With the summer upon us, many athletes are taking the advantage of the weather to train outside. For athletes working on improving their linear speed, this is the best time of the year to get out on the track. This is a three part series on how to increase your sprinting mechanics and get faster!
We’ll start with technique! Before you even work on your explosiveness or lift a weight, lets ensure you’re correctly doing everything you can to get the most out of your mechanics. Here are 3 warm-up drills to help improve efficiency in your speed workouts.
Warm-up Drills
A-skips
- A-skips are high knee kicks with reciprocal arm movement.
- They get your hip flexors warmed up so they will be prepared to fire fast when you need them too.
- It helps teach how to coordinate raising the opposite arm to your lead leg.
- Moving through this position quickly will help improve your explosiveness. (More on this in my next article on triple extension)
B-skips
- B skips are A-skips followed with a full knee extension out.
- B skips emphasize keeping the foot strike in the proper position.
- Accelerating your feet to the ground helps ensure you can translate the drill into your actual sprint.
Wall Sprints
- By keeping yourself at a 45 degree angle (what’s called your power line) against the wall, you put yourself in the best position for acceleration.
- By holding power line and working different marching techniques you can train your sprinting mechanics without going anywhere!
- Be sure to keep your hip drive high, your shin at a 45 degree angle, and your toes up!
Check in with Peak’s strength and conditioning specialists to learn these warm-up drills and have your sprinting form critiqued! Throwing these in your warm-up will help you fire your running specific muscles and keep you injury free by improving your technique. To help you further cut your sprint times down, check out my next upcoming article on improving your explosiveness by increasing your triple extension!
By Dave Albaranes
