About five years ago I was introduced to over speed development training with the use of a high speed treadmill. I was intrigued with the idea of re-educating the central nervous system to rewire the motor unit's of the working muscles of the legs to achieve a much higher turnover than what has been employed in other alternative systems of training.


I found two very interesting opportunities that became apparent while using this system of training. First, realize that in order to sustain these high speeds (in excess of 20 miles per hour) the subject needs to be harnessed in a pneumatic canopy. This canopy provides not only protection from injury, it also allows for incremental unweighting. Being able to adjust the amount of body weight that is to be reduced, also allows to minimize muscular recruitment. This unweighting provides an opportunity to provide neural stimulus at reduced force production which supplements a reduction in the potential for injury which is an obvious benefit. What is more interesting is the ability to introduce corrections to mechanical faults in gait through unique strapping of the thighs and feet.


I know it's difficult to paint this picture in this writing, but what we've essentially accomplished is a marriage of speed production and bio-mechanical gait correction. Not only are we able to train at unbelievable speeds, we are able to correct poor gait mechanics all within a matter of less than a dozen training sessions!