Athletes are always looking for ways to gain a leg up on the competition. It is important for players to critique their own games and find out where they can get better every day.

Acceleration is an important aspect of an athlete’s training. Jace Derwin, lead sport performance specialist at Volt Athletics – a USA Football partner that builds training regimens for high school and college athletic programs across the country – said that for a player to build speed, acceleration is vital for success on the field.

“While coaches always preach ‘speed kills,’ in reality, players rarely get to a point when they are running at their highest attainable velocity,” Derwin said. “More often than not, players are in a state of acceleration or deceleration, constantly increasing or decreasing speed in reaction to the run of play.”

Derwin said the goal for a football player must be to reach his highest possible speed in the shortest amount of time. Improving acceleration translates to a lineman driving out of his stance, a running back hitting the hole or a cornerback jumping a route. It is not the athlete who can run the fastest that stands tallest, but it is the athlete who can reach higher speeds in the shortest times that succeeds.

There is a variety of exercises Derwin suggests to help a player reach their acceleration goals.

“Training to sprint 10, 20, 30 yards in as few strides as possible without changing the effective stride length will result in faster rates of acceleration,” he added. “Long sprints of 60 to 100 yards don’t help to improve acceleration as much as they do speed and speed endurance.”

Derwin said workout regimens should include shorter sprints of 10 to 40 yards in length with the focus of constant speed gain between those distances. Athletes should be moving their fastest by the time they cross the end of the line and before they begin to decelerate. The starts can be varied from a three-point stance to lying flat on the ground to sprawl and go. This allows coaches to help develop an athlete’s ability to accelerate from dynamic positions similar to those occurring in game situations. 

Other methods include sled pushing, resisted sprints and hill sprints.

An athlete can also enhance acceleration in the weight room. Pause back squats help players accelerate from an athletic position while under load. Descending to proper squat depth and holding that position for three to five seconds and driving up to standing fast help train athletes to use the lower body explosively and efficiently. Coaches must cue athletes to be explosive out of the hole, and it is only effective if athletes are consciously trying to move the bar at peak velocities. 

“Your ability to accelerate and decelerate faster than your opponent will give you a bigger edge on the field than just all-out sprint speed. Athletes who can continue to accelerate will continue to increase speed,” Derwin said.