Author: Steve Bennett
oztrack.com* Core stability is an area of strong focus from the start of any athlete's career. The better their stability and posture, the fewer problems they may have, the more effective they will be, and the harder they can train.
* Stronger Abs & Back by Brittenham & Brittenham has a great range of exercises and explains trunk training brilliantly. The program recommends a large variety of trunk exercises performed perfectly. Athletes should include a good mix of core stability exercises in their training programs. Using a Swiss ball can be helpful. They should start with basic abdominal and back conditioning exercises. As their strength improves, they can progress to more advanced strength exercises. For some athletes, adding abdominal and back power exercises may also be beneficial. The days of considering three sets of 50 situps as good ab work are gone.
This is a key area in helping an athlete prevent trunk-related injuries, such as Hamstring tears. A stable trunk should also provide better balance and relaxation at high speeds.
A complete trunk program includes different exercises, Pilates, and Swiss Ball workouts. You can find more information at Core Stability Training
Some other stability exercises
- On Right side on elbow use trunk to lift body straight - Hold it for 30seconds
- On Left side on elbow use trunk to lift body straight - Hold it for 30seconds
- On back on elbows use trunk to lift body straight- Hold it for 30seconds
- On Front on elbows use trunk to lift body straight- Hold it for 30seconds
- Legs up on a chair and straight as possible laying on back use hamstrings to lift body straight- move steadily up and down 5 times
- On the right leg squat as low as possible while maintaining a straight trunk hold for 15 seconds.
- On the left leg squat as low as possible while maintaining a straight trunk hold for 15 seconds
- Stand on your right leg and balance, but make it difficult by swinging your arms around in patterns. Use stabilizing muscles to maintain your position. Do this for 1 minute.
- Stand on your right leg and balance, but make it difficult by swinging your arms around in patterns. Use stabilizing muscles to maintain your position. Do this for 1 minute.
Sprinters should have regular assessments from a Physiotherapist and follow a structured stretching program to develop flexibility. This information should influence the design of their Gym program. Stretching should include a variety of stretches, both dynamic and static.
Speed Drills, as promoted by Loren Seagrave of Speed Dynamics, improve cadence and posture when performed correctly. You can't do drills properly (and effectively) unless perfection is pursued. The Video Drills for Speed is a must-have if the Drills are to be learned properly. Developing the skill seems to take at least 3 months of practice for most athletes to master. Most athletes do them far from correctly.
Lately, my squad have been simply using just two drills as follows:
1. Ankling - circular movements of the lower leg maintaining dorsiflexion. Do 6-8 of these over 6-8s.
2. Quick Recovery High Knee Running: They catch their leg early, bring it rapidly up underneath, and keep their pelvis stable, lifting their knees as high as they can without 'sitting'. They do these at varying speeds, maintaining good form, which means no extra bum out or sitting, and keeping their feet dorsiflexed. They do about 6-8 of these over 6-8s at varying speeds.
Biomechanics
We follow two of the following principles of the Modern Running Technique.
Dorsiflexion - big toe as close to shin as possible. The foot should recover this position as quickly as possible, recover in that position (so that it makes the leg a shorter lever), and stay dorsiflexed in the downswing. Many athletes lose their dorsiflexion before impact, losing their pre-stretch (losing power); this increases contact time and allows them to contact the ground early. Every time an athlete hits the ground, the first part of contact involves losing momentum. This can be minimized by maintaining dorsiflexion and having a fast-moving backward (active) foot.
Early recovery - athletes should minimize letting their hips tilt backward after impact. This will be evident in a less butt-out running posture. Doing this will have two benefits: it will allow the athlete's hips to be more free to lift their knees easier and will allow less backswing of the upper leg. A large backswing/recovery is much slower and puts a load on the hamstring that acts to help this sort of big recovery. It is much better to recover early under the body. Athletes that do this will not have the soles of their shoes facing the sky or have vertical thighs as their foot comes close to their butt. Their thigh will already be forward as the foot comes close to the butt. (Marion Jones and Maurice Greene show this action).
The two drills used by my squad are focused on these two principles. Note - We do not do butt kicks as a drill anymore for this reason.
Development of Maximum Speed
The theory exists that it is better to develop maximum speed first and then, later in the season, add endurance to that speed. Endurance work can be done, but not all-out efforts that could result in the athlete practising poor form. Any speed endurance work can, especially as it becomes more intense, result in decreased efficiency and maximum speed. Every time athletes make a maximum effort, they program that exact motor pattern at that velocity as the brain reproduces at maximum speed.
To Develop maximum speed, short distances are used ( usually involving an upper limit of 3-4s at maximum speed) e.g. 30-40m or up to 60m from a standing start, Flying 20-30m runs off a 25m run in or
In & Outs & In (an example follows)
25m acceleration phase, breathing in slowly
10m at maximum effort, breath held
20m at a high cadence, less effort to breathe out and in as the final approach to the next zone occurs.
10m at maximum effort, breath held
Ease out
The athlete may build up to 9-12 runs in sets of 3-4 with minimum rest between 3- 5 min and full recovery between sets.
Once the athlete reaches a speed plateau and seems to have difficulty moving to a new higher level, then something different needs to be done. To gain speed, the athlete can look at these areas.
* Flexibility improvement - Especially in areas that may decrease stride length.
* Lose Weight—If the athlete has excess weight, losing it will speed them up. At least lean body weight should be maintained.
* Become stronger or develop more power in the Gym—Improving specific strength in the Gym should help the athlete become more powerful. Excessive bulk is terrible, as is loss of flexibility. A program needs to be developed to suit the individual. The right program is required for running. The athlete has only so much time in the week and needs to recover for their high-quality running sessions.
*Improve Power- The athlete could sprint up short hills, tow sleds, tow other athletes or run with a weighted belt. The recommendation is that the athlete, when running resisted to improve maximum speed, should not be slowed by more than 10%. The most recommended way to do this is with a weighted belt. They are comfortable and can even be worn all day. They help the athlete maintain a higher centre of gravity and may enhance the plyometric effect of the muscles. Towing a sled or hills is effective mostly at improving starting power. The biomechanics of these situations are very different to maximum speed mechanics.
* Improve Plyometric effect on the muscles- Plyometric exercises are effective, but the best ones are specific. They need to be built up slowly in volume and are effective. We start with standing, start four bounds, and jump into a sandpit. We measure each attempt and aim to improve this distance. Then, we progress when the athlete has good running technique, starting running, then four bounds and a jump. We also expand the program to include double leg bounds over hurdles, e.g. 6 x 3 hurdles only up to a height where the athlete can bounce with quick contacts. We also do speed bounds, i.e. bounding for both speed and distance over 20m or 30m. We also do these initially from a standing start and then from a running start. We aim to keep the total number of foot contacts under 40 in a session, which is far less than is often recommended. Intensity without injury is the aim, as it is the intensity that produces the highest results. All plyometrics should aim to have all of the foot impact the ground. Do not have athletes bounce off the toes. This will risk injury.
Overspeed Training
* Increase Cadence- Overspeed Running is the icing on the cake and can significantly gain Maximum speed. It is, however, accompanied by higher risk. The athlete should already have high levels of trunk stability and be running with good form. Any defect will be exaggerated by overspeed, and injury can quickly occur. There are various ways for the athlete to be assisted in running at a speed above their natural maximum. The limitation mainly involves Nerve Signal pathways that can be "programmed" to happen quicker. If the brain can get used to a higher cadence, the athlete will have it without assistance. The danger factor is that the athlete's posture can collapse, they could injure themselves in a fall if they can't keep up, or they could pull a muscle because it did not relax quickly enough at the higher cadence rate.
Overspeed can be done by running down a very slight slope, running with an assisting wind or by being towed. The safest and most effective method is to use a simple pulley system and tow the athlete from a standing start over 40m. The aim once again is for the athlete never to exceed 10% faster than natural as there are no extra benefits and a very high risk of injury. One of my athletes is capable of about 11.87 for 100m and can run 5.00 from her first movement over 40m from a standing start. When towed, he runs about 4.40-4.60. Start with two tows when the athlete is fresh and feeling good. Build up to 4-6 tows, but always follow tows with at least one fast unassisted run while the athlete is fresh. When they start to slow down from fatigue, the session is over.
A typical session that I think is very effective is 40m from a 3-point start, then four tows over 40m 5-8min apart, rest 5min followed by 2 x flying start 80m rest 2min between. The athlete then can develop both speed and speed endurance at a high speed in one session. We have had excellent gains from this session.
Starting
Athletes need to get full extension out of the blocks and run with a pushing action as far as possible. To do this as far as possible means staying very forward with the whole body; keeping the head down will help. Lower legs should be angled backward to impact and contact with the ground high on the ball of the foot.
Athletes should aim to impact with their lower legs (tibia) pointing backward.
I have found that lightly resisted rubber band resisted starts from blocks are fantastic for training athletes to stay forward and push.
Most athletes are far from strong enough to follow these principles. This is another story. Starting uses Quads more, where maximum speed is much more Gluteus.
Some other ideas include neural considerations. Athletes have a limited neural ability to fire muscles at high cadences/ high power. Optimizing speed over 100m means conserving neural ability by decreasing cadence early in the race. Big straighter arm swings and big full-extension pushing steps for as far as possible decrease cadence early and allow athletes to maintain higher cadences later in the race.
As they approach the finish, athletes should increase stride frequency even further and allow stride length to shorten to minimize overstriding. You may have noticed some sprinters look to be running faster at the end; it is the increased cadence you have seen, not the loss of stride length.
