OPERATIONAL SPEED VS. MAXIMAL SPEED

Speed Kills. Game Speed Wins.

Building Maximum and Operational Speed for Football

Football players need more than conditioning.

They need speed.

But speed in football isn't one thing.

There are two qualities we need to develop:

Maximum Speed — How fast can the athlete physically move?

Operational Speed — How much of that speed can the athlete repeatedly use under the demands of a football game?

Both matter.

Both must be trained.

But they should not always be trained the same way.

The Barbarian Culture approach is simple:

First, raise the athlete's ceiling. Then teach him to fight underneath it.

Maximum Speed: Raise the Ceiling

The offseason gives us an opportunity that we don't have during the season.

We can concentrate on making the athlete faster without trying to simultaneously reproduce every conditioning demand of a football game.

For most non-NFL football programs, I like beginning dedicated maximum-speed development around January and continuing through late March.

Depending on the school's calendar, that gives us approximately 10–12 weeks before spring football becomes the priority.

The mission during this block is clear:

Raise the athlete's maximum-speed ceiling.

We're not trying to see how exhausted we can make him.

We're not trying to win conditioning drills in January.

We're trying to make him faster.

There is a difference.

Speed Training Is Not Conditioning

This is one of the most important concepts a football coach needs to understand.

If I want an athlete to sprint faster, I need him capable of producing high-quality sprint efforts.

That requires recovery.

If his legs are burning, mechanics are falling apart, and every repetition is slower than the one before it, we are no longer accomplishing the same objective.

We're conditioning him.

That may have value—but it isn't maximum-speed training anymore.

During maximum-speed work, I use a simple recovery guideline:

Approximately 1 minute of rest for every 10 yards sprinted.

10 yards → 1 minute

20 yards → 2 minutes

30 yards → 3 minutes

40 yards → 4 minutes

These aren't sacred numbers. They're practical starting points.

If an athlete needs additional recovery to reproduce a high-quality effort, give it to him.

Don't be afraid to let football players rest during speed training.

You cannot punish an athlete into becoming faster.

From Maximum Speed to Operational Speed

Eventually the mission changes.

Spring football is coming.

Now we need to take the speed we've built and make it useful on the field.

This is where operational speed becomes increasingly important.

A football player isn't going to run his best 40-yard dash on every play for four quarters.

He accelerates.

Stops.

Changes direction.

Makes contact.

Gets up.

Returns to the huddle.

Then he has to do it again.

And again.

And again.

The game controls his recovery.

That's why operational-speed training gradually introduces shorter recovery periods and repeated efforts.

Maximum speed asks:

How fast can you go?

Operational speed asks:

How much speed can you repeatedly bring to the fight?

Condition for the Offense You Actually Run

Your conditioning program should reflect your football program.

Don't blindly copy another team's running program.

Ask:

What kind of football do we play?

If you're running a physical, run-heavy offense designed to grind down a defense and control the clock, approximately 30–40 seconds between repeated efforts can be a useful starting point during operational work.

If you're running a faster, pass-heavy attack with short routes and a quicker tempo, you may eventually work closer to approximately 20–30 seconds between efforts.

The exact number should reflect your actual tempo and coaching philosophy.

The principle is what matters:

Train for the game you're going to play.

The Football Calendar Has a Purpose

Strength and conditioning should never exist separately from football.

Every phase prepares the athlete for the next phase.

Think about the year this way:

Winter Training

Prepares the athlete for spring practice.

Spring Practice

Prepares the athlete for the spring game.

Summer Training

Prepares the athlete for preseason practice.

Preseason Practice

Prepares the athlete for the season.

Every block has a mission.

That's how training should be organized.

Don't prepare athletes for August in January.

Prepare them for the next battle.

After the Spring Game

Once spring football ends, athletes need an opportunity to recover.

Depending on your calendar, approximately 2–3 weeks of reduced training or recovery work may be appropriate before beginning the next major training block.

Then we attack maximum speed again.

June and July give us another opportunity to develop speed before preseason football takes over.

The cycle repeats:

Build Maximum Speed

↓

Transition Toward Operational Speed

↓

Practice Football

↓

Compete

That is periodization applied to football instead of simply applied to the weight room.

Bigs and Skills Should Not Run the Same Program

One of the biggest mistakes coaches can make is treating every football player like he has the same job.

He doesn't.

A 300-pound offensive tackle and a 180-pound defensive back may wear the same uniform, but their physical demands are very different.

For simplicity, I divide football players into two broad categories:

BIGS

Primarily offensive and defensive linemen.

SKILLS

Receivers, defensive backs, running backs, linebackers and other positions that regularly cover more ground.

You can divide these groups further depending on your roster and staff.

The important thing is recognizing:

Different warriors have different jobs.

Train accordingly.

Sprint Training for the Bigs

Offensive and defensive linemen live primarily in a world of short acceleration.

Therefore, most of their sprint work should reflect that.

I generally keep their sprint distances around:

10–20 yards.

There is little reason to repeatedly make a 300-pound lineman sprint 60 yards when his position rarely demands it.

We're adding stress to his knees, hips and lower back without necessarily improving the quality his position requires.

If you're worried about his conditioning, that's where our lower-intensity conditioning work comes into play.

Use sprinting to develop speed.

Use conditioning to develop conditioning.

Don't confuse the two.

Sprint Training for Skill Players

Skill players require exposure to a wider range of distances.

Their sprint work can generally range from:

10–60 yards.

Most of the volume will still come from shorter distances.

Longer sprints should be used strategically and at relatively low volume.

I generally don't want large numbers of repetitions beyond 40 yards in a single session.

For example:

40-yard sprint

Rest approximately 4 minutes.

40–60-yard sprint

Full recovery.

Potentially perform one additional longer sprint if appropriate for that athlete and training phase.

Then bring the remaining work back down to 30 yards or less.

Don't keep adding long sprints simply because the athlete can survive them.

Every yard must have a purpose.

Control Your Sprint Volume

Total sprint volume also matters.

A general range might be approximately:

200–400 yards per sprint session.

That does not mean every player automatically performs 400 yards.

The appropriate volume depends on:

• Position

• Bodyweight

• Training experience

• Time of year

• Sprint distance

• Strength-training demands

• Practice demands

• Injury history

• Recovery

• Individual readiness

The heavier athlete performing repeated 10-yard accelerations may belong toward the lower end.

A well-trained skill athlete may tolerate more.

The program serves the athlete. The athlete does not serve the spreadsheet.

Tempo Runs: Build the Engine

Now we need to address conditioning.

This is where tempo runs enter the program.

Don't make this complicated.

Think of a tempo run as exactly what the name suggests:

RUN.

Don't sprint.

Don't jog.

Run.

These are controlled, lower-intensity repetitions designed to develop aerobic capacity and improve the athlete's ability to recover between harder efforts.

Because the intensity is considerably lower than sprint training, tempo work can also serve as useful low-intensity conditioning throughout much of the year.

Bigs vs. Skills During Tempo Runs

Again, bodyweight and position matter.

BIGS — Approximately 50 yards per repetition

SKILLS — Approximately 100 yards per repetition

Why?

Because I don't need to make a 300-pound offensive lineman repeatedly cover 100 yards to develop his aerobic system.

We can accomplish the objective with shorter repetitions while reducing unnecessary pounding.

Skill players are generally lighter and their positions require them to cover greater distances, so longer tempo repetitions make more sense.

Get the adaptation without paying an unnecessary price.

Tempo Volume

A general tempo session may accumulate approximately:

1,000–2,000 total yards.

Again, that's a range.

Not a commandment.

Bigs may perform shorter repetitions and lower overall volume.

Skills may perform longer repetitions and accumulate more distance.

The coach must watch the athletes.

Are they maintaining posture?

Are they moving well?

Are they recovering?

Is this helping tomorrow's training or destroying it?

Never forget:

Fatigue is not the goal. Adaptation is the goal.

Progressing the Tempo Runs

Early in January, I like giving athletes generous recovery between tempo repetitions.

A starting point might be:

90 seconds.

As conditioning improves, begin gradually reducing recovery.

For example:

90 seconds

↓

80 seconds

↓

70 seconds

↓

60 seconds

↓

50 seconds

↓

40 seconds

↓

30 seconds

You can reduce recovery approximately 5–10 seconds at a time, but don't force progression just because the calendar says so.

Let performance guide the decision.

Once we transition toward operational conditioning, approximately 30 seconds between repetitions becomes a useful target for many situations.

After spring football and the recovery period, we can rebuild the progression during summer training.

Start with more recovery.

Gradually compress it.

Then arrive at the operational demands we want before preseason practice.

Don't Keep Cutting Rest Forever

This is important.

Once your athletes can dominate the prescribed workload with approximately 30 seconds of recovery, you don't automatically need to make it 25.

Then 20.

Then 15.

Then 10.

At some point you're no longer improving the desired quality.

You're simply making the workout harder.

There is such a thing as diminishing returns.

If your athletes finish the conditioning work under control instead of lying on the ground gasping for air, that's not a failure.

That's the goal.

You built them to handle the workload.

Now let them conquer it.

The Players Who Rarely Leave the Field

Another consideration is substitution.

Not every player experiences the same game.

Many skill positions rotate.

Other positions may play long stretches without leaving the field.

Your offensive line and quarterback, in particular, may be asked to operate through entire drives without substitution.

Their ability to repeatedly recover between plays becomes extremely important.

This is one reason I place such an emphasis on developing the aerobic system through controlled conditioning.

Football isn't an endurance sport.

But football players still need an engine.

The Weekly Offseason Structure

For this system, we're going to use:

2 high-intensity sprint days

and

2 low-intensity tempo days.

I want approximately 72 hours between the two sprint sessions whenever possible.

Using a Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday training schedule:

MONDAY — LOW

Tempo Runs

TUESDAY — HIGH

Sprint Training

WEDNESDAY

Recovery

THURSDAY — LOW

Tempo Runs

FRIDAY — HIGH

Sprint Training

SATURDAY

Recovery

SUNDAY

Recovery

Simple.

Low. High. Recover. Low. High. Recover.

This also gives the strength coach a framework for organizing the weight room around high- and low-intensity days instead of randomly stacking stress throughout the week.

Speed Kills. Game Speed Wins.

The goal isn't to have the most exhausted football team in the state.

The goal is to have athletes who are fast, conditioned and capable of repeatedly performing their assignments.

Maximum speed raises the ceiling.

Operational speed teaches athletes to use more of that ability under football conditions.

Tempo work builds the engine underneath both.

Position-specific distances keep the training relevant.

Proper recovery keeps speed work fast.

And the football calendar determines when each quality receives the greatest emphasis.

That's programming.

Not punishment.

Not random running.

Not conditioning for the sake of conditioning.

Every phase has a mission.

Every drill has a purpose.

Every yard must earn its place.

Build the athlete's speed.

Build his engine.

Teach him to repeatedly use both when the game demands it.

Speed kills.

Game speed wins.