{"id":2127,"date":"2026-09-04T16:19:53","date_gmt":"2026-09-04T16:19:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.temp.athletesuntapped.com\/?p=2127"},"modified":"2026-09-04T16:24:28","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T16:24:28","slug":"measure-speed-improvements-6-weeks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/athletesuntapped.com\/blog\/measure-speed-improvements-6-weeks\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Measure Speed Improvement Over 6 Weeks"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Feeling faster is encouraging. <strong>Knowing<\/strong> you&#8217;re faster is far more useful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That&#8217;s where speed testing comes in. A simple sprint test can help an athlete and coach see whether training is actually improving acceleration or top-end speed, identify where progress is happening and establish a baseline to compare against later in the season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Surprisingly, sprint times can be incredibly easy to measure badly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Change the surface, starting position, timing method or warm-up and suddenly you&#8217;re not making a clean comparison anymore. Even when everything stays consistent, small fluctuations between testing days are normal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Good speed testing isn&#8217;t about chasing a personal record every Friday, it&#8217;s about creating a repeatable test that gives you useful information over time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Choose a Test That Matches What You&#8217;re Training For<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>There isn&#8217;t one universal test of athletic speed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The 40-yard dash gets a tremendous amount of attention because of American football, where it has long been a standard evaluation. But a basketball, soccer or lacrosse player may be more interested in how quickly they cover the first 10 or 20 meters than in their 40-yard time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That distinction matters because acceleration and maximum velocity aren&#8217;t exactly the same quality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In many field and court sports, athletes perform relatively short sprints and spend much of that time accelerating. A <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/40218589\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">recent study of highly trained team-sport athletes<\/a> used 10- and 20-meter splits specifically to examine acceleration performance and found that those distances could be measured reliably when a standardized electronic setup was used.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So choose the test based on the question you&#8217;re trying to answer. For example:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A football player preparing for a combine may absolutely want to track a 40-yard dash. <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>A soccer or basketball player may get more useful information from a 10- or 20-meter sprint. <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>A track athlete who is specifically working on maximum velocity may need a flying sprint where timing begins after they&#8217;ve already accelerated.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If change of direction matters, you can add a separate test such as the 5-10-5 shuttle. Just remember that a pre-planned shuttle isn&#8217;t the same thing as game agility. The athlete knows exactly where they&#8217;re going before the test begins. True agility also involves perceiving something and reacting to it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Keep in mind that you don&#8217;t need five different tests to track one athlete: one or two measurements that  match the athlete&#8217;s goals are usually much easier to repeat consistently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Consistency Matters More Than Finding a Perfect Test<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Once you&#8217;ve chosen a test, resist the urge to keep changing it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If your baseline was a 20-meter sprint on turf from a two-point stance, the next test should look as much like that as possible. Don&#8217;t compare it with a 20-yard sprint on grass the following month and try to decide whether you&#8217;ve improved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Keep the distance, surface and starting position the same, use the same timing equipment, and if you&#8217;re testing outside, make a note of conditions such as significant wind or a wet field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The warm-up should be similar too. You don&#8217;t need to recreate every movement down to the second, but an athlete who performs several progressive accelerations before one test shouldn&#8217;t compare that time with a day when they walked onto the field cold and immediately sprinted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Testing should also happen when the athlete is reasonably fresh. A maximum sprint after a hard leg workout is measuring something different from a maximum sprint after adequate recovery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is why coaches often build testing into the beginning and end of a training block rather than squeezing it randomly into practice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you&#8217;re tracking a six-week speed program, for example, a useful setup might be a baseline test before the program begins and another under the same conditions at the end. A midpoint test can be useful when there is a specific reason to check progress, but testing every few days usually creates more numbers without necessarily creating better information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Electronic Timing Is Better When Small Changes Matter<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>A stopwatch is convenient, and it is not the same as electronic timing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Research comparing hand timing with electronic timing in the 40-yard dash found that <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/25785707\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">stopwatch times were systematically faster<\/a>. In NCAA Division I football players, hand-timed results were approximately 0.22 to 0.26 seconds faster than the electronic method used in the study.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That doesn&#8217;t mean a stopwatch is useless. If hand timing is all you have, it can still provide a rough way to monitor progress, especially if the <strong>same person uses the same method every time<\/strong>. What you shouldn&#8217;t do is compare a 4.80-second hand-timed sprint with a 4.95 electronic time and conclude that the athlete got slower, because these are different measurement systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The problem becomes more significant with short sprints because the changes athletes are trying to measure may only be a few hundredths of a second. A review of sprint-monitoring methods recommends <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/26660758\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">avoiding manual timing when precision is important<\/a> over short distances because measurement error can be large relative to the performance change being evaluated. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If timing gates are available, use them consistently. If they aren&#8217;t, just keep in mind that the stopwatch is not very precise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Keep the Start the Same<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The clock doesn&#8217;t only measure running speed, it also captures what happens at the start. That means changing the starting procedure can change the result even if the athlete&#8217;s actual running ability hasn&#8217;t changed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you&#8217;re using a standing two-point stance, use it every time. If a football athlete is testing from a three-point stance, don&#8217;t switch to standing halfway through the training block.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Even the location of the athlete relative to an electronic timing gate can matter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For basic athlete tracking, you don&#8217;t need to make the setup unnecessarily technical, just document it well enough that you can recreate it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Something as simple as:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>20 meters, turf, two-point stance, front foot 50 cm behind the first timing gate<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>is much more useful six weeks later than writing only \u201c20m: 3.12.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Take More Than One Sprint, but Don&#8217;t Turn the Test Into Conditioning<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>One sprint can be affected by a bad start or small mistake. Ten maximum-effort sprints will eventually tell you more about fatigue than speed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A good compromise is usually two or three high-quality attempts with enough recovery to sprint near maximum effort each time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nsca.com\/education\/articles\/kinetic-select\/assessing-speed-and-agility-related-to-sport-performance\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">National Strength and Conditioning Association<\/a> recommends two or three trials for sprint testing with roughly three to five minutes of rest between efforts. The purpose of that recovery is to keep fatigue from progressively slowing the athlete down. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Record all the attempts rather than only remembering the fastest one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You may ultimately use the best time as the athlete&#8217;s performance mark, but the other runs give useful context. If an athlete runs 3.10, 3.11 and 3.12 seconds, that&#8217;s a different testing session from 3.10, 3.28 and 3.35.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Consistency between attempts can tell you something too, and once performance begins clearly dropping, the testing session is probably done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Split Times Can Tell You More Than the Final Number<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>If your timing equipment allows it, splits can make speed testing much more useful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Suppose two athletes both run the same 20-meter time. One may be much faster over the first 10 meters and then lose ground over the second half. The other may accelerate more slowly but continue building speed later in the sprint.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The final number hides that difference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If an athlete&#8217;s 0-10-meter time improves while the 10-20-meter segment stays about the same, the training may be affecting acceleration more than later sprint speed. That can help a coach decide what to emphasize next.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You still need to be careful with tiny differences. A 2025 study <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/40218589\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">using timing gates and a motion-triggered start <\/a>found very good reliability for 10- and 20-meter sprint measurements, but the researchers also showed that whether a change is large enough to be considered meaningful depends on the segment and the error of the testing method. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That&#8217;s an important lesson for athletes staring at spreadsheets full of hundredths of a second: not every difference is progress, sometimes it&#8217;s just measurement variation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Don&#8217;t Overreact to One Fast or Slow Day<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Let&#8217;s say an athlete runs 3.05 seconds one week and 3.09 the next. Did they get slower?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Maybe. But you don&#8217;t know that from those two numbers alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Testing performance can vary because of fatigue, sleep, testing conditions, timing error and ordinary day-to-day variation. The smaller the difference, the more cautious you should be about interpreting it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The amount of variation also depends heavily on the test and equipment. That&#8217;s why a universal rule such as \u201canything over 0.1 seconds is a real improvement\u201d doesn&#8217;t work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For most athletes and parents, you don&#8217;t need to calculate advanced statistics. Look for improvements that repeat. If an athlete runs faster once, that&#8217;s encouraging. If they produce similarly faster times across several high-quality attempts or repeat that level during the next testing session, the case for real improvement becomes much stronger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Video Can Explain Why the Time Changed<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The stopwatch tells you what happened, but video can sometimes help explain why.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Set a phone far enough to the side that you can see the athlete&#8217;s start and acceleration. You don&#8217;t need cinematic footage or complicated software.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Compare the same portion of the sprint over time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Is the athlete projecting forward better during the first few steps? Are the first steps cleaner? Is the athlete reaching upright running mechanics too early? Does posture look different as speed increases?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is also where working with a knowledgeable coach matters. Sprint mechanics are more complicated than cues like \u201cget your knees higher\u201d or \u201ctake longer strides,\u201d and a change that looks faster isn&#8217;t necessarily more effective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Video is most useful when it&#8217;s paired with the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If the athlete runs faster and the movement looks better, that&#8217;s valuable information. If the technique appears different but the times haven&#8217;t improved, the coach can decide whether the athlete simply needs more time to adapt or whether the change is actually helping.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Use Testing to Guide Training, Not Control It<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Speed testing should inform a training program, but it shouldn&#8217;t cause the program to change every week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Athletic development takes time, and progress isn&#8217;t perfectly linear. An athlete may improve quickly early in a program and then settle into a slower rate of improvement. Heavy competition or training may temporarily mask improvements that become easier to see after recovery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That means one disappointing test isn&#8217;t a reason to throw out the entire program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Look at the bigger picture: is acceleration improving? Are sprint mechanics becoming more efficient? Is the athlete performing better in sport? Have they become stronger or more powerful? Are they actually completing high-quality speed work consistently?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If several well-controlled tests over time show no improvement, then it may make sense to examine the training more closely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>A Simple Six-Week Speed Testing Plan<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>For an athlete completing a six-week speed block, tracking doesn&#8217;t need to be complicated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Test before the training block begins. Use two or three maximum-effort sprints with full recovery, record every attempt and save the best result along with any available splits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Write down the test setup so you can repeat it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Over the next six weeks, train rather than constantly trying to prove that the training is working.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At the end of the block, repeat the same test with the same distance, timing method, starting position, surface and similar warm-up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Then compare the results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If the improvement is clear and repeatable, you have useful evidence that the athlete has gotten faster under those testing conditions. If the difference is tiny, treat it cautiously rather than forcing a conclusion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The longer you collect standardized data, the more useful that athlete&#8217;s individual history becomes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Eventually, you&#8217;re not just comparing them with a chart or somebody else&#8217;s combine time, you&#8217;re comparing the athlete with themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Get Help Improving and Measuring Your Speed<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Knowing an athlete&#8217;s sprint time is only the first step, the harder question is figuring out what is limiting it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>An athlete may need more work on acceleration mechanics, maximum velocity, strength, power or simply exposure to high-quality sprinting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Athletes Untapped connects athletes with private <a href=\"https:\/\/athletesuntapped.com\/browse\/strength-and-speed\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">strength and speed coaches<\/a> who can evaluate performance, build an individualized training plan and use consistent testing to track progress over time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The goal isn&#8217;t to collect more numbers. It&#8217;s to use the right numbers to make better training decisions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Feeling faster is encouraging. Knowing you&#8217;re faster is far more useful. That&#8217;s where speed testing comes in. A simple sprint test can help an athlete and coach see whether training is actually improving acceleration or top-end speed, identify where progress is happening and establish a baseline to compare against later in the season. Surprisingly, sprint [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":2128,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2127","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>How to Measure Speed Improvement: A 6-Week Testing Guide<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Learn how to measure speed improvement over 6 weeks using sprint tests, consistent timing, training logs, video analysis, and week-to-week progress tracking.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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