🏃‍♂️ Speed Reserve for Team Sport Athletes | Lewis Physical Therapy & Sports Rehabilitation

Speed is one of the most important determinants of success in almost every team sport — but it’s not just about who’s fastest in a straight line. The real key lies in understanding speed reserve — the difference between your top sprint speed and the submaximal speeds you can maintain throughout a game.

When athletes increase their top-end sprinting capability, everything else improves — acceleration, recovery between plays, and sustained explosiveness late in the game.

📘 What You’ll Learn in This Blog

In this blog, you’ll learn:

• What “speed reserve” actually means for sport performance

• Why endless conditioning and submaximal drills don’t make you faster

• How raising your top speed improves your submax performance levels

• Practical ways to integrate speed reserve training into your program

🎥 Watch the Full Breakdown on YouTube

Don’t miss the full video explaining how true speed training raises your performance ceiling across all sports.
▶️ Watch Now on YouTube:

⚡ What Is Speed Reserve?

Speed reserve is the difference between your maximum sprint speed and the submaximal speeds you perform at during gameplay. The higher your top speed, the easier it becomes to maintain high-quality efforts at submaximal intensities.

For example: if your top speed improves from 20 mph to 22 mph, your old “80% effort” pace is now less taxing. You can maintain faster game speeds with less fatigue — giving you a competitive edge in every sprint, cut, or chase.

🧩 Why Conditioning Alone Isn’t Enough

Many athletes rely on long runs, shuttles, or endless conditioning drills — all performed at submax intensity. While these can build endurance at that specific speed, they don’t improve true speed.

If you never train at 95-100%, your body never adapts to those higher outputs. This limits your performance ceiling and keeps your “game speed” from improving.

By integrating true anaerobic-alactic sprint work — short sprints at full effort with full recovery — you increase top-end velocity and raise your entire submax floor. That means you’ll perform faster, longer, and more efficiently across an entire game.

🏋️‍♂️ How to Build Speed Reserve in Training

To develop speed reserve, prioritize quality over quantity:

• Sprint 10–40 yards at full intensity for 2–3 reps per set

• Rest 2–3 minutes between sprints for full recovery

• Focus on posture, acceleration, and smooth mechanics

• Incorporate resisted sprints, jumps, and high-velocity/max-effort lifting

This combination improves neuromuscular efficiency, builds coordination, and helps athletes sustain faster speeds with less energy cost.

🧭 Why Every Athlete Needs Speed Reserve

No matter your sport — baseball, football, lacrosse, or soccer — every play depends on your ability to accelerate and repeat powerful efforts.
When your top-end speed improves, your submaximal performance improves too. That’s why athletes who dedicate time to true speed development consistently perform at higher levels and experience less late-game fatigue.

⚡ Ready to Get Faster, Stronger & More Explosive?

Join our Triple Threat: Sprint System — a 10-week training plan built for athletes who want to develop elite speed, acceleration, and power.
👉 https://www.lewisptsr.com/home-page-673984-4202

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🎙 Listen to This Episode on The Lewis Physical Therapy & Sports Rehab Podcast

Catch the full discussion on speed reserve, true speed training, and how to integrate these methods into your performance program.

🎧 Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4A6iBs0CzkAwSu9rUVPfGX?si=lrea2AaWQSy5USIT90KXhQ