How To Get Faster

As someone who loves to exercise and especially loves running and cycling, I'm always searching for new ways to improve myself. Lately I've been digging in to ways to run and cycle faster since my speed is comparable to snails stumping through chocolate pudding...not so good as you can imagine. In order to improve that I started adding the following tricks to my routine and I'm already seeing a few differences. Now I'm sharing them with you so you can improve yourself as well. Let's get kicking!

Intervals
This is THE way that everyone will always tell you about. Interval training is used to keep speed while improving distance, but it can also be used to make you quicker. You can do this by running or biking just a tad bit further than you did on the last interval. Interval training is a must in every training schedule. It's great for getting faster, training endurance, it's great for cardio and stamina. Plus it's more fun than just repeating the same motion for 30 minutes.


Jump rope / speed rope
Jump roping or skipping is great for training agility and endurance. Agility training is used for every fast paced sport. During agility training you train your body and especially feet to be quick. Quick, fast paced movements to get you going on the field. That is exactly what you train with a jump rope (or you can be fancy and use a speed rope). When skipping, try to get as many different variations in as you can. The variation in movement and motion are really good for agility and stamina.  

Lower sugar intake
While sugary treats are delicious and make some people feel good (emotional eating), they also slow us down quite a bit. But what about the sugar high, you ask. Well, a sugar high doesn't last long at all and the crash after the sugar high is over is terrible. Trust me. I've been there. Trying to eat low-sugar a couple days ahead of the race can really improve your speed and overall well-being during the race.

Caffeine
Caffeine is often used by people to wake them up in the morning. Caffeinated beverages (NOT Red Bull though, because it's too high in sugar) give you some engergy and you can use that energy to go faster doing whatever it is you're doing. Caffeine is also probably the only legal enhancer in sports, so be sure to get a good use out of that!

Plyometrics
This one is comparable to the skipping we mentioned earlier. Quick feet, great cardio and a strong body. If you are one to get bored easily I would surely try plyometrics rather than skipping because it has a more divers range of movements, while still burning massive calories. (Tip: try Shaun T's plyometrics Insanity workout. It kills me everytime I do it! Every. Single. Time.) 

Planking and Core training
Core training is ablsolute key to getting faster. You can have all the strenght of the world in your legs, lacking a good core strength makes all that stength worthless. Your body uses your core to move. Every move you make is supported by your core. In other words, you can never reach ultimate speed when you don't have enough core strength to support it. Olympic atheletes don't have their sixpacks because they have a very low fat percentage, but because they also do hardcore core work. Sprinters train their core almost as much as their legs. So, don't forget to give your core some love!