For an athlete, especially one from an athletic sport, it is imperative to train the body with various speed exercises.
Speed exercises focus on strengthening the lower muscles.
Exercises related to the lower muscles are generally easy to do. You can even do them from the comfort of your home.
Are you curious to know more? Let's get to know how speed exercises work and their examples below! Check it out!
Examples of Speed Exercises
From a health perspective, speed is the body's ability to do something quickly.
For this reason, athletes require various forms of speed training to improve their skills.
You can train your body's speed by regularly doing the following light exercises:
1. Sprint
There are various kinds of running sports, one of which is sprinting, or short-distance sprinting.
If you cannot spare time for sports, sprinting can be the type of speed exercise to try.
Sprints are intense exercises in a short period, approximately 30 seconds to 1 minute.
In addition, sprints can train your speed and help you assess how long it takes to run at high speed over a certain distance.
Sprints may also help maintain a healthy heart and train lower muscle strength, such as the abdominal muscles, hips, hamstrings, and calves.
2. Mile Repeats
Slightly different from sprints, mile repeats require running over longer distances. This exercise can improve an athlete's speed and race time.
You can run a mile, or approximately 1,600 meters, through several intervals. After running a mile, you can take a short break. Then, go for another mile and rest several times until you reach your limit.
3. Fartlek
Another speed exercise worth trying is fartlek. Fartlek can be done at varying speeds. The speed is determined based on the duration rather than the track length.
Let's say you want to do a 30-minute fartlek workout. You will start the first 8 minutes jogging and the next 15 minutes doing fartlek.
During the 15 minutes of fartlek, you will vary your running speed. For example, you can do 2 minutes of fast running and 3 minutes of slow running alternately.
Finally, you can cool down with a 7-minute leisurely walk.
4. Squat Jump
Squat jumps help train your agility, strength, and balance. Quite simple, you can do a squat jump with the following steps:
- Stand up straight.
- Open your legs to shoulder-width apart.
- Bend your knees like you're about to sit down.
- Jump up by pushing your feet off the ground.
- Let the body land in a squat position.
- Perform the movement 10 to 15 times.
5. Tabata
Speed training can also be done with the Tabata exercise.
Yep, Tabata is a high-intensity exercise with several movements lasting for 20 seconds and a cool down for 10 seconds.
Usually, Tabata has several sets that allow you to get optimal results.
6. Lunges
Lunges require you to straighten your body and bend the knees until you move closer to the floor surface.
In addition to training speed, lunges can also tighten muscles, which helps shape your body more effectively.
7. Plyometrics
Plyometrics is an exercise that involves jumping or moving actively repeatedly.
For example, you can do plyometrics by jumping rope or jumping up and down from a large box repeatedly.
As the exercise requires using feet as the fulcrum, plyometrics can help strengthen the lower muscles. That way, plyometrics can help improve an athlete's speed.
8. Hill Training
Hill training is essentially running on a hill track. It aims to train the lower body strength, effectively improving your running ability.
Those are various examples of speed exercises that you can do regularly.
When trying various speed exercises above, you should drink enough water to maintain your body's fluid intake and avoid dehydration.
To keep you hydrated, bring along a 600 ml bottle of AQUA to accompany your speed workouts.
AQUA's production process follows three aspects, namely the ecosystem around the water source, the naturalness of the mineral content, and the sterile production process.
AQUA also packages its products with high standards to avoid the risk of dangerous contamination during the distribution process.
The AQUA 600 ml bottle also complies with the standards of Kepmenkes Number 907 of 2002 regarding drinking water worthy of consumption; tasteless, odorless, clean, and colorless.
Let's #AQUADULU to accompany your exercise routine!
