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Methods of Developing
Power to Improve
Acceleration for the
Non-Track Athlete
Jay Dawes, PhD
1
and Doug Lentz, MS
2
1
University-Corpus Christi, Corpus Christi, Texas; and
2
Fitness and Wellness at Summit Health, Chambersberg, Pennsylvania
SUMMARY
IN MOST TEAM-BASED SPORTS
ATHLETES MUST BE ABLE TO
GENERATE EXPLOSIVE MUSCULAR
FORCES TO ACCELERATE,
CHANGE DIRECTIONS, AND THEN
RE-ACCELERATE OVER RELA-
TIVELY SHORT DISTANCES.
THEREFORE, TO BE SUCCESSFUL,
ACCELERATION RATHER THAN
MAXIMAL VELOCITY IS LIKELY A
GREATER PREDICTOR OF SUC-
CESS IN THESE SPORTS. THIS
ARTICLE WILL EXPLORE SOME OF
THE TECHNIQUES COMMONLY
USED TO IMPROVE AN ATHLETE’S
ABILITY TO ACCELERATE BY
IMPROVING FORCE, VELOCITY,
AND THE COMBINATION OF THESE
2 ELEMENTS.
INTRODUCTION
Speed is often considered an
essential element to athletic suc-
cess. In general terms, most would
agree that a faster athlete has a distinct
competitive advantage over their slower
competition. For this reason, athletes
tend to spend a great deal of time
engaged in activities to improve running
velocity. However, the strength and con-
ditioning professional must consider
that outside of track and field events,
speed in most team-based sports, such
as soccer, football, and hockey, is char-
acterized by abrupt changes in velocity
and requires a variety of adjustments
in foot placement, stride rate, and
stride frequency to be effective (4,34).
Based on these demands, the athlete
must be able to generate explosive
muscular forces very rapidly to acceler-
ate, change directions, and then re-
accelerate over relatively short distances
(approximately 10–30 m) (3,5,9). There-
fore, to be successful, acceleration rather
than maximal velocity is likely a greater
predictor of success in these types of
sports. For this reason, it would appear
that the aim of training for these
athletes should be on the ability to
change velocity over short distances
in multiple directions based on game-
specific stimuli rather than dedicating
the majority of their training time to
developing linear speed alone (12,13,34).
Acceleration can be defined as the rate
at which a person or object changes
velocity (29). Expressed in mathematical
terms, it is the change of velocity divided
by the change in time (a 5v/t). Most
sport coaches view acceleration as the
athlete’s ability to produce high speeds
within 5–10 m from a stationary or
moving start (10). It has been reported
that some athletes are able to achieve
peak rates of acceleration within the
first 8–10 strides from a stationary
start, allowing them to reach up to
75% of their maximumrunningvelocity
within the first 10 yards (18). This ability
to explosively accelerate is largely
dependent on the athlete’s ability to
overcome inertia (17). Inertia is the ten-
dency of an object to resist change in
motion and relates to Newton’s first
law of motion, which states that every
object continues in its state of rest or of
uniform motion in a straight line, unless
it is compelled to change that state by
forces impressed upon it. Therefore, to
produce movement, an athlete must
apply greater muscular forces into the
ground to overcome the oppositional
forces of gravity to produce velocity
(17). It is most difficult to overcome iner-
tia from a stationary start, as the body is
at rest. Duthie et al. (9) found that elite
rugby union players were able to achieve
70% of their maximum velocity within 2
seconds from a standing start. In com-
parison, when observing Australian
Rules football players, Benton (3) discov-
ered that these athletes were able to
achieve greater acceleration speeds and
near maximal velocities (96–99% of mean
maximal velocity) when sprint efforts
commenced from a moving (i.e., jogging
or striding) rather than a stationary start.
Duthie et al. (9) also found the initial
velocity of rugby union players was sig-
nificantly better when performing a sprint
from a walking, jogging, or striding start
compared with a standing start.
KEY WORDS:
acceleration; game-speed; change of
direction speed; power development
VOLUME 34 | NUMBER 6 | DECEMBER 2012 Copyrig ht ÓNational Strength and Conditioning Association
44
Although many would argue that maxi-
mal velocity training is not important for
the field/court sport athlete, at times
these athletes may be required to achieve
near maximal velocities when accelerat-
ing from a rolling or striding start. Thus,
performing some maximal velocity train-
ing within an athlete’s training session is
warranted. However, the amount of time
spent training this element should be
basedonagame’sneedsanalysis.Fore-
xample, Benton (3) observed that Austra-
lian Rules football players frequently (65–
85%) started sprint efforts from a moving
start (i.e., jogging or striding) rather than
a stationary start. For these reasons, it
would seem prudent that speed train-
ing sessions would emphasize acceler-
ation from different types of both
stationary and moving starts based
on these percentages. In addition,
incorporating some maximal velocity
training drills that require rapid accel-
eration from a rolling or moving start
may be more sport specific than
always performing these drills from
a traditional stationary start.
METHODS OF IMPROVING
ACCELERATION
There are 3 primary areas that can be
trained that will directly improve an
athlete’s ability to accelerate (17).
These domains include the following:
Increasing the number of steps
(increasing stride rate) without
decreasing the length of each stride.
Increasing the length of each stride
without decreasing stride rate.
Improving sprinting technique that will
result in less wasted energy and greater
force production and utilization.
Most training methods associated with
increasing stride frequency emphasize
improving leg turnover, such as using
overspeed training methods like run-
ning downhill or towing. In contrast,
training methods aimed at improving
stride length tend to focus on training
the athlete to increase their force output
at foot strike rather than attempting to
increase limb velocity. Because this arti-
cle is specifically focused on developing
power to improve acceleration, methods
aimed at improving stride length, rather
than stride frequency, will be addressed.
POWER AND ACCELERATION
There are a variety of methods that can
be used to improve acceleration through
improved stride length. Typically, these
training methods focus on strategies that
help the athlete exert a greater amount
of force into the ground at foot strike.
According to O’Shea (25), one of the
major benefits of being a powerful
athlete is the ability to accelerate faster
than an athlete who just possesses
great strength. Therefore, the ability
to generate explosive force is critical for
acceleration. However, though ground
contact time during acceleration is
slightly longer in comparison with max-
imal velocity sprinting, it is not possible
to generate maximal force at foot strike
during any phase of the sprinting cycle
(23,33). Therefore, it is not just the
amount of force the athlete is able to
exert but how quickly they are able to
produce this force. Accordingly, when
we look at power in the context of game
speed, rate of force development (RFD)
and peak force production are likely of
greater significance than maximal
force development during these activ-
ities (35,36). Because power is the
expression of both strength (force)
and speed (velocity), it is generally
accepted that improving force pro-
duction potential, velocity of move-
ment, or both are effective when
seeking to improve acceleration (28).
Although maximal force and velocity
exist on the 2 extreme sides of the
power continuum (7) (Figure 1), train-
ing both maximal force production
and RFD may directly influence an
athlete’s ability to express the appro-
priate amount of power to execute a
given task during competition.
STRENGTH TRAINING
Many coaches use resistance training
as a method of improving force pro-
duction capabilities and then transi-
tion this newly acquired strength to
exercises/drills that emphasize the
actual speeds in which these forces
are expressed during competition
(4). Hence, the emphasis of heavy
resistance/low-velocity strength
training is to influence the high-force
end of the force-velocity continuum
(35). According to Cavanaugh (7),
the rationale for this approach is to
improve strength so that the force
required to move a given resistance,
such as bodyweight, would represent
a smaller percentage of the athletes
increasing level of maximal strength.
The ability to generate greater ground
reaction forces (GRF) at foot strike
should allow for greater stride lengths
to be achieved, thus improving the
speed at which one is able to accelerate.
This concept directly relates to Newton’s
third law of motion, or the law of action-
reaction. When an athlete pushes the
foot back and downward, the mutual
interactions between the foot and ground
will act to propel the athlete forward.
The amount of force exerted by the
athlete is equal to the amount of force
on the athlete. As a result, the direction
of the force on the ground (backward)
is in direct opposition to the direction
of force on the athlete (forward). Based
on this interaction, it would seem pru-
dent to train the muscles of the lower
extremity directly responsible for gen-
erating forces at foot strike, specifically
those muscles surrounding the hip.
During the propulsion phase of accel-
eration, the hip extensors and quadri-
ceps muscles are directly responsible
for generating explosive forces (37).
The hamstring muscles also play a
major role in decelerating the lower
leg in preparation for ground contact,
in addition to aiding in hip extension
(33,37). Training the muscles of the
hip flexors is also imperative because
greater strength and power in these
muscles is essential for accelerating
the hip forward from an extended to
flexed position to reload the hip for
subsequent ground contact (33).
In general, multijoint closed kinetic
chain exercises such as various types
of squats as well as multidirectional
lunges (Figure 2) and step-ups (Figure 3)
would be preferred over the utilization
of resistance training machines based
on their biomechanical similarities to
actual running events. In addition,
these free weight type exercises
Strength and Conditioning Journal | www.nsca-scj.com 45
require the athletes to stabilize, con-
trol, and resist unwanted movements
during their performance. This may
potentially aid in greater joint stability
as energy is transferred from the ground
up through the kinetic chain, which
may improve horizontal displacement
(26). However, exercises targeted at
improving the eccentric strength of
the hamstring muscles, such as tradi-
tional and single leg variations of the
Romanian deadlift (Figures 4 and 5),
multiplanar reaching lunges (Figure 6),
glute-ham raises (Figure 7), and tradi-
tional and assisted versions of the Nor-
dic leg Curl (Figures 8 and 9), may also
be beneficial in terms of improving
force production and reducing injury
risk (2,6).
Another form of resistance training
to improve acceleration is the use of
resisted sprinting. Resisted sprinting
requires the athlete to perform sprint
training with weighted sleds or vests,
parachutes, tires attached to harnesses,
partner-resisted drills, and uphill/
stair running (8,22). The main objec-
tive of this form of training is to
increase force production through
improvements in stride length.
Although sleds and resisted methods
have been shown to improve acceler-
ation speed up to about 10 m, the
weight used should not exceed 10–
12.6% of the athletes total body mass
(BM) to minimize the disruptions of
proper sprint kinematics (16,20,22,32).
Although Lockie et al. (20) found that
heavier sled work (32.2% of total BM)
did increase upper-body involvement,
it also caused reductions in step length
and stride rate, and increased ground
contact time. Furthermore, it has been
recommended that the amount of load
added to these types of training devices
should not result in a greater than 10%
drop off in an athlete’s speed limit (15).
Several authors have reported that
a training load of up to 10% BM fell
within these limits (20,22).
IMPROVE STRENGTH TO
BODYWEIGHT RATIO
Because acceleration is a product of
force/mass, to improve acceleration,
we must either increase the amount
of force produced or decrease the
amount of mass the athlete is required
to move. Quite often in an attempt to
increase force production capabilities,
athletes seek to increase their BM.
Because the muscle is active and produ-
ces force, those individuals with greater
muscle cross-sectional area are typically
able to produce greater forces. However,
when we increase the mass, the body
has to overcome a greater amount of
inertiatomove(F5M3A). This con-
cept is illustrated by Newton’s second
law of motion, which states that there
is an inverse relationship between mass
and acceleration. For instance, Lockie
et al. (19) found that although no abso-
lute strength differences existed in the 3
repetition maximum squat for 2 groups
of athletes, it was discovered that the
faster group of athletes displayed greater
relative strength in comparison with
their BM. Although greater force may
be produced, if the athletes weight also
increases, additional force is required
to move this mass. Therefore, in some
cases, attempting to increase the muscle
mass to improve speed and acceleration
yields a zero sum gain or even slower
acceleration times.
Figure 1. The power continuum.
Figure 2. Multidirectional lunges. (A) Lunge, (B) 458angle Lunge, (C) Lateral Lunge.
Methods of Developing Power to Improve Acceleration
VOLUME 34 | NUMBER 6 | DECEMBER 2012
46
Another method of improving the
strength to bodyweight ratio would be
to decrease an individual’s amount or
percentage of body fat. Intuitively,
it makes sense that reducing one’s non-
functional mass (body fat) may be a
more productive approach to improv-
ing speed and acceleration than first at-
tempting to add mass because less force
is required to overcome inertial forces.
This allows the athlete to fully maxi-
mize their current force production
potential without adding additional
mass. Conducting initial body composi-
tion estimations may be beneficial to the
athlete, coach, and nutritional pro-
fessional because it aids in the devel-
opment of appropriate training and
nutritional interventions to achieve ideal
body compositions to maximize
performance.
POWER TRAINING
Power can be expressed as force 3
velocity. As previously stated, although
the ability to produce force is
important to acceleration, this force
must be applied rapidly to maximize
performance. Research indicates that
there is a significant relationship
between both lower-body power and
acceleration (14,21,30,31). For this rea-
son, various forms of power training,
such as weightlifting and plyometrics,
are frequently used to help bridge the
gap between strength and power (1,35)
Research has shown that these 2 forms
of exercise have a significant correlation
to sprint speed and acceleration
(14,30,31).
Weightlifting refers to the competitive
sport of lifting barbells as practiced
in the Olympic Games. The 2 lifts in
weightlifting are the snatch and the
clean and jerk. These exercises neces-
sitate exerting high forces against the
ground in a very rapid manner. Thus,
these lifts may have a greater dynamic
correspondence to acceleration com-
pared with traditional slow speed resis-
tance training (14,24). The hang power
clean refers to starting with the barbell
off of the ground (normally just above
the knees) and then “catching” it at
shoulder height. The hang power clean
is relatively easy to learn compared
with the power clean from the floor,
and athletes are able to generate high
power outputs when performing this
exercise. As a result, the hang power
clean is a staple exercise for many
strength and conditioning coaches who
use weightlifting movements in their
training (24). Other exercises that may
be used as alternatives to weightlifting
would include barbell or dumbbell speed
and jump squats (Figures 10 and 11).
Plyometrics are training drills that
rely heavily on the stretch shortening
cycle (SSC) and the conversion of the
eccentric loading to concentric force
production (11). By enhancing the
ability of the muscle tendon unit to
produce force rapidly, an athlete has
a significant opportunity to improve
their levels of reactive strength (11,31).
Because plyometric drills range in in-
tensity from low loads (e.g., pogos) to
moderate loads (e.g., squat jumps) to
high-intensity shock drills (e.g., depth
jumps), this form of training would
allow the athlete to target a wide spec-
trum of the power continuum. In addi-
tion, performing plyometrics would be
considered a very specific method of
training to improve acceleration during
running because of the similarity in load
Figure 3. Multidirectional step-ups. (A) Step-up, (B) Lateral Step-up, (C) Rotational Step-up.
Figure 4. Romanian deadlifts. Figure 5. Single-leg Romanian deadlifts.
Strength and Conditioning Journal | www.nsca-scj.com 47
(bodyweight), demands on the SSC,
and the RFD required for these drills (7)
It has been suggested that although
both horizontal and vertical produc-
tion of force is important to athletic
performance, it is the horizontal forces
that experience the greatest increases
when accelerating to maximal velocity
(28). Therefore, it would seem prudent
to incorporate both vertical and hori-
zontal plyometric drills into the ath-
lete’s training program to enhance
horizontal power production. How-
ever, plyometric drills that emphasize
horizontal, rather than vertical, force
production appear to be more specific
to the running motion and should be
emphasized if horizontal power is the
primary training goal. Currently, there
are no recommendations available that
provide the ideal ratio of vertical to
horizontal training drills that should
be performed. Thus, at the moment,
this is largely based on practical expe-
rience and the coaches’ best judgment.
Hence, the strength and conditioning
coach should evaluate how much time
and emphasis is placed on performing
vertical power training exercises in com-
parison with horizontal training drills
and seek to determine the optimal bal-
ance between force production in these
2 directions.
An important consideration for the
strength coach to consider when in-
corporating bounding type drills into
an athlete training program is ensuring
they have an adequate base of strength
to accommodate the stress placed on
the joints upon landing. It has been
suggested that an athlete be able to
perform back squats with at least 1.53
bodyweight before attempting high-
level plyometric drills (27), especially
those that require a single leg landing.
However, various hopping and skipping
drills may be used by athletes to train
this horizontal component predicated
on their ability to maintain proper
form and maintain good body control
throughout the required ranges of
motion to perform these drills.
TECHNIQUE
Finally, when seeking to improve an
athlete’s ability to explosively accelerate,
the importance of proper technique
Figure 6. Multidirectional reaching lunges. (A) Reaching Lunge, (B) Lateral Reaching Lunge, (C) Rotational Reaching Lunge.
Figure 7. Glute-ham raise. (A) Beginning
Position, (B) Ending Position.
Figure 8. Nordic leg curls. (A) Beginning
Position, (B) Eccentric load-
ing of the hamstrings, (C)
Catch or ending position. Figure 9. Assisted Nordic leg curls.
Methods of Developing Power to Improve Acceleration
VOLUME 34 | NUMBER 6 | DECEMBER 2012
48
cannot be overstated. Those athletes
who are able to harness their force
and power by positioning the joints
in the most efficacious biomechanical
positions to exert high forces into the
ground more efficiently have a distinct
competitive advantage. Good form
and technique allow the athletes to
work more efficiently in not only
improving acceleration speed, but also
allowing them to conserve energy and
resist fatigue.
The mechanics of acceleration differ
from those of maximum velocity, and
in the authors’ opinions, the majority
of time spent coaching nontrack ath-
letes on “speed development” should
be devoted to this phase. Generally, it
is agreed by most experts that speed
can be improved with proper training.
However, it should be mentioned that
to achieve excellence in any domain,
athletes have to spend a considerable
amount of time to improve perfor-
mance through practice-related activi-
ties. The acquisition of proper sprinting
mechanics to improve accelerative
capabilities is no exception. Regardless
of the athlete’s starting stances, the
primary emphasis is to drive down into
the court or field and build momentum.
In using a top to bottom approach,
the practitioners will have systematic
approach and several key reference
points they can refer to when coaching
their respective athletes.
A good place to begin is with the
athlete’s posture, which refers to the
alignment of the body. During accel-
eration, the athlete’s body will have a
pronounced forward lean that results
in a lower center of mass position. This
forward lean also allows optimal body
positioning for the production of greater
forces to increase horizontal propulsion.
It is critical that this lean not be achieved
by flexing or bending at the waist. It
should be noted that during all phases
of sprinting, one should be able to draw
a straight line from the head, through
the torso, hip, knee, and ankle of the
supporting leg when the athlete’s leg
is fully extended just before the foot
loses contact with the ground.
Next, the head position should be
addressed. The head should be in line
with the torso and the torso in line
with the legs during linear acceleration
movements. Excessive flexion or exten-
sion of the neck is not warranted, and
the athletes should be coached to avoid
swaying or jerking of the head in any
direction.
Proper arm action is critical to maximiz-
ing one’s acceleration potential. Arm
action refers to the range of motion
and velocity of the athlete’s arms. The
athlete should be instructed to initiate
his/her aggressive arm swing at the
shoulder with the elbow flexed to
approximately 908. The movement of
the arms counteracts the substantial rota-
tional forces being generated by the legs.
Additionally, the forceful backward
swinging ofthe arms will use the stretch
reflex and provide much of the forward
propulsion of the contralateral arm.
Finally, proper leg action should be
examined. In this context, leg action
deals with the relationship of the hips
and legs relative to the torso and the
ground. Manufacturing explosive take-
offs requires extending the hip, knee,
and ankle in a synchronizing manner
to elicit the most efficient force against
the ground. In coaching acceleration
form drills, athletes should be in-
structed to keep their feet in a dorsi-
flexed position throughout the running
cycle, except when the foot strikes the
ground. During foot strike, the weight
should be on the ball of the foot,
directly under the athlete. This action
will minimize braking forces and max-
imize propulsive force. The angle of
the athlete’s shins to the ground will
be sharp (less than 908) initially, but it
will increase slightly with each succes-
sive stride. During acceleration, stride
length starts out short and increases
gradually. Ground contact time will
be the greatest with the first stride,
and then it also gradually decreases
with stride progression. Similarly,
stride frequency will start out slowly
because of the initial longer ground
contact times, and it will increase grad-
ually with each stride.
CONCLUSIONS
The need for explosive power during
acceleration is evident in most team
sports. The following are several con-
siderations that should be considered
when developing training programs to
improve acceleration.
Figure 10. Barbell jump squats. (A)
Triple Flexion of the ankles,
knees and hips, (B) Triple
Extension of the ankles,
knees and hips.
Figure 11. Dumbbell jump squats. (A)
Triple Flexion of the ankles,
knees and hips, (B) Triple
Extension of the ankles,
knees and hips.
Strength and Conditioning Journal | www.nsca-scj.com 49
Strength and conditioning professio-
nals should conduct a basic game
needs analysis to determine the
average number of sprints and the
range of these distances during
competition. The number of times
these sprints are initiated from
a moving and stationary start should
also be examined. In addition, the
stances used for these stationary
starts (3-point, 2-point, staggered,
etc) should be examined to improve
sport specificity when designing
acceleration drills.
Both vertical and horizontal power
training exercises and drills should
be performed to improve accel-
eration. These drills may better
improve the athlete’s ability to use
the reactive and neural benefits
of the SSC during acceleration.
However, because running is pre-
dominately performed horizontally,
plyometric training drills aimed at
horizontal force production may
be more specific to these actions.
Strength training should be per-
formed to improve both absolute
and relative strength levels to maxi-
mize the ability to produce, reduce,
and stabilize forces during linear
acceleration or accelerating with mul-
tiple changes of direction. Particular
emphasis should be placed on lower-
body exercises that require multijoint,
closed kinetic chain free-weight exer-
cises in multiple planes of movement
and use the entire muscle contrac-
tion spectrum (concentric, isometric,
and eccentric). The hip extensors
should be trained to aid in the pro-
duction of force at foot strike and
generate greater horizontal propul-
sive forces. The hip flexor muscles
should be trained to help improve
stride frequency by allowing the ath-
lete to reposition the leg quicker after
foot strike to load the leg for subse-
quent hip extension and propulsion.
Training the hamstrings using exer-
cises that emphasize dynamic eccen-
tric control may not only be useful for
improving performance but also
reducing injury risk.
Although resisted sprinting may be
a viable method of improving
acceleration speed, this form of train-
ing should be used only after athletes
have demonstrated a solid technical
base. The training load used for re-
sisted sprints should be at approxi-
mately 10–12% of the athlete’s total
BM to effectively overload these
movements without creating signifi-
cant reductions in top speeds
(,10%) to maximize adaptations
and minimize disruptions in running
form and technique.
Although improving absolute
strength may have a positive influ-
ence on the amount of GRF pro-
duced at foot strike, aiming to
improve relative strength may have
a greater impact on performance.
Athletes should first strive to attain
ideal body composition ratios based
on the specific demands of their sport
before trying to significantly increase
muscle mass because greater force is
required to move the additional load
and may inevitably have no impact or
even reduce one’s velocity.
A wide variety of techniques should
be used to improve both ends of the
power continuum. Traditional
resistance training should be per-
formed to improve maximal force
production potential. Weightlifting,
and/or other forms of ballistic
weight training, and plyometrics
should be used to target more
global parts of the power contin-
uum, whereas high-speed/velocity
activities, such as sprinting and agil-
ity training, should be used to
address the expression of power in
a game-specific context.
Jay Dawes is an
assistant professor
in the Depart-
ment of Kinesiol-
ogy at Texas A &
M University—
Corpus Christi
and serves as
astrengthand
conditioning con-
sultant/instructor
for the Corpus Christi Police Department.
Douglas Lentz
is the director of
Fitness and Well-
ness for Summit
Health in Cham-
bersburg,
Pennsylvania.
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