Some Key Differences Between Top Speed and Acceleration
So which one do you want to work on?
When it comes to speed it’s easy to say you want to be faster. However, in what context? Being specific allows you to pick drills and particular movement skills that will transfer better. Let’s go through some of the basic differences.
Acceleration = the first few steps in any sprint or about 10m1.
Top speed = when you’ve reached a constant speed and it’s at or near max velocity.
Caveat: remember that field athletes are not track athletes. Though I will use plenty of track athlete examples, the relevance is merely to show what ‘ideal’ (and pretty) can look like. In field and court sports, we move in multi-directional ways and from various start positions. If you only practice running fast from a 2 point stance you’ll be missing a key step in what happens in games. You also do not need to train for perfect form, you need to train for speed and that can look slightly different from person to person.
