Athletic training isn’t just for professional athletes anymore. Whether you’re looking to improve speed, power, agility, or overall functionality incorporating athletic based training into your routine can help you move more efficiently, prevent injuries, and enhance overall fitness.

Advancements in sports science, wearable technology, and functional training methods are making athlete style workouts accessible to everyone. This guide will break down the key components of athletic training and provide a workout plan tailored to different fitness levels.

To train like an athlete, you need to focus on 3 key areas:

1. Speed: The ability to move quickly in a straight line or react instantly to stimuli.

2. Power: Explosive strength that enables quick, forceful movements with the power of a Mack truck behind them.

3. Agility: The ability to change direction rapidly while maintaining balance and control.

Each of these elements plays a vital role in athletic performance and can benefit everyday movement, whether you’re an elite competitor or an average Joe just trying to stay active and mobile.

Speed training improves your ability to generate force quickly and utilize elastic energy efficiently, leading to faster sprints and a sharper nervous system. Key techniques include:

• Short Sprints (10-40yds) – These develop acceleration and the transition into upright running. Focus on staying forward and driving into the ground with maximal aggression on every stride.

• Long Sprints (60m-200m) – These develop top end speed and speed endurance. Focus on transitioning into upright sprinting mechanics with a long, limber stride and minimal ground contact time.

• Flying Sprints – Use a run up to achieve maximal velocity and hold it for a designated period of time. Flying sprints are a powerful tool that expose you to max velocity and allow you to hone in on it better than most other sprint drills. If you want to raise the ceiling you have to knock on it as often as possible.

• Overspeed Training – Running with slight assistance (downhill or with resistance cords) can teach faster leg turnover. Once the nervous system has been exposed to a certain level of speed it will have a greater chance of attaining that level over and over again. But be careful here, overspeed training has a higher risk of injury and will only have a chance to translate if the overspeed component is very minimal.

• Plyometric Drills – Various bounding and hopping drills will develop reactivity and power. Plyometrics teach you how to utilize elastic energy more efficiently and generate more output from your muscles and tendons.

Power is the foundation of many athletic movements, from jumping to punching to tackling. The best power training methods include:

• Olympic Lifts – These are the king when it comes to training for power. Power cleans, power snatches, jerks, push presses, and high pulls develop a brutish level of total body explosiveness that is difficult to replicate with other modalities. Olympic lift variations are probably the best way to improve your baseline level of raw power.

• Loaded Jumps – Variations of loaded jumps are another fantastic way to build power in the legs and hips. They can be done light, heavy, and anywhere in between to train various strength and speed qualities along the force-velocity curve.

• Resisted Sprints – Use a manual treadmill, a sled, or hills to increase sprint power. All of these methods reduce stride length and increase ground contact times, making them a great option for building power in the legs and improving the ability to accelerate forcefully.

• Kettlebell Swings – These are the hip dominant equivalent of the Olympic lifts with an added plyometric component. They build massive hip extension power and hamstring resilience.

• Jump Training – Variations of vertical jumps, box jumps, and broad jumps build power in the legs and hips.

Agility training enhances coordination, reaction time, and balance. Some of the best methods include:

• Shuttle Drills – 5-10-5 shuttle runs, L drills, 60yd shuttles, and other movement drills that incorporate multiple sharp cuts or turnarounds develop lateral movement, quickness, and change of direction.

• Cut & Curved Sprints – Running at high speed with repeat, mild-moderate changes of direction enhances the ability to cut rapidly and sharply. A variety of curved sprints improve body control and teach you how to maintain efficiency and minimize speed loss while turning and adjusting body angles.

• Reactive Drills – Training with unpredictable movements or reacting to random stimuli (reaction lights, random beeps, or partner cues) sharpens reflexes and improves reaction time.

If you're new to athletic style training, start with 1-2 days per week focused on speed, power, and agility. Combine this with regular strength training and mobility work and incorporate it into your comprehensive strength and conditioning program.

If you need help with ideas please check out my Conjugate Manual or Ultimate Performance Manual. Both these programs take the guesswork completely out of the equation for you and provide a malleable and re-usable template to help you maximize long term athleticism and overall fitness. You can use code CONJUGATE20 to get 20% off my Conjugate Manual!

Training like an athlete isn’t about competing at an elite level—it’s about moving efficiently, explosively, and with control. It's about being as fit as possible, enhancing longevity, and aging gracefully. Whether you're looking to enhance speed, develop explosive power, or improve agility, incorporating these training methods into your workout can make you stronger, faster, and more resilient. With the right exercises and consistency, anyone can build an athletic physique and movement quality in 2025.