Sprint Sport Training: 5 Essential Drills to Boost Your Speed and Performance

Of course, over the years we’ve met him a few times and had some informal conversations. That’s how I often think about speed development in sprint sport training. It’s not just a series of formal, rigid sessions; it’s built on countless informal chats with coaches, athletes, and my own body, learning what truly translates from the track to the stopwatch. The pursuit of speed is a dialogue, and the most productive conversations happen during specific, purposeful drills. Today, I want to share five essential drills that have consistently proven their worth, not just in theory, but in the gritty reality of training logs and competition days. These aren’t magic bullets, but they are the foundational conversations you need to have with your neuromuscular system to unlock higher performance.

Let’s start with the most critical element often overlooked: pure acceleration. It’s the first 10-20 meters that often decide a race, and for that, nothing beats resisted sled sprints. I’m a firm believer in loading this phase. The data, though I’m paraphrasing from memory, suggests an optimal load of around 10-20% of your body weight to overload the muscles without butchering your technique. You see, when you remove that resistance, the feeling of explosiveness is unreal. It teaches your body to apply force horizontally into the ground. I typically program these for short bursts of 10-15 meters, with full recovery. It’s grueling, but the transfer to block clearance and drive phase is immediate. Contrast this with another favorite of mine: wicket runs. These are for maximal velocity, that top-end speed you hit around the 40-60 meter mark. Setting up a series of small hurdles or markers at precise distances forces a specific stride length and frequency. I’ve found that spacing them about 1.2 to 1.5 meters apart for developing sprinters works wonders. It’s a rhythmic, technical drill that ingrains efficient mechanics when you’re upright and at your fastest. The key is maintaining relaxation; if you’re straining to hit the marks, you’re defeating the purpose.

Now, raw power needs a conduit, and that’s where plyometrics come in. Depth jumps are a classic for a reason. Stepping off a box, absorbing the force, and immediately exploding upward or outward trains the stretch-shortening cycle—your body’s elastic energy system. I’m cautious with box height; 12-18 inches is usually plenty. Anything higher and the risk outweighs the reward. I prefer a low volume here, maybe 4 sets of 3-5 reps, focusing on quality of movement and minimal ground contact time. It’s not about how high you jump, but how quickly you can reverse direction. This directly feeds into your stride stiffness and ground contact efficiency during a sprint. Speaking of contact, let’s talk about a drill I’ve grown increasingly fond of: single-leg bounding. This is where you separate the strong from the balanced. It builds unilateral power and addresses limb asymmetries that can lead to injury. You’re essentially bounding for distance on one leg, focusing on a powerful push and a cyclical, piston-like leg action. It’s humbling. You’ll quickly discover which side is your “go-to” and which side is lagging. I’ll often use it in a circuit, alternating legs for 20-30 meters. The carryover to the single-leg stance phase of sprinting is arguably more direct than any bilateral exercise.

Finally, we cannot ignore the specific strength required. For me, the king here is the hill sprint. It’s nature’s resistance trainer. A moderately steep incline of about 5-7 degrees automatically promotes a forward lean, powerful arm drive, and high knee lift. It builds strength and endurance in the exact movement pattern you need. I use these for longer sprints, say 40-60 meters, at near-maximum effort. The recovery is longer, but the muscular development is comprehensive. Some coaches swear by stadium stairs, but I find hills to be more specific to the sprinting action. They teach you to fight and maintain form under fatigue, a skill that pays dividends in the final quarter of any race.

Bringing it all together, speed isn’t developed by accident. It’s a product of these intentional, focused conversations with different facets of your athleticism. The sled teaches you to push, the wickets teach you to flow, the jumps teach you to rebound, the bounds teach you to balance, and the hills teach you to endure. Over the years, my own informal conversations with performance have led me to prioritize quality over quantity every single time with these drills. A single perfect set of wicket runs is worth more than ten sloppy ones. The goal is to create a nervous system that is efficient, powerful, and resilient. So, integrate these drills thoughtfully, listen to the feedback from your body—those informal chats are the most important ones you’ll have—and watch as your speed and overall performance begin a new, faster dialogue.