Originally Posted by
Tom DiStasio
Dr. Ken Clark has done some pretty cool research on differences in elite sprinters versus team sports athletes. He boiled the main contributing factors to top end speed to three main contributing factors (of which we can potentially have some effect on through training): thigh angular velocity, stiffness (peak vertical force/peak vertical displacement) during impact, and vertical force application. Faster top speeds require shorter ground contact times, greater vertical forces, and also greater vertical stiffness (more vertical force with less vertical displacement during ground contact). To achieve this, the athlete requires an aggressive (more powerful) strike down into the ground and a stiff contact into the ground...basically more force production that goes towards bouncing along the ground versus being dissipated into the body.
Achieving this is tricky and there is certainly a genetic ceiling on top speed. The factors that come into play are mechanics and force production. Effective mechanics allow for high rotational velocities of the limbs prior to touchdown, and which can lead to an efficient transmission of force into the ground. Both aspects of top end speed need to be trained, so you would have to look at improving mechanics at top speed and then the ability to create more force with each efficient step at top speed.
What I see this boil down to is that athletes need to work on getting stronger, which gives them the ammo to train their top end speed mechanics at a higher level, and as a result develop a sprint model that is more effective at the aforementioned qualities when maximally sprinting. Despite this, there are always going to be morphological and neuromuscular genetic qualities that come into play here as well. Elite, springy sprinters benefit from top end sprint mechanics to a higher degree than lesser athletes. They have the resources to produce more force in a shorter period of time at a greater level than their donkey counterparts. As such, the payoff from the top end sprint mechanics goes further with them. They still need to get stronger, but they need to practice sprinting to get faster. Bad athletes benefit more from just getting stronger. They can work to maximize their mechanics as well, but they are limited in their ability to produce/transmit force quickly and they are hamstrung by this genetic limitation at top speed. Honestly, I think these athletes benefit more from getting really strong and focusing more on acceleration than top end speed. That's another issue though.
Long and short of it: training for increased maximal speed involves getting stronger and finding ways to use this strength with each step in a more efficient manner at high velocities. If you are already fast, lift heavy, do some explosive work (Olympic lifts), and practice getting faster. If you are slow, lift heavier, make sure you aren't sprinting at top speed looking like a vulture, and hang your hat on going from zero to twenty meters as fast as possible.