Speed and Agility Training in Missoula
"ERF got me running my fastest, feeling my best, and performing at the highest level throughout all my sports!"
-Taylor Jones
Griz Football
Montana's only high-speed treadmill
Run faster than you can run.
The belt runs to 30 miles an hour. A pneumatic harness carries part of an athlete's body weight, so they can hold a stride they could not hold on the ground, and repeat it safely.
That is the whole idea. Speed is a skill the nervous system learns, and it learns it by doing it. Most athletes never get to run faster than they already run, so they never teach their body what faster feels like.
The program came out of fifteen years working with professional athletes. It is the same work on the same machine, set to whoever is standing on the belt.
What a session works on
01
Top-end speed
Running at a speed the athlete cannot reach on their own, long enough for the nervous system to learn the turnover.
02
Acceleration
Starts, first steps, and getting to top speed sooner.
03
Forward, backward, 360°
The belt runs in every direction, so the work goes past straight-ahead sprinting.
04
Quickness and agility
Foot speed, reaction, change of direction and explosive movement drills, designed to train the nervous system and help athletes become quicker, more reactive and explosive.
Who trains here
- Professional athletes
- Collegiate athletes
- High school athletes
- Club athletes
- Middle school athletes
- Developing youth athletes
Collegiate athletes train here year round. Middle school is one of the biggest groups in the program, and there is no strict age cut-off: generally around fifth grade and up, depending on the athlete.
With younger athletes the work starts with biomechanics, technique and movement patterns, and the speed follows. An athlete does not have to be ready for every part of the system to get something out of a session.
How a session runs
Speed training runs twice a week for four weeks. That is the standard block, and it is built that way because speed responds to frequency: short, high-quality work repeated often does more than long sessions spaced far apart.
Every session follows the same order, and it is deliberate. The body gets switched on from the ground up before it is asked to run fast.
What changes over four weeks is usually not the number on the dial. It is stride mechanics, turnover, and how quickly an athlete reaches their top gear. Those are the things that show up in a game, and they are the things nobody can teach themselves at the speed they already run.
- Check inHow is the body feeling, what is sore, what happened at practice since last time. The answer changes what the session does.
- Warm upGet the body ready to work.
- Activate the key muscle groupsWake up what the session is about to ask for.
- Foot strengthening and activationSpeed starts at the ground, and the foot is the part almost nobody trains directly.
- Hip activationWhere stride length and power come from.
- Agility, balance and reactionProprioception, quick twitch, change of direction and reaction work.
- Finish on the treadmillHigh-speed treadmill training to close the session, in the harness, at a speed set for that athlete, in short efforts with full recovery between them.
Start here
Every athlete starts with an evaluation. Dr. Cordial records you moving and evaluates your gait and mechanics, identifying the energy leaks and compensations that may be limiting your speed and efficiency.
What that turns up is what the program gets built around, along with what the season ahead asks of you.
Wear athletic shorts and a T-shirt. Payment is due at your visit.
Common questions
How often do athletes train?
Speed training runs twice a week. The standard block is two days a week for four weeks.
How young is too young?
There is no strict age cut-off. Generally around fifth grade and up, and it depends on the athlete.
Do I need a referral?
No. Book the evaluation directly.
Most athletes never find out how fast they are.
Start with the evaluation. You will leave knowing what is limiting your athlete's speed and what the plan is to change it.
