Explosive speed is beneficial for sports athletes as it helps you outmaneuver your opponent and go for the win. It also helps you build stronger muscles and lose more fat, making it a great component of any workout routine. Speaking of workout routines, here are five exercises you can add to yours to begin to increase your explosive speed today:

#1: Box Jumps

Jump training not only makes you faster, but it also increases your strength which benefits your explosiveness. The goal is to use platforms or boxes of varying heights and jump using a variety of speeds so that you can work your body in a number of ways.

#2: Pretend Box Jumps

You don’t even have to use a real box to gain the benefits of jump training. Instead, just visualize that a box exists in front of you and pretend to jump over it, landing safely on the other side. You can even use this move to jump left and right, giving you greater speed laterally.

#3: Plyometric Pushup

To increase the speed of your upper body movements, get in a pushup position and push your body up quickly and forcefully, causing your palms to leave the floor for a moment. Just make sure you keep your abdominal muscles tight so your back stays in proper form.

#4: Explosive Squats

Performing this speed-enhancing exercise requires that you get into a squat position and then use the power of your thigh muscles to explode your body upward. You can also do explosive lunges to work the back of your legs, improving their speed and strength as well.

#5: Do Sprints

Set up cones and sprint to them to increase your short-term speed. Also, be sure to stagger them from side to side so that you improve your lateral speed as well.

Do these five exercises and you will see increases in your explosive speed. What exercises do you like to do to enhance your speed?