Speed kills in most competitive sports, and none more so than professional football. More often than not goal scoring or saving opportunities occur during high speed movements, and speed is also often deemed a differential between the elite and the lower competition levels.
Difficulty is, improving your speed-specific physical qualities requires a lot of detail, hard work and a high-level understanding of the movement’s biomechanics and physiological underpinning. We spent four weeks this pre-season with Tom Brewitt, a professional footballer, working on just that – and the results were pretty outstanding!
Background
Tom was what we’d deem to be a capable sprinter, with a maximum sprint speed of 9.4 ms (comparable to elite football norms), adequate sprint-running technique, and importantly no history of sprint-related hamstring strain. However, in order for him to stand out at his level or bridge the gap to the next level, we all understood the attractiveness of a fast running central defender.
With a thorough understanding of Tom’s physical appearance, having known him and worked on and off with him for 5+ years, we took advantage of this pre-season period whilst Tom weighed up his career options to maximise his speed potential. Prior and recent data collected would suggest that Tom had moderate relative strength levels (isometric hip extension, plantar flexion and hip abduction), good slow stretch-shortening power (vertical and horizontal countermovement jump) but reduced fast stretch-shortening power (10:5 pogo). He also demonstrated a level of lumbo-pelvic control and range of motion related deficiencies that would cater towards a faster running action if addressed.
After collating all of the required information during our Discovery phase, we embarked on building specific programmes tailored to (a) preparing the athlete for returning to professional football when the right opportunity arose, and (b) improving his sprint-running capabilities. For the purpose of this article, we will only be presenting content relating to part (b), yet please be reminded that this process was one that fit holistically into the general and specific preparation of a football athlete for returning to competitive football (deeming it even more impressive)!
Implementation
Tom’s programme consisted of meticulously planned gym and pitch based activities, which were completed as a hybrid model between KPI’s training facilities (gym and pitch) and online via the KPI app, completed in Tom’s own facilities at home.
Pre-pitch work
Prior to pitch-based training sessions, Tom had a specific “Movement Skills – Speed” programme to complete. This programme consisted of a series of Muscles, Shapes, Speed and Movement (our movement skills philosophy categories) categorised exercises that were tailored specifically to his needs and progressed from session to session when it was deemed appropriate.
This programme was not completed prior to every single pitch session, due to the part-time nature that our business holds for most athlete clients. However, this was completed circa once weekly and Tom had work to complete individually when absent from KPI.
For Tom, a high focus was placed on enhancing hip flexion-extension range, minimising pelvic obliquity and rotation, effective intermuscular coordination tasks, education around efficiently applying force (in the right direction) during acceleration and max velocity movements, improving thigh angular velocity and hip height during switch actions, and reducing ground contact times unilaterally during pogo and other stiffness type tasks. A list of specific exercises found within this programme can also be found below.
During each session, we ensured that Tom had specific targets to hit to provide him with motivation and position reinforcement of the programme's success. We did this with various forms of performance tracking devices, such as Output Sports for contact times during stiffness exercises and throwing speed during slam and throw exercises. We also used our in-house tech for priming focused isometric training (priming-iso’s) to quantify, monitor and enhance rate of force development and peak force metrics (see table 2 below). Finally, we were even able to consistently monitor Tom’s progression when programmes were performed remotely with our clever monitoring features on the KPI app.
Pitch work
Pitch work was planned in-line with our primary aim to prepare Tom for return to professional football. For this reason, we followed a typical 2 on, 1 off, 2 on, 2 off progressing to a 2 on, 1 off, 3 on, 1 off training format, with intensive (small spaces, agility) and extensive (big spaces, speed) themes in the first two weeks. The final two weeks consisted of match-simulation type activities at the end of the week which combined intensive, extensive and cardiovascular demands in largely contextualised environments to replicate approximately 60-min worth of football match load for the athlete.
On extensive / speed days, the format of the sessions followed a logical order of isolated to integrated, and closed to open-skill activities. This format enabled Tom to learn the skills necessary to sprint at faster speeds, execute drills to maximise physical qualities required to do so, and implement them in football-specific training scenarios to enhance transference to the pitch. An outline of each area can be found below in.
Resisted accelerations
The use of the Exergenie device was paramount to our pitch-based training sessions with Tom. Applying high amounts of force, in the right direction with effective technique was a strong focal point for the training intervention, therefore perfectly coupling the resisted sprint trainer for our requirements provided great benefits. Based on evidence and experience, our training format followed a heavy to light format, with the athlete given cues to “use the floor” and “drive forwards” by “projecting the hips ahead”, communicating that the “floor is your friend” during acceleration.
With slow-mo video feedback of Tom’s acceleration runs, we were able to provide him with a positive feedback loop on good repetitions, so that he could associate the “look” and “feel” of a run with a “feeling word”, such as “powerful”, “aggressive” or “big shapes”. This helped him to better execute the skill by recalling the feeling next time.
Constrained upright running
A second technical focal point for Tom to improve his sprint speed was to improve his “attack height” and stride length (as an indirect outcome of greater vertical force application) during max velocity running. In order to do so, conscious training with wicket runs, varied arm positions (pole overhead, hugging body) was prescribed during the integrated sections of the pitch sessions.
As with the acceleration work, with slow-mo video feedback, we provided Tom with visual feedback on his performance and often tasked him to associate the “feeling” and “visual” of a good run with a tangible feeling such as “feeling springy”, “floating” or “effortless”.
Training frequency and intensity
On a weekly basis, a specific focus was given to maximum sprint speed exposures (>95% MSS) at least twice per week, with a minimum of 72 hrs separating each stimulus. One each “speed” training day, the athlete was targeted to complete 3 to 4 efforts across a 40 to 50 m distance, often in closed and linearly directed environments. He was then required to attempt to replicate these efforts within the position-specific drills, often and understandably reaching close to 90% MSS, considering the contextualised variables within the drills (curves, kicking, changing direction, performing under fatigue etc).
Aside from max sprint exposures, Tom was also required to complete 100 to 200 sprint distance (> 80% individualised MSS) and 500 to 800 m high speed distance (60 to 80% individualised MSS) each session. This matched and often exceeded the requirements of him in a competitive match, so was believed to have prepared him superiorly for a match stimulus on return to competition.
With the support of global positioning system technology from our partners Statsports, live monitoring of Tom’s sessions on an Apple Watch enabled us to ensure he hit the required metrics each session to optimise his training stimulus. Following the sessions, our in-house pitch-load monitoring techniques enabled us to ensure that we were safely and effectively balancing the training-recovery relationship and matching the physical requirements of his competitive sports demands.
Post-pitch work
Following pitch sessions, Tom was provided with two lower-limb strength programmes to complete, one largely consisting of isometric exercises and the other a dynamic biassed programme. For each, heavy emphasis was placed on Tom’s ability to “push” with the intention of moving as quickly as possible. For example, a dynamic barbell hip thrust exercise was employed with a barbell velocity tracking device (Output) with live feedback on performance to drive motivation to perform the concentric portion of the exercise as fast as possible. Within the isometric focused strength sessions, live force-time curves were presented to the athlete for him to understand performance during each repetition, specifically in the areas of rate of force development.
Summary:
The goal was to enhance Tom’s maximum sprint speed, crucial for his football performance. Over four weeks, a tailored program combining gym and pitch-based training, along with KPI’s advanced sports technology, helped Tom achieve a personal best sprint speed of 9.7 m/s, a 3% improvement. The study highlights the importance of biomechanical analysis, targeted exercises, and regular speed exposure for long-term performance gains.
