Answering the Critics: Weight Training for Speed Battling the Misinformation of the Speed Merchants

When I began weightlifting in the 1970s, strength coaches had to
confront numerous misconceptions about lifting weights. Sports
coaches and the medical community warned about squats hurting the
knees, the risk of weight training stunting a child’s growth, and
how barbells and dumbbells could cause athletes to become
“musclebound.” These ideas were eventually debunked, but still
some coaches perpetuate the ridiculous belief that all types of
weight training can make athletes run slower, and perhaps they would
be better off not training for strength.

Among the loudest
critics of strength training are track and field coaches. They often
make bold, absolute statements, and support their beliefs with
testimonials and pseudoscience. Consider these comments from
accomplished high school sprint coach Tony Holler, one of the most
prominent Internet influencers in track and field who is active on
the seminar circuit:

“I will see the
weight room as a mixed bag of mostly bad ideas perpetuated by
speed-challenged bodybuilders.”

“…most weight rooms
around the country resemble the Arnold Schwarzenegger Model…”

“I believe lifting
weights to improve speed is analogous to America’s foreign policy,
perpetual war to promote peace, love, and understanding.”

In one presentation,
Coach Holler showed a photo of an athlete performing a power clean.
He said such exercises only strengthen the slow-twitch muscle fibers,
adding that an athlete like this would never make his 4x100m team.
Seriously? Is he suggesting that 2x Olympic Champion Shi Zhiyong of
China power-cleaned 418 pounds at a bodyweight of 160 pounds during
the 2019 World Championships by utilizing the same slow-twitch
muscles a marathon runner employs to cover 26.2 miles in under three
hours?

Beyond this peculiar interpretation of muscle contractile properties,
Coach Holler appears to choose random data to bolster his narrative.
I say this because Coach Holler asserts that the 40-yard dash is one
of the best predictors of talent for offensive linemen in the NFL. He
said that in 2019, “Five of the six first-round picks had forty
times ranked in the top seven of all the offensive linemen at the NFL
Combine.” I believe this reflects a statistical error called
“correlation versus causation.” Let me clarify with an example.

I analyzed the results
of the top 10 NFL offensive linemen selected in the 2024 draft and
their NFL Combine scores. Only one of the top-ten drafted offensive
linemen was ranked among the top ten in the 40. He was the sixth
offensive lineman chosen in the draft and ranked eighth in the
40-yard dash – thus, from a scientific analysis perspective, n=1.
Further, the fastest lineman was picked 30th in the second round,
while the next fastest was selected 17th in the fourth round. And
after reviewing several years of data, I could argue that a
combination of height, arm length, and body weight is a better
indicator of athletic talent for an NFL offensive lineman than a
40-yard dash time.  

The Strength/Speed Connection

Citing no scientific
sources, Coach Holler stated there is no connection between strength
gained in the weight room and speed. “Weight lifting does not
improve speed. Lifting weights will enhance strength. That strength
may transfer to athleticism but won’t directly improve speed. The
strongest kids on the team are seldom the fastest.” Since Coach
Holler leads us to believe his statement is based on real-world
examples, let me present the other side of that coin.

If getting stronger
doesn’t help athletes run faster, why have several elite sprinters
been caught using steroids? Of the ten men who have broken world
records in the 100 meters since Calvin Smith ran 9.93, four have been
caught doping, and one received a pass for inadvertent use of banned
stimulants at the Olympic Trials (pseudoephedrine and
phenylpropanolamine). Again, these are the ones who got caught.

I emphasize this last
point because an athletic consultant I know, an authority on how
athletes beat drug tests, said that drug testing could be viewed as
an intelligence test. I’m paraphrasing, but he stated, “If an
athlete fails a drug test, they’re an idiot!”

When asked about the
value of the power clean for sprinting, Coach Holler said, “Bar
speed approaches 2m per second. Sprinting 10m per second. Nothing is
more extreme.” Sure, and the sky is blue because it reflects the
ocean.

First, there is the
issue of comparing vertical and horizontal velocity, and second,
Coach Holler focuses on barbell speed, rather than a lifter’s body
movement. That said, Usain Bolt reached his top speed in the 100
meters at approximately 60 meters. A weightlifter achieves maximum
barbell velocity in the snatch in less than a second (around 165-170
degrees of knee extension), even when lifting maximal weights.
Therefore, it could be argued that a weightlifter demonstrates a
higher rate of force development than a sprinter. Isn’t
acceleration influenced by factors such as muscular coordination and
how quickly an athlete can exert force?

One reason for such
misinformation is that many track coaches fail to differentiate
between bodybuilding and other forms of strength training when
discussing the benefits of resistance training for speed.

The
Switch to Fast Twitch

Bodybuilders typically
engage in low-intensity resistance training (usually, 10 or more reps
per set) that generates mechanical tension over an extended period.
This stimulus can negatively impact the elasticity of the tendons,
causing them to function more as force transducers instead of power
amplifiers. In sprinting, it is crucial for the tendons to operate
like biological springs, especially the Achilles, enhancing the
quadriceps’ power through rapid flexion and recoil.

Bodybuilding training
can adversely affect the pennation angle of muscles, altering their
pulling angles and making them less efficient at producing force.
These training methods may also lead to “sarcoplasmic hypertrophy,” which encourages glycogen storage and
increases fluid volume but does not enhance force production. As a
result, muscles grow larger and heavier without significant increases
in strength, which can be detrimental to sprinting. Barry Ross
discusses this issue in his book Underground Secrets to Faster
Running, one of the most popular books on sprinting.

Ross said 7x Olympic
champion sprinter Allyson Felix increased her deadlift from 125
pounds to 300 pounds but only increased her bodyweight by two pounds.
During that period, her 200-meter time dropped from 22.83 to 22.11.
She avoided significantly increasing her body weight because
weightlifting and sprinting primarily promote “myofibrillar
hypertrophy.” Myofibrillar hypertrophy increases the size of
fast-twitch muscle fibers without significantly developing
non-contractile substances that add bodyweight but do not contribute
to power.

Ross believed that strength gained in the weight room could translate
into faster sprinting times, provided those gains do not come with a
significant increase in bodyweight. Weight training can do just that.

If you examine the
careers of elite weightlifters, you will find that they often
competed in the same bodyweight category for many years. Note the
accompanying photos of Yurik Vardanyan. In 1978, at a bodyweight of
181 pounds, he snatched 375 pounds and clean and jerked 462 pounds,
both world records. Six years later, at the same bodyweight,
Vardanyan snatched 402 pounds and clean and jerked 493 pounds. (FYI:
I realize football players are not weightlifters, but I’m pretty
certain that no NFL lineman has ever matched these lifts. That said,
NFL running back Saquon Barkley cleaned 405 pounds in college,
weighing about 50 pounds more than Vardanyan.)

Vardanyan grew stronger
without significantly increasing his body mass. He reportedly did a
standing long jump of 12.1 feet (just two inches shy of the NFL
Combine record) and high jumped seven feet using a three-step
approach with a forward takeoff.

Can getting stronger in the weight room make sprinters faster? Let’s
look at some research.

A biomechanics study
involving 33 sprinters was published in 2000 in the Journal of
Applied Physiology. The researchers concluded that “runners
reach faster top speeds not by repositioning their limbs more rapidly
in the air, but by applying greater support forces to the ground.”
Another study on elite track and field athletes found that the
shorter the running event, the heavier the athlete, suggesting they
possess more muscle mass and can thus produce greater support forces.

It would be one thing
if these Internet influencers “stayed in their lane,” but they
often apply their controversial ideas to other sports to expand their
brand. Coach Holler speaks extensively about football speed and even
promotes the value of sprint training for swimming and golf. In
speaking with my colleague Paul Gagné, a strength coach and
Posturologist who worked with US Open Champion Michael Campbell and
many other elite pro golfers, weightlifting would have a better
transfer to golf than sprinting because of its superiority for
increasing the rate of force development.

Another factor is
injury prevention. Focusing on one sport often leads to muscle
imbalances that result in injury, particularly overuse injuries. This
topic was examined in a 2017 study involving 1,544 athletes, evenly
divided between male and female, with an average age of 16. The
authors concluded, “Sport specialization appears to be an
independent risk factor for injury, rather than simply a function of
increased sport exposure.” In terms of numbers, those athletes who
dedicated themselves to one sport experienced an 85 percent higher
incidence of injury to the lower extremities. Since Coach Holler
believes in year-round, high-intensity sprint training, let’s
explore what the research says about running.

A study published in
the American Journal of Sports Medicine involved 17 high school track
and field teams. The researchers examined the injury rates in one
77-day season with 257 athletes (174 male, 83 female). Here is what
they found: “A total of 41 injuries was observed over this period
of time. One injury occurred for every 5.8 males and every 7.5
females. On the average, an injury resulted in 8.1 days of missed
practice, 8.7 days for males and 6.6 days for females. Sprinting
events were responsible for 46% of all injuries.” How does this
compare with Iron Game events? Let’s look at the sport of
weightlifting.

Weightlifting competition consists of two dynamic movements (snatch,
clean and jerk) that strengthen the major muscle groups through a
large range of motion. Consider the findings of a five-year study
involving 480 women participating in the week-long European
Weightlifting Championships. When including the training lifts of
those who arrived several days early, along with their competition
warm-ups and attempts on the platform, you’re looking at thousands
of lifts, many with maximal weights. The results? Not a single hip,
thigh, knee, lower limb, or foot injury: n=480.

Although sports
specialization is often required at the collegiate and pro levels,
supplemental weight training is the best way to correct muscle
imbalances and strengthen muscles after injury. If an athlete tears
an ACL, would a physical therapist have them perform resistance
training or push them right away into a sprint training program?
Expanding on this point, doesn’t it make sense that athletes should
engage in weight training programs to ensure muscular balance instead
of waiting for an injury to occur?

If a sport requires
athletes to run super-fast, like a wide receiver in football, I agree
with Coach Holler that they should sprint during practice, especially
in the off-season. That said, I am sure Coach Mark Rippetoe would
agree with me that football linemen, and many other athletes for that
matter, would not be better off spending the majority of their
athletic fitness workouts on an oval track with a coach shouting,
“Run faster, turn left!”

References