40-yard dash · 40-yard sprint
Purpose
Use this test to measure sprint speed from a standing or crouched start. Your client sprints 40 yards (36.58 m) and you keep the fastest of up to three runs.
It is the standard speed test in American football. The timing method changes the result, so the calculator records it with every run.
Procedure
- Preparation
- Mark a start and a finish line 36.58 m apart on a flat surface. Choose the start and the timing method, and keep both for every retest.
- Equipment
- Measuring tape, cones and electronic timing gates or a stopwatch
Set up at the line
Your client sets up behind the start line, in a three-point stance or standing.
Start the time
With electronic timing, the time starts as your client's hand leaves the start pad. With a stopwatch, start on your client's first movement.
Sprint through the finish
Your client sprints through the finish line without slowing down. Stop the time as the torso crosses the line.
Repeat
Record up to three runs. The calculator keeps the fastest.
Scoring
The score is the fastest time, in seconds to two decimals, for one timing method and one start.
Interpretation
Compare times with the same timing method and start. The calculator shows the time without a label.
Sources
- Mayhew et al.: hand and electronic timing of 40-yd dash performance in college football players (2010)Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research 24(2):447–451. Hand timing 0.31 seconds faster on average, in 59 players.
- Mann, Ivey, Brechue and Mayhew: validity and reliability of hand and electronic timing for the 40-yd sprint (2015)Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research 29(6):1509–1514. Hand timing 0.22 to 0.26 seconds faster, and the smallest worthwhile change for each method, in 81 players.
Sources checked by SoloTrainer.net · 25 Sep