We contacted six experts and asked them to weigh in on the three biggest speed-training misconceptions; here’s what they told us. JB Morin Professor and consultant, Université Jean Monnet Saint-Etienne Misconception 1: Some athletes cannot get significantly faster The first misconception is thinking that some athletes cannot get significantly faster, i.e., increase their linear test…
“You can’t run fast if you’re not healthy. But if you create an environment that promotes speed, you create an environment that promotes robustness too.” Les Spellman on Building Speed, Robustness, and Athlete Buy-In Les Spellman is a name synonymous with speed development. In episode #432 of the Pacey Performance Podcast, Les speaks with Rob…
Speed is one of the most scrutinised physical qualities in football. Questions about a player’s speed frequently arise in multidisciplinary team (MDT) discussions or conversations with parents: How fast is a player? Are they quick enough to compete at the highest level? Can we improve their speed? Although there is growing recognition that physical qualities…
Presentation description Deceleration testing and training is rightly getting the attention is deserves. But are we focusing too much on the physical side and neglecting the skill side of its development? In this presentation, Physical Performance Coach for the England Men’s national football team, Hailu Theodros takes us through a case study on how he…
Presentation description Hamstring strain injuries are one of the most common and persistent issues in football, with recurrence rates as high as 34%. Despite advancements in sports medicine, injury rates have increased over the last two decades. Could sprint mechanics hold the key to better prevention strategies? In this insightful presentation, Dr. Chris Bramah explores…
Presentation description This presentation from world-renowned speed coach, Jonas Dodoo dives into the profiling and programming aspects of speed and change of direction development. Jonas explains his physical focus and his kinematic focus before showing us what efficient movement really looks like. He then takes us through is “quadrants of acceleration” which groups athletes into…
“Optimizing sprint performance lies in understanding the unique force and velocity profiles of each athlete, tailoring interventions to enhance their specific capabilities” Introduction Episode #192 of the Pacey Performance Podcast was a ‘best bits’ from some of the most popular episodes in the archives. Clips from sprint experts Derek Hansen, Jason Hettler, Dan Pfaff, James…
Presentation description In this presentation, Boo looks at short term and long term plyometric programming strategies to improve speed and operate in a compatible way with other key speed training agents, exploring the biomechanical and neuromuscular mechanisms that make it such a powerful tool. The presentation will include exercise choices, technical considerations, individualization, and injury…
Presentation description In this presentation, Les will detail exactly what he has done over the last 2 years working with University of Arizona Football. He will explain what the objectives were, what has led to a dramatic reduction in injuries and what has been the most impactful changes to the programme which have led to…
Mike Boyle As we continue to move forward and refine our program, time is still finite. Adding an exercise to the workout or training program generally means subtracting something. In the private sector where time is literally money, this is even more true. Added: Timed sled sprints Speed decrement and sled loading are key. Speed…
Presentation description In this presentation, you’ll explore how to individualize initial acceleration programs for sprinters by linking each athlete’s mechanical profile to tailored training strategies, with additional integration of spatiotemporal variables, and shin-roll kinematic behaviour. You’ll see how profiling force–velocity characteristics and recognizing individual constraints can help you move beyond one-size-fits-all plans toward more efficient…
Presentation description In this presentation, Tom will explain how he has adapted his approach in recent years to apply speed training principles into his athletic development programme. He will look at how his work doesn’t aim to make soccer players move like sprinters, but instead how the fundamentals of speed training can be implemented into…
Presentation description There is so much information out there on speed training. Magic drills, new thinking (which is often old thinking) and outlandish claims litter social media. But what’s really important when we are developing speed? In this session, Stuart McMillan (ALTIS) distils over 25 years of elite-level experience to reveal the core principles of…
Presentation description Weight lifting and speed progressions and numerous, yet proven agility progressions are hard to discover. Simply training deceleration is not enough. This presentation from Tony Villani will focus on progressions for turning track speed into game speed, what speeds are optimal to change direction, great deceleration drills, foot placement progressions and agility prescription.…
Presentation description This presentation from Nicholas Hill will be a deep dive into the accomplishments of Xavier Worthy who ran a record breaking time of 4.21s at the 2024 NFL Combine, previously held by John Ross (4.22s in 2017). He looks at a number of variables that contributed to his performance. Things like; evaluation numbers,…