We have been training junior to elite level athletes from a range of sports for more than two decades in our high performance centre in Melbourne, Australia, and have achieved phenomenal performance results.
This nine week training plan is designed to be a direct follow on program for athletes who complete either our Osgood or Severs rehabilitation programs first. During the upcoming nine weeks you will transition from a recovery focused training plan into a more performance focused phase, building your movement skill, speed, strength and more.
Before diving into the training program this page contains important information for successfully completing the program and maximising your results, please take the time to familiarise yourself with everything here before proceeding.
Note: Depending on whether you are starting this program after the Severs program or the Osgood Schlatter program you will need to:
This is designed to be a progression after the Osgood and Severs plans, but be caution, begin all new exercises slowly and be willing to adapt the program if certain elements trigger your pain.
Below are some key pieces of information about the training program, take you time working through all of hte details.
Some parts of this program will cause muscular pain and discomfort as you loosen off and re-strengthen your leg and core muscles. This is completely normal, however, if you feel any joint or back pain, sharp muscular pains, or notice any unusual pains anywhere in your body when performing the exercises or afterwards, please stop immediately and seek medical advice. This program is designed for general informational purposes and is recommended only for those who already consistently participate in regular running and sports activities in their weekly schedule. If you do not currently run regularly please refer to the knowledge base on how to build up your training through this program. We recommend everyone seek medical advice before beginning any new exercise regime.
This program is built by a team of professional coaches with decades of combined experience and a vast knowledge in the latest in exercise and sports science. If a workout prescribes three 20 metre sprints at 75% intensity, that is exactly what you should do.
Don’t do 30 metres, don’t run at 80%. Follow the program. This program is built not only on running hard efforts but also focusing on spending time in technically-efficient sub-maximal efforts in order to re-wire your brain and build smooth powerful movement patterns.
Through out the nine weeks you should also be continuing your sports training, during these sessions pay attention to your running and incorporate the tips from this program.
NB: If you are in a period of high sports training and competition loading, you may elect to just do two of the prescribed sessions instead of three. You have access to the training plan forever so you can always go through it in full later on. Exact recommendations are listed below.
All sprint training is neurally and technically demanding and can leave an athlete exhausted or injured if applied incorrectly. For this reason, we recommend adjusting how much of this program you complete each week based on your other training.
Three or less sports trainings and competitions per week: Full volume plan
Four or five sports trainings and competitions per week: Moderate volume plan
Six or more sports trainings and competitions per week: Low volume plan
All athletes should aim for at least one rest day from running and jumping per week to allow their body to recover. for more information about this topic, check out our podcast: ep.38
Synthetic or real grass, an indoor sports stadium (sprung floorboards), tennis courts, or the local park all work great to complete this program. our recommendation would be to do the sprinting on grass as much as possible as it is more forgiving and kind on the body and definitely try to avoid asphalt or concrete.
Rubber athletic tracks should also be avoided if you have not run on one before as they actually increase the loading on the tendons of the lower body due to the elastic recoil.
This program is broken into nine weeks. Each week will build on the one before, progressing you along at a smooth and effective pace. Each week has a theme or focus for your training drills, built around developing components of speed, agility and jumping.
Before making any changes to any movement technique you should collect some baseline data. if you have access to sprint gates a 20m or 40y dash plus a vertical leap test are great numbers to have, but not essential. A side-on video of your running and jumping technique shot in slow motion is all we need for a great before and after comparison.
Learning to be lighter on your feet when running is stage one, by putting less weight on each step you become more efficient and waste less energy, this is one of the easiest ways to improve your stamina and fitness, without having to do any extra hard conditioning! As a bonus it also reduces the amount of load on your joints.
The best track runners in the world, no matter the distance, stay relaxed and loose when they run, their legs might look like a blur, but their arms, torso and mindset is focused on effortless effort.
This week we will introduce curved running, this type of sprinting is a great skill to develop for improving agility and quickness in open sporting situations.
Bounce is about learning how to use your calf and achilles, taking advantage of elastic recoil when moving at speed.
Fast feet is about building a quick cadence, or stride rate. Too many junior athletes (particularly those with long limbs and big feet) overreach when running. This loping long stride throws the entire body out of rhythm as you try to increase speed. By increasing stride rate you become more reactive, can accelerate more powerfully and will put less stress through your knees and back.
Team sport is all about explosive acceleration. In this phase of the program we will teach you how to get your body organised quickly, how to take off the line aggressively and the importance of intent when accelerating.
This week we take your agility and cutting work up another notch breaking down the important skills of safe efficient deceleration and sharp cutting mechanics.
To wrap it all up we will provide you with a final week of training, plus a template for you to continue beyond the nine weeks, along with some bonus conditioning workouts for your next off-season.
Training continues throughout week nine, but set aside some time to perform a follow up video analysis of your running technique, comparing it side by side to your first assessment. make some notes of what has improved and changed.
Making changes to your running technique needs to be a gradual process, being patient and allowing your tendons, joints and muscles the time to adapt is crucial to minimising the risk of an injury and to help make the technique changes permanent.
This training program is designed to be completed at home, in the park or wherever you can find some open space to complete your drills and running.
To get the most out of it you will need a few pieces of equipment, these are listed below.
Throughout this nine week program we will be introducing a number of exercises and drills to develop your speed, agility, vertical jump and strength. In order to learn these exercises and remember them we will be including descriptions and video tutorials as needed each week in the program. Should you forget what a particular exercise is supposed to look like you can refer to our exercise library, a single page that contains every demonstration video for all the exercises and drills that you will be required to do during this program.
You can find the library linked here.
This download does not explain how to do the exercises and drills but gives you a place to log all your sessions and make sure you are staying on track. You will find the instructions for each drill and workout on this website.
You can find the workbook download linked here.
You will need your foam roller as from the Osgood or Severs program, along with ankle weights for your knee isometrics. Additionally, a mini band would be great for some of your new strength exercises and some cones could be helpful, but not essential for your running training.
You will need to accurately time your stretching and the knee isometrics exercises, our app has pre-built timers for this. It also has a metronome for some of our cadence and rhythm drill done in the mid stages of the program. Get it for free on both iPhone and Android.
Now that we have all that out of the way, it’s time to get started on the program and improve your speed.
Press here to be taken to the program hub