What is the most important trait for a field sport athlete?
In Gaelic football, for example, athletes may perform 50-100 high-intensity accelerations per game, with some studies showing 70-120 accelerations depending on the threshold used.
That's roughly 15-20 times more accelerations than max velocity exposures, which are generally between 3 and 6 per match.
Field sports live in acceleration.
Now, I'm not saying max velocity speed isn't a needle mover - it absolutely is. However, if you're biasing your training with limited recovery resources and limited time, acceleration is GOATed for moving the needle in your sport.
Coaches Cue the Lean - But Don't Build the Strength to Hold It
Coaches often cue positions, but they don't build the force capacity required to hold those positions.
Acceleration posture - the forward lean, aggressive shin angles, staying low - is not something an athlete can simply choose to do.
It's something that emerges from force production.
If an athlete leans forward but cannot produce enough propulsive force, gravity wins and the nervous system will bring them upright early.
Athletes don't pop up early because they lack discipline.
They pop up early because they lack the force required to maintain dynamic equilibrium.
In sprinting:
The kinetics shape the kinematics.
The forces you produce determine the positions you can hold.
So instead of endlessly cueing posture, coaches should focus on raising the athlete's force ceiling.
Let's get into it.
What Is Acceleration?
Acceleration is essentially overcoming inertia.
Newton's First Law:
An object at rest stays at rest, and an object in motion stays in motion unless acted upon by an external force.
In order to overcome inertia, we have to produce a huge amount of force very quickly.
During acceleration we're starting from a dead stop, so it's very muscular driven and concentric dominant, meaning the muscles are actively shortening to produce force.
This differs from max velocity sprinting, which is more quasi-isometric, where muscle length stays relatively similar and tendons do more of the elastic work.
During acceleration, tendons still help - but a huge amount of the force must come from the musculature.
Think primarily:
- Glutes
- Hamstrings
- Quads
Each step during acceleration produces a massive impulse, with ground contact times often around ~150 milliseconds early in the sprint.
Acceleration is fundamentally about projection.
Each step must project the center of mass forward horizontally. To do that, we need to orient force down and back.
In order to orient force down and back effectively, we need an aggressive forward lean, with the shin roughly parallel to the torso.
In other words, we are leaned forward horizontally, not vertically.
Dynamic Equilibrium
In order to stay low during acceleration, we need something called dynamic equilibrium - essentially a propulsive counterbalance.
Athletes cannot stay low unless they produce enough propulsive force to maintain that equilibrium.
If they cannot produce enough force, they will pop upright early.
You almost never see someone fall forward because the nervous system protects them by bringing them upright.
But when athletes pop upright early, they begin producing braking forces. Instead of pushing down and back, they start pushing more vertically.
Vertical force is great for max velocity sprinting, but if we're still accelerating - say from 6 m/s to 8 m/s - it's not our friend.
What Drives Good Acceleration?
To recap, good acceleration comes from:
- Correct force orientation - pushing down and back
- Large impulse (force × time)
- Huge concentric strength in the lower limbs
- An aggressive forward lean
Acceleration is therefore more muscular and strength dependent.
So we can organise acceleration training into two main categories:
1. Maximal Strength - raising the force ceiling
2. Explosive Strength - rate of force development
1. Raise the Force Ceiling: Maximal Strength
First, we must raise the athlete's force ceiling in the gym.
That means slowly but surely bringing up a heavy squat variation over time.
Examples include:
- Back squat
- Box squat
- Anderson squat
- Split squat
- Bulgarian split squat
Anything where we are extending the knee and hip under heavy load.
The goal is simple:
Increase the force ceiling of the system.
We also want to improve hip extension strength.
Movements like:
- Stiff-leg deadlifts
- Romanian deadlift
- Good mornings
- Deadlifts
These should also be trending upward over time.
As a rough guide, bilateral hinges often end up around 1.5-2× bodyweight, though strict strength norms depend heavily on the movement and whether it's unilateral or bilateral.
The key point remains simple:
The numbers should trend upwards over time.
2. Explosive Strength: Rate of Force Development
Next, we need to improve explosive strength, also known as rate of force development and reactive strength.
This is where ballistics come in.
Examples include:
- Barbell jump squats
- Dumbbell jump squats
- Explosive hang cleans
- Med ball throws
Anything where we are accelerating through the entire movement. That's what defines a ballistic movement.
These exercises help convert maximal strength into usable acceleration power.
Accelerative Strength
We can also keep our core lifts in the program and simply manipulate them. This is where accelerative strength comes in.
Using bands or chains, we can force the athlete to accelerate through the entire movement because resistance increases toward the top of the lift.
Examples include:
- Banded squats
- Banded hip thrusts
- Banded stiff-leg deadlifts
As moment arms decrease near the top of movements like the squat, if you continued accelerating with straight weight you would theoretically leave the ground.
That's not possible with heavy loads.
Bands allow us to use lighter loads while maintaining acceleration, which makes them excellent later in the week closer to the game.
Bands also shorten during the eccentric phase, creating a slightly faster eccentric, improving eccentric rate of force development and forcing maximal intent throughout the lift.
Accelerative strength work is typically performed around 50-75% of 1RM.
If you are using bands, you can roughly estimate band tension with a quick Google search based on the band thickness and stretch length.
High Velocity Work
We also need raw high-velocity work in the gym.
This includes exercises such as:
- Countermovement jumps
- Broad jumps
- Hops
- Bounds
- Lightly loaded jump squats
Here we are working at the highest end of the velocity spectrum, moving extremely quickly. Don't overcomplicate this.
Broad jumps in series, single-leg hops, double-leg bounds, and repeated jumps for distance and height are all excellent tools.
Countermovement jumps in the gym are fantastic. You can also pair them with overcoming isometrics.
Examples include:
- Knee push ISO for acceleration projection
- Mid-thigh overcoming ISO pulls
For a knee push ISO, push horizontally against the rack with the back foot behind you and drive into the rack diagonally up and forward.
For a mid-thigh overcoming ISO pull, pull the bar into an immovable object around mid-thigh height for 3-5 seconds of maximal intent.
Practice Accelerations
And finally - the most important point.
You have to get out on the pitch and practice accelerations. The best exercise for improving acceleration is still:
Unresisted accelerations.
10-20 meter accelerations performed with maximum intent.
Aim for at least 10 high-quality accelerations per week, ideally timed or performed against a partner.
If you have access to a sled, sled pushes or sled pulls are fantastic. Anywhere from 10-50% of bodyweight can be used.
Final Takeaway
Acceleration occurs constantly in field sports.
It's absolutely critical that we train and practice it.
The biggest needle mover is still:
Practice accelerations on the pitch.
Aim for ~10 quality accelerations per week.
Then in the gym:
- Raise your force ceiling - heavy squats and hinges
- Improve accelerative strength - banded lifts and jump squats
- Improve rate of force development - jumps, hops, bounds, med balls
- Use contrast accelerations where possible
Do this consistently and you will move the needle massively in your sport.
Any questions at all, let me know.
Coach Daniel
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