The 200m is my favorite event. Probably because it was my best event. I just think it’s the perfect combination of speed and endurance. (And by endurance I mean, of course, speed endurance!) I’m just not Type IIb enough to enjoy the 100 (by the time it starts, it’s over!) and, well, the 400 just hurts too much to want to run it every meet. Though, admittedly, there is nothing more satisfying than running a fast 400. Because you have to be just a little bit crazy to enjoy running the 400. Not Decathlete crazy, but crazy nonetheless.

The 200? Just right. It’s long enough for those of us with naturally or comparatively low strength and power levels (those of us with bad starts) to mow those short sprint types down off the turn. And it’s short enough that you don’t have to play Jedi Mind Tricks with yourself just to finish. And not vomit after.

What’s my point? I’m not sure. So let’s just go right to this video where I discuss both how to run the 200m and show you one of my favorite late season 200m workouts. Post your comments below.

Here, also, is an article on how to train 200m runners.

To your success,

Latif Thomas

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Let’s get right to it. Today’s article answers several important training questions covering a variety of topics. But the way the questions were asked shows this athlete is relatively inexperienced, or, at the very least, not getting answers at practice. And that makes me sad. (Which is why I provide this information every week.)

Here is this week’s training question:

“I have a few questions pertaining to performance training for short sprinters specifically for the 100m and 200m races. What lifts if any should be done to strengthen the hamstring group of muscles, also what can be done to develop the central nervous system to allow for faster reaction time, what can I do to increase my stride length and frequency, and finally coming out of blocks I have been struggling to find the precise median between stepping out to far and slow and taking a small first step and every time I attempt to correct my mistake I go from one extreme to the other.” – S. Nuff

Latif says:

Who's the Master?! Sho' Nuff!!

First, half the reason I’m answering this question is because of the name you used. I hope you are somehow related to the original Shogun of Harlem. If you are, give Bruce Leroy my best. (If you know the characters and movie I’m talking about, you are officially cool in my book.)

Let’s break down your questions:

1. What lifts if any should be done to strengthen the hamstring group of muscles?
2. 

   Posterior Chain aka The Running Muscles

   In sprinting, the hamstrings, in large part, aid in contributing to hip extension. So it’s not just ‘hamstring’ strength you want to develop, but overall posterior chain development. In simple terms, this primarily means developing the glutes (butt) and hamstrings emphasizing glute activation and, again, hip extension.

If you’re having hamstring problems, the issue probably stems from some combination of the following: insufficient warm up and/or warm down, poor running mechanics (most likely foot strike taking place in front of the center of mass), too much speed work without sufficient recovery work, weak glutes, poor glute activation, subpar strength training program, excessive slow running, i.e., too much tempo and middle intensity work.

For hamstring rehab/strengthening outside the scope of specific speed development, read this article. And this one.

The strength training exercises that best develop this area are:

Core Lifts

Olympic Lifts (hang cleans, high pull, kettlebell clean/snatch, etc.)
Squats (and their variations)
Lunges (and their variations)
Deadlifts
 
Supplemental Lifts

SLDL
Good Mornings
Hyperextensions

2. What can be done to develop the central nervous system to allow for faster reaction time?

 Faster reaction time would be one of many byproducts of a finely tuned Central Nervous System (CNS). By itself, it’s not a significant portion of running faster times.

Developing the CNS requires engaging in high intensity, explosive exercises. Most important, maximal development and efficiency requires performing these activities while fully recovered.

If you try to, for example, run a 50m sprint while fatigued, you will not achieve optimal firing patterns and will not see maximal improvements to the skill of running fast. (That’s the extreme ‘in a nutshell’ explanation.)

So which exercises lead to ideal CNS development?

-      All the Core Lifts I mentioned above, as long as the rep range stays at 6 or less per set and you focus on moving the weight as quickly as possible.
-      Plyometrics (Hopping, bounding, medicine ball throws)
-      Speed Development (2 – 15 seconds duration, 90-100% intensity)

3. What can I do to increase my stride length and frequency?

Improvements to stride length and frequency are byproducts of increased force application. This means that you’ll take naturally longer and faster strides when you develop your ability to apply greater amounts of force to the ground in shorter periods of time.

There is absolutely no value in specifically trying to improve stride length or specifically trying to increase stride frequency. This causes more problems than it solves.

For more details on why this is and exactly how to address stride length and frequency, read this article.

But quickly, you develop the ability to improve force application by using the information I’ve already discussed in this article since it is all related and connected.

4. Coming out of blocks I have been struggling to find the precise median between stepping out to far and slow and taking a small first step and every time I attempt to correct my mistake I go from one extreme to the other.

Speed of efficient acceleration is the primary indicator of success or failure when breaking down sprint races at 200m or less. Coming out of blocks, I instruct athletes to take the biggest first step possible in order to increase the likelihood of achieving triple extension with the drive leg, clearing the blocks and maximizing force application.

The simple answer is this: Film it. If you see what you’re doing on film, you’ll quickly see your mistakes.

Video analysis is an important part of any effective coach’s speed development program and I simply could not get the kind of results I get if I did not film, watch and rewatch my athletes frame by frame.

Finding the right place for initial ground contact is fairly straightforward. Take the biggest first step possible, making sure that foot strike takes place directly underneath (or slightly behind) the hips. Of course, you also have to make sure you drive the lead arm, come out at a 45 degree angle, keep the head in line with the spine and reach triple extension before toe off. If you don’t do these things, you’ll compromise your speed of efficient acceleration and have a bad race.

The coach should be watching your starts and engaging in technical feedback to help fix this issue. If this isn’t a reality for you, film it and watch it yourself. That is what I would do.

To your success,

Latif Thomas

Resources I recommend (before you start your season):

Complete Speed Training Volume 2

Complete Program Design for Sprinters

Post your questions and comments below.

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If you plan to run sports/speed camps and clinics this summer, you’re actively working to get your programs filled before the competition does.

One of the main problems I see with coaches who run these programs is in terms of their marketing.

There’s a good chance your marketing sales copy (whether brochures, flyers or web site) is ineffective and won’t convert to registrations.

It’s also one of the topics we cover extensively in the Sports Camp Empire program – a resource that will help you run exponentially more profitable camps, clinics and specialized coaching programs.

Watch this video where I show you exactly how to write a brochure that will drastically improve your conversion rate:

 
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On Friday, April 9, we’re taking the Sports Camp Empire Program off the market.

As an incentive to get you to invest in your business education, we’re dropping the price of the program by 25%.

If you want to run profitable sports camps or speed clinics, get yourself a copy while you still can.

Sports Camp Empire

To your success,

Latif Thomas

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In my experience, the most effective coaches are always looking for any trick or technique to evolve their programs and get more out of each workout, drill, practice, etc.

I’m also a big believer in involving my athletes in their training. If kids feel like they’re an active part of the training process (as opposed to simply being told what to do day in and day out) they’ll work harder.

With these two ideas in mind, I’ve stumbled across an extremely easy way to make every element of your program better starting at your next practice or training session…

You’ve probably used this before, but maybe not as a deliberate component of your overall program assessment.

What is it? The ‘On a scale from 1 – 10…’ question.

After every workout, practice or training session, I ask my athletes this simple question:

“On a scale from 1 to 10….

How did you like that new warm up?

How hard is the new lifting program?

How well did I explain and demonstrate the new speed drill we learned today?

How much do you like Workout A compared to Workout B you did last week?

You get the idea.

It sounds excessively simple, but if you don’t ask you’ll never know.

My kids know they’re allowed to ask questions and speak their minds without getting the stink eye.

So if I ask them a question, they know they can answer honestly without getting judged or punished. So they’re not going to tell me what they think I want to hear, they’re going to tell me the truth.

Kids (actually, people in general) really appreciate such an atmosphere because they’re probably not getting this type of treatment with their other coaches in their other sports. And that makes your program stand out in their minds.

Let’s say we’re doing a fairly high volume tempo workout that I want to be in the medium intensity range. So my goal for the workout, as I’m designing it, is for it to be a ‘5’ out of ‘10’.

When it comes to volume, intensity and density it’s all a guessing game. How many 200s should you run in practice?

Truthfully, I don’t have an exact answer to that question. No coach on planet earth has a concrete answer to that question, at least none that I’ve met. And I’ve met quite a few. (If you do have THE answer, please let us all know! I’ll post your response and give you ALL the credit!)

Point is:  

We’re always guessing. But we get closer to truth when we analyze our results over the course of each practice, season, etc.

In this example, if the workout is too hard, then it’s not the workout I intended. It may mean athletes have worked too hard and it could compromise the remaining elements of that day’s training session or the next day’s workout.

If I don’t ask for feedback from my athletes, I have no idea if the workout was effective. Was it too hard? Too easy? Just right? I can’t modify and evolve the program if I’m picking numbers out of a hat.

Of course, if you ask a 15 year old for detailed feedback about how effective they felt a workout was, their brains are going to shut down and they’ll stare at you blankly like a deer caught in headlights.

I’ve been around long enough not to get that technical!

But if you say:

“OK guys, I need some feedback on today’s workout. How hard was it on a scale from 1 to 10? ‘1’ being so easy you can’t even call it a workout, ‘5’ being “Eh, not hard, not easy” and ‘10’ being the equivalent of getting shot in the stomach.”

I’ve given them parameters with which to base their number. If I don’t define what ‘1’, ‘5’ and ‘10’ are, everyone will invent their own scale and the answers are essentially useless.

Then I go around to all the athletes in the group and ask them how hard they thought it was. If you know your athletes, you’ll know who the tough kids are and who the babies are, so you can scale their answers appropriately.

If you hear mostly 4s, 5s and 6s, you know it was a well designed workout and you can put that in your notes so the next time that type of workout needs to be run, you’ve got data to use to make it better.

But if you get all 2s, 3s and 4s, you know you did a poor job of designing the workout. The volume was too low. Or the intensity was too low. Or the rest was too long. Or all of those things. But now you have some practical data to use to modify some or all of those parameters for next time.

If you get all 6s, 7s and 8s, you know the workout was too hard. The volume was too high. Or the intensity was too high. Or the rest was too short. Or all of those things. But now you have some practical data to use to modify some or all of those parameters for next time.

Try it out with your athletes. If you’re confident enough in your training and you know you’ll actually use the information when you write down your notes from the days training session (you do that each day, don’t you?) then you’ll find this to be a fast, easy and effective way to improve your coaching and your program. Plus, it gets your athletes involved in their training and that makes the sport more fun for them. And that’s the whole point!

Use the ‘On a scale from 1 – 10…’ question with your athletes. It works and you’ll be surprised at how many holes you have in your planning and teaching that you never would have addressed if you didn’t let your athletes tell you.

To your success,

Latif Thomas

Coaching resources I highly recommend:

Complete Speed Training

Complete Program Design for Sprinters

Don’t forget to post your comments and feedback below. It helps me know exactly what kind of information you want me to provide in my upcoming articles and videos!

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