How can I improve my 40-yard dash fast?

In the short term, practice your stance and first three steps, rest fully between reps, and test fresh with the same timing setup each time. Bigger gains in force and acceleration take weeks of consistent sprinting, jumping and lifting.

Should football players train like sprinters?

For speed, yes. A review of 48 studies found sprint training was the most effective way to improve sprint performance across distances, and combining sprinting with strength and power work had its largest effect over 0–10m.

Does squatting make you faster?

Getting stronger helps. A meta-analysis found that gains in squat strength carried over to faster sprinting, with an average improvement of about 3%. Keep the reps low and move each one fast.

What is a good 40-yard dash time?

It depends on your age, level and position, and on how the run was timed, since hand times and electronic times can't be compared directly. Rate your time against averages with our sprint time tools.

How often should football players do speed training?

Two or three speed sessions a week in the offseason, on non-consecutive days, done fresh before lifting or conditioning. In season, one or two short, fast sessions a week will maintain it.

How to get faster for football and improve your 40-yard dash

By the Sprint University coaching team

To get faster for football, train acceleration the way sprinters do. In the offseason, run 10–40 yard sprints from your stance at full effort with 2–4 minutes of rest, two or three times a week. Add resisted sprints, jumps and heavy-but-fast lifting, and do your conditioning on separate days.

The 40-yard dash is 36.6 meters, so almost all of it happens in the acceleration phase of a sprint. If you train the start and the first 10 yards, your 40 time comes down with them.

What the 40 measures

The 40 is an acceleration test. Combines commonly split it at 10 and 20 yards, and a study of more than 7,000 players at high school football combines published position-specific norms for those splits, so you can judge your burst as well as your full time.

Most sprints in a game are shorter than 40 yards and start from a stance, a backpedal or a cut. For the 40 and for game speed alike, you need an explosive first step and a long, powerful acceleration. The athletes who accelerate best keep their push pointed forward as they speed up.

Your stance and first three steps

Set up loaded in a three-point stance, with your feet about hip-width, the down hand just behind the line, hips slightly above your shoulders and your weight forward onto the hand.
Make your first movement a push, both legs driving the ground back while your arms drive hard.
Keep the first steps low and quick, landing under or behind your hips. Don't reach.
Hold a long forward lean through about 10 yards and come up naturally. Popping up early wastes the push.
Pick a finish point a few yards past the line so you run through the 40 at full speed.

The block start guide goes deeper on the push, and sprint form covers your posture once you are up.

The training that moves your 40

Short sprints, fully rested

Most of your speed work should be short sprints with full rest. This is the acceleration day from Sprint University's base program. In yards, its 20m, 30m and 40m reps are about 22, 33 and 44 yards.

Week 1, day 1 · Acceleration

Acceleration + Sled

High day

Block	Prescription
Track warm-up	15 min: easy jog, dynamic drills, build-ups
20m sprints	4 × 20m @ 98–100%, rest 2 min
30m sprints	2 × 30m @ 98–100%, rest 3 min
40m sprint	1 × 40m @ 95–100%, rest 4 min
Sled push	4 × 10m, light sled (~10–15% bodyweight), rest 2 min No sled? 5 × 15m hill sprints or partner-resisted sprints
Backward run	2 × 60m, walk-back rest
Barefoot cooldown walk	One easy lap of the track barefoot, unhurried

Resisted sprints

Sleds, hills and partner-resisted sprints force a long push and a low body angle. A systematic review found moderate to very heavy sled loads produced acceleration gains in team-sport and strength-trained athletes, though whether sled training beats plain sprinting is still unsettled, so keep running free sprints alongside them. The acceleration drills guide has more options.

Jumps and throws

Plyometrics improve sprint performance, especially when they include horizontal jumps such as bounds and broad jumps. The plyometrics for sprinters guide lists the jumps with sets for each.

Heavy, fast lifting

Gains in squat strength carry over to sprint speed. Keep the sets short and every rep explosive, and do your lifting after you sprint.

Some top speed

Breakaway runs and deep routes get you to top speed, so add one flying-sprint session a week.

Week 1, day 5 · Max velocity

Top Speed, Flying 20s

High day

Block	Prescription
Track warm-up	15 min: easy jog, dynamic drills, build-ups
10m sprints	3 × 10m @ 98–100%, rest 2 min
30m sprints	2 × 30m @ 98–100%, rest 3 min
Flying 20m	4 × flying 20m with a 20m run-in @ 100%, rest 5 min
Backward run	2 × 60m, walk-back rest
Barefoot cooldown walk	One easy lap of the track barefoot, unhurried

Film the flying 20s.

The Sprint University app

Retest your speed three times a block

Sprint University schedules your sprints, sled work, jumps and lifts, and tests your speed and power at the start, middle and end of the block so you can see what is improving.

Get Sprint University

A sample offseason speed week

This week follows the layout of Sprint University's base program, with easy days between the high ones.

Day 1 (high): acceleration and sled work, then lower-body lifting.
Day 2 (low): jumps and throws at low volume, plus mobility.
Day 3 (high): starts from your stance and 10–20 yard sprints, then upper-body lifting.
Day 4 (low): easy tempo runs or position work at low intensity.
Day 5 (high): flying sprints, then lifting.
Days 6–7: conditioning on its own day if your coach requires it, otherwise rest.

Start every session with a full sprint warm-up. Test your 40 before the block and every few weeks after, with splits if you can get them, on the same surface, in the same shoes and with the same timing method each time.

Common mistakes

Speed work that turns into conditioning: Gassers and short-rest sprints build fitness. For speed, rest 2–4 minutes between reps.
Too many reps: A speed session adds up to a few hundred yards of sprinting. Stop when your times drop.
Lifting before sprinting: Sprint first while your legs are fresh, then lift.
Ignoring the start: Practice the stance and first three steps every week. The start sets up the whole 40.
Comparing different timing methods: A hand time and a laser time for the same run will differ. Track yourself with one method.

You can rate your 40 against averages or see how it compares to a 100m in our speed comparisons. The how to run faster guide covers speed training beyond football.