The Sam Portland Podcast by Sam Portland

August 14, 2026 What Actually Makes Someone Faster?

The 3 Physical Qualities That Make Athletes Faster are force production, elasticity and sprint technique. In this Speed Training 101 lesson, I explain how each quality influences sprint speed and how coaches can identify what their athletes actually need.

Most coaches can tell you what their athletes did last week.

The drills.

The gym sessions.

The distances.

The sprint volume.

But ask exactly what physical quality made the athlete faster, and the answer often becomes much less clear.

Speed development isn’t random.

In Episode 4 of Speed Training 101, I break sprint performance down into three physical qualities:

1. Force

Not simply how strong the athlete is, but how quickly force can be produced during the very short ground contacts available in sprinting.

2. Elasticity

The ability to tolerate, manage and return force during ground contact without excessive deformation or energy loss.

3. Technique

The movement solution that emerges when the athlete has the physical qualities required to execute sprinting effectively.

Inside this video you’ll learn:

* Why maximum strength doesn’t automatically create sprint speed

* Why Rate of Force Development matters for acceleration

* How short sprint ground contacts change the strength requirements

* Why some powerful athletes leak force through the ankle and knee

* What ground contact compliance means

* How elasticity influences sprint mechanics

* Why coaches often try to fix technique too early

* How physical preparation improves technical execution

* Why athletes forget technical cues

* How Learn → Load → Execute develops sprint skill

* How to diagnose which speed quality your athlete actually needs

The goal isn’t to collect more drills.

The goal is to identify the limiter and train the quality that actually moves performance.

FREE FIELD SPEED TOOLKIT

Turn the concepts from Speed Training 101 into practical coaching decisions.

The Field Speed Toolkit includes a Speed Drill Audit Sheet, plug-and-play training week and the five Transfer Filters I use to help coaches connect training to speed.

https://speedbysportland.com/tool-kit?video=_qaX_Q45CFA

Chapters

0:00 The 3 qualities that actually develop speed

1:03 Why strength doesn’t automatically create speed

1:40 Force production vs Rate of Force Development

2:54 Why athletes lose force at ground contact

3:24 What elasticity actually means

4:56 How good athletes manage ground contact

6:37 Same force, completely different speed

7:19 Why coaches try to fix technique too early

8:26 Why technical coaching doesn’t always stick

9:18 Physical qualities before sprint technique