How to Run a Fast 40 Yard Dash

We all know how important the 40 yard dash is. I’ve seen one tenth of a second make the difference between a player getting selected as an undrafted free agent after the NFL draft, and not getting selected at all.

Below are some of the tips that can help you improve your 40 yard dash time.

You’ll find that they’re broken into four parts: stance, start, sprint, and training.

Before we get started though, I wanted to mention the importance of warming up properly. I’m not going to get into the specifics of exactly how you warm up, but you want to make sure that you at least have a light sweat going before you run your first 40 at a testing event.

You need to have your body temperature up to run your fastest. Try to stay moving and warming up all the way up until the moment right before you run.

Disclaimer: Your trainer or track coach may teach some of these philosophies a little differently. With that said, I’m confidant that most trainers will agree with most of the information you’ll read below.

Let’s start out with the stance.

Stance

You need to get comfortable with your starting stance long before you show up for testing day. You should be so used to it, that it feels like second nature.

Front hand positioning – Your front hand, which should be your dominant hand (in most cases), should be aligned parallel to the start line and should be placed as close to the starting line as possible.

Rear hand/arm positioning – Coming up, I was trained to place my rear arm straight up in the air above my back before I exploded out of the blocks.

But nowadays, more and more trainers are training their clients to keep the rear arm in a 90 degree angle position, placed next to, or on your butt.

The philosophy behind this is that if your hand is way up in the air, the timers are going to start the clock when that hand moves.

The problem, is that if your hand is up high in the air, they’re probably goingสมัคร ufabet เว็บไหนดี to start the timer long before you’ve even begun to move forward. So you’re possibly hundredths or tenths of a second to your 40 before you’ve even started to run.

Weight distribution – When you line up, shift 90% of your weight to your front hand and foot, and lean forward, so your shoulders are as far over the starting line as you can stand, before you topple-over.

This makes the distance you have to travel to the finish line shorter.

Front leg positioning – When you’re in your starting stance, make sure your front leg is your power leg.

If you’re not sure which one is your power leg, it’s usually the one you’d prefer to jump with if you had to choose between the two. If that still doesn’t help you identify it, it’s normally the foot opposite your dominant hand.

Your power leg should be anywhere from six to nine inches behind the starting line, and the toes of your rear foot should be in-line with the end of the heel of your power leg.

Shin positioning – While you’re in your stance, your shins should be as close to parallel to the ground as possible. If your legs are vertical (i.e. perpendicular to the ground), when you start, your first movement is going to be to crouch down before you explode out of your stance.