Yes, speed can be taught, and most people have significant room to get faster through training. Genetics set an upper ceiling, but structured coaching in sprint mechanics, strength, and power production reliably improves how fast someone runs. In studies of young athletes following a sprint training program, 40-yard dash times improved by roughly 3.7% on average, with some groups improving closer to 4.5%. That may sound modest, but in a 5.0-second 40-yard dash, it translates to shaving nearly two-tenths of a second off your time.
What Genetics Actually Control
Your muscle fiber composition is partly determined by your DNA, and it matters for speed. Skeletal muscles contain two main types of fibers: slow-twitch fibers, which resist fatigue and power endurance activities, and fast-twitch fibers, which contract rapidly and generate explosive force. Sprinters tend to carry a higher proportion of fast-twitch fibers.
The most studied gene in this context is ACTN3, which provides instructions for a protein found predominantly in fast-twitch fibers. People with two copies of a specific variant (the 577RR genotype) tend to have more fast-twitch fibers and are overrepresented among elite sprinters and power athletes. People with two copies of the opposite variant (577XX) produce no functional version of that protein at all, which shifts their fiber ratio toward slow-twitch. This is one reason two athletes can follow the same training program and end up at different top speeds.
But fiber type ratio is not destiny. It influences how high your ceiling is, not where you start or how much you can improve. The vast majority of people never come close to their genetic ceiling for speed.
Why Beginners Improve Fastest
The first speed gains from training are almost entirely neurological, not muscular. When you start sprint training, your nervous system gets better at three things: recruiting more muscle fibers at once, firing them at higher frequencies, and coordinating which muscles activate and which ones relax. These neural adaptations show up as measurable increases in electrical activity during maximal efforts, and they happen before your muscles grow at all.
This is why a novice athlete can get noticeably faster in just a few weeks of focused work. The muscles were already capable of producing more force. The nervous system simply wasn’t asking them to. Trained athletes, by contrast, have already optimized much of this neural signaling. They still improve, but gains become smaller and harder to earn. Elite sprinters ranked in the world’s top 100 see annual improvements of only 0.1 to 0.2%.
Another key adaptation: trained athletes develop reduced co-contraction, meaning the muscles opposing the movement (like hamstrings during knee extension) learn to relax instead of fighting the prime movers. This increases net force production without building any new muscle tissue.
The Mechanics That Make You Faster
Running speed is the product of two variables: how long your strides are and how frequently you take them. At any given speed, increasing one decreases the other. But the real leverage comes from how you produce each stride, not just how big or fast it is.
One of the biggest differences between fast and slow runners is front-side mechanics. Elite sprinters are better at “stepping over the knee,” meaning their recovery leg cycles forward and up in front of the body rather than dragging behind. They project power into the ground with greater range of motion during each stride. These are teachable skills.
Ground contact time also matters. When your foot spends less time on the ground per stride, you bounce off the surface more efficiently. Increasing your step rate while keeping speed constant reduces how far your center of mass drops with each stride, lowers impact forces, and decreases the energy absorbed at your hips, knees, and ankles. This is why sprint coaches obsess over being “bouncy” and “staying tall” rather than reaching for longer strides.
Training Methods That Build Speed
Speed training programs generally combine three elements: sprint technique work, plyometrics, and strength training. Each targets a different piece of the puzzle.
Sprint drills like the A-skip, B-skip, and high-knee runs teach the movement patterns of efficient sprinting in a controlled, slower environment. A-runs, for example, simulate maximal velocity mechanics while letting the athlete focus on knee height and posture. Coaches use cues like “run above the track” to reinforce vertical posture and quick ground contact. Mini-hurdles spaced at specific intervals force proper knee lift for athletes who struggle with the drill on their own.
Plyometric training, which includes jumping, hopping, bounding, and skipping at maximal effort, improves your ability to produce force rapidly. In a study of boys aged 9 to 12, a plyometric program focused on repeated jumps with minimal ground contact time significantly improved their reactive strength (the ability to absorb and redirect force quickly) and their sprint velocity during the top-speed phase of a run. The training effect comes from teaching the stretch-shortening cycle: muscles that are quickly stretched immediately before contracting produce more force than muscles that contract from a standstill.
Strength training builds the raw force capacity that feeds into sprinting. In collegiate women soccer players, relative lower-body strength (how strong you are compared to your body weight) showed a strong correlation with both 10-meter and 30-meter sprint times. The stronger athletes were meaningfully faster, with correlation values of -0.59 and -0.67 respectively. Programs typically cycle through phases of 4 to 6 weeks each, progressing from building muscle to maximal strength to explosive power.
How Long It Takes to See Results
Measurable speed changes show up within weeks for most people, though the timeline depends on training history. Beginners who have never done structured sprint work often notice improvement within 4 to 6 weeks, driven largely by neural adaptations and better technique. In a study of young American football players, a structured training block produced an average 3.72% improvement in 40-yard dash performance, with the group following a periodized block approach improving by 4.45%.
For intermediate athletes, a single training cycle of 8 to 12 weeks typically produces noticeable gains. As you advance, progress slows considerably. Strength and power training is usually organized into consecutive 4- to 6-week blocks that shift emphasis from muscle building to maximal strength to explosive work. This sequencing matters because each phase builds the foundation for the next.
Where the Ceiling Kicks In
Speed is one of the most trainable athletic qualities, but it does have a harder genetic ceiling than endurance. Your fiber type ratio, limb proportions, tendon stiffness, and hormonal profile all set boundaries that training cannot fully override. Two athletes following identical programs for years will not end up at the same top speed.
The practical reality, though, is that almost no one outside of elite sport bumps against this ceiling. The typical recreational or school-level athlete has large reserves of untapped speed that come from better mechanics, stronger muscles, faster neural signaling, and improved reactive strength. These are all trainable. The answer to whether speed can be taught is not just yes, but that for most people, it is the single fastest way to get results. Raw talent without coaching leaves enormous performance on the table.