Many coaches believe acceleration and top speed training are completely different animals. Maximum velocity work often gets labeled as complicated, technical, and difficult to teach. But if you zoom out and look at what actually matters—the application of force and what’s happening at the hip, knee, and ankle—the differences aren’t as big as we’ve made them.
When we talk about “getting the slack out of muscles,” producing stiffness, and fully extending the hip, those concepts apply to acceleration, max velocity, and agility alike. Under that lens, improving linear speed doesn’t just make athletes faster in a straight line—it improves overall athleticism.
Get better at producing force efficiently, and everything else follows.
Before diving into drills or programming, these foundational elements have to be in place:
- Posture control
- Stability
- Mobility
- Ground negotiation
- Movement preparation
This is why we call it movement prep—not just a warm-up.
Preparing an athlete should directly reflect the session's goal. A linear speed day should look linear from the first movement onward. If your warm-up is filled with sideways runs, cariocas, and unrelated movements, it’s not setting the athlete up for success—especially if time is limited.
Those movements have value, but not when they dilute the intent of the session.
Practical Examples
- Skipping (hands behind the back or overhead) helps establish posture control and rhythm.
- Pogos, when done correctly, are an excellent tool for linear speed prep.
The key with pogos is how they’re performed. Too often, athletes bounce around on their toes like they’re jumping rope. The goal is dorsiflexion at ground contact and lower-leg stiffness. What you don’t want to see is excessive ankle flexion—that’s energy loss.
We start reinforcing stiffness concepts in the warm-up because speed doesn’t magically appear later in the session.
Drills are useful—but only if they actually transfer.
Take the classic A-series drills (A March, A Skip, A Run). Most coaches focus on knee lift, which is important, but the real question is: what is the opposite leg doing?
This is where many athletes struggle.
Cueing “lift the knee” is easy to understand, but it often leads to:
- A flat foot at contact
- A soft ankle
- Excessive knee flexion
It’s easy to lift a knee. It’s hard to strike the ground properly.
Remember, the goal is to train the athlete, not just run drills. Both sides of the action—the lift and the strike—must be coached if you want real improvements in speed and athletic performance.
Running faster isn’t just about applying more force. It’s about applying more force in less time and in the right direction.
That starts before ground contact.
Athletes need to be prepared to attack the ground with the next stance leg. In drills like the A March, this means being in a position to whip from the hip.
The hip is the prime mover in sprinting. When athletes are told to “push harder,” many respond by stomping with their feet. That’s not force application—that’s force leakage.
Think of a whip. The tip doesn’t generate the power—the handle does.
The hip is the handle of the leg.
Another powerful visual is the swing and scissor.
Imagine opening a pair of scissors as wide as possible. Now imagine your legs are the scissors.
The goal:
- Front knee lifts to the hip
- Back leg fully extends into the ground
- Maximum distance between the knees
That separation is what drives force, projection, and efficient sprint mechanics.
Key Takeaways
Acceleration, top speed, and agility aren’t separate silos. They’re different expressions of the same underlying qualities. If you improve posture, stiffness, hip projection, and force application in linear speed, you’re also building better movers.
Speed training done right doesn’t just make athletes faster—it makes them better athletes, period.
