ACCELERATION
Once the athlete learns the proper way to start, the next objective is to get them producing power to move forward ‘down’ to the finish line. In sprinting we must always think about forward progression. Everything moves forward and in order to move forward the athlete must produce force on the ground that moves them forward. The cues that I personally like to use is the image of going downhill. I use terminology that cues the athlete to move ‘push’ ‘forward’ of the blocks, produce ‘force’ by ‘pushing back’, ‘striking underneath’ the hips to allow ‘forward momentum’, continue ‘down’ the towards the finish line. I use these cues because I believe it helps the athlete to understand forward movement and that everything must go forward from start to finish. Breaking those cues up into teachable skills aids in the development of acceleration and, more importantly, the athletes understanding of it.
When it comes to teaching acceleration it is a year round lesson plan. I am of the belief that acceleration is a skill that requires persistence and consistency in order for the acquisition of that skill to be actualized in competition settings over 80% of the time. If not, then the chance of inconsistent performances run high and this alone can cause an athletes self confidence to drop along with their belief in their abilities to perform at high levels. So it is always wise to remember that acceleration is a TEACHABLE skill that should be taught throughout the training year.
FLEXIBILITY
The first aspect of teaching acceleration is teaching the importance of flexibility. Now, which flexibility am I referring to? Static, not so much, but yes, it is important. I’m talking about dynamic flexibility. Dynamic flexibility is the ability to move joints through their full range of motion. When an athlete has good flexibility (dynamic) they will experience easier movement through the joints and they will experience less resistance from inflexible muscles as well. Dynamic flexibility exercises are put into the warm up routine to allow the body to prepare for the work that is to be done for that days workout session. To understand how to design a dynamic flexibility exercise session (which is really a warm up), then make sure to refer to the section on The Proper Way to Design A Dynamic Warm Up.
Acceleration is the next phase from the power phase of pushing out of the blocks. Once the athletes understands the concept of pushing from the blocks to overcome the initial inertia then the next phase is learning how to continue to push, the proper body alignments and the purpose of this phase.
As the athlete starts to accelerate from the blocks they usually have a tendency to want to immediate come up, get into full running form at maximal velocity and win the race not even 15 steps from the starting line! This is a huge mistake that many athletes make and usually get away with due to competition or bad coaching, however the implications of this is a generation of athletes with bad technique, no knowledge of the proper way to accelerate and no kinesthetic awareness. How can an athlete give you feedback on their race, play or rep and they have no knowledge of what’s right and what’s wrong? They can’t! They have no knowledge of the proper cues, they don’t know what to do and when to do it, they know nothing! We’re going to change all of that. Now that we know what the athlete will have a tendency to do, we know how to look for it and now correct it.
THE DRIVE PHASE
When the athlete is out of the blocks and off the starting line, the next step is continuing to push down towards the finish line. Pushing is the key here. What I teach my athletes is low heel recovery for at least 4 steps. We label this phase the ‘Drive Phase’. We should use this phase to ‘power’ off the starting line and out of the starting blocks and set the athlete up for proper acceleration. During the drive phase, the arms should be big and the ground contact time should be long due to the athlete overcoming the body’s inertia. It is important to focus on power at this point. Remember, we’re not trying to be ‘quick’ off the starting line, we’re trying to be powerful and forceful. Power should come from pushing ‘back’ underneath the hips. In order to achieve this, the athlete must be in proper position to allow maximum knee lift, proper hip placement, extension of the ankle joint, knee joint, hip joint and shoulder joint.
These extensions propel the athlete out of the blocks and off the starting line. As the athlete continues to extend it puts the athlete in the position to put force into the ground. When the athlete is pushing from the blocks, the athlete should make a willful effort to ‘snap’ the hips directly underneath them. This ‘snapping’ puts the hips in the alignment that’s needed for maximal knee lift. When the head, hips and ankle are in alignment, the knee now has more upward mobility to drive up and ‘push’ back underneath the hips. The alignment allows the body to be at a 45 degree angle and this angle allows the athlete to push underneath and ‘back’ behind the hips. Throughout this entire phase the hips stay underneath the athlete and they should NEVER fall behind the athlete.
As the athlete continues to keep that alignment and extensions for maximal force production, we want to continue pushing ‘back’ underneath the hips. The alignment from head to hips to ankle must still in place and from here we teach the athlete low heel recovery. Low heel recovery ensures that the athlete’s shin angle pushes ‘back’ at a 45 degree angle thus allowing the athlete to stay in acceleration. Once the shin angle with respect to the track goes above 45 degrees, then the athlete will be forced to come out of acceleration and up into premature running form due to the angle of the force which is determined by the angle of the shin at ground contact. To make sure the athlete keeps accelerating properly and to make sure the shin angle is at 45 degrees, low heel recovery is taught. Once the initial step lands, the athletes recovers with the following step by coming thru the heel of the opposite ankle and swinging the leg upward into the same position as the preceding leg. This motion goes on for another two steps with each steps heel recovery becoming more and more upward as the body begins to pick up speed and is putting more force into the ground. During this phase, the same basic principles of technique still apply: toe up, heel up, tight abs, tight glutes, head in alignment with the back (through tightening the abs) and hips underneath the torso (through tightening the glutes).
ACCELERATION
As we saw in the Developing the Start section, the start sets up the Drive phase and the Drive phase transitions into acceleration. In the drive phase, the athlete’s body is at a 45 degree angle and they push ‘back’ to propel the body forward. Low heel recovery is for at least 4 strides and then the heel progressively recovers higher up as the body picks up speed and momentum transitioning from phase to phase.
As the athlete continues to push out of the drive phase they will notice that their ground contact time is getting shorter and they’re picking up more speed. Even though speed is starting to feel natural, the athlete should not rush from here. They are still in acceleration and still have much more accelerating to do before they reach top speed (Maximum Velocity). The athlete should continue to push maintaining proper body positions. As the athlete pushes, the body will become more and more upright, however, when they are properly pushing the athletes head will still be down and the hips will continue to move past the center of gravity as the athlete pushes off the ground. Continue to cue the athlete to drive the knees forward forcefully and violently as well as pulling the leg back to the ground forcefully and violently.
Continue to emphasize pulling the arms down and through the hips and forcing them back. The athletes abs should still be tight, glutes tight with a slight lean forward at the hips. This is the momentum that will carry the athlete down to the finish line. The athletes shoulders should stay relaxed with all arm motions coming from the shoulder. This tight pillar will ensure that the athlete doesn’t rock from side to side when they adapt to forcefully pulling their arms downward and back. These are basic technical cues that should be rehearsed and reinforced over and over again. These are the cues that I, personally, yell over and over again and emphasize to my athletes time after time. One of the keys to success in athletics is to be great at doing the basic things. So with that said, become great at the basic techniques.
Now, as the athlete continues to accelerate (change their rate of velocity) and approach their maximum velocity they should be just about completely upright. Ground contact time will become shorter and shorter. The athletes shin angle will be contacting the ground right at 90 degrees and this is the angle that forces the athlete upright into full position. The force will be going directly into the ground and returning in the opposite direction in which it was put. Therefore, force going directly into the ground straight down returns directly back up.
The key to maximizing acceleration is to get the athlete to understand force production. The more force the athlete can produce, the more powerful the athlete can be.
This is the foundation of acceleration. Let me know what you think!
Continue in knowledge my friends!
Charone