed, the focus should always be QUALITY not QUANTITY. I definitely watch form closely on everyone of them and if they start to look sluggish or tired, I will call whatever drill we are doing and move on to something else, or even cut it short and call it a day.

Tuesdays and Fridays: These days are devoted to developing muscular hypertrophy and relative/absolute body strength. Since the legs are worked pretty damn hard on the speed days prior, the lower body lifting volume is not nearly as close to the upper body lifts we do; not to say we don’t squat or deadlift, the volume just isn’t as high as usual. These sessions are pretty short as well, normally taking no longer than 60 minutes with a 10-15 warm up. They usually show up 5-10 min early anyways so this helps me out also. I make each of their lifting programs slightly different because they all have different needs, even working around a nagging injury(s).

Wednesdays/OFF Days I don’t see the athletes on this day, but I’ve encouraged to do lots of mobility and stretching on their own. Something very basic and easy that they can do on their own is tempo runs on a grass field; 10 x 100 yard “rhythm runs” with a set of 20 crunches or push ups in between will help promote recovery between sessions and keep the body active; also acts to “flush” the muscles and remove any excess waste product. The number 10 is nothing special, that’s just what I like to start most out at. Keep in mind these are not run fast; they are run relaxed and at a 65-70% effort (if your 100 time is 11.0, the runs would be in the 18-19 sec range).

OK, enough with the boring stuff. Check out the sample week below.

*Disclaimer= use at your own discrepancy. I’m not responsible for any injury that may arise from strenuous exercise. Make sure to warm up properly and be smart! To see how I warm up for speed training, watch my warm-up video below. This is just an example for the given scenario (I only have 6 weeks, 4 sessions per week to work with these athletes so this is unique to the given scenario and needs of the athletes); just a friendly reminder.

Also note: 1A/1B = Perform 1 set of “1A”, then move onto “1B”, then back to “1A”. Rest periods are not set in stone. Take as little rest as possible/needed without it negatively affecting performance. For heavier/max strength sets typically 3-4 minutes, sub-max weights typically 60-120 seconds. Females and younger athletes need less rest, older/experienced lifters and males typically need longer rest breaks. Use this as your guideline.

Week 1

Monday and Thursday

Warm up (assume same warm up for All 4 days):

• Dynamic Flexibility/Movement Prep x 10 repetitions each: front leg swings, side leg swings, arm circles, walking lunge, reverse lunge, lateral lunge, toy soldiers, back roll over/v-sit stretch, Hip Circles.
  
• Glute Activation x 8 repetitions each: Bird-dogs, bridging, Fire Hydrants
• Drills 2 x 10 yards: Running A’s, A-Skip, B-Skip, Skips for Height, 1-leg hop forward, 1-leg hop side-side, Pogo Jumps.

Med Ball Throws: Squat throw x 5, OHB x 5.

Speed: 2 x 10 Hill sprint, 5 x 15 Hill Sprint, 5 x 20 Hill sprint (use various starts); walkback recovery.

Jumps: 2-leg hops up hill x 3 x 15-20 yards.

Cooldown light strides, stretch, mobility, foam roll if possible.

Tuesday

*Warm Up

1a.) Bench Press work up to 5RM

1b.) Stretch Lats and Hip Flexors between each set of BP.

2a.) Pull Ups 3-5 x 6-8 (add weight when necessary)

2b.) Push Ups 3-5 x 10-15(add weight when necessary)

2c.) Walking Lunge 3-5 x 10/leg (long strides)

3a.) Band Good Morning OR GHR 2-3 x 8-12

3b.) Hand Walks on Power Wheel or Planks 3 x 30-60 seconds

4.) Sled Drags 4-8 x 30 yards (forward/backward), 45-70 sec rest between drags.

Wednesday: Active recovery. 10 x 100m tempo runs on grass at 65-70% effort. Perform 20 crunches and 20 push ups between each run during your rest period. Once you’re done with the crunches/push ups, get right back into the next run. Keep the same speed! Finish as you start. Long stretch afterward.

Thursday: See Monday above. Same format as Monday, except this time the hill sprints will be as follows: 5 x 10, 2 x 5 x 20. Walkback recovery. Distance is in yards.

Friday:

1A.) Deadlift 4-6 x 3-5

2A.) DB 1-Arm Clean/Press 3-4 x 4-8/arm

2B.) Inverted Row 3-4 x max reps

3a.) DB Bench Press 2-3 x 8-12

3b.) Bulgarian Split Squat 2-3 x 6-8/leg

3c.) Pikes or Hanging Leg Raise 2-3 x 10-15

4.) Sled/Tire Drags (optional) 4-8 x 30 yards

Sat/Sun: Typical OFF day but I encourage moving somewhat i.e. getting out the house and walking around, swimming, hike, go run around at the beach, etc. Just stay moving and have fun but this is the time your body will use to recover from a tough training week.

Go ahead and try this out if you want! If  you have questions post them below.

If  you liked this post and sample training program, keep your eyes open in the next couple months. I just may have the speed and strength/power training solution you’ve been waiting for to totally dominate your sport and blow away your friends/family. Stay tuned!!

See ya,

John Cortese