If you think sprinting is all about running fast, you’re only seeing half the picture because behind every explosive start and lightning-fast finish is a body built for power—thanks to strength training.
We’re talking glutes that could crack walnuts and hamstrings tighter than your race-day nerves.
In this article, we’ll break down how lifting heavy (and smart) can make you faster, stronger, and harder to catch, with the best exercises and not one but two workout routines to supercharge your stride, boost your acceleration, and keep injuries at bay.
Whether you’re gunning for a new 100 PR or just trying to smoke your friends in a backyard race, it’s time to hit the weights!
🏃♂️🏃♀️🏃♂️🏃♀️
Click here to go directly to the off-season program in StrengthLog.
Click here to for the pre-season program.
Table of Contents
Benefits of Strength Training for Sprinting
Like in many other sports, there was a time when strength training was frowned upon by many sprinters and sprint coaches—especially from the early 20th century (we’re talking 1920s through maybe the 1960s) and even into the 1970s.
The prevailing thought back then was that lifting weights would make athletes “muscle-bound.” Coaches worried that muscle bulk from weight training would mess up stride length, reduce flexibility, and kill the snap in their steps.
The idea of pumping iron was more associated with bodybuilders than with track and field. So instead of deadlifts and squats, sprinters were often told to stick to technique drills, plyometrics, and running alone.
Starting in the late 1970s and accelerating through the 1980s and beyond, attitudes changed dramatically.
Sports science developed an understanding of biomechanics, muscle fiber types, and neuromuscular coordination, Soviet and Eastern Bloc research showed that resistance training improves explosive power, and the success of athletes like Ben Johnson (notwithstanding his doping) and Carl Lewis demonstrated that strength-trained sprinters are faster sprinters.
Coaches began to realize that more muscle could mean more power off the blocks, stronger acceleration, and greater top-end speed.
By the late 1980s and 1990s, the myth of the slow, stiff lifter had been tossed aside, and strength training became a part of sprint prep for everything from improving acceleration and stride power to injury prevention and for everyone from beginners to elite athletes.
Now, if you’re sprinting without strength training, you’re basically showing up to a drag race on a tricycle.
These are the top benefits of strength training for sprinters.
Maximal Force Production
Sprinting depends heavily on how much force you can apply to the ground and how fast you can do it.
Strength training, especially when you use really heavy weights, increases the maximum force your sprinting muscles can produce.
The more force your muscles can generate, the longer your stride length can get and the more powerful your pushes become, especially during the acceleration and top speed phases.
There’s solid evidence backing all this up: a systematic review and meta-analysis found a strong link between lower-body strength (measured by exercises like the squat) and faster sprinting.1 According to the analysis, strength training led to a roughly 3.11% improvement in sprint times—which is more than it might sound like (it could be the difference between gold and a participation trophy).
Rate of Force Development (RFD)
Just as important as how much force you can produce is how quickly you can produce it.
In sprinting, ground contact times at top speed are incredibly short, often less than 0.1 seconds. Training explosively—Olympic lifts, plyometrics, or fast, heavy traditional lifts—teaches your neuromuscular system to produce force more rapidly.
A higher rate of force development means you’re better equipped to use your strength in the tiny time windows available with each step.
Neuromuscular Efficiency and Coordination
Strength training also improves the communication between your brain and muscles.
Over time, your nervous system gets better at recruiting the right muscle fibers (motor units), coordinating how they fire, and timing the contractions and relaxations needed for a smooth, powerful sprinting motion—especially when fatigue sets in.
Explosive Power off the Blocks
In the first 10 to 30 meters of a sprint, acceleration is everything. You’re overcoming inertia and trying to build speed fast, which requires a ton of full-body, horizontal force.
Heavy strength training—lifting at 85–100% of your one-rep max—is particularly effective. It builds the raw power needed to launch from a standstill, like upgrading from a go-kart to a drag racer.
Maximal Velocity
Once you are past the acceleration phase, your focus shifts to hitting and holding your top speed, which depends on your stride length and stride frequency, both of which benefit from strength training.
Stronger muscles push you farther with each step, and a higher RFD and improved tendon stiffness reduce contact time with the ground. Tendons (Achilles) function like springs, storing and returning energy through the stretch-shortening cycle to increase your stride frequency.
That being said, raw strength alone won’t get you to your top speed. As your movement velocity increases, your ability to produce force drops, so your training also needs to include fast, explosive exercises—like plyometrics and Olympic lift variations—to develop power at speed.
Risk of Injury
Sprinting puts a ton of stress on your muscles, tendons, and joints. Injuries are common (hamstring injuries being the most prevalent), with elite sprinters usually experiencing at least one in their careers.
The good news? Strength training not only boosts performance, it is also one of the best ways to protect your body. Research shows that athletes who include strength work in their training get injured less often. In fact, systematic reviews and meta-analyses have found that strength training can reduce the risk of sports injuries by up to one-third.
How Should Sprinters Strength Train?
If you’re a sprinter looking to get faster, you want to develop maximal strength, explosive power, and the ability to apply that force quickly. Strength training is a big part of that puzzle.
Your goal isn’t to become stronger in isolation just for the sake of it (you’re not training for a powerlifting meet, so the numbers themselves don’t matter much). You want to turn your strength gains into acceleration, higher top speeds, and better sprint mechanics on the track.
Most sprinters build their strength routine around big, compound exercises—squats, deadlifts, lunges, hip thrusts, and Olympic lifts like power cleans or snatches. These exercises hit many muscle groups at once and build the kind of full-body strength and coordination sprinting demands.
You’ll want to keep your rep ranges low, usually between 2 and 6 reps per set. That kind of high intensity builds strength and neuromuscular coordination that translates into explosive performance rather than just muscle size or endurance.
But lifting heavy isn’t enough. To really build speed, you need to train explosiveness. That means incorporating plyometric exercises (like box jumps, broad jumps, or depth jumps) and ballistic movements (like medicine ball throws or kettlebell swings). They help your body learn to fire fast-twitch muscle fibers more efficiently—exactly what you need when you’re coming out of the blocks or hitting top gear.
It’s also a good idea to focus a little extra on the posterior chain—your glutes, hamstrings, and lower back. These muscles play a huge role in sprinting power and posture, and they’re also commonly injured. Exercises like Romanian deadlifts, Nordic hamstring curls, and hip extensions are known to prevent injury in your posterior chain muscles.
And don’t neglect your core. A strong core helps you transfer power through your body with minimal energy loss. Traditional ab exercises like sit-ups are good, but you also want to incorporate carries, rotational work, anti-rotation holds like Pallof presses, and controlled stability movements.
| Exercise Category | Example Exercises | Primary Muscles Targeted | Primary Benefit Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maximal Strength | Back Squat, Front Squat, Deadlift, Romanian Deadlift | Glutes, Quads, Hamstrings, Erectors, Core | Max Force Production, Acceleration Foundation, Structural Integrity |
| Explosive Strength / Power | Power Clean, Hang Clean, Snatch, Squat Jump, Box Jump | Full Body (Triple Extension), Posterior Chain | Rate of Force Development (RFD), Power Output, Acceleration, Neuromuscular Efficiency |
| Reactive / Plyometric Strength | Depth Jumps, Bounding (Horizontal/Vertical), Hops | Legs & Feet (Stretch-Shortening Cycle focus) | Max Velocity, Elastic Energy Return, Leg/Ankle Stiffness, Reduced Ground Contact Time |
| Specific / Accessory Strength | Nordic Hamstring Curl, Glute Ham Raise, Calf Raise | Hamstrings, Glutes, Calves (Achilles) | Hamstring Injury Prevention, Posterior Chain Strength, Tendon Strength/Stiffness, Ankle Power |
| Unilateral Strength | Lunges, Split Squats, Single-Leg RDL, Pistol Squats | Legs (Individually), Stabilizers | Correcting Imbalances, Joint Stability, Transfer to Asymmetrical Sprinting Motion |
| Core Strength | Weighted Planks, Ab Wheel Rollouts, Hanging Leg Raises | Abdominals, Obliques, Lower Back | Postural Stability, Efficient Force Transfer, Injury Prevention |
Over the course of the year, most sprinters periodize their training.
- During the off-season, the goal is to build a strong base—heavy lifting, general strength, and work capacity. 3–4 sessions per week works great here.
- As the season approaches, training shifts to emphasize power and speed. You’ll lift a little lighter but move faster, focusing more on explosive movements and sprint-specific drills. 2–3 sessions per week.
- When in-season rolls around, your training becomes all about peaking (maximizing speed and explosiveness while minimizing fatigue) and maintaining your gains. That means lighter loads, fast lifts, and explosive training that keeps you primed without wearing you down, which means 1–2 sessions per week.
Beginners may need fewer sessions (2–3/week), with more general strength development.
Advanced sprinters can often handle higher intensities but must be careful with volume, especially as sprint training workouts and speed training ramp up.
Strength Training Programs for Sprinting
Here you will find two strength training programs for sprinters who want to increase explosive power and force production for faster acceleration and top-end speed, improve neuromuscular coordination, and prevent injuries.
The first is a 12-week program for the off-season, and the second is for the pre-season (also 12 weeks). You can easily modify them to suit the length of your off- and pre-seasons.
They work best if you already have some strength training experience. They feature many different, relatively complex exercises, and if you have never lifted weights before, they might be too much for you to jump right into.
If you’re new to the gym, start with one of our beginner programs, like the Beginner Barbell Training Program. You train three times per week, alternating between workouts A and B.
Workout A
| Exercise | Sets | Reps |
|---|---|---|
| Squat | 3 | 8–10 |
| Bench Press | 3 | 8–10 |
| Barbell Row | 3 | 8–10 |
Workout B
| Exercise | Sets | Reps |
|---|---|---|
| Deadlift | 3 | 6–8 |
| Lat Pulldown (or Pull-Ups) | 3 | 8–10 |
| Overhead Press | 3 | 8–10 |
In other words, you’ll train workouts A B A week one and B A B week two, then go back to week one and keep alternating between the two.
This beginner program (any many more) are available for free in our workout log app, StrengthLog.
You can use the strength you gain to boost your performance on the track. It’s a great way to teach your muscles, brain, and nervous system to play together, allowing you to move on to more complex programs.
If you do have some weight training experience, you’re ready for Strength Training for Sprinters.
Strength Training Program for Sprinters: Off-Season
This 12-week off-season training program is designed to build a strength and power foundation, preparing you to transition into pre-season and develop the explosiveness, acceleration, and top speed that win races.
The program is broken down into three phases, each lasting four weeks, with three weekly training sessions.
Program Overview
- General goal: Build overall strength, power foundation, sprint mechanics muscles.
- Periodization: 4-week blocks (Weeks 1–4, 5–8, 9–12) — each block increasing in intensity and complexity.
- Sessions per week: Full body (but slightly varied emphasis).
Notes
- Progressive overload: Add a little weight weekly if technique is perfect.
- Rest periods:
- Heavy lifts: 2–3 min rest.
- Accessories: 60–90 sec.
- Tempo control: Emphasize controlled lowering (eccentric) on all strength lifts.
- Warm-up: Always do dynamic sprint drills (A-skips, butt kicks, high knees) + mobility before lifting.
Weekly Template
| Day | Focus |
|---|---|
| Workout 1 | Strength focus (heavy lower + upper) |
| Workout 2 | Power training (explosive Olympic lift variation + strength accessory) |
| Workout 3 | Sled day + auxiliary sprint-specific strength |
Below is an example of a week from each phase of the program. The exact number of sets and the rep scheme, details of all four phases, including % of 1RM recommendations along with the planned intensity, exercise selection changes, and volume progression route, are available in your StrengthLog workout tracker app.
Weeks 1–4: Accumulation Phase (Build Work Capacity)
Workout 1 (Strength)
| Exercise | Sets |
|---|---|
| Squat | 4 |
| Step Up | 3 |
| Pull-Up | 3 |
| Shoulder Press | 3 |
| Hip Flexor Raise | 3 |
| Plank With Leg Raise | 3 |
Workout 2 (Power)
| Exercise | Sets |
|---|---|
| Hang Power Clean | 4 |
| Romanian Deadlift | 3 |
| Cable Row | 3 |
| Push-Up | 3 |
| Calf Raise | 3 |
| Dead Bug | 3 |
Day 3 (Sled & Sprint Auxiliary)
Weeks 5–8: Intensification Phase (Heavier, Faster, More Specific)
Workout 1 (Strength) Changes:
- Heavier squats
- Higher box in step-ups
- Weighted pull-ups
- Dumbbell shoulder press -> Barbell overhead press
- Weighted planks
Workout 2 (Power) Changes:
- Hang power clean -> Hang power snatch
- Cable row -> Inverted row
- Push-up -> Bench press
- Heavier calf raises
- Add Pallof press (anti-rotation core)
Workout 3 (Sled & Sprint Auxiliary) Changes:
- Sled: more pushes & pulls, shorter distances, faster pace
- Hanging leg raise -> Toes-to-bar
- Include banded hip march
Weeks 9–12: Max Strength + Sprint Transfer Phase
Workout 1 (Strength) Changes:
- Very heavy, low-rep sets throughout.
Workout 2 (Power) Changes:
- Olympic lift changes to clean pull from blocks
- Romanian deadlift -> Heavy trap bar deadlift
- Inverted row -> Dumbbell row
- New core exercise: V-sit hold
Workout 3 (Sled & Sprint Auxiliary) Changes:
- Sled: very heavy pushes and pulls (short distance)
Follow the Off-Season Strength Training for Sprinting Program in StrengthLog
This and many more training programs are in the StrengthLog workout log app. The app is free to use, forever, with no ads. This program, however, is a premium program (it offers advanced percentage-based progression and periodization), which means it requires a premium subscription.
We offer all new users a free 14-day premium trial. You can activate it in the app without any strings attached.
Download StrengthLog and start tracking your workouts today:
Click here to go directly to the program in StrengthLog.
Strength Training Program for Sprinters: Pre-Season
This pre-season workout routine is the perfect follow-up to the off-season program. It will improve your power output and neuromuscular coordination to prepare your body for the demands of high-intensity sprinting during the competitive season.
Program Overview
- Frequency: Three full-body sessions
- Shift focus: From max strength ➔ to speed-strength and elasticity.
- Emphasize movement speed: Don’t grind slow reps.
- Volume decreases slightly as intensity and specificity increases.
- Core: Active and sprint-specific (holds, planks, hanging movements).
- Sled Work: Stays in every phase but shifts from heavy drive ➔ to sprint turnover.
Weekly Template
| Day | Focus |
|---|---|
| Workout 1 | Max strength & sprint acceleration emphasis |
| Workout 2 | Power & max velocity emphasis (explosive lifts, lighter loads moved fast) |
| Workout 3 | Sprint-specific auxiliary (sleds, bounds, resisted sprint drills, core) |
Here is an example of a week from each phase of the pre-season program. Again, the exact number of sets, rep range, and % of 1RM recommendations can be found in StrengthLog.
Weeks 1–4: Max Strength + Power Foundation Phase
Workout 1 (Strength Focus)
| Exercise | Sets |
|---|---|
| Front Squat | 4 |
| Step Up | 3 |
| Chin-Up | 3 |
| Landmine Press | 3 |
| Hip Flexor Raise | 3 |
| Hanging Leg Raise | 3 |
Workout 2 (Power Focus)
| Exercise | Sets |
|---|---|
| Hang Power Clean | 4 |
| Trap Bar Deadlift | 3 |
| Bench Press | 3 |
| Cable Row | 3 |
| Calf Raise | 3 |
| Dead Bug | 3 |
Workout 3 (Sprint Auxiliary)
| Exercise | Sets |
|---|---|
| Sled Push | 5 |
| Sled Pull | 5 |
| Sprint Bounding | 3 |
| Band-Resisted A-Skip | 3 |
| V-Sit Hold | 3 |
Weeks 5–8: Sprint-Specific Strength & Elasticity Phase
Workout 1 (Strength Focus) Changes:
- Heavier weight, lower reps throughout.
- Hanging leg raise -> Weighed plank
Workout 2 (Power Focus) Changes:
- Hang power clean -> Hang power snatch.
- Trap bar deadlifts: light weights, speed focus.
- Cable row -> Dumbbell row.
- Include anti-rotation work (Pallof press) and ball slams.
Workout 3 (Sprint Auxiliary) Changes:
- Sled: heavier weight, short distance, max effort
- A-skips -> Band-resisted sprints
- V-sit holds -> Toes-to-bar
Weeks 9–12: Power Peaking & Sprint Elasticity Phase
Workout 1 (Strength Focus) Changes:
- Front squat: very heavy, near maximal, weights.
- Landmine press -> Push press
- Include planks-to-push-up
Workout 2 (Power Focus) Changes:
- Olympic variation: clean pull from blocks
- High-rep, fast (but with control) calf raises.
- L-sit holds for control, stability, and muscle endurance.
Workout 3 (Sprint Auxiliary) Changes:
- Sled: sprint technique emphasis and fast turnover
Follow the Pre-Season Strength Training for Sprinting Program in StrengthLog
The pre-season program is also available in our workout log app.
Click here to go directly to the program in StrengthLog.
Strength Training Exercises for Sprinting
Here are the exercises you’ll be doing in the Strength Training for Sprinting programs in the order they appear.
Squat (Back Squat / Front Squat)
The stronger you are in the squat, the faster you sprint.9 That alone makes the squat—both back and front—absolutely essential for sprinters.
- With the back squat, you can use significantly heavier weights. The heavy load stimulates maximum force production, helping your muscles fire harder and faster.
- Front squats, on the other hand, mirror the body position you need when sprinting upright at max velocity. They also teach you to produce force through a slightly different pattern—relying more on the quads—which benefits starts and early acceleration when your knee drive is particularly aggressive.
I’ve included both in the Strength Training for Sprinting programs as they each fit different but complementary pieces into the sprint puzzle. Back squats give you posterior drive needed for ground contact power; front squats build the upright strength and stiffness required to hold posture at full stride (actually, both types of squats do all of the above, but with slightly different emphasis).
Generally, a parallel or slightly above parallel squat depth is enough for sprinters. It trains the range of motion that directly translates to sprint mechanics—a strong push without collapsing the hip and knee angles. Heavy quarter squats also have an excellent transfer to sprint speed, according to research.10
How to Squat
- Place the bar on your upper back with your shoulders blades squeezed together. Inhale and brace your core slightly, and unrack the bar.
- Take two steps back, and adjust your foot position.
- Squat as deep as possible with proper form.
- With control, stop and reverse the movement, extending your hips and legs again.
- Exhale on the way up or exchange air in the top position.
- Repeat the movement for the desired number of repetitions.
How to Front Squat
- Grip the bar slightly wider than shoulder-width. Step forward and place the bar on the front of your shoulders: on top of your clavicles, and tight against your throat.
- Inhale and brace your core slightly, and unrack the bar.
- Take two steps back, and adjust your foot position.
- Squat as deep as possible with good technique.
- With control, stop and reverse the movement, extending your hips and legs again.
- Exhale on the way up or exchange air in the top position.
- Repeat the movement for the desired number of repetitions.
Step Up
Sprinting is an alternating, single-leg activity, as is the step up. When you sprint, each leg must produce force independently, and when you do step ups, you’re training one leg at a time and building unilateral strength, balance, and stability while identifying and correcting imbalances between legs.
Step-ups are phenomenal for building the gluteus maximus and quadriceps of the leading leg, which gives you the hip extension power and knee drive you need to propel your body forward. There is research that shows that doing step-ups activates your glutes even more than squats and hip thrusts.11
In Strength Training for Sprinting, you’ll do both regular weighted step-ups and bodyweight jump step-ups (during the power peaking phase). The latter are particularly effective when it comes to translating to sprint speed.12
How to Do Step Ups
- Stand in front of a chair, bench or something else that you can step up on.
- Place your foot on the chair.
- Lightly brace your core, and step up until your leg is straight.
- Lower yourself in a controlled motion.
- You can keep your foot at the chair, and repeat the movement for the desired number of repetitions.
How to Do Jump Step Ups
- Stand behind a plyometric box (around knee height).
- Begin in a split stance: one leg forward, one leg back, with a slight hip hinge (lean forward slightly at the hips).
- Lift the lead leg (the forward leg) slightly and drive it down forcefully onto the box.
- As you push through the box with the lead leg, propel yourself upward into the air explosively.
- After jumping off the box, land back on the ground beside the box, returning to the starting split stance position.
- Repeat the movement for the desired number of repetitions.
Pull-Up / Chin-Up
Pull-ups (palms forward) and chin-ups (palms toward you) are two of the best exercises for your latissimus dorsi (the “lats”) and other upper-back muscles like the teres major, rhomboids, and traps. They also work your biceps, especially chin-ups.
When most people think about sprinting, they think about the legs—glutes, quads, hamstrings, calves—but it is really a full-body affair, with your arms and upper body doing a significant amount of work to drive your speed, especially at top-end velocity.
Together, the muscles you train when pulling yourself up stabilize your torso and maintain your posture when you sprint. If they are weak, your sprinting mechanics crumble, and you end up wasting energy flailing instead of slicing through the air.
The Strength Training for Sprinting programs includes both pull-ups and chin-ups, both bodyweight and weighted, depending on where in a particular season you’re going at it.
How to Do Pull-Ups
- Grip the bar with palms facing away from you, slightly wider than shoulder-width.
- Keep your chest up, and look up at the bar.
- Inhale and pull yourself up until your chin is over the bar or the bar touches your upper chest.
- Exhale and lower yourself with control until your arms are fully extended.
- Repeat the movement for the desired number of repetitions.
How to Do Chin-Ups
- Grip the bar with a supinated grip (palms facing you), about shoulder-width apart.
- Keep your chest up, and look up at the bar.
- Inhale and pull yourself up until your chin is over the bar, or the bar touches your upper chest.
- Exhale and lower yourself with control until your arms are fully extended.
- Repeat the movement for the desired number of repetitions.
Overhead Press (Dumbbell or Barbell)
The overhead press—often called just the shoulder press—is a classic strength training exercise where you press a weight (a barbell, dumbbells, or kettlebells) overhead from shoulder height to full arm extension. It primarily trains the deltoids, triceps, and upper traps, but when done standing, it also recruits the core and lower back for stability.
Strong shoulders transfer force more efficiently through your body. Every arm swing propels your body forward. In fact, research shows that your arms contribute up to 10% of the propulsive force you can apply to the ground.13 Sprinting is about horizontal speed, yes, but generating that horizontal speed starts with vertical force, and the stronger you are vertically, the more power you can pour into every stride.
How to Overhead Press
- First, place a barbell in a rack at about chest height.
- Grip the bar slightly wider than shoulder-width apart, and step close to it.
- Inhale, lightly brace your core, and unrack the bar.
- Let the bar rest against your front delts while you step back from the rack.
- Press the bar up to straight arms while exhaling.
- Inhale at the top or while lowering the bar with control back to your shoulders.
- Repeat the movement for the desired number of repetitions.
How to Dumbbell Shoulder Press
- Grab a pair of dumbbells, and lift them up to the starting position at your shoulders.
- Inhale and lightly brace your core.
- Press the dumbbells up to straight arms, while exhaling.
- Inhale at the top, or while lowering the dumbbells with control back to your shoulders.
- Repeat the movement for the desired number of repetitions.
Standing Hip Flexor Raise
The standing hip flexor raise is an excellent, often underrated exercise for sprinters. It specifically hits the hip flexor muscles—primarily the iliopsoas—which are critically important for sprinting performance. They lift your knee during your sprint stride, and stronger, more explosive hip flexors mean faster knee drive, better turnover (stride frequency), and more powerful sprint mechanics.
The resistance can come from many different tools—a dumbbell held at the knee, an ankle weight, a cable machine attached to the ankle, a kettlebell, or a resistance band.
I usually recommend mostly compound exercises—exercises that train multiple muscle groups through several joints—for sprinters, but dedicated isolation exercises for the hip flexors have proven to boost not only hip flexion strength but also sprint performance.14
How to Do Standing Hip Flexor Raises
- Stand on a small elevation, such as a step platform or a few weight plates.
- Place one foot on the elevated surface and place the other foot through the handle of a kettlebell or a cable machine handle.
- Engage your core and maintain an upright posture throughout the movement.
- Lift your knee toward your chest by flexing your hip while keeping your standing leg stable.
- Pause briefly at the top, then slowly lower your leg back to the starting position with control.
- Repeat for the desired number of repetitions, then switch legs.
Plank (Regular Plank and Plank With Leg Raise)
The plank is an isometric core exercise where you support your body in a straight line on your forearms/elbows and your toes. It’s a cornerstone of core training for many athletes, including sprinters.
The primary benefit of planking is that it teaches your body to create core stiffness and stability through the torso. During a sprint, you use that stiffness to transfer the power generated by your leg drive through your body without “energy leaks” caused by a weak or unstable midsection.
Also, it helps your torso resist the rotational forces generated when you swing your arms and legs in opposition and keeps your body moving forward as efficiently as possible.
In Strength Training for Sprinting, you’ll do both the traditional plank and planks with a leg raise. The latter builds upon the standard plank by adding a dynamic component and forces your hips, lower back, and abs to fire together to keep your spine steady.
How to Plank
- Stand on your elbows and feet.
- Brace your abs and try to form and hold a straight line from your head to feet. Keep your back flat, and avoid letting your hips sink down or lift too high.
- If you’re doing standard planks, simply hold the plank position for the intended amount of time. If you’re doing planks with a leg raise, continue to step 4.
- Slowly lift one leg off the ground to about hip height without bending the knee. Keep your leg straight during the movement.
- Hold the lifted position for a moment, then gently lower your leg back to the starting position.
- Repeat the lift with the opposite leg, ensuring you maintain a strong plank position throughout the movement.
- Continue to alternate legs for the chosen amount of time.
Hang Power Clean
The hang power clean is a weightlifting exercise where you explosively pull a barbell from a standing “hang” position (bar around mid-thigh) and catch it on your shoulders in a partial squat. It’s very valuable in athletic training, particularly for sports requiring explosive power. Hey—that sounds like sprinting.
The main perk of doing hang power cleans is triple extension—when you extend your hips, knees, and ankles at the same time, as you do during the push-off phase of each sprint stride when you drive off the ground.
That’s not all, though; when you do the hang power clean with maximum explosiveness, you have a fantastic exercise for training the neuromuscular system to produce high forces in very short amounts of time, Rate of Force Development, or RFD. And your sprinting success relies heavily on how quickly you can generate force.
How to Hang Power Clean
- Grip the bar with an overhand grip, about shoulder-width apart, and lift it up to get into the starting position.
- Hold your breath, and brace your core slightly.
- Lower the bar along your thighs, down to about knee-level, by bending your hips and knees.
- Reverse the movement, and lift the bar in a smooth but fast motion by extending your legs and knees simultaneously.
- Bend your knees slightly and receive the bar on the front of your shoulders.
- Stand up on straight legs again.
- Lower the bar in front of you, with control.
Romanian Deadlift
The Romanian deadlift (RDL) is one of the all-time greats for athletic performance and one of the exercises I program into the routines of almost every sprinter I’ve coached. It hits the posterior chain—the hamstrings, glutes, and erector spinae (lower back)—and is more of a hip hinge movement than conventional deadlifts.
The arguably greatest benefit you’ll see from RDLs as a sprinter is hamstring strength (especially eccentric). Sprinting places a ton of stress on the hamstrings as they extend the hip and eccentrically decelerate the lower leg just before the foot strike. The eccentric hamstring strength you build with RDLs improves control during the swing phase, contributing to better mechanics and potentially faster leg turnover, as well as preventing those pesky hamstring strains that plague many sprinters.
But they also strengthen the entire network of muscles on the backside of the body. A strong posterior chain, including the glutes, is essential for generating speed, maintaining an upright posture during sprints, and transferring force efficiently.
How to Do Romanian Deadlifts
- Get into the starting position by deadlifting a barbell off the floor or by unracking it from a barbell rack. Stand feet hip-width, inhale, and brace your core slightly. If you’re doing single-leg RDLs, lift one leg off the ground.
- Lean forward by hinging in your hips. Keep your knees almost completely extended.
- Lean forward as far as possible with good form (no rounding your back). You don’t have to touch the barbell to the floor, although it is OK if you do.
- Reverse the movement and return to the standing position. Exhale on the way up.
- Repeat the movement for the desired number of repetitions.
Note: The dumbbell Romanian deadlift is a viable alternative to the barbell variant.
Rows (Cable, Dumbbell)
While sprinting is obviously dominated by lower-body power, you want to include a decent amount of upper-body work for balance, stability, and force transfer.
Rowing exercises are excellent for building the muscles involved in the backward arm drive that counterbalances the leg action and contributes to forward propulsion. They also contribute to an upright posture during even the most intense sprints.
You can choose any rowing-type of exercise, including machine rows and barbell rows, but I’ve picked the seated cable row and the dumbbell row for the Strength Training for Sprinting programs. The first allows you to use a lot of weight safely and easily, and the second works one side of the body at a time, which replicates the alternating arm action in sprinting and can reveal and fix imbalances between your body’s sides.
How to Do Cable Rows
- Attach a narrow handle to the cable row, and assume the starting position.
- Maintain an upright posture with your chest out, shoulders back, and core engaged. Lean forward slightly and let your scapulae move freely by letting them slide forward to the starting position.
- Inhale, retract your shoulder blades and pull the handle towards your lower abdomen while leaning back slightly.
- Exhale and slowly return to the starting position by extending your arms and leaning forward.
- Repeat the movement for the desired number of repetitions.
How to Do Dumbbell Rows
- Start by placing a dumbbell on the floor beside a bench or chair. Stand facing the bench or chair and place your left hand and left knee on top of it.
- Keep your back flat and parallel to the ground, with a slight bend in the standing leg. Grip the dumbbell with your right hand.
- Inhale and pull the dumbbell by driving the elbow toward the ceiling.
- With control, lower the dumbbell back to the starting position while exhaling.
- Complete desired reps on one side, then switch to the opposite arm and leg, and repeat.
Push-Up / Bench Press
Push-ups and bench presses are two of the most classic upper-body exercises, hitting the chest, front delts, and triceps and improving pushing strength. Bench presses allow you to use heavy weights and overload your muscles for maximum strength gains, but the push-up is also remarkably effective while using only your body weight.
Sprinters generally benefit from a slightly higher volume of pulling compared to pushing for muscular balance around the shoulder joint and to prevent postural issues. While the former strengthens the backward pull, push-ups and bench presses strengthen the muscles responsible for the forward drive of your arm—essential for maintaining rhythm, generating momentum, and counterbalancing the legs. Like the metronome for your leg drive.
How to Do Push-Ups
- Assume the starting position, with hands slightly wider than shoulder-width apart.
- Try to form a straight line from head to feet, and brace your abdomen slightly.
- Lower yourself as deep as you can, while inhaling.
- Reverse the motion when you’ve touched the floor, and push yourself up to straight arms again while exhaling.
- Repeat the movement for the desired number of repetitions.
How to Bench Press
- Lie on the bench, pull your shoulder blades together and down, and slightly arch your back.
- Grip the bar slightly wider than shoulder-width apart.
- Inhale, hold your breath, and unrack the bar.
- Lower the bar with control, until it touches your chest somewhere close to your sternum.
- Push the bar up to the starting position while exhaling.
- Take another breath while in the top position, and repeat the movement for the desired number of repetitions.
Calf Raise
The calf raise is the best exercise for strengthening your calf muscles, and those guys generate force during the “toe-off”—the final phase of the push-off from the ground—for greater stride length and speed.
However, that’s not all. Working with the Achilles tendon, the calf muscles act like a spring. During ground contact when you sprint, they work together to stretch and store elastic energy, which then rapidly releases during push-off, improving the so-called stretch-shortening cycle and making each stride more powerful.
I’ve programmed the leg press calf raise into the Strength Training for Sprinting routine because it reduces the spinal load and allows for a longer ankle range of motion, but the regular standing calf press is a good alternative if you prefer it. Just do your calf presses with straight legs (or almost, with just the teeniest bend in your knees), as it is far more effective than the seated calf press.15
How to do Leg Press Calf Raises
- Position yourself in the leg press machine, placing the balls of your feet on the lower edge of the platform, with your heels free.
- Extend your legs without over-extending your knees and maintain slight tension throughout the movement.
- Allow your toes to drop downward in a controlled motion for a full range of motion and a good stretch in the calves, while keeping your heels as the highest point.
- Press through your toes and push them away from your body for a full contraction of the calf muscles.
- Slowly return to the starting position and repeat for the desired number of repetitions.
How to Do Standing Calf Raises
- Place your toes and the ball of your feet on the foot support. Place the shoulder pads against your shoulders and stand upright in the starting position.
- Lower yourself down by bending your ankles in a controlled movement.
- Push yourself up by extending your ankles.
- Repeat the movement for the desired number of repetitions.
Dead Bug
The dead bug—sounds like something you’d want to avoid stepping on, but if you’re a sprinter, you should be cozying up to this insect-inspired exercse like it’s your pre-race good luck charm.
The dead bug is a supine (on your back) core stability exercise where you extend one arm and the opposite leg simultaneously while maintaining a rock-solid torso.
This silly-looking movemnt trains anti-extension and cross-limb coordination, two things on every sprinter’s wishlist. Anti-extension means your core resists arching under pressure (for example when you drive your knee up or explode out of the blocks), and improved cross-limb coordination is great for the alternating nature of sprinting (right arm, left leg, and so on). It essentially strengthens the core so your arms and legs can do their thing while your pelvis and spine stays stable and allows for maximum force transfer.
How to Do Dead Bugs
- Lie on your back, with your arms straight up towards the ceiling and your legs stacked over your hips, with the knees bent in a 90-degree angle.
- Engage your core, and make sure that the lower back has contact with the surface.
- With control, straighten out the right leg and lower it towards the floor at the same time as you lower the left arm over your head as far as you can. Keep the lower back in contact with the floor the entire time.
- Reverse the movement, and repeat for the other side.
Sled Push / Sled Pull
The sled push and the sled pull are fantastic tools for sprinters that bridge the gap between the weight room and the track. You move a weighted sled by either pushing against handles or a bar attached to the sled or pulling it via a harness attached around the waist or shoulders.
Sled training improves sprint acceleration and train you to apply force into the ground more effectively. It builds horizontal force production and strengthens all the muscles you use when sprinting in a way very close to actual sprint mechanics, more so than traditional weightlifting. This leads to greater power output, crucial for explosive starts.
In Strength Training for Sprinting, you’re going to use different loads for different distances, but in general, you want to use a heavy sled (much heavier than some sprint coaches prescibe).16 17
How to Sled Push
- Load the sled with the desired weight.
- Stand behind the sled and grab the handles with both hands.
- Lean slightly forward, keeping your back flat and core tight.
- Drive through your legs and push the sled forward.
- Keep a steady pace and controlled steps until you reach the end of the track or until the desired distance.
How to Sled Pull
- Attach a harness to the sled and securely strap it around your waist or shoulders.
- Lean slightly forward into a sprint position, keeping your core engaged.
- Drive explosively through your legs to start moving the sled.
- Sprint forward with powerful, short strides.
- Maintain good sprint mechanics until you reach the end of the track or the desired distance.
Bulgarian Split Squat
The Bulgarian split squat is basically a fancy one-legged squat with your rear foot elevated behind you. It works your quads, adductors, and glutes, in the movement pattern needed to generate force from the track.
When you isolate one leg at a time in a split squat, you train balance, stability, strength, and coordination—all the things sprinters need to fire off the blocks. It also stretches the hip flexors and quads of the back leg, improving stride length and hip extension.
How to Do Bulgarian Split Squats
- Place a bar on your upper back or hold a pair of dumbbells in your hands.
- Stand with your back turned against a bench, which should be about knee height. Stand about one long step in front of the bench.
- Place your right foot on the bench behind you.
- Inhale, look forward, and squat down with control until right before your right knee touches the floor.
- Reverse the movement and extend your front leg again, while exhaling. Your back foot should only act as support.
- Repeat the movement for the desired number of repetitions, then switch side and repeat with your right leg forward and your left foot on the bench.
Cable Hip Abduction
The cable hip abduction is an isolation exercise that targets the gluteus medius, minimus, and tensor fascia latae muscles on the side of your butt cheeks and hips. They don’t get the same love as the gluteus maximus (the big round one) but are essential for lateral stability and explosive power in sprinters.
And no, hip abductions are not just for Instagram models or rehab patients. These muscles keep your pelvis level when one leg is off the ground (which is like 80% of sprinting). If they are weak, things go downhill fast: your pelvis dips, knees collapse inward, form disintegrates, and performance tanks—or worse, injuries sneak in.
That’s why cable hip abductions should be in your workout routine—they give you lateral hip strength, improve stride alignment, keep your knees tracking properly, and reduce the risk of IT band issues. They also contribute to hip stability during acceleration and top-end speed, especially in cornering or lateral movements (important for 200-meter sprinting and above).
How to Do Cable Hip Abductions
- Attach an ankle strap to the low pulley in a cable machine.
- Stand sideways to the cable machine and attach the farther leg to the cable.
- Engage your core and glutes, and keep a slight bend in the “free” leg.
- Lift the leg (attached to the cable) outward to the side against the resistance while keeping your upper body still.
- With control, lower the leg back to the starting position.
- Repeat for the desired number of repetitions, then switch legs and repeat.
Hanging Leg Raise / Toes-to-Bar
The hanging leg raise and its more advanced variant, the toes-to-bar, are excellent exercises for building core and hip flexor strength and staples of any sprinter’s ab-pocalypse toolbox.
The first (core strength) prevents rotation or tilting while you’re sprinting and makes sure the power generated by your legs is channeled into forward motion, not wasted. It also maintains an upright posture during acceleration and max velocity phases. The second (hip flexors) contribute to a quicker leg recovery and potentially a more powerful forward drive.
How to Do Hanging Leg Raises
- Jump up and grab a bar, placed high enough that you can hang from it with straight legs.
- Without swinging, lift your legs as high as you can in front of you.
- Lower your legs with control and repeat the movement for the desired number of repetitions.
How to Do Toes-to-Bar
- Hang from a pull-up bar with straight arms and your feet off the ground.
- Engage your core and keep your legs together.
- Swing slightly to build momentum.
- Raise your legs and bring your toes up to touch the bar.
- Lower your legs with control and repeat the movement for the desired number of repetitions.
Hang Power Snatch
Much like the hang power clean is a streamlined version of the full clean, the hang power snatch is the same but for the snatch. Instead of pulling from the floor, you start from a standing position with the bar hanging just above the knees (hence “hang”). You then explode the bar upward in one quick and graceful (?) motion—catching it overhead in a partial squat.
Both exercises build the explosive hip extension power and triple extension you need for sprinting. However, the hang power snatch requires greater speed, coordination, and shoulder mobility thanks to its wider grip, longer pull path, and overhead catch, which means it offers benefits of its own for rate of force development and neuromuscular efficiency. That’s why you’ll find both in Strength Training for Sprinting.
How to Hang Power Snatch
- Grip the bar with a wide overhand grip, and lift it up to get into the starting position, with the bar resting in the hip crease.
- Hold your breath, and brace your core slightly.
- Lower the bar along your thighs, down to about knee-level, by bending your hips and knees.
- Reverse the movement, and lift the bar in a smooth but fast motion, by extending your legs and knees simultaneously.
- Once the bar has reached maximum speed, bend your knees slightly and catch the bar on straight arms over your head.
- When you’ve got control of the bar, stand up straight.
- Lower the bar in front of you, with control.
Pallof Press
Unlike exercises like crunches where you flex your spine or twists where you create rotation, the Pallof press trains you to resist rotational forces. It is like anti-rotation training on steroids (legal ones, don’t panic) that teaches your core muscles—the obliques, transverse abdominis, and spinal stabilizers—to resist rotation.
Every stride you take sends rotational forces through your trunk. Your arms swing one way, your legs fire the opposite. Pallof presses improve the kinetic chain linkage between your lower and upper body and prevents energy leaking out like a bad Wi-Fi signal.
How to Pallof Press
- Attach a handle in a cable machine at chest height and stand with your side facing the machine.
- Grab the handle with both hands and stand with feet hip-width apart and knees slightly bent.
- Pull the handle to your chest, engage your core, and then press your arms straight out in front of you without rotating your torso.
- Hold briefly, then bring the handle back to your chest in a controlled motion.
- Repeat for the desired number of repetitions, then switch sides.
Banded Hip March
The banded hip march is an exercise for the hip flexor muscles and core stabilizers using a resistance band, like adding load to the high-knee action and simulating the motor pattern of sprinting—unilaterally loaded, pelvis stable, legs driving, everything under tension.
Drive your knee as high as you can while you maintain core tension, and remember to control the eccentric part of the movement.
How To Do Banded Hip Marches
- Stand upright with a mini band around your feet.
- Engage your core and maintain a neutral posture throughout the exercise.
- Lift one knee toward your chest while keeping the other leg stable. Pause briefly at the top.
- Lower the leg back to the starting position in a controlled manner.
- Repeat the movement with the other leg.
- Continue alternating legs until you reach the desired number of reps.
Clean Pull from Blocks
The clean pull is a weightlifting exercise variation that improves explosive power and is particularly valuable for the initial acceleration phase of a sprint.
In Strength Training for Sprinting, you start the lift with the barbell set on elevated blocks, around knee height. The reduced range of motion allows you to go heavier and faster and focus on the second and third pull of the clean triple extension at the ankles, knees, and hips.
Clean pulls from blocks train your body to recruit the same fast-twitch muscle fibers that help you explode out of the blocks and eat up the first 10 meters of a race like a snack.
How to Do Block Clean Pulls
- Set the barbell on blocks at the desired height (typically just below or at the knee). Stand with your feet hip-width apart and grip the bar just outside your knees. Position yourself with your back straight, chest up, and shoulders slightly in front of the bar.
- From the blocks, push forcefully through your legs to initiate the lift, keeping the bar close to your body. Maintain a flat back and a constant torso angle as you extend your knees.
- As the bar rises past mid-thigh, explosively extend your hips, knees, and ankles in a powerful triple extension.
- Shrug your shoulders forcefully at the top of the movement and allow the bar to rise with momentum. Keep your arms relaxed and elbows pointing upward.
- Lower the bar under control back to the blocks and reset your position for the next rep.
- Repeat for the desired number of repetitions.
Trap Bar Deadlift
The trap bar deadlift is a variation of the traditional barbell deadlift where you use a trap bar (also called a hex bar), a hexagon-shaped barbell that you stand inside of. Instead of holding the barbell in front of your body, you grip the handles on either side of you.
This shift in body position means more knee flexion = more quad involvement, and a more upright torso = less shear stress on the lower back.
Trap bar deadlifts hit the sweet spot between absolute strength and speed-strength.
First, it is great for improving max strength (it allows you to move more weight and achieve a greater power output than standard barbell deadlifts and to do so in a safer way). Secondly, when you do it explosively with lighter loads at maximal velocity, it is also a fantastic tool for developing rate of force development (RFD)—a fancy way of saying how quickly your muscles can turn on and fire.
If you have the mobility, I suggest you use the low handles. While high handles allow for greater loads, I favor low handles for better posterior chain development when possible.
How to Do Trap Bar Deadlifts
- Step into the bar’s opening and position yourself so that the handles are in line with the middle of your feet.
- Inhale, bend down and grip the handles.
- Hold your breath, brace your core slightly, and lift the bar.
- Lift the bar with a straight back, until you are standing straight.
- Lower the bar back to the ground with control.
- Take another breath, and repeat for the desired number of repetitions.
V-Sit Hold
The V-sit hold is an isometric core exercise that targets the abdominal muscles and hip flexors and challenges your balance, body awareness, and control.
By holding the position (like the moment in mid-sprint when the thigh is high and the trunk upright) under fatigue, you train the muscle groups that resist trunk flexion and excessive spinal rotation when you’re at top speed. You also build hip flexor endurance for high knee lifts and rapid turnover. If your hip flexors are weak, they tire quickly, and your stride length shortens while your ground contact time increases.
How to Do V-Sit Holds
1. Sit on the floor with your legs extended straight in front of you.
2. Lean back slightly and lift your legs off the ground to form a V shape with your body.
3. Keep your arms extended straight alongside your legs or reach toward your toes.
4. Engage your core and hold the position without rounding your back.
5. Breathe steadily and hold for the desired duration.
Landmine Press
The landmine press is a shoulder-friendly exercise for building strong, balanced upper body pushing strength—mainly hitting your delts, triceps, and upper chest. In Strength Training for Sprinting, you’re doing the unilateral, one-arm variant.
Because you’re pressing from a standing position and at an upward angle, your core has to work harder to keep you steady and resist twisting. The main benefit compared to regular overhead presses (for a sprinter) is that it improves your body’s ability to stabilize and generate force along diagonal lines, just like the opposite arm / opposite leg pattern in sprinting.
How to Do Landmine Presses
- Stand with your core activated and the feet about shoulder-width apart.
- Place the barbell in one hand, and rest it on your shoulder.
- Press to lockout by extending the elbow and flexing the shoulder.
- Slowly lower the barbell back to the starting position on your shoulder.
- Repeat for the desired number of repetitions.
Sprint Bounding
Sprint bounding involves taking long, powerful strides (after a few easy running steps to build momentum) with an exaggerated knee lift, high hip position, and forceful ground contact, aiming for significant air time before landing and immediately pushing off again.
It is like a form of loaded sprinting, where the “load” is internal—your own muscular tension and movement control—rather than an external resistance like a sled and trains you to produce, transfer, and coordinate horizontal force, similar to what occurs in your acceleration phase during a sprint but with a more exaggerated range of motion.
How to Do Sprint Bounds
1. Stand tall with feet hip-width apart.
2. Begin jogging forward to build momentum.
3. Push off forcefully with one leg, driving the opposite knee high and swinging the
opposite arm forward.
4. Land on the midfoot of the opposite leg and immediately bound forward with the other leg.
5. Continue bounding forward for the desired distance with powerful, exaggerated stridesand coordinated arm swings while maintaining an upright posture and focusing on covering distance with each bound.
Band-Resisted A-Skip
The band-resisted A-skip is a plyometric drill that fuses neuromuscular coordination with resistance to improve sprint mechanics. The “A-skip” part comes from classic track & field drills where athletes practice their sprint form by rhythmically lifting their knees and striking the ground beneath their hips. Now, slap a resistance band around your waist, anchor it behind you, and suddenly, you’ve turned this little drill into a great strength training exercise for sprinting.
A-skips force your body to produce more force while staying technically clean. The resistance band makes you work harder to drive your knee up, stabilize your posture, and snap your foot down—all essential sprinting mechanics. They also reveal and magnify weaknesses: poor posture? You’ll tip over like a sad Jenga tower. Lazy knee drive? You’ll look like you’re trying to run in a pool of molasses.
More than just building stronger muscles and improving force production, adding resistance to A-skips train rhythm and timing under pressure. A-skips already promote leg cycling and foot strike directly beneath your center of mass, but when you add a resistance band to the mix, you force the muscles in your hip flexors, glutes, and core to work harder—without sacrificing coordination.
How to Do Band-Resisted A-Skips
1. Attach a resistance band around your waist and anchor the other end behind you.
2. Stand tall with your arms relaxed at your sides.
3. Begin skipping in place by driving one knee up to hip height while swinging the opposite
arm forward.
4. Land softly on the ball of your foot and quickly switch legs.
5. Keep an upright posture and a quick, rhythmic tempo throughout the movement.
6. Continue skipping forward against the resistance of the band for the desired distance or time.
Ball Slam
The ball slam is a dynamic, full-body exercise where you lift a ball overhead and throw it down onto the ground with as much force as you can muster.
When you do ball slams, you train both triple extension (hips, knees, and ankles firing together), followed by an equally aggressive triple flexion (pulling your arms down fast, engaging your core, and flexing your hips) and forcing the entire kinetic chain to work together—your legs generate initial power, your core transfers it, and your upper body directs the final slam. They improve your ability to coordinate muscle contractions for maximal force output in a short time for starting blocks and acceleration phases.
Remember to use a non-bouncy ball to prevent it from clocking you in the nose on the way up.
How to Ball Slam
- Stand with your feet about shoulder-width apart, your knees and hips slightly bent, holding the ball in both hands at chest height. Engage your core, and keep a good posture.
- Extend your knees and drive your hips forward while simultaneously lifting the ball. Aim for being as tall as possible, the ball overhead, arms up, hips slightly forward, and on your toes from the force of your drive.
- Use your core and arms to slam the medicine ball straight down between your feet with as much force as possible. Press your hips back and bend your knees to further power the slam. Exhale as you slam the ball down.
- Squat down to pick up the ball from the floor, then immediately move into the next slam by repeating the movement.
- Repeat the movement for your desired number of repetitions.
Resistance Band Sprints
Band-resisted sprints is a training method where you run while attached to a resistance band, which you either anchor to a fixed point or have a partner standing behind you hold.
The goal is to force your muscles to generate more power during the drive phase, improving stride length and ground force production and ultimately making your unresisted sprint feel like you’re getting shot out of a cannon.
The added resistance needs to be just enough to challenge you, but not so much that it turns your sprint into a glorified sled drag. Select a band that allows you to maintain sprinting mechanics—good posture, hip drive, and arm action—and not make you feel like you are waddling in ankle-deep mud.
How to Do Resistance Band Sprints
1. Attach a resistance band to a secure anchor point.
2. Step into the band and position it around your waist.
3. Walk forward to create tension in the band.
4. Lean slightly forward into a sprint stance.
5. Drive your knees up and sprint forward explosively, pushing against the resistance.
L-Sit Hold
The L-sit is an isometric exercise, meaning you hold a static position rather than moving through a range of motion.
While it is not a direct sprinting movement, it develops strength and stability, prevents energy leaks, helps maintain an upright posture (especially under fatigue), and stabilizes your pelvis and spine, which means you can transfer power effectively from the ground through your legs and hips, and into forward motion.
How to Do L-Sit Holds
- Sit on the floor with your legs extended straight in front of you.
- Place your hands on the floor beside your hips, with your fingers pointing forward or slightly outward. If available, you can use parallettes or push-up handles to make the movement more comfortable and provide more space for your legs.
- Tighten your core muscles and engage your quadriceps (front of your thighs) to help lift your legs.
- Push down through your hands to lift your hips off the ground.
- Keep your legs straight and extended in front of you, with your toes pointed, forming an “L” shape with your body. Your arms should remain straight and locked throughout the exercise, and your legs should be parallel to the ground or as high as possible without rounding your back or losing form.
- Hold the L-sit for the desired amount of time.
- Lower your body back to the floor.
Strength Training for Sprinting: Final Rep
You have reached the end of Strength Training for Sprinting! Thank you for reading!
Sprinting is a game of milliseconds—and muscles. Speed starts with strength, and strength training turns fast into faster.
Whether you’re grinding off-season strength or are in the middle of pre-season, these programs will make you stronger, faster, and more explosive.
To start Strength Training for Sprinting, download our workout log app and start tracking your workouts today:
Click here to go directly to the off-season program in StrengthLog.
Click here to for the pre-season program.
Last reviewed: 2025-11-25
References
- Sports Medicine 44(12):1693-1702, July 2014. Increases in Lower-Body Strength Transfer Positively to Sprint Performance: A Systematic Review with Meta-Analysis.
- Appl. Sci. 2025, 15(9), 4959. Muscle Activity and Biomechanics of Sprinting: A Meta-Analysis Review.
- Sports Med Open. 2019 Nov 21;5:44. The Training and Development of Elite Sprint Performance: an Integration of Scientific and Best Practice Literature.
- Sports Med. 2024 Oct 7;54(12):3019–3050. Optimizing Resistance Training for Sprint and Endurance Athletes: Balancing Positive and Negative Adaptations.
- Sports (Basel). 2022 Sep 27;10(10):148. The Effects of Different Relative Loads in Weight Training on Acceleration and Acceleration from Flying Starts.
- Appl. Sci. 2023, 13(14), 8105. Epidemiology of Injury Complaints in Elite Sprinting Athletes in Athletics (Track and Field).
- Br J Sports Med. 2014 Jun;48(11):871-7. The effectiveness of exercise interventions to prevent sports injuries: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials.
- Br J Sports Med. 2018 Dec;52(24):1557-1563. Strength training as superior, dose-dependent and safe prevention of acute and overuse sports injuries: a systematic review, qualitative analysis and meta-analysis.
- British Journal of Sports Medicine 38(3):285-8., July 2004. Strong Correlation of Maximal Squat Strength With Sprint Performance and Vertical Jump Height in Elite Soccer Players.
- Hum Mov. 2016;17(1):43-49. Joint-angle specific strength adaptations influence improvements in power in highly trained athletes.
- Journal of Sports Science and Medicine (2020) 19, 195 – 203. Gluteus Maximus Activation During Common Strength and Hypertrophy Exercises: A Systematic Review.
- Eur J Sport Sci. 2024 Aug;24(8):1086-1094. A kinetic analysis of four high velocity, horizontally focused step-up variations for acceleration training.
- Strength and Conditioning Journal 40(5):p 14-23, October 2018.Role of Arm Mechanics During Sprint Running: A Review of the Literature and Practical Applications.
- Strength and Conditioning Journal 40(1):p 2-12, February 2018. A 6-Week Base Strength Training Program for Sprint Acceleration Development and Foundation for Future Progression in Amateur Athletes.
- Front Physiol. 2023 Dec 13:14:1272106. Triceps surae muscle hypertrophy is greater after standing versus seated calf-raise training.
- J Strength Cond Res. 2020 Oct;34(10):2751-2759. Influence of Resisted Sled-Pull Training on the Sprint Force-Velocity Profile of Male High-School Athletes.
- J Strength Cond Res. 2014 Oct;28(10):2738-45. Effects of weighted sled towing with heavy versus light load on sprint acceleration ability.
