When most people go to the gym, they have goals in mind like improving their strength, burning fat, or building muscle. But what about speed? If you are an athlete or even if you are just an ordinary person, improving your speed should be a goal no matter what gym routine you do or what sport you play.

What do you need to do to be faster? What kind of speed training should you do? Let us give you the best exercises to use if this is your goal.

1. Timed leg press. The tempo leg press is a great exercise for building speed and power in the lower body. What you’ll do here is perform a regular standard leg press instead of using 3 seconds to lift, a 1 second pause, and 3 seconds to slow down. You will press the weight as fast as you can, and you will find that this is what will give you great power and speed.

Then slowly lower the weight, so you’re still getting strength gains on the eccentric.

2. Interval runs. Interval sprints are next on the list of things to consider adding to your exercise routine. You’ll want to have tremendous cardiovascular conditioning to be as fast as possible, and this will get you to that point.

Interval sprints are all about speed, so it’s a workout for your goal. Always opt for interval sprints over steady state cardio training.

3. Medicine Ball Throw. Another interesting exercise to include in your exercise routine is the medicine ball throw. Throw a heavy medicine ball at a wall as hard as you can. Doing this is helpful for building upper body speed because you’ll need to accelerate quite quickly with the ball to move it across the room.

Just be careful not to use a medicine ball so heavy that it’s impossible to throw. It has to be heavy, but reasonable.

4. Burpees. Finally, add some burpees to your training routine. This plyometric exercise will be great for helping to stimulate the fast-twitch muscle fibers in your body, which will then be used to help you push whatever weight you’re lifting or movement pattern you may be using.

If you focus on incorporating at least one, if not all of these four exercises into your exercise routine, you’ll be well on your way to seeing noticeable changes in your speed capabilities.