Do you want to hit a ball harder, stickhandle faster or shed tough blocks? Then perform hand speed drills. Hand speed drills are designed to make your upper body move faster and improve your coordination, upper-body strength and stability.
The training method behind increasing hand speed is essentially the same as increasing lower-body speed. That’s why many of the drills you can perform to improve hand speed mimic traditional speed drills, and even use the same equipment.
To start increasing your hand speed, I recommend performing three drills that involve quickly touching a 45-pound plate with your hands in different patterns while in push-up position. You can perform the drills once or twice a week during your upper-body workouts. Watch the video below to see how the hand speed drills are performed, and do each one for three sets of six to 10 seconds.

Hand Speed Drills

Alternating Plate Taps Drill

• Assume push-up position with hands directly under shoulders and 45-pound plate one to two inches in front of hands
• Tap plate with hands in alternating fashion as fast as possible
• Repeat for specified time

Lateral Plate Taps Drill

• Assume push-up position one to two inches to right of 45-pound plate
• Tap plate with left hand, then right hand
• Touch hands to ground on opposite side of plate to return to start position; immediately perform in opposite direction
• Repeat for specified time

In and Out Plate Taps Drill

• Assume push-up position with 45-pound plate between hands
• Simultaneously tap plate with both hands
• Touch hands to ground and repeat as fast as possible
• Repeat for specified time

[youtube video=”EqZjSJf3qug” /] Despite the benefits of hand speed drills, athletes often ignore this essential part of training. Instead, they focus on lower-body speed drills involving agility ladders, dots or a jump rope. But hand speed drills offer many benefits that these familiar drills do not. They can improve your performance on the field, court or rink in nearly every sport, so start performing them today! If you have any questions, let me know at [email protected].
Photo: montrealgazette.com
Connor Flahive is the owner and head sports performance coach at Flahive’s Advanced Strength Training (F.A.S.T.) in Park Ridge, Ill. F.A.S.T. specializes in strength, power and speed training for power sports. Flahive is a certified high school strength and conditioning specialist through the IYCA. He played football at the D-I level while earning his bachelor’s degree in exercise science at Northern Illinois University. Visit his website at flahivetraining.com and view his channel at youtube.com/flahive43.