The 40 yard dash is used in many sports to gauge explosive speed and can sometimes mean the difference in the advancement of your sporting carrer. As such, you may be searching for a way to increase your 40 yard dash time. The E.A.S.E program is based around the principles of Endurance, Agility, Speed and Explosion. These are all areas of interest to those who want to improve athletic performance, particularly those who want to increase their 40 yard dash time.
Instructions
1. Stretch. Because you use your entire body to increase your 40 yard dash time, you need to stretch out your entire body before beginning your routine. This is necessary to prevent injury, and to allow you to workout more intensely.
2. Run in place while throwing a medicine ball. You need strength in your upper body as well as your lower body to run a faster 40 yard dash. The medicine ball will help you to gain explosion and endurance in your upper body. With your training partner holding a medicine ball, begin running in place with high steps. Your training partner will toss the medicine ball to you, and while continuing to run in place, catch the ball and throw it back. Do 3 sets of this exercise, tossing the ball back and forth 40 to 50 times in each set.
3. Do high rep squats. High repetition squats will help to build explosively powerful thighs, while also adding an endurance component. With a comfortable weight on the barbell, step into the squat rack and under the barbell. With the barbell evenly across your shoulders, lift the barbell off of the rack and take a step backward. With your feet shoulder-width apart, slowly squat down until your thighs are parallel with the floor and then explode back to a standing position. Because these are high-rep squats, do 3 sets of no less than 15 to 20 repititions.
4. Perform the cone drill. This is a drill to add agility to your athletic performance, while also bringing in an explosive component. Set 5 cones up in a zig-zag pattern about 15 yards apart. Begin with your hand down on the ground at one end of the zig-zag pattern. From that position, explode out of your stance and sprint toward the outside of the second cone and then cut sharply to the inside once around the second cone. Continue on to the third, making your way in a zig-zag pattern through all of the cones.
5. Do sprints with leg weights. With small leg weights strapped to your ankles, begin going through your sprint routine. Mix up the distances of the sprints you run. Focus mostly on the explosion needed for the 40 yard sprint, but also spend some time on 20, 60, 80 and 100 yard sprints. Your legs will feel heavy, but push yourself. This exercise will take into account all aspects of the E.A.S.E. program.
6. Run 1 mile. You may be focusing on shorter bursts of speed, such as the 40 yard dash, but remember that speed and explosiveness also need endurance. Stay away from sprints during the 1-mile run. Maintain a constant pace that really pushes you to complete the whole mile. Even short distance running requires you to keep all aspects of the E.A.S.E. program in mind and in your workout routine.
Tags: yard dash, medicine ball, dash time, zig-zag pattern, aspects program, athletic performance