Shave Time Off Your 40 Yard Dash with This Speed Circuit

Speed kills. You hear it in football, basketball, track, soccer and many other sports. The fastest win. Athletes today place a premium on speed training. From the gym to the track every workout is designed to make an athlete quicker, with faster reaction times and a higher top speed. Here is a simple speed circuit designed to cut sprinting times through stronger drive, more explosion off the ground, and faster foot speed.

The first thing you will need is a plyo box. If you don't have one build one or buy one. Every athlete these days should know what plyos are and how they can help your performance. Get a plyo box that is about knee high.

Next you will need a set of dumbbells. You will use these for squat jumps so get a weight heavy enough to give you resistance but light enough that you can do the movement quickly. Speed is always more important than weight lifted.

Once you have these two tools head out to your local track. Bring your box and dumbbells out and set them down in the grass beside some part of the track and out of the way of other runners. Set up your circuit so you can quickly move from dumbbells to box drills and to the track for sprints.

Start with the dumbbells. Clean them to your shoulders and do 15 squat jumps as quickly as possible. The goal of this is to jump as high as possible each time.

Next immediately move to the plyo box and do quick feet. This is where you put one foot on the box and one on the ground and switch them as quickly as possibly. Touch the box with each foot 30 times.

Without rest, line up at a point near you on the track and sprint for 40 yards. Finish hard. Walk back to the dumbbells and give yourself a minute of rest. Then do the circuit again. You should complete this circuit 3 times.

As you get in better shape you can complete the circuit more times and with less rest between circuits. Time yourself in the 40 yards before you begin this training and complete this circuit at least twice a week, but no more than 4 times a week. After 8 weeks time your 40 yard dash again.

You can make the circuit more difficult by adding more box drills or holding light dumbbells while you do them. You can also do the circuit and sprint wearing a weighted vest for added resistance. Gradually increase the work load in some way each week you progress. As always be safe, have fun and have a good workout.