Maxwell Woods and his younger brother Myles drove 45 minutes each way to Acceleration North in Arden Hills this summer. The trip was to sprint on Acceleration’s proven and very popular INCLINE SPEED TREADMILL. This program was established in Minnesota in 1990 and it continues to churn out athletes. Maxwell already had speed, but you can always get faster. Maxwell Woods is considered one of  the best High School football players in Minnesota. He averages 11 yards per carry and plays on both sides of the ball. Maxwell led Chanhassen to an undefeated season and they just beat St Thomas Academy in the state final.; Maxwell had over 200 yards rushing in that game. Maxwell is verbally committed to play football for NDSU next year.

The History Of TheAcceleration Program

Acceleration is the only science based speed and agility program that has been proven to work.  It was developed by exercise physiologist, John Frappier in North Dakota in the late 80’s.  John Frappier studied how the Russians trained the Olympic track team and brought these concepts to the states. Russian trainers were trying to tap into “over speed” concepts by pulling sprinters down hills  behind vehicles.  This doesn’t work well as gravity and overstriding  has to occur thus injuring the runners knees.  John took those ideas and developed running treadmills that reach speeds of 28 mph and elevations of 40% grade.  Athletes train in front of mirrors to see their skating and running form so they can correct flaws.  John  started training NFL and professional athletes on these machines and testing power output, anaerobic endurance, speed improvements, recovery rates,   and lactic acid thresholds.  He came up with workouts that actually push athletes to the point of anaerobic failure and beyond.  Basically he learned that if you make an athlete sprint at inclines at fast speeds to the point where trainers have to hold them in place for several seconds, athletes do get faster and more explosive.   Our program focuses on correcting sprinting and skating flaws in athletes as well as developing speed, power, agility and strength.   Athletes can start using Acceleration as early as 7yrs of age.   Our speed programs use state of the art equipment that our competitors do not have.   Our incline running treadmills reach speeds of 28 mph and elevations of 40% grade.  Our skating treadmills reach speeds of 18 mph and 35% elevation.  Incline forces athletes to push through the ground 200% more than flat ground training.  Inclines also improve stride length and increase glute/hammy activation.   The agility and plymetric worktouts include ladder drills, floor plyometrics, ground based agility, change of direction, and age appropriate strength and conditioning.   Our staff will teach your athlete the “HOW and WHY” versus just saying “DO”.  Pre and post testing in vertical jump, broad jump, pro agility,  anaerobic endurance, and top end speed will be conducted on our HOPS, ELITE8, and 18 session programs.   If you complete 18-24 workouts you will see gains of 2-4 inches in vertical jump, 4-8 inches in broad jump, and .02-.04 tenths improvement in the pro agility.   Athletes that complete these workouts also see a 50% improvement in recovery time when playing their sport.