This is Dr. Mike Young's presentation from the 2014 Midwest Speed Summit. Dr. Young is the owner and Director of Performance at Athletic Lab sports performance training center and has coached multiple national champions in Track & Field along with working with some of the fastest athletes in soccer, football and baseball. This presentation focuses on applied sprinting mechanics and how coaches can best make technical changes. The presentation uses biomechanics and motor learning concepts and relates them to coaching the sprints.

1. SPRINT MECHANICS:
WHAT TO LOOK FOR & HOW TO
EFFECTIVELY MAKE CHANGES!
Mike Young, PhD
HPC - Athletic Lab
Cary, NC
@mikeyoung
#speedsummit

2. •General Concepts of Sprinting
•Motor Learning Fundamentals
•Optimizing Acceleration Mechanics
•OptimizingTransition Mechanics
•Optimizing MaxV Speed Mechanics
•Take Home Points

3. GENERAL
CONCEPTS OF
SPRINTING
by
Hugo Faasta

4. BACK SIDE MECHANICS
Refers to the
motions of the swing
leg that occurs
BEHIND the body

5. FRONT SIDE MECHANICS
Refers to the
motions of the swing
leg that occurs IN
FRONT of the body

6. ACCELERATION
CHARACTERISTICS
• Velocity @10m: ~8.2 m/s!
• Ground ContactTime: ~0.17 sec!
• Height of foot @ 1st step: 12-30cm!
• Stride Frequency: 3.6-4 Hz!
• Stride Lengths: ~1.5m first step

7. *MaximalVelocity: ~12.8 m/s!
!
!
*Ground ContactTime: ~0.08 sec!
*40-45 steps for sub 9.80 100m
*Stride Frequency: ~5 Hz!
!
!
*StrideVelocity: ~300 deg / sec!
*Stride Lengths: 2.25-2.7m
MAXIMALVELOCITY CHARACTERISTICS

8. KINETIC PARAMETERS
• Ground reaction forces
approaching 5x bodyweight!
• Muscle forces in excess of
7x bodyweight

9. Sprinting 101
Small Mass
+
Big Force
+
Right Direction
+
Minimal Time
Run Faster

10. • To increase running speed an athlete must increase force to
the ground in the appropriate direction and do so over
increasingly shorter periods of time!
• Minimize horizontal braking forces*!
• Increase propulsive forces
FORCE DEVELOPMENT & SPRINTING

11. Horizontal vsVertical Propulsive Forces....!
and why you don’t have to pick a side

12. VERTICAL FORCE
MATTERS…
Rela%onships,among,jumping,performances,and,sprint,parameters,
during,maximum,speed,phase,in,sprinters,,by,Kale,,Asci,,Bayrak,and,
Acikada,,in,Journal,of,Strength,and,Condi%oning,Research,,2009!

13. from Strength & Conditioning Research
…BUT SO DOES
HORIZONTAL FORCE

14. THE LEG AS A SWINGING
SPRING

15. • Refers of the ability of the leg to act as like a spring
• Momentum is developed during acceleration
• Body will move at same rate unless acted on by
unbalanced forces
• Two external forces will cause deceleration
• Leg stiffness increases vertical impulse, shortens ground
contact and increases elastic return
INCREASE LEG STIFFNESS

16. • Increased vertical force
produces:!
• Greater displacement!
• Stiffer spring!
• Better maintenance of
momentum
VERTICAL FORCE
PRODUCTION

17. Vertical
Displacement?
The path of COM will follow a sinusoidal
curve when viewed in the sagittal plane
COM reaches apex in flight
COM low point during support

18. Vertical force production is
the key component of top-end
speed and that in turn
influences the ability to
maintain a slight increase in
stride length and stride
frequency
Dan Pfaff

19. Charlie Francis
To go faster, you need
more force. The more
force you apply, the
higher you will rise off
the ground.

20. Better sprinters may
appear to bounce
In reality, flight times are similar and
ground contact times are shorter

21. • Stride frequency is comprised of two components: !
1. Ground contact time !
2. Flight time!
• The best sprinters spend less time on the ground !
◦ Greater frequency
MORE SPRINT MATH

22. The benefit of greater force application is two-fold:!
• Increased stride length • Increased stride frequency
STRIDE LENGTH
&
FREQUENCY

23. To run faster there is only ONE solution

24. Apply More Mass
Specific Force to
the Ground!

25. Motor
Learning

26. Sprinting is an extremely complex motor task
involving repeated rapid ‘switching on and off’
of practically every muscle in the body

28. Dr. Ralph Mann
Sprinting fast is an
unnatural activity

29. Loren Seagrave

32. TRUE learning is
assessed by retention

34. Things to Consider
Intrinsic
vs.
Augmented feedback
Knowledge of results
vs.
Knowledge of performance
Novice
vs.
Expert

35. X

36. Internal vs External Cues

38. Feedback
Frequency

40. Clear.
Concise.
Concrete.

43. Accelerate like a
plane taking off

44. Elbow the short person

45. Hit the ground like
a sledge hammer

46. You’re running like
a hamster in a
spinning wheel

47. Make your legs
like pistons

48. Good Feedback is like Triage…
Don’t fix a hangnail before a heart attack

49. Optimizing
Mechanics

50. General Sprinting
Mechanics

51. •Better sprinters are front-side
dominant
•Better sprinters have shorter
contact times
•Full extension neither needed
nor beneficial
•Ideal touchdown characterized
by swing knee even with
support knee

52. POS TU URE

53. The first most
important
aspect of speed
is posture.
TomTellez

54. Posture is like the mast and rudder for the limbs

55. Posture
Trunk Erect
Head Level
Hips Tall
Posture

56. • Movements of the limbs
originate from the core of
the body!
• Proper stabilization and
alignment of the core
ensures appropriate
movements of the limbs
POSTURE

57. PELVIC TILT
Posterior Tilt = less
hamstring tension,
more QFM tension!
Anterior Tilt = more
hamstring tension, less
QFM tension

58. Acceleration:
What to See.
What to Say.

60. What to See
• Big split of arms & legs
• Forward lean (from the ankles)
• Neutral postural alignment
pushing through long axis of
body
• ‘Complete’ pushes & triple
extension
• Low heel recovery
• Gradual progression of body
angles

61. What to Say
• “Knees to chest”
• “Shade the sun”
• “Feel the feet behind you”
• “Push the ground away”
• “Legs like pistons”
• “Push, Push, PUSH!”
• “Drag the toe” (even though you
don’t want them to)
• “Step over the ankle”
• “Push yourself up”

62. Transition:WhatToSee.WhattoSay.

64. What to See
• Continued progression of
body angles
• Preservation of posture
• Gradual changes in limb
movement magnitude
• Progressively higher heel
recovery during swing phase

65. What to Say
• “Push yourself tall”
• “Tuck the hips”
• “Cheek to cheek”
• “Step over the ankle, step
over the calf, step over the
heel”

66. Top Speed: What To See. What To Say.

68. EFFECTIVE GROUND
CONTACT POSITION

69. What to See
• Upright posture
• Powerful & dynamic arm swing (not
locked at 90 deg)
• High knee recovery
• Front side dominance
• Relaxation in face, shoulders, hands
• Foot contact under the hips
• ~Vertical shin angle at GCT
• Pre-activation prior to contact

70. What to Say
• “Balance a bowl on your head”
• “Slam the elbows down”
• “Step over the knee”
• “Feel everything in front”
• “Imaging you have a rubber band
from you heel to your butt”
• “Make your eyelids jiggle”
• “Run tall and bounce”
• “Push up” ….or “Push down”
• “Be a super bouncy ball”

71. Creating a learning
environment

72. Creating a learning
environment
Try to coach without “coaching” by
creating an environment that
facilitates motor learning
Create contextual
interference by varying
trial type & order
Tools & specific
environments can
make motor patterns
idiot proof

73. Block Serial Random
Falling Start! Falling Start! Crouch Start
Falling Start! Crouch Start Falling Start!
Falling Start! Starting Blocks Crouch Start
Falling Start! Falling Start! Starting Blocks
Crouch Start Crouch Start Falling Start!
Crouch Start Starting Blocks Starting Blocks
Crouch Start Falling Start! Crouch Start
Crouch Start Crouch Start Falling Start!
Starting Blocks Starting Blocks Starting Blocks
Starting Blocks Falling Start! Crouch Start
Starting Blocks Crouch Start Starting Blocks
Starting Blocks Starting Blocks Falling Start!
Increase Contextual Interference to Enhance Skill Acquisition

74. Practice Variability?
Increasing Variability Enhances Learning
Surface
Weather
Block position
Gun vs Clap
Alone or with partner

75. FRAMEWORK FOR SKILL
ACQUISITION
Contextual Interference
Movement
& Task
Variability
Low Practice
Variability
Beginners
Experts
Intermediate
High Practice
Variability
Low
Contextual
Interference
High
Contextual
Interference
Wu, 2008

76. Use Tools And
environments
that facilitate
learning

77. SPRINTING IS A SKILL
SPRINTING FASTER IS THE RESULT OF PUTTING MORE FORCE IN
TO THE GROUND AT AS LITTLE BODY MASS AS POSSIBLE
BETTER PRACTICE DESIGN IMPROVES SKILL ACQUISITION WHICH
ALLOWS MOVEMENT TO BE AUTOMATIC, REFLEXIVE & EFFICIENT
THE WAY A MESSAGE IS DELIVERED IS JUST AS IMPORTANT AS
THE MESSAGE
UNDERSTAND THE BASICS OF MOTOR LEARNING BEST
PRACTICES

78. @MIKEYOUNG!
ATHLETICLAB.COM!
ELITETRACK.COM!
FITFORFUTBOL.COM!
HPCSPORT.COM!
SLIDESHARE.NET/HPCSPORT!
THANKS