See how CAB Training uses T-APEX to assess athletes, individualize resisted sprint loads, adjust resistance across acceleration phases, and connect lateral movement with re-acceleration—building a more precise speed program that also incorporates controlled overspeed training for modern field-sport athletes.
For years, resisted sprint training at CAB Training LLC meant bringing sleds and weights to the field or using bands and harnesses. These methods added resistance, but made it difficult to determine the right load for each athlete.
Overspeed presented another challenge: pulling athletes with a bungee cord was difficult to control, measure and repeat.
CAB Training adopted T-APEX to make resisted and assisted sprint training more precise. It gradually became part of the program’s assessments, acceleration sessions and wider speed-training system.
Build From Assessment to Movement
1. Establish a Baseline
When a new athlete enters the program, CAB Training uses a 3 kg free run and load-velocity profile as part of the assessment process. This helps the coach better understand how the athlete responds to resistance before programming loaded sprint work.
This provides a starting point for selecting loads around how each athlete responds, rather than applying the same resistance to everyone.
2. Adjust Resistance Across the Sprint
With T-APEX, individualization is not limited to one fixed load. The coach can emphasize the start and first 10 meters or yards, or make resistance heavier or lighter later in the run.
“You can use a variable load where it gets heavier or lighter later in the sprint, so you can emphasize certain phases of the sprint.”
3. Apply the Load to Acceleration
CAB Training brings this control into short acceleration work. Instead of separating resistance from sprint mechanics, the load is applied directly to the athlete’s first steps and acceleration pattern.
Once resistance is programmed around the athlete and sprint phase, it can extend beyond a straight-line start—into lateral movement, change of direction and re-acceleration.
Connect Lateral Movement With Re-acceleration
One staple drill begins with a five-yard lateral shuffle toward the device while the athlete is assisted at approximately 8 MPH. The athlete then changes direction and accelerates into a 10-yard resisted sprint.
The drill connects each movement in one repetition. The key training moment is not only the shuffle or sprint, but the transition between them.
Other applications include lateral sprints, crossover runs and deceleration work. For assisted deceleration, CAB Training sets recovery speed at approximately 10–15 MPH and gives the athlete a stopping point, challenging them to control the added speed.
Expand the Speed-Training System
CAB Training uses overspeed approximately once every two weeks, primarily with American football athletes, to help them maintain mechanics at higher speeds. Assisted dribbles and high knees also support upright sprint mechanics.
Within several months, T-APEX became part of CAB Training’s regular system—from assessment and individualized loading to multidirectional movement, deceleration and overspeed.
CAB Training reports that its athletes became an average of 1.54 MPH faster during the latest off-season training cycle. The coach attributes this improvement in large part to the integration of smart resistance into the program.
The change was not simply replacing sleds. It was creating a connected way to assess athletes, adjust the stimulus and apply resistance across the movements field-sport speed demands.