Sprinting is a force problem. To accelerate, an athlete has to push hard into the ground, in the right direction, in a very short amount of time. At top speed, each foot is on the ground for roughly a tenth of a second.
That’s why we don’t just watch athletes run. We measure how they produce force. When I worked at EXOS preparing athletes for the NFL Combine, testing drove every training decision, and force plates are one of the most useful tools we have for that.
What a force plate shows that your eyes can’t
A force plate measures the force an athlete applies to the ground, thousands of times per second. From a simple jump, we can see:
- How much force the athlete produces
- How quickly they produce it, which is rate of force development (RFD)
- How well they absorb force on the way down, before they push off
- Whether both legs contribute equally
Two athletes can jump the same height in completely different ways. One might produce a lot of force but take a long time to do it. The other might be quick but lack raw strength. They need different training, and the force plate tells us which is which.
Why rate of force development matters for speed
In most sports, there isn’t time to produce maximal force. Ground contact during a sprint is too short. What matters is how much force you can produce in the time available. That’s RFD.
An athlete who is very strong but slow to express that strength won’t be as fast as their strength suggests. An athlete who is quick but weak will hit a ceiling. The goal is to build both, and knowing which one is limiting an athlete is where testing earns its keep.
The tests we use
Countermovement jump (CMJ). A quick dip and jump. We look at jump height, but more importantly at how the athlete gets there: how long the jump takes, how well they load and unload, and how force is shared between legs. Metrics like the ratio of jump height to the time the jump takes give us a picture of explosive efficiency.
Single-leg jumps. These expose side-to-side differences that disappear in two-leg tests. They’re especially important after injury.
Drop jumps and hops. These measure reactive strength: how well an athlete absorbs force and re-applies it quickly, which is the quality that matters most for top-speed running.
Maximal strength tests. Pulling or pushing against a fixed bar shows peak force and how fast it rises. Comparing peak force from a strength test to peak force in a jump helps us tell whether an athlete needs more strength or more speed-strength.
How the numbers change the plan
Testing only matters if it changes what we do. For example:
- Strong but slow: plenty of force in strength testing, but a long, sluggish jump. We shift toward ballistic and plyometric work, like jumps, throws, bounds and sprints, to teach the athlete to use their strength faster.
- Quick but weak: fast, springy jumps, but low peak force. We prioritize heavy strength training to raise the ceiling.
- Asymmetrical: one leg does noticeably more work. We target the weaker side and retest, which is especially important after injuries like ACL reconstruction.
- Fatigued: jump performance drops below the athlete’s usual numbers. That can be a sign to pull back training load before performance or health suffers.
Then we retest regularly, so athletes and parents can see real progress, not just feel it.
Speed is trainable
Many athletes are told speed is something you’re born with. Genetics matter, but force production, rate of force development and sprint mechanics are all highly trainable, especially in developing athletes. Measuring them is how we train the right thing at the right time.
Work with us
At The Premier Athlete in Miami, we combine force-plate testing with coaching to build faster, more powerful athletes, from high school and college athletes to pros returning from injury.