Realities of the 40 yard dash....

#76
#76
n_huffhines said:
Almost none of us can get up off the couch and run sub 4.88 but a lot of us could if we trained for a month or 2.
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No. Probably an exceptionally small percentage of folks on here who are 25 and younger, still in good shape (still lift weights and are lean) and previously played high school athletics could. But certainly not "a lot of us."
 
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#77
#77
Several of you said you could break a 5.0 40 yd dash. Do it, film it, post it. Until then, the rest of us will be skeptical of you claim.
 
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#78
#78
VolFan4Life87 said:
You need to be in super great shape to run a 4.88 40yd dash. You also need to be very disciplined in how you run the 40. KB is right; 99.9% on this board cannot best 5.0, hell I'd wager 50%+ would be 6.0+. The fastest I ever ran was a 4.9 @ 175 lbs and it was when I ran around at football practice for ~3 hours 4 days a week in addition to weight lifting, spring agilities training, etc. I'm not a speed guy though, more into power lifting. I timed myself recently for $h!ts and giggles. I'm 225 now and ran a 5.5 - most OL run faster than that. D1 athletes are just genetically superior and also exceptionally well trained. We have day jobs and 'exercise.' They train. There's a big difference.
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Yeah, there comes a point where things get pared down a lot and sub-5 in the forty is where things start to happen. It's a LOT faster than it sounds when we're constantly bombarded with the idea that a 4.7 is actually on the slow side for many positions.

For instance most people have become so inured to times they see Bolt/et al run in the 100m that they don't understand how fast times much slower really are when not discussing genetic freaks. For instance in 2016 there were just over 50 officially timed/wind legal 100m runs under 10.6 by any HS track athlete. Drop that by .10 and the number is more than halved. Under 10.4 and we're down to 6.

10.6 is really fast. For reference the best Evan Berry ever managed was 10.54. People's perceptions and reality can become rather disparate when the numbers they're constantly seeing are skewed as much as they are toward elite athletes.
 
#82
#82
Backwards K said:
Several of you said you could break a 5.0 40 yd dash. Do it, film it, post it. Until then, the rest of us will be skeptical of you claim.
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Let's make it easier. To run a 5.0 means you have to run on average a 1.25 set of tens four times. Show us what rockets you are, video yourselves running a 1.25 second ten yard start to finish sprint.
 
#84
#84
The sub 5 guys come out of the woodworks. Almost like the 300 yard drive guy.
 
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#85
#85
I'm 47.. been a firefighter and in the military most of my adult life. 6'1" and about 205 right now. I used to be really really fast.. still in great shape for my age.. but after my injuries in Iraq not sure if I could break 5.0. 10 years ago? Yes definitely. I would run 4 miles every other day and the days in between I ran 100 yard sprints interval training. Even back then I was one of the fastest guys in my unit. But my leg hurts if I run on concrete anymore so I can only run on grass. It's possible if you train enough.. I bet more could do it with proper training but cold with no training or conditioning? Very few..
 
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#87
#87
buckfama said:
I'm 47.. been a firefighter and in the military most of my adult life. 6'1" and about 205 right now. I used to be really really fast.. still in great shape for my age.. but after my injuries in Iraq not sure if I could break 5.0. 10 years ago? Yes definitely. I would run 4 miles every other day and the days in between I ran 100 yard sprints interval training. Even back then I was one of the fastest guys in my unit. But my leg hurts if I run on concrete anymore so I can only run on grass. It's possible if you train enough.. I bet more could do it with proper training but cold with no training or conditioning? Very few..
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I realize you think that, and many do especially those of us who stay in good or great shape due to vocation or choice. I'm a surfer, still do, surfed Maui at the age of 60, plan to do it at 70 and 80 as well, blood pressure at the doc's office yesterday was 128/75, no drugs at all. I could not run a sub 5 forty Im convinced and I was considered fast at one point. The truth is you cannot train fast, God gave it to you or He did not. A 5.0 forty time is fast, chances are the fastest kid you knew in high school, unless he was an actual D! type, on your track team ran a 5.0 or slower, few crack 5.0.
I am convinced some of you have never A. been on the field and watched a sub 5.0 cat play and run circles around everybody else out there or B. have highly inflated opinions of their former selves, the Al Bundy syndrome, you know scored 4 touchdowns in a single game guy.
 
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#88
#88
Remy said:
I realize you think that, and many do especially those of us who stay in good or great shape due to vocation or choice. I'm a surfer, still do, surfed Maui at the age of 60, plan to do it at 70 and 80 as well, blood pressure at the doc's office yesterday was 128/75, no drugs at all. I could not run a sub 5 forty Im convinced and I was considered fast at one point. The truth is you cannot train fast, God gave it to you or He did not. A 5.0 forty time is fast, chances are the fastest kid you knew in high school, unless he was an actual D! type, on your track team ran a 5.0 or slower, few crack 5.0.
I am convinced some of you have never A. been on the field and watched a sub 5.0 cat play and run circles around everybody else out there or B. have highly inflated opinions of their former selves, the Al Bundy syndrome, you know scored 4 touchdowns in a single game guy.
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We scrimmaged Antioch my junior year and I had the pleasure of getting my ankles broken by LeMarcus Coker. As I stated earlier, I ran a 4.9 at my absolute fastest and Coker made me and everybody else on the field look plain stupid. He outran everybody on the field for a punt return TD with ease. That's the only time I've personally seen speed like that on the field and it's absolutely blazing - the difference between 5.0 and 4.4-4.3 is light years. He was a sub 4.4 40yd dash runner IIRC.
 
#89
#89
buckfama said:
I'm 47.. been a firefighter and in the military most of my adult life. 6'1" and about 205 right now. I used to be really really fast.. still in great shape for my age.. but after my injuries in Iraq not sure if I could break 5.0. 10 years ago? Yes definitely. I would run 4 miles every other day and the days in between I ran 100 yard sprints interval training. Even back then I was one of the fastest guys in my unit. But my leg hurts if I run on concrete anymore so I can only run on grass. It's possible if you train enough.. I bet more could do it with proper training but cold with no training or conditioning? Very few..
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Started to debate you on some of this but after seeing where you were injured in Iraq, I will just say THANKS!!:thumbsup:
 
#91
#91
Remy said:
I realize you think that, and many do especially those of us who stay in good or great shape due to vocation or choice. I'm a surfer, still do, surfed Maui at the age of 60, plan to do it at 70 and 80 as well, blood pressure at the doc's office yesterday was 128/75, no drugs at all. I could not run a sub 5 forty Im convinced and I was considered fast at one point. The truth is you cannot train fast, God gave it to you or He did not. A 5.0 forty time is fast, chances are the fastest kid you knew in high school, unless he was an actual D! type, on your track team ran a 5.0 or slower, few crack 5.0.
I am convinced some of you have never A. been on the field and watched a sub 5.0 cat play and run circles around everybody else out there or B. have highly inflated opinions of their former selves, the Al Bundy syndrome, you know scored 4 touchdowns in a single game guy.
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Sorry, I've stayed out of this as long as I could. I don't know where you went to HS, but I was a sub 5 barely short white boy. We had several guys on our team sub 5. And far enough under 5 that hand timing didn't make a difference. One of our guys was consistently sub 4.4. He was D1 track scholarship level though. A 5.0 40 is not fast. Sorry.
 
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#92
#92
Backwards K said:
Started to debate you on some of this but after seeing where you were injured in Iraq, I will just say THANKS!!:thumbsup:
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Haha ..... debate is fine. Injury or no injury.. I guess my point is that I believe more could do it than they realize with training. Now with that being said I do believe not everyone is athletic enough.. like they say you can't teach speed, but with training you cold shave enough off to get under that 5.0 bar that has been set, IF you are athletic enough. It's either in you or it ain't, but some have never pushed themselves or trained enough to find out what their ceiling is.
 
#94
#94
Read this, I realize that Carl Lewis and Ben Johnson ran 30 years ago, still they were world class runners, and their split times weren't 4.5 speed. The article was written over 10 years ago, but has much of the same issues (inconsistent procedures of timing) I do think they have to come up with a universal method of measuring to get as close as possible.

https://www.cscca.org/document?id=67

So when you hear someone say they ran a 4.7 in HS, nope, no they didn't...if they insist, I guess they were Olympic runners and never knew it...
 
#95
#95
JFBanicki said:
Really, seriously, bet you didn't read the article or even just the part about how coaches and trainers steal time off of their kids 40s to make themselves look better. I'm willing to bet my house, car and soon to be first born that you wouldn't run a 4.8 40 let alone the time you posted where your coach started the watch after you actually started and stopped it just before you actually hit the 40 line. Also cutting out the fastest 40yds out of a 100m dash don't count either, although i'd still be willing to bet you still wouldn't hit 4.55.
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You're full of it. I ran a timed, by college and high school coaches, 4.55 in high school as well. I also passed for nearly 3,500 yards and 33 TD's my senior year. I also got ZERO D1 offers. I ended up walking on at UNC and ran a 4.6 in tryouts. 6'0 210 pounds, was relatively fast and could throw a football 75 yards in high school and couldn't get an offer....because I'm too short. Wtf? Anyway, my time at UNC proved how hard it is to have vision over a line consisting of guys 6'3-6'6. Anyway, I digress...a really good high school athlete can turn in a good time. Doesn't mean they are going to the NFL....
 
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#96
#96
GoalDancer said:
Read this, I realize that Carl Lewis and Ben Johnson ran 30 years ago, still they were world class runners, and their split times weren't 4.5 speed. The article was written over 10 years ago, but has much of the same issues (inconsistent procedures of timing) I do think they have to come up with a universal method of measuring to get as close as possible.

https://www.cscca.org/document?id=67

So when you hear someone say they ran a 4.7 in HS, nope, no they didn't...if they insist, I guess they were Olympic runners and never knew it...
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There's a little misinterpretation and a pretty glaring oversight in that article. First off the splits cited were in meters so those raw 4.67 times aren't applicable in the first place. The article then goes on to address that and converts to a 4.31 for 40 yards. Somewhat bewilderingly though the article stops there and fails to address the issue of timing methodology that had just been discussed previously. In this case we'd be applying the combine's method (#2) which would drop that time to 4.21.
 
#97
#97
LittleVol said:
You're original statement is spot on!.

Maybe 1 percent can do sub 5.
Fans...
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Note the Hairy (Hairy chosen rather than the former Harry from back in the day) High School types, not only were they sub 5 forty guys but their team had them all over the place. This was THEIR high school experience. How many sub 5 football players, since it seems we have stats these types are on every HS team many on VN was associated with, do you think are playing FCS, Div II & III football these days??? Heck everybody in the skill positions at those levels must be sub 5 to hear folks tell it here?? LOL For those of you professing all these sub 5 times you and your Al Bundy teammates ran back in the day, do you honestly think the 5.0 benchmark was chosen out of thin air? Why not 4.9 or say 5.1?
 
#99
#99
Remy said:
Note the Hairy (Hairy chosen rather than the former Harry from back in the day) High School types, not only were they sub 5 forty guys but their team had them all over the place. This was THEIR high school experience. How many sub 5 football players, since it seems we have stats these types are on every HS team many on VN was associated with, do you think are playing FCS, Div II & III football these days??? Heck everybody in the skill positions at those levels must be sub 5 to hear folks tell it here?? LOL For those of you professing all these sub 5 times you and your Al Bundy teammates ran back in the day, do you honestly think the 5.0 benchmark was chosen out of thin air? Why not 4.9 or say 5.1?
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Can't speak for others, and I agree with all who say the times years ago were subject to all kinds of issues, but we had some true freaks on the team when I was in HS. The fastest kid had serious speed, 4.3 according to coaches, and was athletically on track to choose between football and track anywhere he wanted to go. While I doubt he could have ever qualified academically, he didn't get the chance anyway as he decided he could do better selling dope after his junior season. I don't claim the 4.3 was accurate, but he was absolutely incredible.

Next fastest was a really good dude. Coaches timed him in the 4.4 range as a sophomore, but his knees got worse every year. Don't recall what he timed by senior year. It as still fast, but nothing like where he started, and his ability to change direction was seriously diminished.

Next was a dude who I believe could have gone all the way. I don't recall his exact weight, but it seems it was in the 240 range. His deadlift, squat and bench combo was 1400lbs and he ran a 4.6. He was also dumb as a box of rocks. If I recall correctly, he went to TN Tech on scholarship, but was out after his first semester. There were a handful of others who were genuinely fast, but few of those who made a college team finished for a variety of reasons. I recall one lineman who was big, fast and mean on the field receiving offers from UT, AL, Notre Dame, Miami and many of the other bigs deciding to go to Martin in order to stay close to home. Honestly don't know what became of him.

I say all this to say, there were quite possibly more truly fast athletes at a lot of schools than some are giving credit. But, at least in my experience, other things prevented their ever exercising that potential. Oh, I graduated in '86.
 
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