Unsurprisingly, a speed parkour athlete who meanders through a course with slow, sticky touches will log a lackluster time. What if being more mindful about contact times could make you a full 1-second faster? It doesn’t seem like much but even shaving off a measly 0.02 seconds from each touch makes a big difference over a full speed run. With many competitive speed parkour courses requiring 50+ touches to finish, a 0.02 second improvement on each touch can make you a full 1-second faster. In elite speed parkour competitions, plus/minus 1 second can easily bump you up or down many spots in the rankings.

50 touches * 0.02 second/touch = 1 second

Being too slow & sticky is a big deal in other sports too. In basketball, football, tennis, World Chase Tag, & more, players must create quick bursts of energy to reach a ball, goal, or opponent as soon as possible. In combat sports, fighters must land a strike or takedown before their opponent can defend or strike first. If you rely on greater ranges of motion and longer contact times to produce the force needed to achieve a competitive goal, you’re at a disadvantage to the athlete who can load, explode, & reach faster.

While there are some maximum power training strategies where shorter contact times result in less performance (e.g. less jump height/distance), most athletes will benefit from creating more power in less time. In most cases, the same amount of power & performance, but in less time, is still an upgrade.