What Actually Makes Athletes Faster? | Speed Training 101

What actually makes athletes faster? In this Speed Training 101 lesson, I break down the five key qualities that influence sprint speed and how coaches can develop faster team sport athletes.Most coaches know their athletes need to get faster.The problem is that “run faster” isn’t a coaching strategy.In Episode 1 of Speed Training 101, I break down speed into five key areas that coaches can actually assess, train and develop:* Strength* Technique* Elasticity* Coordination* Speed exposureYou’ll learn why getting stronger eventually produces diminishing returns, why sprint technique is often overcoached, how sprinting develops elastic qualities, why maximum-effort sprinting isn’t always the answer, and why most athletes may be getting far less genuine speed exposure than coaches realise.The goal of this series is simple: to make speed training for team sport athletes easier to understand, coach and programme.0:00 What Actually Makes Athletes Faster?0:29 What Speed Really Is1:38 How Strength Influences Sprint Speed2:14 When Strength Stops Making You Faster3:23 How Strong Does an Athlete Need to Be?4:51 The Problem With Sprint Technique Coaching5:52 Simple Sprint Technique for Team Sports7:12 How Elasticity Makes Athletes Faster8:31 Why Sprinting Develops More Than Speed9:55 Why Maximum Effort Isn't Always Better11:01 The Three Sprint Intensity Bands13:23 How Much Speed Training Do Athletes Need?14:53 Why Sprint Volume Can Be Misleading15:23 The Step Load Method16:25 The 5 Qualities That Develop Speed17:12 Why Are Some Athletes Faster Than Others?FREE FIELD SPEED TOOLKITGet the tools and frameworks to help you apply the Sports Speed System with your athletes:https://speedbysportland.com/tool-kit...THE SPORTS SPEED SYSTEMLearn my complete system for developing speed that transfers to team sport:https://www.speedbysportland.com/spor...I’m Sam Portland, author of The Sports Speed System. This channel is dedicated to helping strength and conditioning coaches understand speed development, sprint training and performance for team sport athletes.