The Effectiveness of an 8-week High Speed Treadmill Training Program on High School Athletes.

Since the mid 1980’s, high speed treadmills have been steadily gaining popularity as a tool for increasing running speed for speed and power sports (i.e. football, soccer, basketball, etc.). It has been used in a variety of settings with mixed results. This study looked at integrating the technology of the high speed treadmill into an established strength and conditioning program. A group of 29 high school athletes (28 male and 1 female) between the ages of 14 and 17 (mean=16.1) participated in an 8 week summer strength and conditioning program which consisted of linear speed, lateral speed and agility, strength training, and the EX Speed™ Pro treadmill program. Mean improvements in performance were .17s in 10-yd dash, .15s in 40-yd dash, and 1.5 in. in Vertical Jump scores respectively. The study shows that the EX Speed™ Pro high speed treadmill training program when performed on a treadmill with elevations up to 25% is an effective tool for speed training when properly integrated into a successful strength and conditioning program.

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