No matter what type of physical activity is about to be performed, the key to doing it right is to properly set up and apply quality technique. Failure to do this will only snowball into a more undesirable outcome.

Just as when lifting barbells, dumbbells, and kettlebells, there are rules to follow for correct technique in sprinting. In my 15 years of experience, I have found that there are six fundamental rules to remember. Three of these rules apply to the upper body, and three apply to the lower body. These rules apply to everyone, and they have always served me well.

The Six Rules of Sprinting Technique

• Run with the hands moving from the hips (pockets of pants) to the chin, eliminating side-to-side motion.
• Maintain a 90-degree bend of the elbows, and drive the elbows back.
• Keep the shoulders square.

• Pull the knees straight up, and do not allow them to angle towards the midline of the body.
• Run by striking the ground directly below the hips, particularly when accelerating.
• Run on the balls of the feet. Don’t be flat footed and noisy. If I can hear you coming, then you’re too slow.

Progress Your Sprinting With Intelligence

The key to intelligent sprinting is to use the same approach as intelligent lifting. Along with solid technique, we should also ease into the intensity. We don’t have to look to hit PR’s immediately. Your focus should be on learning and applying a smart progression. Once you have a hold on the technical aspects of sprinting, we can then shift the focus to performing sprints in ways that build proficiency, and fine tuning the motor skills that are necessary for full-effort sprints.

Level 1: Sprint in Place to Build Proficiency

By performing sprints in place, you can direct you focus to the six rules of running and work to balance out arm motion and foot placement. The emphases of knee drive, body control, and overall efficiency should be at the center of your attention.

One element I like to get my students to focus on is how their feet are striking the ground. I always cue them to “pull their knees up,” rather than cuing them to “lift their knees up.” This may seem like a debate on semantics, but I’ve found that it is easier for them to internalize the difference when cued to “pull” their knees. The result is a knee drive with more control and precision.

Level 2: Practice Building Up Sprint Distance And Intensity

Beginners should perform sprints at a manageable distance, while at the same time performing them at a reasonable intensity based on individual fitness and ability level. It’s reasonable to assume that, in general, a beginner shouldn’t go out and try to burn up 100 yard sprints at full capacity. You should first have a handle on technique, along with a respectable level of fitness.

A good way to build up is to steadily increase both distance and intensity. Start out performing 10 to 20 yard sprints, and gradually add speed. Once you are used to building up speed at this distance, then focus on a full effort for the whole distance. Once full effort has been achieved for a given distance, you can increase that distance and repeat the cycle. This is safe and practical progression that requires nothing more than some running space.

Level 3: Resisted and Assisted Sprints

Once you have a handle on sprinting for a reasonable distance and intensity, you can look at manipulating intensity further by performing resisted sprints and assisted sprints.

• Resisted sprints can be performed by adding an external load to make a sprint more challenging. Tools for this include bungee cords, a weighted sled, or a weighted vest. This can be structured to reach a desired outcome for more speed, or to just simply make the conditioning aspect of sprinting more challenging.

• Assisted sprints force you to run faster than you would be capable of running on your own. Assisted sprints can be performed by running on a slight downhill grade, or by using a bungee cord to assist the speed of the runner.

Resisted or assisted sprinting will add another degree of intensity to facilitate progress in your sprinting ability. Once the practical rules are in place and the progression is applied, you can readily progress your training for a more proficient gait.

Practice the Fundamental Skill of Sprinting

Sprinting is a tremendous part of fundamental human movement. I enjoy wrestling with the iron as much as the next guy, but I also believe in addressing all of the fundamental elements of human performance.

Sprinting is a skill, and like any skill, it must be practiced and honed to achieve greater results. There are technical components to consider, and with the rules that are outlined here, you have a blueprint for an effective plan of action.

How does sprinting work, anyway?

Sprinting Biomechanics and the Myth of Triple Extension

The post Sprinting Skill Development: 6 Technique Rules appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Speed thrills. Watching an athlete chase down an opponent, or dash away from someone chasing them, is an iconic and exhilarating element of sport around the world. An athlete with acceleration to burn will always raise eyebrows amongst coaches and scouts, and there’s no athlete who doesn’t want to get faster for his or her sport.

Professional sprinters aren’t the only athletes who could benefit from a faster running speed.

I’ve used the same program for developing faster running speeds in athletes for over fifteen years. The program produces incredible results for any athlete looking for more speed. The specifics of the framework have altered with experience, but the overall framework remains the same.

By following the five steps of this program, the athletes I’ve trained have found an extra gear when they need it. And even if you’re not blessed with good genetics or a long training history, you can too.

The First Gear: Getting Started

We begin with interval training. Luckily for you, the pace starts off slow.

Find yourself a rectangular space of about 30 metres by 50 metres.

• Each lap in your space should consist of two 50 metre jogging sections and two 30 metre side skipping, or lateral movement, sections.
• Jog for the 50 metres section.
• Skip sideways for the 30 metres section.
• Do 4 to 6 laps total.

That’s it. This phase should be done on a day-on, day-off schedule.

When to Go Up a Gear:

Every runner is different and will take his or her own amount of time to adapt to training stressors. If you have a decent training history, it’s likely you can move through this gear quicker than others. Given it’s a low stress session, your progression to the next gear can be as little as four days. If you’re new to running, you’ll need to spend about three months on this phase – and I’m not joking about that. The fibres that make up your tendons and ligaments are made of collagen, and when put under new stress, they take up to three months to adapt and improve enough to handle it.

My general rule is to be able to do this session once, take a day off, then repeat a second time, followed by another day off. If you aren’t in pain or sore, you’ve proven you can tolerate this stress level and can move up a stage.

The Second Gear: Finding Your Tempo

When you’ve decided you’re ready to step up the speed, find an area of about 150 metres in length. In Australia, that’s about the length of an oval football field. The second gear stage uses tempo running: running at a pace that stays consistent from start to finish. There shouldn’t be any significant changes to your running speed throughout the 150 metres.

This phase should feel like you’re running at about 60-70% pace of your maximal speed. If you don’t know what that means for you, here’s a simple way to think of it: if you feel like you’re jogging, you’re going too slow, and if you feel like you’re sprinting, you’re going too fast.

• Run at a tempo for 150 metres. Rest for 30 seconds. Repeat 4 times.
• Rest for 2 to 3 minutes.
• Repeat another 4 tempo runs of 150 metres with another 30 seconds of rest.
• Rest again for 2 to 3 minutes.

You can stop here, or continue on for another four tempo runs of 150 metres with 30 seconds recovery in between each one. Twelve tempo runs for this session is the absolute maximum. This stage is intended to be done on a day-on, day-off schedule, but you can do cyclic aerobic training and strength training on your day off if you wish.

When to Go Up a Gear:

This phase doesn’t need as long an adaptation period for new runners, providing you’ve taken the right amount of time to build your running base up in the first stage. If you do 12 repetitions of the 150 metres tempo run and you don’t feel sore the next day, take a non-running day as per the day-on, day- off schedule, then repeat the session again to make sure the lack of soreness isn’t a fluke.

The progressively higher impact forces at work on this program can take time to build up on your tendons and joints, which is why soreness might be delayed. If the soreness isn’t a fluke, this phase’s duration can be as little as four days. If it is, continue along the schedule until the soreness isn’t an issue before moving ahead to the third gear of the program.

The Third Gear: Ramping It Up

This phase is designed to step your pace up to about 75-85% of your maximal speed, moving you out of a “running” gait pattern and into more of a sprinting pattern. Here, you stick to the day-on, day-off schedule with a maximum of 3 running days per week.

These sessions will see you step up to a total of twenty-four runs of 100 metres each in length.

• Find a space of around 100 metres in length.
• Place a marker at the start, the 40 metres point, the 60 metres point, and the 100 metres point.
• This creates three zones – the first is 40 metres, the second is 20 metres, and the final is 40 metres. We’ll call them the acceleration zone, the holding-speed zone, and the deceleration zone.
• From a standing start, accelerate gradually through the first 40 metres.
• Stop accelerating and hold the speed for 20 metres.
• Gradually decelerate over the last 40 metres until you come to a complete stop by the final marker.
• Take 30 seconds to recover.
• Repeat this acceleration-hold-deceleration run 6 times.
• Take 3 minutes of full rest.

Let’s call this set of splits the (40-20-40) x 6.

From here, in the same session, you adjust the markers to change the length acceleration-hold-deceleration zones as follows:

• (40-30-30) x 6
• (30-40-30) x 6
• (30-40-20) x 6

That’s twenty-four runs in total. Use the same recovery and rest protocol. Take 30 seconds recovery after each run and a full 3 minutes of rest after each batch of 6 runs.

Record your time splits through the zones by having a friend or training partner time you. Alternatively, carry a stopwatch as you run, starting and stopping as you pass the markers of the middle zone. This is important, as progression from this phase depends on your ability to stay within a recommended time range for the middle zone for each split.

The recommended ranges for each zone are below.

• 20 metres zone – range of -/+ 0.5 seconds between each split
• 30 metres zone – range of -/+ 0.75 seconds between each split
• 40 metres zone – range of -/+ 1 second between each split

This time range is the margin of error allowed between splits. For example, if you run the 20 metre zone in 3 seconds in one split, then 3.6 seconds in the next, you’re out of the recommended range by 0.1 seconds. These recommended ranges are to make sure you’re not overdoing it and to give an indication of when you can progress to the next phase.

When to Go Up a Gear:

If one of your run split times falls outside of the recommended range for that middle zone, be careful. You get one more run to be able to bring your time back down. If you fall outside the range twice, your session is over.

It’s typical for most runners to have completed all twenty-four runs in this session within one to two weeks. If you find you get to twelve runs and you can’t keep your speed up for your usual middle zone range, that’s perfectly fine. Hold to the day-on, day-off approach and repeat the session until you can do all twenty-four runs within your timed range for the middle zone.

Continue to Page 2 for the Fourth and Fifth Gears in the System

There isn’t an athlete out there who doesn’t want to get faster. This program will get you there.

The Fourth Gear: Time to Get After It

The fourth phase is nearly identical to the third, except now you try to approach a speed above 85% of your maximum speed. If you’re unsure of your maximum speed, aim to drop 0.5 seconds from each of your split times from the last phase as a rough guide.

When to Go Up a Gear:

You’re now fully in a sprinting pattern but not completely putting your foot down. At this level of speed and subsequent stress to your body, change the frequency to a one-day-on, two-days-off approach. As for the previous phase, you stay in this phase if you can’t complete twenty-four runs whilst staying within your timed range for the middle zone in the interval. You can keep your cyclic aerobic and strength training going if applicable on your days off.

The Fifth Gear: Flooring It and Braking Hard

In this final bout of speed training, I recommend using a similar approach of acceleration-hold-deceleration. It’s this pattern that carries over well to sport, with deceleration mechanics coming into play.

You’ll only need a space of up to 70 metres maximum. You will use a similar session outlay as in the third and fourth steps, with the same recovery and rest protocol, but with the following changes in distances:

• (20m-30m-20m) x 6
• (10m-30m-10m) x 6
• (5m-20m-5m) x 6
• (10m-40m-10m) x 6

You’ll see that the middle zone is similar to before and between 20 to 40 metres. Take your best time for each of the 20 to 40 metre zones from the fourth stage and use it as a target range for this final phase. You will have completed this phase if you can stay within 0.2 seconds of your best time for each zone on each run.

Cycle Through the Gears

It’s common for athletes to plateau with extended speed training. This means your nervous system needs a rest. If you find yourself losing speed or unable to complete a phase as recommended in the final stage, drop back two stages for one week, then move up to the next phase for the next week until you return to the stage your were previously struggling with. Use a cyclic approach to balance your stimulus and recovery and get the most out of this program.

I’ve used this simple repeat sprinting program for many athletes for years, with only a few subtle variations as required. Its progressive nature has proved very forgiving for athletes in pre-season training and returning from injury. Whilst the program is clearly challenging, most of my guys who’ve done it have told me that they don’t feel like they’re doing enough.

I recall one Australian footballer telling me he was concerned that when he returned to the main squad for the season he would be undertrained. He needn’t have worried. He ran far quicker and longer than others who had done infinitely more volume at God-knows-what intensity. I’ve used it for my own development and had no trouble going from a football season to a half marathon without no specific training. Trust this program. It works.

More Like This:

• Move Really Quickly: Short Sprints for Long Term Awesomeness
• It’s the 23 Hours a Day You’re Not Running That Count
• Become a Lion: Build Your Aerobic System
• New on Breaking Muscle

Photo 1 courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Photo 2 courtesy of CrossFit.

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Pulling a sled can improve your sprinting speed and create an anabolic environment conducive to burning fat and gaining muscle. In this article, I will discuss what the research says about using sled pulls to build explosive sprinting strength.

Sprinting is highly technical. Elite sprinters are coached on every aspect of their sport. Aside from starting technique, learning how to accelerate to top speed is one of the most difficult skills.

Pulling a sled can improve your sprinting speed and create an anabolic environment conducive to burning fat and gaining muscle. In this article, I will discuss what the research says about using sled pulls to build explosive sprinting strength.

Sled Pulls Improve Acceleration

Acceleration is important for most sports, and sled pulls are commonly used to improve it. Alcaraz and colleagues (2014)¹ tested Scandinavian national sprinters. One group did normal sprint sessions. A second group towed a sled. The program lasted four weeks, and both groups did similar amounts of work.

Following the training, the sled group increased contact time with the ground, which means they had more time to exert force. They also improved their stride length. Both of these measures are associated with faster acceleration.

The sled group also increased maximal speed by about 1.3 percent. These are well-trained athletes, so the effects could be even more significant in athletes with less training.

More Load Isn’t Better

When pulling a weighted sled, you have to make sure you don’t lose your sprinting technique. If you load the sled with too much weight, you won’t be sprinting anymore – you’ll be walking. Walking with a heavy load might have benefits, but it does not improve sprint acceleration as much as a lesser load.

A study by Winwood and colleagues (2016)⁵ trained rugby athletes with sled pulls. One of the research team’s goals was to find out how weight improved maximal acceleration. The researchers found that sled pulls with 75 percent of the athlete’s body weight worked better than 150 percent. 

I always liked this quotation from Yuri Verkoshansky on adding more weight:

“Additional weight will increase the magnitude of maximum strength effort, but will decrease the speed of its development during push off. In this way, the exercise will have lost its main advantage… [This] can be compared to those zealots who follow the principle: instead to take 15 drops of medicine two times per day, it’s better to drink the whole bottle immediately.”

Adding more weight on sled pulls and pushes might be great for absolute strength. Dan John has long been an advocate of sled pushes or pulls as one of his loaded carry movements. But remember, we are talking about how sled pulls affect sprinting.

Adding more weight will likely help maximal strength development, but it might not be as helpful for maximal speed.

When using sled pulls to build speed, use a load that allows you to keep sprinting.

When and How to Recover

As many of you know, sled pulls can be demanding. West and colleagues (2013)⁴ looked at biological changes following sled pulls. They found that testosterone increased by 38 percent fifteen minutes after the pulls.

It was also elevated the next day. The lack of creatine kinase following the workout suggested there was no significant muscle damage. The authors suggested this movement does not lead to muscle breakdown because it is primarily concentric in nature.

Keep in mind, sprinting more than than 25 meters with the sled can cause a breakdown in form, so allow a good amount of rest between sets. I would suggest between 3-6 minutes to allow the alactic system to recover.

The Takeaways

• Sled pulls with 75 percent of your body weight can lead to greater acceleration in sprints.
• Longer rests between sets will allow for better recovery.
• Heavy sled pushes or pulls might be good for absolute strength, but they aren’t as good for sprinting.
• The key is to choose a weight and distance that does not cause a breakdown in running technique. Make sure you can maintain proper running form for up to 25 meters.

More Ways to Get Fast:

• The Fast Way to Long Health: Move Really Quickly
• Sprint Interval Training Increases Power, Aerobic, and Anaerobic Performance
• The Relation Between Rest Interval Mode and Duration in Sprint Training

References

1. Alcaraz, P. E., Elvira, J. L. L., & Palao, J. M. (2014). Kinematic, strength, and stiffness adaptations after a short-term sled towing training in athletes. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports, 24(2), 279–290. 

2. Alcaraz, P. E., Palao, J. M., Elvira, J. L. L., & Linthorne, N. P. (2008). Effects of Three Types of Resisted Sprint Training Devices on the Kinematics of Sprinting at Maximum Velocity. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 22(3), 890–897. 

3. Maulder, P. S., Bradshaw, E. J., & Keogh, J. W. (2008). Kinematic Alterations Due to Different Loading Schemes in Early Acceleration Sprint Performance From Starting Blocks. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 22(6), 1992–2002.

4. West, D. J., Cunningham, D. J., Finn, C. V., Scott, P. M., Crewther, B. T., Cook, C. J., & Kilduff, L. P. (2014). The metabolic, hormonal, biochemical, and neuromuscular function responses to a backward sled drag training session. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research / National Strength & Conditioning Association, 28(1), 265–272.

5. Winwood, P. W., Posthumus, L. R., Cronin, J. B., & Keogh, J. W. L. (2016). The Acute Potentiating Effects of Heavy Sled Pulls on Sprint Performance. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 1.

Teaser photo courtesy of Shutterstock.

Photo 1 courtesy of Jorge Huerta Photography.

The post Create Explosive Sprinting Strength With Sled Pulls appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

A group of researchers tackled this problem in the latest issue of the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. They asked, “What is the best way to rest between sprints during training to ensure maximum performance?” Some studies have shown that passive rest, or not moving during rest periods, is superior. Others have shown that active rest, which is when an athlete maintains motion at a very slow and easy rate, is superior. The research team devised a study to test whether the length of the rest interval affected the best way to rest.

The researchers recruited ten male recreational athletes to study. The men were generally in their mid- to late twenties and had spent about seven years in their respective sports. The men were asked to perform a thirty-second sprint on a stationary bike. The researchers tested four different conditions:

• 45 seconds rest with passive recovery
• 45 seconds rest with active recovery
• 180 seconds rest with passive recovery
• 180 seconds rest with active recovery

The results were surprising. The researchers found that the optimal mode of recovery (active or passive) depends on the length of the rest interval. In the case of 45-second rest intervals, passive recovery was the winner. The sprinters maintained higher peak power, especially in the early sprints, with passive rest. In the case of 180-second rest intervals, active recovery was the winner. In this case, the cyclists stayed on the bicycle and kept moving the pedals at a slow pace. This paid off with higher power outputs, especially during the later sprints.

Why this difference? Well, we don’t know exactly. The researchers theorized that active recovery may interfere with the first stage of phosphocreatine regeneration. This would explain why passive recovery was beneficial for short rest intervals. Active recovery does a better job of removing cellular waste products like hydrogen ions. This is primarily accomplished through greater blood flow caused by the motion of active recovery. The sum total of this effect provided an advantage for active recovery during the longer, 180-second rest intervals.

So next time you’re designing a program that involves sprint training, consider whether active or passive recovery is optimal. Better performance in training means better performance on the field, so it could be the difference between making a big play or chalking up a loss.

References

1. James Brown and Mark Glaister. The Interactive Effects of Recovery Mode and Duration on Subsequent Repeated Sprint Performance. Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research. March 2014 – Volume 28 – Issue 3 – p 651–660. doi: 10.1519/JSC.0b013e3182a1fe28

Photo courtesy of Shutterstock.

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In some sports, like weight lifting, progression is easy enough to understand. Lift more weights for more sets and more reps than you used to. Easier said than done, for sure, but simple enough. In sprinting performance, a progression is just as simple – you just run faster. But actually achieving this progression is a completely different animal. In fact, speed improvement over short distances is perhaps one of the most elusive goals in fitness.

Since increasing the resistance is one way to induce progression, several methods are commonly employed for sprinting, but their benefit is sometimes controversial. For example, some athletes use parachutes, which make wind resistance a greater factor than usual. In today’s study, the researchers were concerned with the use of weight vests. Unlike many tools, a weight vest is easy to measure progressively and easy enough to employ.

The researchers were concerned with the effects of vests of two different weights on sprinting. The participants ran either with no vest or with a vest that weighed either 19.8lbs or 39.6lbs. The researchers were concerned primarily with the kinetics (force) and kinematics (motion) of using a weighted vest. This means they didn’t look at speed increasesover time, but at what actually occurs in a single sprinting session when you don a vest.

Let’s start by discussing the most obvious results. Horizontal force outputoverall was not changed by the vest. In other words, although it takes more horizontal effort to run with a vest on, it also slows you down. The relationship is linear with the weights they used in this study, so the average force output was unchanged. This result makes a lot of sense. Unlike the aforementioned parachute, the vest applies resistance in the vertical vector because it works with gravity, so the horizontal effect was insignificant.

The vertical realm is where we get perhaps some surprises. Similar to the horizontal forces, there were no changes in peak vertical forces. After analyzing the motion changes in the sprint, the researchers discovered that the athletes had reduced “flight times,” which means they spent more time with their feet on the floor because of the weight. This effect greatly reduced the peak forces that resulted from landing, which pretty much evened out the peak vertical forces. Only the 39.6lb vest caused an increase in average vertical forces. This result indicates that if an increase in vertical force output is a goal for a sprinter, he or she might only benefit from a vest that is heavier than normally recommended.

While a heavy vest is needed to improve vertical forces, we also need to consider the value of doing so. Any time an external load is applied to a technical movement like a sprint, the technique also changes, as seen in the kinematic differences during this study. This is why pitchers in baseball often avoid weighted balls, as their pitching velocity with a normal ball is ultimately reduced, which defeats the point. While a heavy vest might be an important method of progression for a sprinter, coaches should also dedicate ample time to keeping form sharp.

References:

1. Matt Cross, et. al., “Effects of Vest Loading on Sprint Kinetics and Kinematics,” Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, DOI: 10.1519/JSC.0000000000000354

Photo courtesy of CrossFit Impulse.

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But for overall effectiveness, there might still be reasonable doubts, not so much about the ability of intervals to work the anaerobic system, but instead about their effects on the aerobic system. Researchers looked into this topic in a recent study published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. They wanted to find out to what extent cardiovascular factors outside of just anaerobic contributions were worked by high intensity sprinting intervals.

One good reason for a study looking into these factors is the time savings itself, since this is one big reason to perform sprint intervals. But when thinking about this, you also have to consider what you’d be doing instead that might take longer. Since the anaerobic systems of the body have the biggest kick at the beginning of exercise, they don’t take long to push hard and develop progressively over time. The aerobic system, on the other hand, can sustain heightened energy outputs for hours on end, so this would be where sprints would save time. If sprinting interval programs work well for developing the aerobic system over a brief workout, then it may be worth it for the time-crunched among us.

In the study, the participants performed four all-out sprinting bursts on an exercise bike, each separated by four minutes of active rest. Active rest is typical in these types of maximum-intensity intervals. The down time is occupied by light activity without much or any resistance. In this case, the light activity was performed on the exercise bike with the resistance turned down to zero.

As mentioned before, sprinting is good for developing anaerobic metabolism, so the researchers assumed this as uncontroversial. Instead they looked at a few other performance factors associated more with aerobic work, such as VO2 max (the ability of your body to absorb, transport, and use oxygen), heart rate, and ventilation. Sure enough, these factors were all taxed by the sprinting intervals as well. The participants achieved 80% of their maximal values despite the small amount of actual hard work.

The results of this study point to the importance of the aerobic systems, even in such intense and brief sprints. The researchers hypothesized that the levels of cardiorespiratory stress achieved by this protocol were sufficient to potentially elicit aerobic benefits, which is pretty cool.

However, I’ll warn against misinterpreting this information. First, the tested program totaled eighteen minutes in length, including the four-minute rest periods. With the warm up included, the time goes up to about 23 minutes for this protocol. This isn’t all that much of a time savings compared to a brief warm up and two mile run that most people could achieve in the same amount of time. Since cardiorespiratory values were hit only briefly in this study, it’s possible that a two-mile run might be just as time-efficient, but a greater stimulus for other aspects of athletic improvement. Intervals are great for anaerobic work, and may even help a little bit with your aerobic work too, but ultimately, variety is key.

References:

1. Eric Freese, et. al., “Physiological Responses to an Acute Bout of Sprint Interval Cycling,” Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 27(10), 2013.

Photo courtesy of Shutterstock.

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There are so many great abdominal workouts out there and in the gym that are based around resistance training, but very few of these will give you the same overall results for tone, fitness, explosivity, speed, and the physique that sprinting does.

With the added benefit of building muscle along with speed, sprinting helps you build and define the glutes, hamstrings, and quads, while at the same time burning off the fat layers that hide the muscles underneath.

Sprint training is the most explosive training you can do. What does explosivity have to do with abdominal strength and tone? First we have to realize that what we are referring to here is not just showing up on the track to run a few laps, but rather we are talking about high-intensity, all-out sprinting and becoming more and more proficient at it as you do so. The more proficient you become at high intensity sprinting, the more you properly engage the muscles involved, such as legs and glutes – and of course the core.

Abdominal Speed

Consider this: You can work your abs 57-60 times every 100m. A world-class sprinter covers 100 meters in about 44 to 47 steps and the average person would probably cover that distance in about 57 to 60 steps. There is a very powerful combination during sprint training of power output, aggression and relaxation, engagement, constant tension, efficiency, technique, and efficiency in technique.

The more sprinting you do (while maintaining a helpful low body fat percentage), the more toned your abdominal muscles will be. Notice the abs of Olympic sprinters. Rarely are ab workouts the top priority of world-class sprinters and that is because their cores are built on the track. Keep in mind that you do not have to run as fast as Olympic sprinters to get these results but you do need to sprint your fastest in order to create the same benefits.

The Fat Factor

Sprinting does two great things for fat and abs. First, high-intensity sprint work increases the rate of metabolism and, second, it makes it last. In other words, calories continue burning long after a sprint session is completed. Fat is the extra layer we all hate most that hides muscle we would love to show off the most. Sprinting burns it off while simultaneously building up and toning the muscle underneath. It’s your perfect scenario.

Beat the Boredom

Everyone needs to change up their workouts and training once in a while. What better way to do that than to get outside, leave the confines of the gym, and get your booty and abs out on the track. Learn about the drills, the benefits of speed drills, how to incorporate sprint work properly (interval training, speed training, etc.), and start feeling the results almost immediately.

Some Helpful Coaching Tips:

1. Start and finish well. Always start and end with a few warm up or cool down laps and a good stretch. Pay extra attention to those quads, calves, and hamstrings. Roll out the back and get a good arm stretch also. Arms and are the generators for the legs. Don’t neglect them.

2. Do drills. Incorporate hurdle drills and other variety drills on the turf or track (high knees, butt-kicks, skipping, bounding jumps, accelerations, bunny hops, etc.) These are typically performed in 30m distances. Drill down and walk back to start. Repeat a few at a time. Do not rush the warm-up. These are key to preventing tweaks and pulled muscles. Keep the core nice and tight throughout.

3. Remember your low back and core. The most important tool for all sprinters – and all athletes, and pretty much everyone – is a strong low back. Sprinting builds a strong low back and core. Add in slow supermans and GHD work, and really focus on the posterior chain in the gym. Pay close attention to building up the muscles around the spine and hips. This helps build speed and also with prevention of injuries or tweaks.

4. Mind your diet. Properly feed the muscles that move you. Protein is key here. Prevent weight gain especially around the midsection that we are aiming to define. Hydrate.

5. Wear proper shoes. When ready, I highly recommend a good pair of spikes for sprint work. All other drills and running should be done in running shoes, but there is a lot of benefit in wearing spikes, as the front of the foot gets maximum traction for the press (see #8 below). With a strong connection to the ground, the core must work harder to push and keep the midline tight and secure.

6. Control your core. Engage the core and low back the entire time and do not collapse either one. Keep the chest upright, engaging the core. Even in the forward lean required by sprinting, do not lose core control.

7. Use the arms. The arms move the legs and should be at a 90-degree angle at all times. Stair drills are great training for this and are all about the arms more than the legs (contrary to what most people think)

8. Push versus pull. Run in such a manner as to push away from the ground from the hip – pushing backwards versus pulling from the front to the back. Most hamstring pulls and tears occur from not doing this properly.

9. Take it outside. Include resistance training either in the gym or on the track or even both. Don’t be afraid to bring kettlebells, dumbbells, and medicine balls to the track with you and incorporate them. Be creative and don’t be afraid to do your entire day’s workout on the track.

10. NEVER STOP ON A DIME. FINISH THROUGH THE LINE! Don’t slow down until after running through the line – even in drills. Stopping suddenly before or after crossing your line and turning back causes more injury than anything else. Run through the line and finish the “race,” then slow it down from sprint to run to jog, and to a walk. Recoup, shake it out, and walk back.

Check out these related articles:

• Sprinting 101: 10 Articles for Safe and Effective Sprint Training
• Weighted Sled Tows Improve Performance Over Sprinting Alone
• Scientifically-Proven Tips for Faster Sprinting
• What’s New On Breaking Muscle Today

Photographs courtesy of Katie Chasey.

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