Before a race, you’ll often see sprinters pop off the ground with a...
Fred Duncan@Fred__Duncan
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Sep 25, 2025
~1 min read
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Before a race, you’ll often see sprinters pop off the ground with a quick vertical jump.
Most of the track athletes I’ve worked with like doing this and there are a few reasons why. Some point to post activation performance enhancement, and there’s even research showing that
Most of the track athletes I’ve worked with like doing this and there are a few reasons why. Some point to post activation performance enhancement, and there’s even research showing that
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adding just a couple depth jumps into a warm up improved short sprint times by about 5% compared to a more aerobic warm-up and nearly 3% compared to a dynamic warm-up.
Others would argue it’s simply a nervous system primer, or even just a psychological boost that makes you
Others would argue it’s simply a nervous system primer, or even just a psychological boost that makes you
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feel sharp/springy.
But beyond why they do it, think about what a jump like this represents…massive rate of force development, high impulse (force × time), and elastic/reactive qualities.
These aren’t built by chasing a higher vertical jump test, they’re developed through
But beyond why they do it, think about what a jump like this represents…massive rate of force development, high impulse (force × time), and elastic/reactive qualities.
These aren’t built by chasing a higher vertical jump test, they’re developed through
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years of sprinting, jumping, lifting, and throwing in a structured, progressive program.
That’s why if you train for speed the right way, your vertical will climb, your broad jump will improve, and your acceleration will get faster without hyper-fixating on any single test.
That’s why if you train for speed the right way, your vertical will climb, your broad jump will improve, and your acceleration will get faster without hyper-fixating on any single test.
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This is exactly why I created Speed Kills. It doesn’t just give you workouts, it explains the why behind speed. What drives it? Which qualities matter most? How do we build them step by step? How many sprints should you do, at what intensities, and how do you blend sprinting
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with strength work, plyometrics, and fitness without killing your progress? And when the science is explained, you get an eight-week program that ties it all together so you can finally train with clarity and purpose.
fredduncantraining.com/product/speed-…
fredduncantraining.com/product/speed-…
