In a football match, milliseconds can be the difference between winning and losing; chances come and go in the blink of an eye. Players who cultivate speed are feared by opponents, whereas slower players are often ineffective and may lose the ball.
Whether it’s a defender chasing down the run of a striker, a winger trying to beat his man, or a midfielder covering ground to intercept a pass, speed is key to football performance.
For too long, speed has been seen as an inherent quality rather than something you can develop through practice; however, this couldn’t be further from the truth.
While speed can partly be attributed to inherited traits, such as a higher proportion of type IIb muscle fibers, it remains a skill that players can, and must, develop to enhance their performance on the pitch, despite this minimal genetic contribution. Science has proven that through training you can change the architecture of your muscles, improve your biomechanics, and enhance neuromuscular coordination, catapulting you forward with every stride.
As the modern game has become faster, more studies have emerged to reveal the best ways to improve speed on the pitch. The problem is that football is not as simple as running in a straight line. For far too long players have used outdated training techniques designed for other sports in the hope of becoming faster on the pitch. I’ve been fortunate enough to work with players who ply their trade in the top leagues in the world, such as the Premier League, Serie A, and Champions League. What quickly becomes obvious when working with elite professional football players is that the fastest players in a straight line aren’t always those who get to the ball first in game. This is because straight-line sprinting lacks context, football is far more complex.
Training to be fast in a straight line is inadequate; becoming fast on the pitch is not as simple as training for a 100m sprint. Consider the examples mentioned previously: it might be a quick change of pace, a burst of speed, or a player accelerating off the mark. Speed is used in various ways on the pitch. It’s not necessarily your top speed that defines you but rather how quickly you get there—it all boils down to time. The key is the rate of change of velocity, or acceleration. When rushing to get to the ball before an opponent, the player who can more quickly reach his or her top speed will likely win the foot race, even if the opponent has a higher top speed.
The solution to outdated, context-lacking training techniques is acceleration training, which focuses on developing explosive concentric muscle contractions that power each stride. This enables players to reach top speed faster and respond quickly to sudden shifts in play.
Fortunately for you, we’ve sifted through the research and chosen three exercises that harness some of the latest training concepts to come to light. These exercises improve your ability to break away from the defender by training the explosive-concentric muscle contraction responsible for that burst of speed. Done frequently enough, these exercises will develop the explosiveness required to out-accelerate your man and get you to the ball first.
Exercise 1: Leg Switches
Start in a lunge position, with one foot forward and the other behind you. Lower your body down by bending your hips and knees. Shift your weight onto your toes so the heel of your front foot is hovering just above the ground. While staying in this low position, rapidly switch your legs in a scissor motion. Stick the landing on the forefoot, maintain balance, and repeat. There may be a pause between reps, but the switch must always be explosive. Repeat for 12 switches and complete 3 sets.
Exercise 2: Lateral Bounds
Begin standing tall on your toes. Drop down and push off your outside leg to leap to the side as far as possible. Stick the landing with the opposite leg. Repeat on the other side. Complete 12 repetitions for 3 sets.
Exercise 3: Kneeling Sprinter Starts
Begin on one knee and your weight on your front leg. Push the front leg forcefully into the ground to jump up. As you jump, swing your back leg forward, driving your knee up—this will help you jump higher. Repeat for 6 jumps, then alternate sides. Complete a total of 3 sets per leg.
Struggling to keep up on the pitch is a challenge many players face, often due to outdated training routines and the myth that speed is something you're simply born with. But science tells us otherwise. The key to becoming faster where it counts lies in training acceleration: the explosive, quick-burst muscle power that launches you off the mark and gives you an edge in speed. By honing this skill over time, players can build true game-changing speed, turning raw potential into real results every time they step onto the field.
