How to improve my speed

[ad98]

Hey I was wondering if I was to wear my ankle weights while doing roadwork could i maybe increase my speed as it is just doing roadwork and sprints hasn't increased my speed at all

[Sugarj]

Hey I was wondering if I was to wear my ankle weights while doing roadwork could i maybe increase my speed as it is just doing roadwork and sprints hasn't increased my speed at all

I've never found that ankle weights have done anything for me in terms of increasing speed.

Are you talking about specific running speed? Or boxing footwork.

If you are talking about increasing running speed what is the distance which you want to become faster over?

A few 100 metre sprints every couple of days will not do much to make you faster over 5 or 10KM for example.

I specialise in distances between 1 and 10 miles with 10K being my best race distance. I've found that running five or six days a week with a mixture of speedwork (for example 12 x 400 metre reps with 1 min rest), distance work (slower than race pace up to 90 mins) and hill reps (running 1min 30 up a hill, jog back down, 1min 30 rest, then repeat x 6) seems to be improving my times.

The body needs time to change and improve, stick with it.......

[ad98]

Are you talking about specific running speed? Or boxing footwork.

Both primarily footwork because whenever I'm sparring i haven't got the speed to keep up and I end up taking a lot punches i shouldnt have to

[greynotsoold]

I'm not following...how does that, footspeed, affect your ability to defend against punches?

[Sugarj]

Both primarily footwork because whenever I'm sparring i haven't got the speed to keep up and I end up taking a lot punches i shouldnt have to

Ah! You feel that your footspeed is too slow to enable you to close the distance quick enough?

If that is the case I'd recommend skipping rope. Practice till you can do it very quickly with a speedy rope turnover, then move on to skipping forwards and backwards. Its a terrific exercise for keeping you on your toes and developing footspeed.

That said, when sparring.........it takes practice to learn how to close the distance effectively even if you have the fastest feet in the world.

[ad98]

Ah! You feel that your footspeed is too slow to enable you to close the distance quick enough?

If that is the case I'd recommend skipping rope. Practice till you can do it very quickly with a speedy rope turnover, then move on to skipping forwards and backwards. Its a terrific exercise for keeping you on your toes and developing footspeed.

That said, when sparring.........it takes practice to learn how to close the distance effectively even if you have the fastest feet in the world.

Yeah I'm always the one that has to back up instead of being ale to push forward
So skipping to improve the footwork ideally how long could i do it for everyday normally i do 3x3min but i could do more

[ad98]

I'm not following...how does that, footspeed, affect your ability to defend against punches?

it doesn't but if im faster than the other person i should be able to push them back first instead of having to get pushed back and take extra punches

[mehoe]

If you want to have faster boxing footwork I recommend doing "Footdrills".
Easiest way to do them is tape a 1 x 1 foot square or if in any other place besides the US, make that about 32 x 32 cm. Tape off about 8 -10 in a row so it looks like this [][][][][][][] on the ground basically. Youtube speed ladder drills for the actual exercises. (Sorry but it's a little difficult to explain them.)

[ad98]

If you want to have faster boxing footwork I recommend doing "Footdrills".
Easiest way to do them is tape a 1 x 1 foot square or if in any other place besides the US, make that about 32 x 32 cm. Tape off about 8 -10 in a row so it looks like this [][][][][][][] on the ground basically. Youtube speed ladder drills for the actual exercises. (Sorry but it's a little difficult to explain them.)

yeah we do stuff like that in PE class from time to time their fun and I never really thought that they'd be much use for stuff like this
but i always see Football(soccer)players doing it but i just never thought of it

[mehoe]

My coach is a former world champ "Jesse" James Leija, so I have the ability to pick his brain all the time and ask questions I've always wondered about. One day I saw him making the squares on the gym floor and asked him about them. He said that some of the fighters needed faster feet and he was going to show them a trick. Next thing I know I'm doing like 8 different exercises and relearning coordination. Suffice to say he said in his training camps they used those to help him be quicker on his toes. After last night sparring session with him I can attest he's still quick on his toes.