When creating an effective speed program for athletes, it’s essential to ask, “Will this bridge the gap from training to actual competition?” Improving vertical jump and straight-line sprint speed is crucial for athletic performance, but if those gains don’t translate to game situations, then the training isn’t serving its purpose.
At FSQ Sports Training, we work with over 1,000 athletes each year—ranging from youth league players to pros across various sports, including football, baseball, basketball, soccer, and more. For over a decade, we’ve incorporated curved sprinting into our training for every single athlete.
When SimpliFaster asked me to help create a project on this topic, I was shocked by how little information there is about how to effectively implement and progress curved sprinting. While there’s no shortage of resources on straight-line speed and change of direction, athletes in real sports rarely move in straight lines. If training doesn’t prepare athletes for the curved, multidirectional movements they encounter in competition, are we really preparing them for game situations?
Training the Planes: Why Curved Sprints Matter
Straight-line speed is important, but so is movement in the “gray area” between straight lines. Just think about a 400-meter Olympic race. Now imagine if the track were square, not rounded. Runners would blast through the straightaways, only to stop at the corners, losing momentum before trying to reaccelerate. The result? Slower times and more energy wasted. Athletes are naturally problem solvers—quickly adapting to find the most efficient way to achieve their goal. The athletes who excel at this in their sport have what we call “game speed,” and curved sprints are key to unlocking that.
The SAID Principle: Specificity in Training
Before diving into how we program curved sprints, let’s talk about the SAID Principle (Specific Adaptations to Imposed Demands). This principle says that the body adapts specifically to the type of exercise performed. If athletes spend all offseason pulling sleds and working on fly sprints, they’ll likely get faster in a straight line. But if that’s all they train, they’re becoming faster robots that can only move in one direction.
I’m not suggesting we ditch sleds or fly sprints—we use those tools year-round. But athletes need a wider range of movements to truly perform in sport. If athletes often sprint in curved patterns during their games, we need to incorporate curved sprinting into training so they’re prepared for everything the game throws at them.
Implementing Curved Sprinting: Start Simple and Progressive
Here’s how we incorporate curved sprints into our training: we take a simple and progressive approach, starting with low intensity and volume, and gradually increasing both. The warm-up is a great place to introduce lower-intensity curved sprints.
The purpose of any warm-up is to gradually prepare the body for higher-intensity work. So, if curved sprints are a key part of the sport, warming up with lower-intensity curved drills is incredibly valuable. Think of it like warming up with lighter weights before hitting a heavy squat or using basic skips before sprinting full speed.
Progressing Curved Sprints: Smaller Radii
Smaller radius curves reduce an athlete’s speed relative to their maximum velocity, but they increase the intensity due to the extra lean and bend required. These tighter curves challenge the feet, ankles, knees, and hips to handle more intense ranges of motion. When athletes are new to curved sprinting, these drills can feel uncomfortable, so we start with low-intensity, low-volume drills to allow them to adapt.
We begin the off-season with these small-radius drills and gradually increase the intensity and volume as the program progresses, always considering the total weekly volume of straight-line sprinting, change of direction work, and curved sprinting.
Progressing Curved Sprints: Larger Radii
As the curve radius gets larger, the athlete can run at higher velocities with less lean and bend. Larger radius curves are less intense in terms of range of motion but require more speed. As we progress athletes’ straight-line sprinting, we also increase the radius of their curved sprints, helping them develop the ability to accelerate through curves with greater speed and control.
We use a variety of drills for both smaller and larger radius curves. Some drills involve accelerating into the curve and maintaining that speed, while others start with a fast straight sprint before transitioning into a curve. We also incorporate changes in direction mid-curve to simulate real-game scenarios.
Adding Competition for Extra Intensity
Competition is a game-changer for intensity. Whether it’s racing each other or simulating game situations, adding competition gives athletes the opportunity to test their skills under pressure. For example, when training football players, we’ll recreate the tight curves of a defensive end rushing the quarterback or a wide receiver running a route. Athletes across all positions benefit from curved sprint training, and the possibilities for varied drills are endless.
Open Drills: Where the Magic Happens
Closed drills are fantastic for learning and improving specific skills, such as posture and footwork, but open drills bring those skills to life in game-like situations. Open drills, like tag-based games or sport-specific situations, challenge athletes to use their curved sprinting abilities in unpredictable, dynamic environments.
For example, we play “Goal-Line Tag” with football players, where an offensive player tries to score a touchdown while avoiding a defensive player. Basketball players might play offense and defense around the 3-point line, working on curved sprints as they change direction. The key is to make these drills fun, dynamic, and as game-specific as possible.
Final Thoughts: Injury Prevention and Performance Gains
Curved sprinting isn’t just for improving speed; it’s also crucial for reducing injury risk and aiding in return-to-play protocols after injury. The forces involved in curved sprinting—bending, leaning, and changing direction—are forces that only curved sprinting can replicate. When rehabbing athletes, we follow the same progression: start slow, progress intensity and volume over time, and work toward sport-specific curved sprints as part of their recovery.
While it can be tricky to measure progress with curved sprints (because there are so many variations), it’s crucial to track improvement. Simple tools like timing gates or sprinting along painted curved lines can be a great way to monitor changes.
The inclusion of Curve Sprints training in the overall program will aid in increasing the speed of the game and get the athlete more adaptable, with much agility, and take on competition.
A mix of technical and plainer, real-world examples that speak to both coaches and athletes will be what engenders readability and, hence, approachability and ease of use for the material.
