but only the champions train smart my friend

You are probably wondering if you read the title line correctly or if I made a mistake, right? Did I say upper body strength for speed? Yes, I did. Did you know that studies have shown that about 20% of an athletes running power is attributed to his or her upper body strength. Thats right, 20%!

I want you to think back to the olympics to the track and field athletes that run the 100 meters. Now look at how those runners are built when compared to the distance runners. The sprinters almost look like bodybuilders. Upper body power does have a lot to do with running power. Now lets not forget about the other 80%, but for someone who may have some good legs underneath, but might be lacking in upper body strength this is valuable information. I will tell you that during my tenure at UGA I remember when the all American tight end Ben Watson set the bench press record at a whopping 570 lbs.! I was the guy with the clipboard that wrote down the number. That record still stands at Georgia. By the way Ben ran a 4.45 40 yard dash at the NFL combine. He also has a couple of Super Bowl rings with the New England Patriots. Now obviously Ben has a lot of God given ability, but make no mistake his work ethic in the weight room was as impressive as his talent. If you are an athlete, have kids that are athletes, or you just like keeping the body sharp work on your upper body strength to enhance your sprinting power. When using your kettlebell lifts whole body movements are the best (like swings and snatches) followed up by movements that are more upper body oriented in nature (like overhead presses and renegade rows). The great thing is that you are constantly utilizing your big core muscle groups to pull these lifts off and that is what fuels your speed performance.

If you haven't been working on your upper body enough to improve on your speed then get started today. Feel free to access the rest of my articles on the subject for free if you are interested in learning about more upper body strength exercises to improve your speed. Remember that most any athlete can train hard, but only the champions train smart my friend!