I could bet almost no one reading the title above has heard of the word before, unfortunately. The technique was originally popularized by world-class speed coach Chris Korfist. We will dive into the nitty gritty here shortly, but in its simplest sense, you can view Sprint Timing as your total body posture during high-speed leg cycles.

AN EFFECTIVE PRECURSOR TO MAXIMUM SPEED

There is zero doubt that if you or your athletes do not exhibit sound Sprint Timing then you will be doomed. It’s not a matter of if folks, but rather when? The inevitable negative outcome here will cause subsequent overstriding, overuse of various local muscles, longer ground contact times, an unfavorable forward lean, and early deceleration to name a few. But before we move on to how to practice sound sprint timing, just know exactly how you should look. The objective here is to stay very tall and stiff throughout your torso, hips, and feet with a slight bend at the knees. On a final note, this is not a conscious measure that will activate your forebrain and decrease speed. The length of your body and rigidity ultimately stem from the strength, speed, and power exhibited by your entire body.

THE SOLUTION

As I wrote in my speed book a decade ago, there is simply no magical cure or technical drill that will automatically encourage sound technique. Please read that again…The whole idea of the training sprint technique is absurd, and it’s so sad that the false notion still exists strongly in training culture today. The reality is that if you want good high-speed rhythm and timing then you will need the necessary prerequisites, which include; fast reactive capabilities from head to toe, freshness, posterior and anterior chain strength and power, and much more. Any deficit experienced at any of these checkpoints will result in poorer results. Let’s look at each one of these quickly now.

Reaction Time

This one almost certainly goes without saying and I don’t want to sound like a broken record here. Although reaction time is already pretty much pretty determined and highly regulated by the central nervous system you want to make sure you are recovering properly. And this leads us to the next factor.

FRESHNESS

If there is still one “missing link” in athletes and coaches programs today then it is undoubtedly the lack of recovery and freshness needed to run at top velocity. The mindset has always been to run past fatigue at high frequencies. Unfortunately, this approach comes at the expense of poor adaptation to higher speeds and motor learning which will result in poorer performance. Don’t get me wrong here, I’m all for character building and training to failure when it comes to conditioning and it’s just as important if not more than developing speed in some. However, you have no choice but to be fresh if you want to get faster.

TOTAL BODY STRENGTH

We could break strength development down into several training categories and sub-systems of your anatomy. To simplify though, the focus should always be to get as strong as humanly possible if you are an athlete. I will sound like a broken record now, and re-iterate the classic cliche; that you are only as strong as your weakest link. The body or “kinetic chain”‘ if you will, is very interdependent. Any detected weakness anywhere in the body will be recognized by the brain and weakness will ensue elsewhere as a result.