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Sam Pitcairn
Why Speed Ladders Are Useless (And Why Your Kid is Still Slow)
Training
By Sam Pitcairn
Walk onto any turf field in Pittsburgh—from Highmark Stadium to the suburban high schools—and you will see the same circus act: Athletes tiptoeing through a yellow plastic ladder while a "coach" screams at them to move their feet faster.
It looks cool on Instagram. It makes parents feel like they are getting their money's worth.
But from a physics and physiological standpoint, it is garbage.
If you want your athlete to actually get faster—and more importantly, if you want to prevent their ACL from snapping—you need to burn the speed ladder and learn basic mechanics.
Here is a harsh truth: Moving your feet fast does not make you fast.
If moving your feet quickly was the secret to speed, Riverdance performers would be in the NFL.
Speed is determined by Newton’s Third Law: For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. To move forward, you must apply Mass Specific Force into the ground. The harder you punch the ground, the faster you fly forward.
The speed ladder teaches the exact opposite. It teaches athletes to "lightly" tap the ground. It trains them to minimize force production. You are literally training your athlete to be weak.
The problem isn't just that ladders don't make you fast. The problem is that they leave you fragile.
Most non-contact ACL tears happen during deceleration—when an athlete tries to stop or cut. To survive that cut, the hamstring and glute must be strong enough to absorb the force.
The speed ladder creates "ankle dominance." It ignores the posterior chain. When that athlete, who has spent all summer tippy-toeing, tries to plant their foot on a muddy field in November against a 200lb linebacker, their structural balance fails. The glute doesn't fire, the femur rotates internally, and the ACL pops.
I don't train athletes to dance. I train them to absorb and produce violence.
If you want to be fast, you need two things:
My mentor, Charles Poliquin, always said: "You cannot fire a cannon from a canoe." If your legs are weak (the canoe), your nervous system will not allow you to express power (the cannon).
We don't get athletes fast by making them move their feet. We get them fast by making their legs stronger so they can apply massive force into the turf.
Stop the tap-dancing. If you want to improve speed and bulletproof the knees, you need unilateral strength and eccentric hamstring control.
Here is a staple superset we use for our athletes in Pittsburgh:
Perform this twice a week. No tiptoeing allowed.
A1. Split Squat (Front Foot Elevated)
A2. Nordic Hamstring Curl (Eccentric Only)
There is a reason our athletes dominate in the fourth quarter while others are cramping or limping off the field.
We respect physics.
If you want your child to be a circus performer, buy them a speed ladder. If you want them to be a dominant athlete who plays injury-free, bring them to Essential Strength.
We are Pittsburgh’s home for data-driven sports performance. Book your athlete’s assessment today.
After you submit this form we will be in contact within 24 hrs to set up an appointment to come into our East Liberty location for a performance assessment.
