GAINcast Episode 212: Speed to the max
We’ve been exploring speed training this month on both the GAIN Master Class and HMMR Media site. On this week’s GAINcast we share our own thoughts on sprinting, including some recurring themes that have come up this month around mechanics, resisted sprint training, planning, and more.
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Notes and quotes

- 0:00 – Introduction.
- 2:40 – How drills fit into sprint training: “Most of the sprint coaches I know don’t use a lot of drills. Ultimately you need to sprint. Good sprint coaches have their sprinters sprint.”
- 6:10 – Resisted sprinting and pushing vs. pulling: “Understand what resisted sprinting does. You might be putting force into the ground, but you extend ground contact time and change your center of mass as well.”
- 9:00 – Periodization and putting quality first: “Sprinters use a variety of periodization approaches, but you have to remember they have an established technical model. For non-sprinters you really have to focus on quality first before you build the volume.”
- 12:00 – Submaximal running: “My first rule of thumb is: never compromise good sprint technique. You need to build a good technical model first and you don’t do that with slow running.”
- 13:15 – Volume, rest, and ideas on what to do during rest periods.
- 20:00 – The contribution of arm action to sprinting: “Sprinting arm action should be down and back, not up and front. If you push down and back you can’t be hunched in the shoulders.”
- 25:30 – Footwear and barefoot sprinting.
- 28:00 – Squatting and sprinting.
- 30:10 – Hypertrophy and sprinting.
- 35:30 – Precision, testing, and attention to details: “Train fast to be fast. It’s really easy to make people slow, it’s hard to make them fast.”
To hear more about these topics you can listen to the full episode above. If you like what you hear on the GAINcast, don’t forget to give us a review and subscribe on iTunes.
Further reading
The following links were referenced in the podcast or provide some additional reading material on the topic:
- Our monthly GAIN Master Class Series features speakers from all aspects of performance. If you missed this month’s class on training speed with Vern, Brian FitzGerald, and Jimmy Radcliffe, you can sign up still to watch the replay or subscribe to the entire series to get access to all past and future events in the series.
- The GAINcast is also sponsored by HMMR Media. Join HMMR Media to get access to a vast library of online training resources, video, articles, podcasts, and more.
- New speed articles up on HMMR Media: What sprint coaches can teach us about speed training by Martin Bingisser, Speed 101: The essence of it by Vern Gambetta, How to start out in teaching the sprint start by Martin Bingisser, Coaching speed for children by James Marshall.
- New speed videos up on HMMR Media: Video Lesson 27: History of sprint training with PJ Vazel and GAIN Video 17: Soccer speed with Vern Gambetta.
- Previous GAINcasts about speed include GAINcast 211 on speed for kids, GAINcast 164 on team speed, GAINcast 139 with Brian FitzGerald, GAINcast 115 on training speed, GAINcast 89 on the science of speed with Peter Weyand, GAINcast 39 on teaching speed, GAINcast 21 on linear speed with Ken Clark, and GAINcast 16 on speed.
- We’ve got plenty more speed content in our archives as well. You can find our top speed related content here.