If you’ve ever watched your child run and thought, “They’re fast… but could they be faster?”
Maybe they run awkwardly and you think they can improve their technique.
Speed isn’t just something athletes are born with. It’s something that can be taught, trained, and improved—when athletes learn how to move correctly and apply force into the ground the right way.
One of our favorite tools we use to help teach this is called the OHM Run.
What Is the OHM Run?
The OHM Run is a specialized training machine that allows athletes to run or move against resistance in a very controlled and natural way.
Instead of just sprinting freely, or pushing something heavy like a sled, the OHM Run:
- Adds smooth, consistent resistance
- Adjusts based on how hard the athlete is working
- Allows for real running mechanics, not altered movement
In simple terms, it, along with their coaches’ corrections, teaches athletes how to push harder and move better at the same time.
Why This Matters for Your Athlete
When kids try to run faster, they often make a few common mistakes:
- Standing up too quickly
- Taking short, choppy steps
- Not applying enough force into the ground
The result? They look like they’re working hard—but they’re not actually getting faster.
The OHM Run helps fix this by teaching athletes how to:
- Stay in the correct body position during acceleration
- Push the ground away with more force
- Build stronger, more powerful strides
It’s not just about effort—it’s about learning how to move efficiently.
Teaching Proper Acceleration
The first few steps of a sprint are where athletes either gain an advantage—or fall behind.
We call this acceleration, and it’s one of the most important skills in sports.
The OHM Run helps athletes:
- Learn the correct forward body angle (instead of popping straight up)
- Develop powerful first steps
- Stay low and drive forward effectively
Because of the resistance, athletes are forced to use the right technique. If they don’t, the movement simply doesn’t work well.
That’s what makes it such a powerful teaching tool.
How We Use the OHM Run With Our Athletes
The OHM’s best feature is that you can control the speed the athlete can move: no matter how hard they try, for example, the OHM can set to limit your speed to 1.5 MPH, 6 MPH, 10 MPH, or anything in between.
Athletes absolutely love the force production measurement. They can see their maximum force production number, as well as their average force production during their run. They can focus, feel, and see themselves literally trying harder and applying force in the proper direction to actually get faster.
We typically have three speed ranges that we use with the athletes that have specific applications to sprinting.
1-2 MPH: This requires the athlete to march aggressively with proper mechanics. If you’ve ever seen your athlete do wall drives during their session, think of this phase as a moving wall drive that measures force production and allows us to correct technique along the way.
5-6 MPH: This phase keeps the athlete still moving forward slowly enough that we can correct technique, but fast enough that they are actually sprinting. This is where sprinting with proper mechanics really starts to make sense.
8-10 MPH: This is the full sprint phase. We concentrate less on technique here (Although we want them to apply the technique they learned earlier for best results) and more on sprinting as fast and hard as they can.
All of these phases, of course, measure force production. The number on the display is a game changer, whether the athletes are competing with each other or, more importantly, with themselves.
The Bottom Line
Speed is about moving better and also simply trying harder. The OHM Run improves both.
The best athletes around the country, whether they’re Olympians or training for the NFL combine, use the OHM Run as a tool to improve their speed. We very often see athletes improve in one session, and more particularly have that “A-ha” moment once they do a few sprints on the OHM. It may be the most effective tool that exists for teaching and improving sprint speed!
For parents, that means your athlete isn’t just getting a workout—they’re learning skills that will help them perform with more speed and success on the field! If you have questions about your athlete working on their acceleration and training with our OHM Run, contact us here!
To read more about the OHM from the company itself, read their website here.
