Learn the same technique, training and drills used by the world's fastest athletes. Designed with progressive drills and a training flow to match your skill level.
Everything you need to dramatically increase speed - including technique development, the most effective drills and how to integrate speed training into your practice routine.
Experience faster learning and quicker, more efficient movement. Immersive lessons designed to rapidly convert your knowledge into greater speed with fewer injuries.
“My son has a lot of athletic potential but is one of the slower players on the team. What can I do to help him get faster?”
“College coaches are interested in me but my lack of speed is hurting my chances of getting recruited. What can I do to stand out?”
“I’m a soccer, baseball, football, etc. coach. How do I efficiently integrate speed training into my program?”
Smarter Athletic Speed is the answer to these questions. It’s a course designed for athletes, coaches and parents who need a straightforward approach to increasing speed and delivering game-changing results.
You’ll get a complete step-by-step approach designed by Olympic Sprint Coach, Ken Harnden, to develop:
Developing speed takes more than simply ‘sprinting a lot.’ Repeating the same incorrect movements over and over again won’t result in a faster athlete.
That’s why the ‘Smarter Athletic Speed’ progression starts by developing a solid sprinting foundation. So the work you put in translates to results.
Speed is often the deciding factor in an athlete’s career. It’s the difference between completing a key play and being a step behind, getting a scholarship and being a walk-on or even making the team and sitting in the stands.
But the fate of those with average or below average speed is not sealed. With the right training, any athlete can improve their acceleration, top speed, quickness and agility.
You can transform a potential weakness into a serious competitive advantage by following the training progression and drills in this course. All while fostering a more injury proof physiology that will keep you or your athletes in the game.
Course Duration: 2 hours, 48 minutes
Number of Lessons: 25
Chances are that you or the athletes you coach aren’t elite sprinters with years of practice doing speed drills and technique development. That’s why the primary athlete demonstrators we’ve selected for this course are new to speed training.
You’ll get a firsthand look at how to introduce concepts, adjust technique and provide coaching cues in the real world by seeing Coach Harnden work with athletes that are accomplished in their respective sports, but novices in sprinting technique.
You’ll also see the drills performed by an All-American sprinter that has developed elite sprinting technique. This provides you with the ability to compare and contrast angles and movement patterns; a vital tool to learn and understand proper speed development.
Proper sprinting posture and mechanics are key concepts throughout the course. Learning posture and positions is an essential first step to getting faster. Once the posture is there, the mechanics can be adapted to maximize speed.
Every drill in this course has been selected and is taught with these concepts in mind. Providing you with a straightforward approach to develop speed and power while always reinforcing proper technique.
You are completely protected by our 100% No-Risk Guarantee. If any course doesn’t live up to your expectations, we’ll happily refund 100% of your money within 14 days. See our refund policy for details and eligibility.
Every course includes lifetime access to our on-line learning platform. Check out the short video to see it in action.
Every course includes lifetime access to our online learning platform. Check out the short video to see it in action.
As a two-time Olympian, NCAA champion and Commonwealth Games bronze medal winner, Ken’s knowledge is rooted in firsthand training, trial and competition.
Currently serving as the Sprints Coach at the University of Tennessee, the three-time USTFCCCA National Assistant Coach of the Year has guided 14 Olympians, 25 NCAA champions and more than 160 All-Americans.
Numerous athletes have achieved world-class times under Harnden’s watch, with six of his sprinters breaking the 10-second barrier in the 100. Learn more about Coach Harnden
Lesson Plan
How do you teach a soccer player to get the slide tackle earlier or get a baseball player to reach the base faster or a football player to out-sprint his opponent? This course was designed to give you the skills to understand where speed comes from and how to train to improve it. Speed training is about much more than just sprinting and completing drills. It takes specific training done with the right timing, intensity and focus to get game-changing results. Coach Harnden shares his philosophies for training speed in any sport.
Stride length multiplied by stride frequency equals speed. In this chapter, Coach Harnden explains how to achieve the optimal stride length through technique and how to train to increase stride frequency. These skills must become ingrained so the reaction process during a game is executed with muscle memory. The only way to achieve this is through training correctly and regularly outside of the game.
Coach Ken Harnden shares how to start training for speed and how to progress through a season. He provides examples of a training schedule so you can get the most out of your speed work. Whether you are training for explosiveness, power or endurance, an athlete must work towards increasing speed without getting injured. This takes specific training done with the right timing, intensity and focus.
Prior to beginning any training, it’s crucial to warm-up your muscles, joints and nervous system to handle the workout ahead. Starting with low-level, low-intensity walking drills and progressing into drills that improve range of motion and get the nervous system firing are the perfect way to start training.
After warming up the body, you can start working on acceleration. But following the proper progression is key. Attempting to do full sprints without progressing the right way can lead to injury. In this lesson you’ll learn the sequence Coach Harnden uses during the acceleration phases and the critical elements of each.
Different athletes learn to create speed in different ways. In this lesson, you’ll learn how a trained sprinter generates speed and how athletes in most non-linear sports can use queues from the sprinter to develop more speed in their sport.
An athlete may have been gifted with natural baseball, football, soccer, or tennis talent but without working on proper speed mechanics, they will never reach their full potential. Mastering proper technique is not just necessary to get faster but also reduces the risk of injury. In this chapter, Coach Harnden shares the vital technical components of speed such as posture, body position, ground contact, triple extension and the common mistakes associated with them.
An athlete may have been gifted with natural speed, but without working on proper sprint mechanics, they will never reach their full potential. Mastering proper technique is not just necessary to sprint fast but also reduces the risk of injury. In this chapter, Coach Harnden shares the vital technical components of sprinting such as low heal recovery, hip alignment, arm action, ground contact and the common mistakes associated with them.
Expanding on the acceleration model, this chapter shows you how to build training to reach longer distance sprints, such as the 40 and 60 yard, while maintaining postural integrity, body position and technique to reach those distances faster. Coach Harnden breaks down the stages of longer acceleration drills and how to avoid common pitfalls. He also shares how to structure training so you can progress through the season to build speed endurance in a safe way.
When training acceleration and maximum velocity you have to find the balance between consistent, quality repetitions and performing in a fatigued state. As such, a workout should be modified to fit the needs and ability of each athlete. In this lesson, Coach Harnden shares his philosophy for building his acceleration and max velocity training cycles while ensuring an athlete remains healthy.
While it’s critical for most athletes to learn to change direction or move laterally quickly, multi-directional training should begin with learning how to sprint correctly in a straight line. After an athlete understands how to sprint, you can apply these concepts to multi-directional speed. In this lesson, Coach Harnden shares some critical components of multi-directional training.
As a multi-directional athlete, in order to be fast, you often have to change direction, get into the proper position to sprint and run with proper mechanics. This lesson shares some great drills to start sprinting the right way so you don’t lose speed on the court or field.
When an athlete moves on the court or the field, it’s critical to get into the proper position to sprint so no speed is lost in the first step. In this lesson, you’ll learn some great resistance and rotational drills to ensure sprint mechanics are engrained and natural during the game.
Some of the worst injuries in sport occur when the center of mass is not in-sync with the movement of the legs and feet. This lesson covers movement drills using a line and cones to practice quick lateral movement while maintaining the proper positions for speed.
The versatile lunge series shared in this chapter can be incorporated into a warm-up or cool down. These moves will strengthen and get the hip girdle prepared for dynamic movements and assist with power development. With greater strength and flexibility comes greater speed.
Hip movement, flexibility and range of motion are all necessary for speed and injury prevention. This lesson demonstrates some critical hurdle drills that are done nearly every day by Coach Harnden’s athletes to train the hip girdle using the same motions done while sprinting.
Outside of track and field, most athletes don’t always run in a straight line. Learning to maintain speed while curving on the field is important to practice without the pressures experienced in game scenario. In this lesson you’ll learn multiple curved running drills with progression options for each.
During game play, an athlete often has to move to one side or the other laterally and then accelerate. A baseball player has to sprint to the next base, a football or soccer player has to follow an opponent or out-sprint their defender and a tennis player has to quickly move toward the ball. In this lesson, you’ll learn the positions and technique necessary to not lose speed as you move laterally.
When an athlete has to change direction on the field or court, the first step makes the biggest difference. In this chapter, you’ll learn the fundamental requirements of drills that work change of direction while keeping the athlete safe.
There are thousands of drills you can find online to train speed and change of direction. Wouldn’t you like to know which drills an Olympic sprint coach has found to be most effective over a lifelong career? In this chapter, Coach Harnden shares the drills he continues to use to develop speed in multi-directional sports.
Continuing the previous lesson, in this chapter, learn two more drills that Coach Harnden believes are powerful speed builders and how to progress them through a season.
Just as important as speed and the ability to change direction, the skill of proper deceleration can mean the difference between good and bad defense, a point scored or lost, or health versus injury. In this chapter, you’ll learn the fine art of deceleration to maintain control and avoid injury at game time.
No matter what sport you play, speed and power is necessary to be your best. In this chapter, you’ll learn the foundational plyometric drills that Coach Harnden uses for athletes of all ages and abilities. He also shares how to progress drills to make them appropriate for every athlete.
Expanding on the previous chapter, in this lesson you’ll learn more plyometric drills, the vital components of each and how to progress.
What’s the difference between an average athlete and a great athlete? When it comes to speed, a very small difference can result in glory or failure. Greatness is found in the details. Hear Coach Harnden’s take on the difference 1% makes.
