You identified the problem, now what’s the solution?
By Athletes' Acceleration | August 6th, 2008
In my last post I asked you to identify the biggest
issue with an athlete’s running mechanics.
There were a lot of responses.
But were they accurate?
And if so, how do we fix them?
To your success,
Latif Thomas
P.S. Want some more specific help understanding how
to improve speed and performance in your athletes?
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This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 6th, 2008 at 7:32 am and is filed under Speed Training . You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
August 6th, 2008 at 1:08 pm
The first thing I would do is work on his flexibilty using a wide range of flexibilty exercises. Goodmornings and romanian deadlifts, ham and glute machine, AIS stretching and so on. 2nd thing I would break down individual mechanics from a standing position, walking, and jogging. Everything from arm action to knee lift to stepping over and driving down. 3rd I would use the agility ladder to work on stepping over and driving down. 4th I think I would work on accelerations and not let him run much farther than this for a couple of weeks and spend more time on endurance work.
August 6th, 2008 at 5:14 pm
stsrt with some good exercise for core developement.
drills to work on arm action
drills for step over drive down
weight room for hams and glutes example power cleans and parallel squats.
agood effective stretching routine for flexibility.
.
August 6th, 2008 at 7:36 pm
Latif,
Start with the arms by doing “mirror drills”. Have the athlete look in the mirror and pump his arms at 90 degree angles. the hand should be even with the outside of the eye in front and bicept parrallel with the ground in back.
There should be no daylight between the side of the arm and side of the body when going forward and back.
this will straighten out the upper body and the legs will follow. when the athlete sprints he should also have a slight shoulder lean infront of the hips. this will take care alot of the mechanics.
August 6th, 2008 at 9:38 pm
Anything you can do while standing or hopping in place does not make you run. Everything out there hurts rather than helps your performance. A champion wins in spite of what they are taught. Knee up and drive down hurts performance. Arms across actually helps because resistance helps to bring the leg forward. Knee up loses time in feet exchange. You are always working at shortening the stride by not overstriding. The stride gets longer by the speed not by reaching out.
August 7th, 2008 at 3:06 am
First, sit down and show this young man the 30m fly video. Discuss what he is doing well (e’g. I like his initial leg action during acceleration) and what can be done to improve (e.g. stepping over the opposite knee; arm action).
Second, a combination of weight and speed track work to increase strength and power/force application. I’m a believer in the value of technique drills so- A skips; C skips; bounding etc all with an emphasis on step over drive down; plyometrics to improve power application; speed work needs to be shorter distances with full recovery; specific weight exercises to improve glut strength eg. high intensity low volume deadlifts.
Thirdly, continue to provide video feedback and ask the young man how he feels things are going: what he is doing better what he would like to work on more.
The arm action is a secondary matter and I would simply mention the crossing over problem but wait to see how the improved leg mechanics affect things. If resistant, sometimes running with a neck sling shapes the correct action/ mirror work etc .
August 7th, 2008 at 4:01 am
Would review the video with athletes and point out the good and not so good.
Work on his basic dynamic warm up and mobility speed work drills and Correct the the application of force of the legs using training methods of variable resistance training, Also working the core strength with dynamic oscilating speed movements using chains. Arm movement patterns can be groove and strengthen by running arm actions with chains in hand. Better and faster than weights.
Lastly, would continuely review with athlete on progress and areas of concern.
August 7th, 2008 at 7:03 am
I would be adding core work and a lot of hyper extensions into his strength andcondition and develop more of a pillar of strength.
After reviewing the video with athlete and breaking down the problem I would deal with the arm problem as follows:
1. standing wall drills of hand to hip in running stance
2. sitting wall drill set of 2 sets of 200 where he justs moves the arms. it also strengthens the cores
3. Have him do accelleration drills holding a baton in each hand and repeat every time he sees it cross the body
4. Have him run a 200m holding baton between hand and elbow joint without dropping it.
August 8th, 2008 at 2:04 am
how old is this guy? he needs neuromuscular conditioning including core stability with lunges single leg work step ups plyometrics i am not sure watching the video at this stage would be of any value to him it is important to emphasise only the activity he should be doing and not to fill his head half full with what he should not be doing it is of great value to watch athletes that do it properly
August 8th, 2008 at 5:05 am
I would suggest going back to basics , Co-ordination drills (walk through if necessary) feedback from athelete find out how they feel when running , Find out what kind of program they are using Check hip alignment via a postural assesment , looking for muscle imbalances.(knee ankle and hip alignment. Basic strength conditioning working on correct technique & control. Conduct a series of flexiblity tests Hps , Hip flexors Calves Quads etc. Plus unilateral exercises,lunges ,steps etc, core work wood chop , single arm cheating row
August 8th, 2008 at 2:31 pm
We all know, after Latif told us, that the number one problem was stepping over & driving down. Secondly he is slapping at the gorund. Thirdly his arm swing is across his body. Lastly, poor acceleration drive phase.
1.I think the first step is to teach him the correct way to run fast. As you suggest he is scholarship athlete in football, so I don’t think strength is his major issue, nor is his coordination. I may be wrong. (ie :there may however be muscle imbalance.) But what I would do first is show him the video, ask him if he sees any fawls, then point out the fawls to him. Secondly I would incorporate a stretching program to increase fleixiblity. His hips seem very tight as well, which maybe due to some muscular imbalance. Incorporate exercise to strengthen hips, hamstring and core. ie. dead lifts, good morning, hyper extensions, various planks, deep sumo squats. Work on arm swing mechanics lookingin the mirror will coach holds you so you lean forward to practise correct arm swing mechanics. Incorporate proper dyanmic work out designed to IMPROVE STEP OVER DRIVE DOWN MECHANIC, quck step and high knees emphasizing sepping over knee and driving feet down and under the center of the body
August 9th, 2008 at 10:49 am
Everything from enhanncing flexibility to strenthing glutes, hams, hip flexers by stiff leg dl, and weighted incline situps will help. I have a athlete with the same problem and this has helped greatly except he is 6 months post op from acl reconstructive surgury and his knee is still bothering him. any ideas?
August 10th, 2008 at 12:40 pm
the athlete needs ta watch himself on video
then needs ta watch the acceleration video from complete speed training
and compare his form
his acceleration isnt as bad
but his top speed mechanics
he doesnt relax
definitely arm drills and speed drills will help his form
August 11th, 2008 at 11:26 am
I would go to the core and develop his abdominals and lower back as I think there is an imbalance between the two. This would take us naturally to the hips and glutes and I think that are needs to be both strengthened and flexibility needs to increase. Working on these areas will put him in a position to benefit more from some of the drills that address running mechanics such as stepping over the knees and arm movements which he should still be doing whilst he is strengthening his core and hips.
August 18th, 2008 at 11:25 pm
All of the other suggestions are good but they miss the weak link. He lacks specific and general strength and endurance in his hip flexors. This causes the rest of the system to breakdown as he tries to compensate for the ever decreasing function of these vital muscles.