How to increase speed for sports

To increase your speed for sports, sprint short distances at full effort with full rest, lift heavy for your legs, add jumps that travel forward, and practice changing direction. In a review of 48 studies, sprint training cut sprint times by 3.23% on average. For the median man aged 18-29 that is about 0.16 s off a 30 m sprint, from 5.00 s to 4.84 s, which moves him from the 50th to the 64th percentile.

Measure your speed first

Time a 30 m sprint before you start so you know whether the training worked. Measure a straight 30 m on a level surface, warm up with a few build-up runs, and start standing still at the line. Time from your first movement to your torso crossing the finish, on video or with a partner and a stopwatch. Take the better of two runs at least 3 minutes apart, and retest the same way.

For context, the median man aged 18-29 runs 30 m in 5.00 s and the median woman in 6.00 s. The site’s estimate for the median NCAA Division I athlete is 4.49 s for men and 5.01 s for women. These percentiles are modeled from small studies of active young adults rather than measured in a population sample, and they cover ages 18-39 only. The 30 m sprint percentile page shows the studies and assumptions behind them.

How much faster can you get?

About 0.15 to 0.22 seconds over 30 m in the tables below. A review of 48 studies and 1,485 participants found that sprint training (normal, resisted or assisted sprints) improved sprint times by 3.23% on average across distances from 10 m to beyond 30 m (Rumpf et al., 2016, J Strength Cond Res). The tables apply that average to adults aged 18-29 and score the result with the same reference data as the calculator.

Men aged 18-29, 30 m sprint

Women aged 18-29, 30 m sprint

The median woman gains about 0.19 s, from 6.00 s to 5.81 s. A percentage gain saves more time for a slower starting time, so slower runners save the most seconds. These are averages across studies; your own result can land above or below them.

How to increase speed for sports: what works

1. Sprint, at full effort. In the 48-study review, sprinting itself had the largest effect of the methods compared, more than twice the largest effect of lifting or plyometrics alone (Rumpf et al., 2016). Short sprints of 10-30 m with a full rest between them train acceleration, which is what most sports use.
2. Heavy leg strength. A meta-analysis of 15 studies and 510 people found that lower-body strength training improved sprint times by 3.11% on average, and that across study groups, gains in squat strength and gains in sprint speed were closely linked (r = -0.77). Sprint gains were larger with more lifting sessions a week and longer rest between sets. The load used, the length of the program and age made no measurable difference (Seitz et al., 2014, Sports Medicine).
3. Jumps that travel forward. A meta-analysis of 26 plyometric studies found the best sprint gains with high-intensity sessions of more than 80 jumps, at least 15 sessions in total, a mix of jump types, and jumps with horizontal travel such as bounds and broad jumps. Jumping with added weight gave no extra benefit (Sáez de Villarreal et al., 2012, J Strength Cond Res).
4. Sleds and hills, if you have them. In one meta-analysis of 21 studies, resisted sprints improved 10 m times more than normal sprints but made no difference at 20 m or top speed (Myrvang and van den Tillaar, 2024, Sports Med Open). Another, of 15 studies, found no reliable advantage over the same volume of normal sprinting (Aldrich et al., 2024, Int J Exerc Sci). Use them for variety, not as a requirement.
5. A heavy set before sprints. Across 47 studies, doing a heavy or explosive exercise a few minutes before a sprint improved that sprint, with a moderate effect, larger than for jumps. The effect was bigger in stronger, more experienced lifters, after shallower squats and after longer rest (Seitz and Haff, 2016, Sports Medicine). That is a same-day boost; it makes the sprint session better rather than replacing it.

If your squat is weak for your bodyweight (see squat standards by bodyweight), getting stronger is likely a big lever. If you already squat well and your sprint lags, spend more of your time sprinting and jumping.

How to get faster at changing direction

Straight-line speed carries over, but only partly. In 17 cricketers, total time on a 180° turn test correlated with 10 m sprint time (r = 0.52 to 0.70), while the time lost in the turn itself did not relate to sprint speed at all (Nimphius et al., 2016, J Strength Cond Res). Turning is its own skill. A review of strength training studies found that traditional lifts and vertical jumps mostly failed to improve change of direction, while horizontal and lateral jumps, loaded jumps and change-of-direction drills did (Brughelli et al., 2008, Sports Medicine). In a 2026 meta-analysis of 22 trials in team-sport athletes aged 9-26, speed, agility and quickness training clearly improved pre-planned change-of-direction speed and linear sprint speed compared with normal training, regardless of age, sport or weekly training time (Ji et al., 2026, Sci Rep).

The site measures this with the 5-10-5 shuttle. The median man aged 18-29 runs it in 5.20 s on a stopwatch. The tables show what a round cut of 0.10 s or 0.20 s is worth. The shuttle percentiles are modeled from small samples of active adults, so read them as estimates.

Men aged 18-29, 5-10-5 shuttle

Women aged 18-29, 5-10-5 shuttle

Four coaching cues cover most of the technique: slow down over the last two steps rather than only the final one, plant the outside foot wide of your body, lean into the new direction before you plant, and take short, driving steps out of the turn. Your first few attempts at any shuttle are slower while you learn it, so run three practice reps before you record a baseline. These are coaching conventions rather than study results.

Speed training program: a week of speed work

A template built from the findings above. The session order, rep counts and rest times are coaching convention, not tested as a package.

Do the sprints after a warm-up and before any jumps or lifting: fastest first, heaviest second, longest last. Stop a sprint session when your times start to slow; tired sprints train endurance, not speed. As a rule of thumb, keep hard sprint days at least 48 hours apart and away from the day after a hard long run.

Get a plan built from your numbers

The training plan uses your own test results to decide how much of each week goes to sprints, jumps, agility, strength and running, with deloads in weeks 5 and 10 and a retest in week 12. If power or agility is your weakest quality, it gets more of the time. The preview is free. The full 12 weeks cost $3.99 plus tax.

Questions

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