How to Safely Start Getting Faster: Intro to Sprint Training
Essential basics for speed training and how to approach getting faster and more explosive
Sprinting Is the Ultimate Plyometric - and It Will Make You Strong
This post will cover exactly how to rebuild back sprint capacity safely, incorporating it into a training program the right way, and utilizing a variety of options for how to do this with programs laid out for you.
Table of Contents
1. Sprinting Is a Plyometric—and It Will Make You Strong
2. Key Benefits of Sprinting
3. Why Sprinting Changes the Body in Ways Lifting Can’t
4. It’s Not Age - It’s Abandonment
5. Readiness Checklist: Are You Cleared to Sprint?
6. Updated Sprint Progression Options
• Track A
• Track B
• Microdose Option for Lifters
7. Managing Sprint Training with Lifting
8. Sprinting Forces vs. Lifting - Why It Must Be Prioritized Fresh
9. Red Flags: When You’re Overreaching Sprint Volume
10. Recovery & Tissue Care for Sprinting Athletes
11. Variations & Advanced Methods
12. Strength Training for Sprinting: Quick Primer
13. Closing Thoughts
Sprinting isn’t just for speed. It’s one of the most powerful, full-body strength and power tools you can use.
Most people forget sprinting is itself a plyometric.
Every stride is a rapid, reactive ground contact that produces massive force—faster than almost any lift can replicate.
Sprinting uses your glutes, hamstrings, quads, and the Achilles tendon—the strongest tendon in the body.
It’s your body’s purest expression of explosive power.
And if done right, it doesn’t just make you fast.
It makes you stronger, more resilient, and more athletic—while protecting you from hamstring strains and loss of power as you age.
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Key Benefits of Sprinting
• Boosts lower body power (which carries over into upper body striking and general force production).
• Increases max force in athletic positions.
• Strengthens hamstrings, tendons, and connective tissues (prevents strains and builds muscle thickness).
Evidence:
• Boosts power and strength by ~10%.
• Lowers hamstring injury risk.
• Improves jumping power, repeat sprint endurance, aerobic fitness.
• Sprint ability is highly correlated with overall athletic performance.
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Why Sprinting Changes the Body in Ways Lifting Can’t
One reason sprinting is so potent is the forces and speeds involved are unmatched in the gym.
During sprinting, ground reaction forces can exceed 5-6 times your bodyweight per step.
You’ll experience greater impulses, higher velocities, and more violent arm swings and torso rotations than you ever will lifting weights.
This is why sprinting changes the body on a level you can’t replicate with barbells alone.
It molds your tissues, tendons, and nervous system to handle high-velocity force production in a way no gym exercise can match.
But this also means sprinting demands more respect:
• The forces are higher.
• The risk is higher.
• The adaptations are greater.
You can’t just treat sprinting like an accessory movement or cardio add-on.
It must be done when you’re fresh, recovered, and respecting its demands.
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It’s Not Age - It’s Abandonment
By your mid-20s, most people stop sprinting completely.
They lose the skill—and with it, the ability to produce high-speed force.
But this isn’t inevitable.
Even small, smart doses of sprinting will keep you sharp and powerful for life.
It’s not the clock that takes sprinting from you. It’s you abandoning it.
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Readiness Checklist: Are You Cleared to Sprint?
Before you dive in, ask yourself:
• Can I jog 1-2 miles pain-free?
• Can I perform 20 pogo hops pain-free?
• Can I do 20 bodyweight squats with no discomfort?
• Can I hold an active hamstring stretch (RDL position) without tightness or fear?
If no to any of these - start with tissue prep, strength work, and extensive tempo runs first.
If yes - progress as below.
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Intro To Sprint Progression Options:
Depending on your body, risk tolerance, and training schedule - pick the path that suits you best.
Basic Sprint Tutorial: