First Push Over First Step – Maximize Your Acceleration and Short Distance Speed

 

When training for explosiveness in sports many people worry about their first step but really what you want to worry about is your first push. While what you are looking for is the same thing an explosive movement that will get you from A to B Quickly or to generate maximal power for jumping. While a sprint will generate power differently because they use blocks and  athlete needs to generate power from a more upright and athletic position. So as an athlete you need to generate as much power from your back leg as possible. If you wait until your first step you are already too late, you will have to wait until your first step lands to generate power. However if you focus on your first push, the driving off comes quicker, you will get that power immediately and by extension increase the power that your first first step now generates. Look at he image below.

 

Look at both legs with both knees slightly bent the front and back leg will likely be equally distributed. To move the back leg you need to push off with it meaning that this is your first movement the “first push”. The most important thing is to remember that the movement will not change much but you are changing your focus and your cuing. You are not reinventing the wheel here you are just trying to find a better cue to maximize power and potential.

 

 

 

The Biggest Bang For Your Buck in Speed & Run Training

Now that the snow is melting many people are out starting to run. It is important to start a smart safe run training plan. If you are looking to get faster I have posted in my old newsletters (http://www.revolutionconditioning.ca/news.html )some great articles on strength training for running.

While strength training, doing hills, doing distance and other training methods are important to improving performance. However many people neglect one of the most important things to work on that is technique, tempo, leg turnover and coordination. These things play more of a role in your running than almost anything else. While strength training is an important part and something I am constantly working on These attributes often make your run better and your times better. Think about your best races, sprints or games you play. When you are going fast everything feels smooth and effortless. Your muscles work in a violent symphony coordinating quickly and in sync.

Hurdle jumps help with coordination and perturbation 

So how do you do improve these things?

1. Learn the right cues, when starting a sprint you want to explode out of the blocks or out of the starting line. As you start to add speed you want to imagine you are driving upwards like going up an infinite set of stair driving the knees up and your torso upwards.
2. Start doing bounding drills, learning to explode off the ground and then react to the ground again. is key. This works for all sports, sprints and distance running. Try to add at least 1 day a week of bounding and explosive drills. For distance runners this is a great way to limit mileage but still work on your craft
3. Add perturbation to your core drills. Things like a partner can push different parts of the body while doing planks or stir the pot exercises.
4. Learn to sprint. This is especially true for distance runner. Now  you do not need to become a sprinter but instead learn some of the mechanics of sprinting with marching and skipping drill work on shorter distances like 400 meter repeats
5. Learn to crawl the link between upper and lower body is huge and bear crawls are one of the best exercises out there. Learning to crawl is huge, but make sure you keep your body parallel to the ground no hips up in the air.
6. Sled marches are excellent for coordination and learning to drive, however do not go heavy instead do light sleds with a weight no more than 30% of body weight as to not slow you down.

 

Adding drills that improve coordination, technique and turnover will give you a leg up this running season as well as decrease the potential of injury allowing you to stay running longer into the year and in your lifetime.

Vertical Power vs Horizontal Power

Sprinting requires two directional components the horizontal power component and the vertical power component you need to train them.

Vertical Strength & Power

When it comes to training the exercises that work on vertical strength and power are often the ones that come to mind. While we use vertical power in all components of sprinting vertical power is very important when it comes to absolute speed and braking. Training Vertical Includes exercises like cleans, snatches, squats and Deadlifts. So why is vertical strength and power important! First when it comes to absolute speed, in your full out sprint you will become upright in the torso and while there is some forward lean the athlete is far more upright, meaning the force applied and the force absorbed is more vertical. Where does this occur will depend on the athlete world class sprinter are accelerating further into the race up to 50-60 meters they hit their top speed. However for sports athletes hitting this top speed is less likely but not unimportant. If you are on a breakaway in hockey, hit the open field in football you will need this vertical strength and power to perform. The other area that maybe more sports relevant is in braking or deceleration. Here you need to slow down quickly and that means putting and absorbing force into the ground, the more force the faster you stop and the more energy you can absorb. The better you can absorb the better you can perform as well the more resilient you are likely to be.

Horizontal Power

When it comes to acceleration horizontal is important. While many athletes know that acceleration is key to sports training for it can often be neglected. Training Horizontal power can be done with drills like sled pushes or knee drives, certain hinge drills, kettlebell swings, bounding resisted sprints and agility drills. Developing these drill are important to develop that power and strength that comes from that dead stop to full sprint. These drills develop the horizontal force you will need to accelerate quickly as well as again making your body more resilient for injury prevention. These exercises often help strengthen hamstrings which help protect the knees from instability which again affect performance and injury.

Bounding Drills can be done anywhere like a hallway.

The key to any program is to balance these drills into a training program. A good balance of both movements with in each days program is key. remember a sport will use each directional strength at different times but no sport will be completely devoid of one of these directions.

5 Spring Cleaning Hacks to get you Ready For Summer

Summer is coming and that usually starts the inner dialogue of I need to get in shape for summer, the beach, wedding season or any other activities that are about to come. With that in mind lets look at 5 simple things you can clean up to help you get to your goals that are realistic, easy to implement into your life and will yield the best results. Try adding these habits into your routine as a lifestyle spring cleaning.

 

1. Limit processed carbs to days you workout. Processed carbs are immediate fuel for the body readily available for you things like pastas and bread are neither good nor bad but immediate and easily accessible for the body. When you exercises you will need this fuel however when you are not active you will not need this immediate fuel, so during days of less intense training try to get more of your carbs from vegetables such as squashes, beans and potatoes. Days you are more active add more starchy foods like bread and pasta.
2. Limit sugar -while sugar is not the devil it is made out to be at times. Sugar does need to be limited. Try to keep treats to twice a week, avoid too much processed food or low fat foods, as these foods tend to have more sugar in them to offset the flavor lost from processing or removal of things like fat and while a little sugar like  spoonful in your coffee is fine the accumulation through out the day from processed food will cause you to retain weight and cause you to crave more sugars.
3. Limit alcohol to weekends or before bed – alcohol is empty calories and if you are going to drink try to limit it too a weekend window. The other reason to stay on weekends is because once you have more than a couple drinks you will affect your sleep patterns. Causing you to have a worse sleep so you will need to sleep longer to get the benefits of sleep so on weekends you will be able to hopefully sleep in for a bit.
4. Limit Screen time before bed, sleep is key to any fitness plan. Getting 7 hours is not the entire story when it comes to sleep, you need 7 quality hours of sleep and that means limit screen time before bed. The blue light that emit from a screen keeps your brain up past the time you actually go to sleep so the quality of your sleep will be poorer and you will not get into your sleep patterns as soon meaning a less restful and healing sleep .
5. Move 20 minutes everyday, this does not have to be crazy hard and intense exercise but instead try to get at least 20 minutes of activity like a walk in. Bonus if you can do it in nature. Inactivity and lack of movement lowers blood circulation and makes for poorer weigh management. Getting out and walking can help you to keep weight off. Walking in nature can help you lower stress and inflammation indicators. Getting outside into nature helps your body heal and allows you to mentally and emotionally recharge.

Bonus find a partner to enact these changes. Making changes with a group will help you adhere and be more successful.