The National Football League Combine 40-yd Dash: How Important is Maximum Velocity?

ABSTRACTClark, KP, Rieger, RH, Bruno, RF, and Stearne, DJ. The NFL combine 40-yard dashhow important is maximum velocity? J Strength Cond Res 33(6)1542–1550, 2019—This investigation analyzed the sprint velocity profiles for athletes who completed the 40-yard (36.6 m) dash at the 2016 National Footba...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Journal of strength and conditioning research Vol. 33; no. 6; pp. 1542 - 1550
Main Authors:	Clark, Kenneth P, Rieger, Randall H, Bruno, Richard F, Stearne, David J
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	United States Copyright by the National Strength & Conditioning Association 01-06-2019 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins Ovid Technologies
Subjects:	Acceleration Athletes Athletic Performance - statistics & numerical data Body mass Body Weight Exercise Test Football Football - statistics & numerical data Humans Linear Models Running - statistics & numerical data Strength training Time Factors Velocity
Online Access:	Get full text
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Summary:	ABSTRACTClark, KP, Rieger, RH, Bruno, RF, and Stearne, DJ. The NFL combine 40-yard dashhow important is maximum velocity? J Strength Cond Res 33(6)1542–1550, 2019—This investigation analyzed the sprint velocity profiles for athletes who completed the 40-yard (36.6 m) dash at the 2016 National Football League (NFL) Combine. The purpose was to evaluate the relationship between maximum velocity and sprint performance, and to compare acceleration patterns for fast and slow athletes. Using freely available online sources, data were collected for body mass and sprint performance (36.6 m time with split intervals at 9.1 and 18.3 m). For each athlete, split times were used to generate modeled curves of distance vs. time, velocity vs. time, and velocity vs. distance using a monoexponential equation. Model parameters were used to quantify acceleration patterns as the ratio of maximum velocity to maximum acceleration (vmax/amax, or τ). Linear regression was used to evaluate the relationship between maximum velocity and sprint performance for the entire sample. In addition, athletes were categorized into fast and slow groups based on maximum velocity, with independent t-tests and effect size statistics used to evaluate between-group differences in sprint performance and acceleration patterns. Results indicated that maximum velocity was strongly correlated with sprint performance across 9.1, 18.3, and 36.6 m (r of 0.72, 0.83, and 0.94, respectively). However, both fast and slow groups accelerated in a similar pattern relative to maximum velocity (τ = 0.768 ± 0.068 seconds for the fast group and τ = 0.773 ± 0.070 seconds for the slow group). We conclude that maximum velocity is of critical importance to 36.6 m time, and inclusion of more maximum velocity training may be warranted for athletes preparing for the NFL Combine.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23
ISSN:	1064-8011 1533-4287
DOI:	10.1519/JSC.0000000000002081