Do you believe an athlete can make themselves faster through training?

Even today, that is a divisive topic.

The growth mindset crowd believes just about anything can improve with the right approach, even speed.

But what is that right approach?

More and more, research is pointing towards something that very few performance coaches prioritize.

There's those who believe lifting heavy works best.

And others who think you can only build speed on the track, or with plyometric drills.

Both are right, of course, to an extent.

Both also miss a critical third component, one that the leaders in the sports training industry are quickly waking up to right now.

In playground terms, it involves training to be less like a dodgeball, and more like a golf ball.

What?

Well, every time your foot strikes the ground on a sprint, you'll rebound back off at a rate consistent with your ability to stay rigid.

Slower runners sink into the ground, bending too much at the knee, hip, and especially the ankle.

Just like a dodgeball, squishing on impact, losing a bit of its shape, and creating a mediocre rebound.

Faster runners stiffen up on impact, holding their shape despite the incredibly high forces applied by gravity.

Like a golf ball dropped from height, this rigidity creates a powerful rebound effect.

Runners with this ability get off the ground and into the next stride much quicker.

The beauty of this is you can train to develop better bounce.

But you don't do it by lifting insanely heavy weight.

Instead, you must improve your ability to stop it.

A simple example would be an altitude drop, where you step off a box and freeze in an athletic position.

Can you do this without sinking at all, the moment your feet hit the ground? Slower athletes will struggle at this, but with quality repetition they'll improve how well they stiffen up against forces from gravity.

In time, they can drop from higher boxes, learning to absorb larger forces.

Back on the field, court or track, this newfound ability to resist sinking into the ground will build your bounce.

Pinging off the ground more like a dodgeball, transforming your speed.

Exercises like these do not fall under the traditional weight room expectation.

They're not even common for most speed programs, which often have a deep dislike of any weight room training at all.

But they work.

Which, for the kid who always feels a step too slow against top competition, can make all the difference over the rest of their playing career.