Sprint Workouts: 5 VertiMax Sprint Workouts For Athletes

VertiMax sprint workouts have become a staple in performance centers across the country. Most athletes, regardless of their sport, want to improve their sprinting ability and become more explosive.

Whether it’s a high school football player trying to get off the line as quickly as possible or a tennis player trying to chase down a serve, the ability to ‘get there fast’ does require some work outside of the actual sport

In the article, ‘3 Tips to Building Fast Twitch Muscles by Charles Remsberg, he discusses the ability to sprint faster, be more explosive off the line, and increase agility and quickness. He also said to increase speed, it must be achieved with the development of fast-twitch muscles.

Fast-twitch muscle fibers provide bigger and more powerful forces, but for shorter durations and fatigue quickly,” states Stace Penny for NASM. She continues by stating that exercises/movements that fall under this category are: powerlifting, sprinting, jumping, strength and agility training.

For this article, we will focus on five workouts that fall under the jumping and strength categories. By incorporating these workouts into your weekly regime, you can improve your ability to sprint faster regardless of your sport!

Before performing any of the workouts below, a dynamic warm up is highly recommended. Once that focuses on ankle and hip mobility.

5 Sprint Workouts Using VertiMax

1. Side Lateral Jump Push-Up Combo

This workout will challenge and help to develop unilateral power and balance in the lower body while integrating and upper-body push movement to help to develop core stability and build strength in your chest and shoulders.

Perform this exercise for:

Side Lateral Jumps (R) x 10 to 12 reps / Push Up to fatigue / Side Lateral Jumps (L) x 10 to 12 reps = 1 round

Repeat for two to three rounds w/ 60 second rest in between rounds

Key points to remember for Side Lateral Lunge:

Make sure there is tension on the cord(s) before beginning this exercise
Assume a strong athletic position; lift outside leg of the ground & find balance
As you perform this exercise, keep posture tall and eye gaze straight ahead

Key points for Push-Up

Pull weight over the hands
Grip the ground
Brace Core

2. Forward Hop to Single Leg Hold

It’s really important for all athletes to develop unilateral strength & balance as well as hip stability. This workout will address all of these areas.

Perform this exercise for: Two to three sets of 10 to reps alternating legs w/ ~ 60 seconds rest between sets

Key points to remember:

Make sure there is tension on the cord(s) before beginning this exercise
Assume a strong athletic position before beginning the movement
Jump as far forward as you can and stick the landing on the Single Leg hold before jumping back to perform the next repetition

3. Forward Lateral Jump

Great workout to develop unilateral balance, power and strength and hip stability, which is important regardless of your sport of choice.

Perform this exercise for:

Three to Four sets of 10 to 12 reps w/ ~ 60 seconds rest in between sets

1 set = ~ 6 lateral jumps leading w/ Right leg and then 6 lateral jumps 4/ Left leg

Key points to remember:

Make sure there is tension on the cord(s) before beginning this exercise
Assume a strong athletic position before beginning the movement
As you perform this exercise, keep posture tall and eye gaze straight ahead
Stick the landing on one leg before performing the next lateral jump

4. Squat Row w/ Jump

This workout is fantastic to help increase lower body power while simultaneously working on upper strength that will support postural muscles.

Perform this exercise for: Two to Three sets of 10 to 12 reps w/ ~ 60 seconds rest in between sets

Key points to remember:

Make sure there is tension on the cord(s) before beginning this exercise
Assume a strong athletic position before beginning the movement
Get off the ground quickly and quietly

5. Overhead Head Squat

Great workout for any athlete as it will help to build upper body stability and strengthen all the muscles that help to support great posture, which is important for all sports and activities. This exercise will also work on lower body strength and mobility.

Perform this exercise for: Two to three sets of 8 to 10 reps w/ ~ 60 seconds rest in between sets

Key points to remember:

Develop proficiency with the bodyweight O/H Squat before loading this movement with the Raptor
Assume a strong athletic position before extending arms over-head
Stop this exercise when you can no longer maintain a tall posture

Combine Into A Circuit Workout

All the above workouts can be performed independently or if time permits or you can perform them together in a circuit as follows:

Perform each movement below one after the other with 30 to 60 second rest in between. One rep range for each movement is noted above. Take a 60 to 90 second rest and repeat for two or three more rounds.