The Fast Lane to Strength: Why Sprinting Builds Power Better Than the Weight Room

And why every athlete who lifts should sprint.

When coaches think about improving athletic performance, the conversation usually goes straight to the weight room. Increase your squat, clean or trap bar deadlift and your speed on the field will improve… right?

The reality is more nuanced. While strength training is essential for tissue robustness and force potential, sprinting itself is one of the most powerful drivers of strength and power development, often more than lifting heavy.

Here’s why.

1. Sprinting produces the highest forces the human body can generate

Research consistently shows that sprinting at maximal velocity creates ground reaction forces of 4–5× bodyweight in less than 0.1 seconds. No lift, not a clean, not a squat, not a trap bar jump comes remotely close to replicating this combination of:

• Ultra-short ground contact times

• Maximal horizontal and vertical force

• High limb velocities

• Elastic energy return

  
  

This means that the neuromuscular system is exposed to peak forces and firing rates far beyond what a barbell can create. If we wanted to get remotely close to the same response we would have to look at the following numbers.

Athlete A - Back Squats 80kg x by 5 (Ground reaction forces) = 400kg. We would need to load 400kg onto a barbell and get Athlete A to squat. Even then they aren't going to move the bar fast enough to elicit the same response that they get from maximal sprinting.

In fact, elite sprinters generate higher eccentric hamstring forces during max-velocity sprinting than athletes can produce during Nordic hamstring curls (my least favourite exercise, but that is a rant for another time). That’s why sprinting itself is such a powerful stimulus for hamstring strength development.

2. Sprinting upgrades the nervous system - lifting benefits from that

Maximal sprinting improves:

• Motor unit recruitment

• Conduction velocity

• Intermuscular coordination

• Rate of force development (RFD)

• Stretch-shortening cycle efficiency

  
  

When athletes return to the weight room after a period of consistent sprint work, the bar feels lighter, movements feel snappier and peak power improves.

In simple terms: Sprinting “upgrades the engine” and strength training gets to use that better engine.

This is why track athletes often hit personal bests in power outputs without increasing their 1RM, because their nervous system is operating at a higher ceiling.

3. Sprinting improves stiffness, a key quality for force transfer

High-level sprinting increases tendon stiffness, particularly in the Achilles and patellar tendons. Stiffer tendons store and release elastic energy more efficiently, allowing:

• Better force transfer in squats and Olympic lifts

• Increased vertical jump

• Increased peak power in loaded movements

  
  

Strength training helps build the muscle. Sprinting helps build the spring. And sport performance depends heavily on the spring.

4. Increased horizontal force potential feeds back into weight room performance

Sprinting develops horizontal force capabilities, mediated by improvements in:

• Hip extension torque

• Posterior chain velocity

• Eccentric–concentric coupling

  
  

These qualities enhance athletic movements and lead to improvements in lifts like RDLs, hip thrusts and deadlifts, not because the muscle hypertrophied, but because the coordination and firing patterns improved.

In other words: You become stronger because you move better at high speed, not because you added more reps in the gym.

5. Weightlifting doesn’t replicate sprinting demands

Many coaches assume building strength automatically increases speed. But:

• Strength gains often happen at slow velocities

• Barbell movements rarely exceed 1.5–2.0 m/s

• Sprinting involves limb velocities of 20–25 m/s

• Strength adaptations plateau without high-speed exposure

  
  

This is why some athletes get stronger in the gym but never get faster: The direction of transfer is limited.

Strength → Speed transfer = small and limited.

Speed → Strength transfer = large and frequent

So what does this mean for coaches?

To build a complete athlete:

✔ Sprint year-round

Even once per week of high-quality speed work shifts the nervous system in a way that lifting alone cannot.

✔ Use lifting to support sprinting, not replace it

Strength is important, but it’s a foundation - not the pinnacle.

✔ Never let athletes go long periods without top-speed exposure

When sprinting disappears, speed, stiffness and neural qualities decay. And weight room performance usually follows.

✔ Treat sprinting as a strength and power tool

Because it is.

Strength Without Lifting: The Athlete Who Defied the "Model"!

During my time coaching in America I was extremely fortunate to work with a former Women's 400m Indoor World Champion, whose training completely challenged the traditional “lift heavy to run fast” mindset. She was an exceptionally elastic athlete, one of the most naturally reactive and spring-like movers I’ve ever had the pleasure to work with. But here’s what made her unique: she hardly lifted at all. In fact, it seemed any time she went near a weight room, it created more problems than benefits. Her body simply didn’t respond well to heavy loading. Yet she was world-class, because sprinting itself gave her everything she needed. The forces, the stiffness, the coordination, the neural drive… it all came from the track. Her success is a perfect example that, for certain athletes, sprinting provides the full stimulus. No barbell required.

Final takeaway

Sprinting isn’t just something athletes do to get faster. It’s one of the most potent strength and power training tools available.

The biggest jumps in weight room performance often happen when athletes sprint more, not when they lift more.

Sprinting raises the ceiling. Strength training helps you fill it.

So next time someone tells you to ‘just lift heavier,’ remind them that sprinting is basically Mother Nature’s power clean... only faster and without the grunting.