The question is: Has improvement been made and how much? The following is a simple test that will help you evaluate your ability to sprint, as well as your present level of fitness.
Use your best 40 yard dash time in the following sprinting evaluation. You can time yourself by holding a stop watch, or better yet, have someone else time you.
- After thoroughly warming up, run ten- 40 yard sprints as fast as possible taking exactly 15 seconds rest between each sprint.
- If you are being timed by someone, have him start the watch on the first movement he sees.
- Record each 40 yard dash each time you cross the finish.
- It is most important that the timer starts you, or you start yourself, on the sprint, 15 seconds after you have crossed the finish line. As soon as you have crossed, the timer should begin counting out loud, -15, 14, 13, 12, etc.
If you were in perfect condition, which is highly unlikely anyone can achieve this, you would be able to run every sprint at your best 40 yard dash time. Example: 4.8 is your best forty. You would be able to run 4.8s with 15 seconds rest between each sprint.
Let’s use a hypothetical case and say 4.8 is your best forty or “Target Time”. Multiply your target time by ten (the number of forties you ran).
4.8 x 10 = 48 seconds = TOTAL TARGET TIME
The following is a list of the hypothetical fortes you just ran. Total these numbers:
- 4.8
- 4.8
- 5.0
- 5.0
- 5.6
- 5.3
- 5.5
- 5.6
- 5.8
- 5.8
52.7 This is your
fitness total
Take your TOTAL TARGET TIME, 48 seconds and divide this by your FITNESS TOTAL.
(Fitness Total) 52.7 / 48.000 ( Total Target Time) = .9108
YOU ARE NOW AT 91% OF PERFECT CONDITION, WHEN YOU REACH 92%, OR OVER YOU ARE IN SPRINTING SHAPE.
NOTE:
Run 40 yards in one direction, turn around and start on the finish line and run back to the original starting line, etc. The timer (If you have one) should immediately record your time and move to the other line while counting loudly 15, 14, 13, 12, ect.
