Want to run faster instantly?
Previous studies have found benefits in cross-training, keeping your eyes focused on a spot ahead, and wearing the right shoes. But, researchers say that just a few choice words can help give you the boost you need to win your next race.
“The words we speak to athletes have a demonstrable and instant effect on their performance,” Dr. Jason Moran, from the University of Essex in the U.K., said in a statement.
Moran and researchers found that young soccer players run faster when focusing on their environment, rather than their body. Simple analogies worked to speed up sprints by 3 percent over 65 feet.
Those findings would normally take people weeks of targeted training, the researchers said.
“This could be enhanced even further by using certain analogies, for example, asking a player to ‘accelerate like a Ferrari’ may create a more evocative image in their mind instead of simply telling them to run fast,” he explained.
To reach these conclusions, Moran and the study authors examined the responses of 20 members of Tottenham Hotspur’s academy. All the players were between 14 and 15 years old.
The young athletes participated in sprint drills, and were given different directions before running.
Ultimately, the researchers found that telling the teenagers to “push the ground away” elicited stronger results than if they were told to “[drive] their legs into the ground.”
But, the best performances were encouraged by players being urged to “sprint as if you are a jet taking off into the sky ahead.”
The key lies in the simplicity of the instructions, without using technical terms that can be harder to understand.
“By using a simple analogy teachers and parents might be able to get the most out of their kids whatever the sport,” Moran said.
