"How often should a footballer train speed?"

Speed on the pitch is built from several physical qualities working together.

It isn’t just about sprinting more, and it definitely isn’t about running players into the ground.

This is where a lot of confusion comes from.

Speed often gets treated like conditioning, so players are asked to sprint repeatedly, often late in sessions or on top of heavy match weeks.

The intention is to make them faster, but that approach usually does the opposite...

Speed is influenced by how well the nervous system coordinates movement, how much force the muscles can produce, how quickly that force is applied, and how efficiently the body moves through sprint positions.

All of those things need to work together for speed to show up on the pitch.

Because of that, players can be working on speed in lots of different ways across the week, even when they aren’t sprinting at full pace.

• Improving mobility allows a player to reach better sprint positions.

• Strength training increases how much force they can put into the ground.

• Power and explosive work improves how quickly that force is produced.

• Mechanics and posture work reduce wasted movement and energy leaks.

The part that does need careful management is high intensity sprint exposure.

Sprinting at or near top speed places a big demand on the nervous system, muscles and connective tissues, and those systems adapt best when the player is fresh.

For most youth footballers, one to two sessions per week that include true top speed or near top speed running is enough.

Those exposures should be done early in a session and on days where fatigue is low.

Adding more sprinting on tired legs won't progress speed directly, that approach is more suited to building stamina.

This is why well structured strength and conditioning programmes don’t chase speed by sprinting every session...

They build the physical qualities that support speed consistently, then layer in short, high quality sprint exposure at the right times.

That’s how I recommend your son or daughter approaches their training if they want to see real changes in their acceleration and top speed on the pitch, without burning out or breaking down.

James

Matchfit Football

P.S. When you're ready, here's 3 ways I can help:

1. The Elite Football Athlete Programme

Inside the Elite Football Athlete Programme, speed is developed exactly this way.

Players work on mobility, strength, power and mechanics throughout the week, with carefully timed sprint exposure when they’re fresh.

You can get PHASE 1 of the programme by clicking the link above.

2. Footballer Recipe Book

Removes all the guesswork surrounding what to feed a youth footballer for both football performance and general health.

3. PHYSICAL Copy of The Football Fitness Bible book

If you haven't grabbed the paperback or hardback copy of the book yet, you can get it on Amazon by clicking the link above.