Unlock Your Athletic Potential – Top 3 Sprint Mechanics
It’s one of the most practiced, yet misunderstood athletic potential unleashers in sports…sprint mechanics! You’ve probably done a bunch of sprints and felt really tired at the end but did your sprint potential actually get better is the real question? It’s easy to get really tired but does that mean you’re getting better? Not necessarily. Improving your sprint mechanics will help improve movement efficiency leading to increased stamina, reduced injury rates, and of course huge increases in speed and power production! Let’s dive into our top three things to look out for when training sprint mechanics.
Slow-mo video and voiceover breakdown of poor mechanics vs. efficient mechanics.
Full Hip Extension
One of the most important aspects to train to maximize athletic potential is full hip extension! Getting full extension through your hips will unlock the biggest and strongest muscle in your body…the glutes! Getting more glute engagement will not only improve mechanics leading to increases in speed and power but better body mechanics and glute activation will help take the load off of other muscles greatly reducing overuse injuries!
Body Position
Proper body position is essential when it comes to sprint mechanics. You’re going to want to look for a strong straight line from your head through your torso and legs and ending at your foot. If there are any kinks in the system this is going to lead to inefficient movement patterns. Over time this will cause you to fatigue quicker and potentially create more overuse injuries through other muscles like the hamstrings, quads or calves. Not to mention an obvious reduction in power output and speed.
Foot Drive
How your foot lands on the ground and how you drive off of that foot is not only going to dictate the trajectory of your body position but also play a pivotal role in setting you up for your next step. Your goal should be to drive your knee through on each stride and then drive your foot back into the ground propelling yourself into your next stride. Make sure you don’t over stride and heel strike! Also stay on the balls of your feet to create more explosiveness!
If you can implement these top 3 sprint mechanics into your training regimen I can guarantee you’ll start seeing huge increases in your speed, power, and explosiveness! If you have questions about how to maximize these 3 techniques or what exercises to add to your training program, reach out we’d love to help!
#unleashthepotential
Written by:
Rob Jost – ACE-CPT, NSCA-CPT
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Voorhees Flyers Training center.
The Hollydell ice arena, in the main building.
