What speed training can do for your fitness

Going for short outdoor sprints can improve your reaction time and power

- Pulasta Dhar

If you aren't a professional athlete, it is highly unlikely that you train for speed in your gym, or on the treadmill.

On the latter, while there is a number that records how fast you're walking/ running, what a treadmill is actually measuring is the time you're spending on it, distance you're covering, and the calories you're burning. Real speed, however, can only be experienced (and measured) outdoors, where you can hit a maximum speed, and then slow down without needing to hop off or slow down the speed on the machine. Outdoor sprinting is a better test for the hamstrings as well, as the body would slow down over a distance rather than abruptly like on a treadmill.