The two-point vs three-point sprint start question has a short answer: train from the stance your sport starts from. For a soccer, lacrosse, field hockey or basketball player, and for most football positions, that is a two-point start, standing with one foot forward, because nothing in those games begins with a hand on the ground. The exceptions are a lineman who plays with a hand down and an athlete with a timed 40 on the calendar. Either way you still reach the same top speed. The stance only changes the first few steps, which is exactly why it is worth getting right.
Updated September 2026. This came up in a sprinting forum this month, from an athlete who does not race and wanted to know whether they should still be practicing starts with a hand on the ground. The top reply said what we would say on our turf in Ocean Township: if you are not racing, start from two points, because it mirrors the sport you actually play. We want to take it one step further, because there is a better question underneath it. How much of a sprinter's program should a field athlete copy at all?
What Each Stance Asks the Body to Do
A three-point start puts one hand on the ground just behind the line, hips up, with most of the weight tipped forward over that hand and the front foot. The athlete is already leaning before anything moves. When they go, the push comes off a loaded front leg at a low angle, and the first step drives out instead of up. That built-in lean is the whole appeal. The body starts where acceleration wants it to be.
A two-point start is standing. One foot forward, knees bent, hips back, arms ready. There is no hand to push from, so the athlete has to create that forward lean on their own in the first step, by falling into it and driving the ground back hard. That is harder to do quickly. It is also the exact skill a receiver, a midfielder or a guard on a fast break needs, because the game hands them a standing start on every play.
Why Field Athletes Should Not Copy a Sprinter's Start
Nothing in soccer, lacrosse, field hockey or basketball begins with a hand on the turf, and neither does most of football. A corner's first move is often a backpedal. Midfielders start from a jog, or from standing still and reading the ball. Linebackers read first and go from two points. The first step of a real play almost always comes from standing, from a shuffle, or from a run that is already underway.
This is where copying a sprinter's program off YouTube goes sideways. A 100-meter sprinter's session is built around blocks because the race is built around blocks, and every block start they practice rehearses the first two steps of their event. For a field athlete, the same reps rehearse the first two steps of an event they will never run. They are still sprinting, so the speed work still counts. But the one part of the rep that is specific, the start, is specific to somebody else's sport.
We would rather spend those reps on the starts a game actually produces:
- Two points, feet staggered. The default for almost every field athlete.
- Shuffle into a sprint. Lateral steps, then a hard plant and turn to go.
- Backpedal, plant, go. The defensive back's first move, and the hardest one to do fast.
- Jog to full effort on a cue. Where most soccer and lacrosse sprints actually begin.
Each one teaches the athlete to find that forward lean from a position the sport really puts them in, which is the reason to train a start at all.
The Two Exceptions: Linemen and Test Day
There are two athletes we put in a three-point stance on purpose. The first is a lineman who plays with a hand down. For them the three-point start is the sport stance, and the first step out of it happens on every single snap. That is as specific as speed training gets, so it belongs in their plan.
The second is anyone with a timed 40 coming up. The 40 at football camps and combines has traditionally been run from a three-point start, and it rewards one that has been practiced. That is a test skill, separate from a game skill, so treat it like one. Ask the event ahead of time which start it uses, rehearse that start in the few weeks before the date, and keep the rest of the speed work on the sport stance. An athlete who tries a three-point start for the first time on test day often loses time to it instead of gaining any, because the stance only pays once it stops feeling strange. When you have the number, our 40-yard dash benchmarks for high school athletes show where it sits.
How We Set It Up on the Turf
Starts do not need a track. They need only about 10 yards, so they fit indoors as easily as on a field, and a mirror earns its keep here. An athlete can check their own shin angle and hip height before the first rep instead of guessing at it.
A start session for a field athlete is short. Runs of 10 yards, because the start is decided in the first few steps and 10 yards shows it clearly. Six to ten reps with full recovery between them, from two or three of the starts their sport produces. Nothing timed while tired. Three-point work comes in when there is a lineman in the group or a test date on the calendar.
Then there is the part nobody thinks about until it bites them. Our retest rule is same surface, same start, same clock, every three to four weeks, and the stance is part of same start. If an athlete runs a 10-yard split from three points in September and from two points in October, the number did not go up or down. They took a different test. If you time your own sprints, write the stance down next to the number, the same way you would note the surface. It is a small habit, and it is why a trend line means anything.
It is also one reason a 10-yard fly earns a place in testing. Our first assessment runs one alongside a 5-10-5 shuttle on the same day, and a fly has no stance at all. The athlete is already moving when the clock starts, so it reads the engine with the start taken out of the picture. You reach the same top speed whichever stance you left from. What the stance changes is how fast you get there, and the split between acceleration and top speed is laid out in speed versus agility training.
Common Questions
Do I need starting blocks to train speed?
No. Blocks exist for track races, and a field athlete never starts a play from them. You get the full speed stimulus from sprinting out of a two-point start, a shuffle or a jog, and you reach top speed either way. Save the blocks for athletes who actually race on a track.
Which start should I use for a 40-yard dash?
The one the testing event uses, practiced ahead of time. Football camps and combines have traditionally run the 40 from a three-point start, so if one is on your calendar, ask which start they use and rehearse it in the weeks before. Then log the stance with the time, because a three-point 40 and a two-point 40 are two different tests.
Is a three-point start faster?
For a practiced athlete over a short distance, usually a little, because the body starts lower and already leaning forward. For someone who has never drilled it, often not, because the unfamiliar stance costs time on the first step. Either way the difference lives in the first few steps, and top speed comes out the same.
If you want your athlete's start looked at on the turf, or a test date is coming and you want the 40 rehearsed properly, get in touch and we will set up a session. You can see where speed work sits in the rest of the program on our services page, and athletes from across Monmouth County can start on the Ocean Township training page.