Speed Training – 2 Simple Upper-Body Techniques to Enhance Your Speed!

Speed is something that everyone is born with, but some are naturally born with more speed than others. However, everyone can be trained to fully optimize their individual abilities to become faster. This is the good news because this article will provide you with 2 great adjustments to make with your arms to increase your velocity immediately!

Drill 1: Many problems that inhibit athletes from their full sprinting potential can be related to improper running mechanics. Individuals often generate a lot of wasted motion when it comes to running. For instance, when you think about your arm motion when in a full sprint they are pumping back and forth as quick as your legs. Studies have shown that about 18-20% of your running power comes from the upper-body. This is a big factor when trying to find ways to get faster. The problem with most people is that when they are pumping their arms in the sprint phase, they tend to move them from side to side. This crossing the mid-line of the body is wasting motion and causing your weight to shift side to side instead of in a linear direction. Correct this motion by moving the hands from the pockets (or hips area) to your chin.

Drill 2: So we know that most people waste a lot of motion by moving from side to side, but there is another problem that people are guilty of when trying to generate sprinting power with their arm motion. The next tip is making sure that the angle of your elbows are locked in a 90 degree angle when driving your hands from the pockets to the chins. You also want to make sure that you get your elbows to drive back when the hand is moved to the pockets area. This backward elbow drive with each arm pump is what provides that 18-20% of running power!