Transform your athleticism by training like these athletes…

If you want to transform your athletic ability, there are a particular group of athletes you should be training like…

Track & Field athletes.

Specifically, the sprinters.

“But I play volleyball, I don’t even run in my sport.”

“I play basketball, I hardly ever sprint in my sport.”

That. Doesn’t. Matter.

It will make sense when we take a look at these athletes’ abilities and how they train.

First off, Track & Field athletes, specifically the sprinters and jumpers, are in my opinion, the best in the world when it comes to pure athleticism.

They have insane jumping abilities (vertical and horizontal), sprinting abilities, power, explosiveness, and are extremely strong for their body weights.

These are traits that would allow any athlete to dominate their sport, assuming the sport-specific skills are there. All team sports have a need for strength, power, and explosiveness; qualities that are in abundance for Track & Field athletes.

Now, not every team sport has a need for insane sprinting abilities.

Sports like basketball and volleyball have almost no need for athletes to have insane running speeds.

So then why should all athletes train like sprinters?

Well for starters, most sports have a need to overcome inertia (initiate movement from a dead-stop position). Like blowing by a defender from a triple-threat stance in basketball, or accelerating to chase after a puck in hockey. Acceleration-based sprinting improves these abilities.

Next, these athletes’ training is what allows them to be as athletic as they are. While the best in the world do have great genetics, their genetics are not the sole reason they are as freaky as they are.

The main components of their training include sprinting, plyometric training, and weight training. I’m sure every serious athlete is already doing plyometric and weight training.

But they’re missing the KEY to transforming their athleticism. That key is sprinting.

If you are a speed/power sport athlete, you are leaving so much potential on the table by not sprinting. Sprinting isn’t only important because it makes you faster.

No, sprinting is the ultimate nervous system enhancer that also significantly develops your connective tissue ability and is a great strength improver.

If you’re unfamiliar with the nervous system's importance, you can think of it as your body’s software. It connects your brain to your muscles and is what allows your muscles to do what your brain wants them to do.

Have you ever seen those people who look skinny or have average muscular development, yet they are stronger than people who have significantly more muscle than them?

Or if you take two athletes who essentially have the same build and muscle mass, yet one is noticeably stronger than the other?

You can thank their nervous systems for this. The superior athlete’s nervous system is better developed and more efficient than their weaker counterparts. Their nervous system has higher levels of neural activation and neuromuscular coordination.

Humans are much stronger than what we typically express - our brain/nervous system puts a limit on our strength to avoid injury; we don’t have conscious access to all of our muscular capabilities.

These people with better neural activation and neuromuscular coordination activate more of their nervous system than their counterparts (neural activation), and their muscles synchronize better with one another (neuromuscular coordination). This means their muscles activate, deactivate, and coordinate faster and more efficiently with one another.

As for the previously mentioned connective tissue piece, sprinting is a very, very high-level plyometric. Every team sport athlete has a need for plyometrics if they are serious about optimizing their athleticism.

Consistent sprinting will take your connective tissue capability to the next level, specifically the Achilles tendon. The primary movements in every major sport; running, changing directions, jumping, etc., depend on your connective tissue’s capabilities. If an athlete is extremely explosive but is slow and can’t jump high off the run, this is because of their connective tissue’s inability.

Now to the strength component.

Yes, sprinting will make you stronger.

(See this video of Olympic sprinter Christian Coleman squatting 405 for reps)

Have you ever gone and done true sprinting after a period of not running at all, while doing weight training during that time?

I bet when you did, you were sore as s**t the day after that sprinting session.

How does that make sense since you were still lifting heavy for a long period of time?

It’s because the forces you see in sprinting exceed the forces you see in the weight room.

Yes, that’s right, your body experiences greater forces when running at top speed than it will in the weight room.

When running at top speed, competitive athletes apply average general forces of 2 to 2.5 times their body weights. These forces even reach peaks of 3 to 5 times their body weights.

Getting to 2 times bodyweight in the gym in any lift is an impressive feat for most athletes, and this is just the bare minimum of the force spectrum that you experience during maximal sprinting.

When discussing this topic, two people come to mind: Dan Pfaff and Boo Schexnayder. If you aren’t familiar with them, they are considered two of the best Track & Field coaches ever. Having coached multiple successful Olympians, All-Americans, NCAA Champions, and worked with numerous professional sports teams and professional team sport athletes.

Dan Pfaff

Boo Schexnayder

These coaches are constantly sought after for their expertise in speed and power development, not only in the Track & Field realm but also in the professional team sport world. They audit teams’ training programs, provide professional teams with speed & power programs, and work with professional team sport athletes individually.

And you wanna know how they train their team sport athletes?

They train them like sprinters.

Sprinting is a high-priority menu item in their training alongside plyometrics and weight training.

One of my favourite quotes ever comes from Boo and it relates to this topic:

“Honestly, if I’m gonna teach you how to play checkers or chess I’m probably gonna make you do acceleration development. I believe that strongly in it.”

Consistently sprinting will make you jump higher, change directions better, be stronger, more explosive, and more powerful.

That’s a pretty good return on your investment of just sprinting a few times per week, wouldn’t ya say?

Now, I’m not telling you to just neglect all your team sport training in favour of training exactly like a sprinter. You still need to consistently practice your sport and hone your skills.

But if you are in the pursuit of moving the needle on your athletic ability, then in the offseason you can slightly pull back on your skills/sport-specific training for a bit, and implement and prioritize sprint training alongside plyometrics and weights.

Now wait and watch your athleticism reach levels higher than you thought possible.

I hope I was able to give you insight into why sprinting is such an important piece for athletic development even if it may not seem “specific” to your sport.

Because I am here to tell you it absolutely is specific to your sport. Sprint training will do much more for you than simply improving your ability to run fast.

Good luck,

- Jonah Branning