The Easy Way to NFL-Caliber Speed

Posted February 27, 2008 at 04:00 PM by Chris Illuminati

Section: His Fitness, Cardio Training, His Health, Physical Health, Special Features

When you’ve been reading Mens Health magazines for as long as I have, very few of the articles will teach you something new. It’s usually the same exercises and information repackaged to look ground-breaking and fresh. However, the recent article, The Easy Way to NFL-Caliber Speed is an extraordinary exception.

Not only did I find this article entertaining and loaded with useful tips, information, and well written descriptions for each drill, I had to convince myself not to throw on my sneakers and sweats and try it out right now. (It’s cold, rainy, and well past the normal hour a grown man should be sprinting on a football field in the dark).

I recommend reading the entire article, but for the purpose of this piece, I’d like to highlight a few of the sections I found the most helpful, and added some advice of my own for the average guy trying this routine for the first time.

RUN LIKE FORREST GUMP Speed requires efficiency. “If you’re wasting movement,” says Shaw, “you’re wasting seconds.” A good model, believe it or not, is Tom Hanks as Forrest Gump. In fact, just visualizing this scene as you try to run faster will help you cover more ground.

This could be the hardest part of the workout. Sure the running will be intense and grueling and will take everything out of you, but breaking an old habit could be near impossible.  Think about how long you’ve been running, maybe since the age of one?

No one ever taught you how to run, or even the proper form and technique, you just realized that the faster your legs moved the faster you ran and the rest is history.  Now imagine it’s all wrong and you have to relearn how to run properly. You could easily fall into old habits which could be slowing you down significantly. People also have two different types of running motion. There is the regular run and the treadmill run. The treadmill run is probably completely wrong.

My advice is the same as Tom Shaw; videotape the workout and compare it to trained athletes and, fine, Forest Gump. (Except stop running before you leave the stadium.)

Arm Action: “Make sure your hands come over your shoulders, and behind your hips,” says Shaw. Keep your arms bent 90 to 100 degrees, and don’t clench your fists. (It causes muscle tension.) The faster you swing your arms, the faster your legs move. Skeptical? Jog in place, then accelerate arm movement. Your legs will automatically follow.

I am a fist-pumper. I come from a long line of fist-pumpers. I’ve been doing it since I was a kid in little league. It just seems like the natural position for the hands. It’s all wrong. I actually learned this a few years back from a friend who trained with sprinters. Clenching your fist is a waste of time and energy. Keep your hands open.

BALL-DROP STARTS Have a buddy hold a tennis ball in each hand and stand 5 to 10 yards away from you. Assume a down stance, and then sprint to whichever ball is dropped, trying to catch it before it hits the ground a second time. Repeat five to eight times.

Excellent speed drill that involves a hidden factor; the male ego. After a few times, the ego kicks in and you ignore the exhaustion and focus on catching that damn ball. Want to up the ante? Turn it into a game. Challenge your training partner to see who could catch the ball the most times. Loser buys lunch.

You’ll build muscle. You’ll lose fat. You’ll stay injury-free. You’ll beat boredom. You’ll live longer. You’ll look fitter. You’ll save time.

Each sentence could stand on it’s own as a reason to try this workout but I condensed them into one simple paragraph because when you put them together and you’d be as dim as Gump for not trying it.  The first warm day of spring and I’ll be on a local football field.

I hope some NFL scouts are watching. 

Research sources and for more information: [Mens Health]; [picture]