Fast and Relaxed You want to run as fast as you can while staying under control. You dont want to strain, grit your teeth or have your elbows going across the centerline of your body. Your elbows should be moving as fast as possible. If you run relaxed and concentrate on all of those points together, youll be able to run faster. If you strain, grit your teeth, or shake your head and shoulders, youre going to have problems running a good 40. You might not even finish, because theres a good chance youll get injured.

Long and Explosive If you can get guys thinking about taking longer, faster steps, youre going to get guys gaining more ground on each step. Think about a kid who takes 20 strides to run a 40-yard dash. If he can gain two inches on every step, thats 40 inches over 40 yards. If youre a 4.8 guy and can now run 40 inches ahead of what you were running, thats .2 off your time. Our goal is to get our kids to full stride length after their second step. I dont care if their stride length is 62 or 66; we want them to be explosive and powerful. Dont take short and choppy steps, because it doesnt help you.

Explode Forward Once you get your weight loaded and powerful, like youve loaded yourself into a cannon, think about exploding up and out. Youre jumping out with both feet. Dont worry about taking short, quick steps. Again, you want to take long, fast, explosive steps.