Problems with Power! The fastest athletes of recent note use...
Sprint Science@spikesonly
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Jun 20, 2025
~1 min read
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Problems with Power!
The fastest athletes of recent note use Kinetic Energy, not power, to train for speed.
Coaches want to improve athlete speed based on body mass, not based on machine watts or a phantom target like "Maximum Power Development".
A MUST-READ THREAD! 🧵
The fastest athletes of recent note use Kinetic Energy, not power, to train for speed.
Coaches want to improve athlete speed based on body mass, not based on machine watts or a phantom target like "Maximum Power Development".
A MUST-READ THREAD! 🧵
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We have a few ideas on what is the ideal load to use for sleds, and the answer is whatever your program needs based on the entire training system is what is needed.
A static load, whatever the percent velocity drop, is not ideal.
What you can do on steps 2-3 is not speed!
A static load, whatever the percent velocity drop, is not ideal.
What you can do on steps 2-3 is not speed!
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Take a simple sprint test with 10% body mass, a very arbitrary load that is familiar to coaches.
Note that the athlete is accelerating until about 15m as instructed and slows down normally.
Exposure to variable gearing is essential, as horizontal force is a holistic challenge.
Note that the athlete is accelerating until about 15m as instructed and slows down normally.
Exposure to variable gearing is essential, as horizontal force is a holistic challenge.
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Time and distance to peak velocity is great for sprinting as it allows coaches to modulate things, but those metrics in VBT are very low yield.
Since this is acceleration, stride parameters can be added with additional sensors.
Since this is acceleration, stride parameters can be added with additional sensors.
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Now for Kinetic Energy. If you are working with athletes, elevate your game and know when you use watts and why KE per kilo is frankly a better value.
What I love is that each meter here can show how much kinetic energy per kilogram you are using rather than "power".
What I love is that each meter here can show how much kinetic energy per kilogram you are using rather than "power".
