Speed training is not the same for everyone. There are considerations to pay attention to when training certain body types.

In human body science, there are three general body types – endomorph, mesomorph and ectomorph – and the vast majority of people are a combination of two body types.

Let’s take a look at endomorphs. We will discuss other body types in future blogs.

Endomorphs tend to have bigger, rounded bodies, especially in the mid-section. Hips are typically wider than the shoulders with low to very low muscle definition and undefined calf muscles. They tend to have an easy time gaining weight and a hard time losing weight.

In football, many endomorphs are herded onto the offensive and defensive lines. They are pushed into shot put and discus for track and field. In youth soccer, they tend to play goalie because of a lack of athleticism and speed.

Endomorphs are not used to training for speed, mostly for sociological reasons. Endomorphs becomes so convinced in their thinking that they are slow that they accept it and give up that part of their skill set at an early age.

SEE ALSO: How to teach the feeling of running faster

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Some athletes simply need more appropriate instruction, opportunities and time to accomplish something – including how to improve speed. As a result of this false line of thinking, many endomorph athletes spend extra time in the weight room getting stronger when they should be learning how to become faster and more athletic. Endomorphs are already naturally strong.

While their centers of mass – their mid-sections – dominate their appearance, within that center of mass may be a large amount of hidden power, strength, coordination and rhythm.

As runners, endomorphs tend to have wide and flat feet. They strike the ground heavy and hard. As a result, their foot contact time on the ground is long, and their stride cycle can be short lengths because of range of motion issues, body mass index and large thighs compared to the other two body types.

One of the first tasks for speed training is to get endomorphs to understand that they are just like everyone else. They have the same gifts as everyone else. They have two legs, two arms, a torso and a head. They too must negotiate natural forces such as gravity, inertia, centripetal force, Newton’s laws, etc.

Gravity and the human body don’t change. Misusing these two properties makes it difficult to complete any human task, including running. So endomorphs need to look at themselves objectively as athletes.

That starts on the mental and emotional scales.

Physiological speed training tasks are developed to improve foot strike steps and to get athletes onto the balls of their feet. Every healthy human has the ability to simply bounce on the balls of the feet, no matter their body shapes. Remember jump rope?

Once an endomorph begins to bounce on the feet like everybody else, the task becomes increasing the speed of the bounce. The foot should strike the ground with the ball of the foot and have a "flinch-like" quick bounce off the surface.

This improved and increased action is a good start. Too often, linemen get into a muscle memory habit of having their feet planted flat on the ground for long periods of time, day after day, practice after practice.

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Endomorphic stride lengths are typically short, slow and out of sync with their arms.

Relearning where to move the upper and lower legs and when to move the legs are important to improving speed. Think about riding a bike. The feet should cycle from the backside of the body up to the hamstring and under the knee, then back down to the ground.

Any drill where endomorphs raise the knee above the full position or above the waist feels weird to them. It takes constant teaching and reinforcement to break this feeling. Their muscles may not be used to expanding and contracting through a maximum range of motion for so many consecutive strides.

If an endomorph is willing to learn the skills it takes to run faster, the gains can sometimes be extreme simply because they have never really tapped into their speed potential. Some of my most memorable speed improvers have been linemen.

The opportunities to get faster are there for endomorph. Give them a chance.

Be well. Be fast.

Ken Taylor played defensive back for the Chicago Bears and San Diego Chargers, helping the Bears win Super Bowl XX. A personal speed trainer in Temecula, Calif., he has worked with more than 5,000 athletes during the past 20 years. Visit his website at www.howtobefaster.com for speed training books and subscribe to TheSpeedDr1 on YouTube for free speed training videos.