AthleticSpeed

GETTING READY TO START

 

Since we now have a goal, let’s progress into getting the athlete in the right positions. Depending on the number of commands that are given will determine which steps the athlete takes to get into their starting position. For demonstration purposes, we’re going to use the track and field commands of “take your marks”, “set” and “go/whistle/gun”.  

 

On the “take your marks” command, the athlete gets into their starting position. If using starting blocks, the athlete should already have them lined up and measurements already in place. Once the command is said, the athlete should move past the starting blocks and ‘back in’ the blocks. The reason for this is simple; it gives the athlete a last effort to stretch out certain muscles such as the calf muscles! There….simple as pie. To ‘back in’, the athlete should walk past their blocks and with both hands and feet on the ground begin to walk backwards into the foot pedals stretching their calf muscles and ankles on the way back.

 

Once in the blocks, the athlete should have one knee on the ground and that knee will be the knee of the recovery leg. The knee of the front leg aka the power leg should be off the ground but facing downward towards the ground. Both hands should be just behind the starting line. One cue I like to use with my athletes concerning the starting line is get as close as possible without actually touching it (because touching the starting line is the equivalent of a false start). From here, the hands and arms should be straight down from the shoulders and the fingers should be in an arc position or bridge, in other words you should be able to poke your fingers under their arc or bridge, so realistically the athlete will be “up” on their fingers in the starting position. The athlete can and should, at this point, begin to slightly lean forward putting pressure on the shoulders and fingers. The lean, however, should not be so profound to the point where the athlete is beginning to shake uncontrollably or they are not able to hold the position for more than 3-5 seconds at a time. This will indicate that the athlete is leaning too far forward and is another indication of strength deficiencies that need to be addressed in the abs, forearms, fingers and shoulders. Make sure that the head is relaxed and hanging downward and the athlete is breathing normally.

 

On the “set” command, the athlete should first bring their hips up and above the shoulders. If the athlete is already leaning forward while down in the starting blocks, then bringing the hips up is all that is needed. It is much much more safer to already be leaning forward and then bring the hips up into position rather than the other way around simply because trying to lean while coming into the set position, in my experience, has lead to many false starts, disqualifications, athletes losing their balances and a whole host of other problems that could be avoided if rehearsed correctly and often. The important thing to look at while in the set position is the angles that the athlete’s legs open up. The front leg should open up to about 90 degrees at the angle behind the knee and the upper hamstring with the shin angle being 45 degrees with respect to the ground and the back leg should open up to about 135 degrees at the angle behind the knee and the upper hamstring. These angles are pretty much visible to the naked eye and they are much easier to achieve if the athlete is already leaning forward before the set command. If an athlete is not leaning forward and ‘sitting’ back on their heels at the starting position, then the athlete will have to raise their hips much higher to achieve these angles and that makes for a pretty uncomfortable position to be in for 3-5 seconds! However, the lean forward gives the athlete a slight physical advantage of an already forward movement. In sprinting, you want the athlete to feel like they are running ‘downhill’ and ‘falling forward’ to create momentum and the lean forward at the starting line sets up that feeling. The head is still relaxed and hanging downward at this point.

 

ACHIEVING A GOOD START

 

The final command will either be a starter shooting a gun, a verbal command of go, a hand clap or a whistle. The goal of the command is to practice and show patience and confidence in the athlete’s ability to follow a race plan. Please allow me to preface this by saying that there is no need for any athlete to false start, so my advice is to never tolerate false starts. During this stage the athlete should be alert but not anticipating anything. The only way to practice patience and confidence is to actually wait for the command, not anticipate the command, not guess the command, not time the command, none of those things speak confidence about an athlete. Again I stress, the only way to practice patience is to actually practice waiting for the command, that’s the only way.

 

Once we have the athlete confident in their abilities and continuously practicing different scenarios of competitive environments that they must start in then we can be confident that a false start is not likely although still possible. Always leave room for error and room for growth both as an athlete and as a human being that is continuously learning. At the sound of the command to go, the athlete should first swing their arms while putting force on the blocks or ground, depending on their chosen starting position, and violently swing their arms forward and up above and over their head. This may sound like a lot, however it is not once it is put into motion and practice. Once the command is realized, it will be natural for the athlete to want to get off the ground and get going. This is going to help them get into the right positions to allow for maximal movement out of each limb in motion. The goal of this entire scenario is for the athlete to focus on and achieve power and powering off the starting line. As said before, the point of powering off is to overcome the initial inertia of a body that’s not in motion.

 

Since the arms are the driving force for the legs, then the violent swing of the arms are what drives and commands the legs. The more violent and forceful the arm swim, the more violent and forceful the legs will push off the blocks and the ground. What should be stressed for the arm swing is the separation of elbows. That separation and the profoundness of it is what tell the legs how high to drive out and up. The greater the degree of separation, the greater the potential energy when the recovery leg drives forward. Great force should be applied to the front block aka power leg to get the athlete off the ground and moving forward. During this stage the athlete should focus on what I like to call triple extension and that is extension of the foot (ankle), the hips and the shoulders. This ensures, again, that the body gets moving and, simply put, the athlete doesn’t trip all over themselves.

 

The recovery leg should get as high as it can go, mainly towards the chest. Once the arms are separated and the recovery leg is moving forward, the next movement is just as critical because the athlete is still moving forward but also falling and in order to recover from this motion the athlete needs to drive the elbow of the front arm down. Yes, I said down. Everything in sprinting is DOWN! Force is created on the down stroke of movement in sprinting. Drive the elbow back down to command the back leg to swing, yes swing, forward. To better understand that concept, think of an image of ‘skating’ forward. This motion keeps the athlete from falling towards the ground and keeps them moving forward ‘down’ to the finish line. These first actions are critical to an efficient start so they should be rehearsed as often as speed and technical days are in the work week.

 

Stress to the athlete that this action or rather these combination of actions are violent, forceful and require high levels of intensity to achieve. So as the educator and scientist that you are, you should now be ready to go from the start which is mostly power and get into acceleration.

 

Continue in knowledge my friends!

 

Charone