1.When coming out of a 3 point stance should i use short choppy steps or long ones?cause my freinds say i look like i’m coming out of blocks and it takes me a while to pick up speed and they told me if i shorten my steps i’ll be much quicker.
2.How do you get lower when your running the ball?do you lower your hips or shoulders or sumthing?
3.When doing stuff like juking or making cuts do you plant your foot hard in the opposite direction of where you wanna go then go off or do you just make light cuts.
Sounds like you are a RB. Watch Quinten Griffen from the Denver Broncos run, or old tapes of Barry Sanders. He gets very low while maintaining good speed. He bends at the hips and shoulders for when embracing the hit, or juking.
taking small steps is very good when in congested areas. it is easier to react and change direction if you are taking small steps. Watch Jamal Lewis from the Ravens. Very big runner that takes small steps in congested areas.
When you get in the free turn on the sprinting speed with longer strides as you get going.
1 - I was gonna use the Jamal Lewis example as well, he uses short choppy steps when breaking through the line of scrimmage and takes longer strides if he’s breaking into the secondary or on pitch plays, if you’re running in areas with lot’s of people it’s better to use the short steps so that you can make a quick move if someone is lining you up, and you probably won’t get to full speed while going through the line until you’ve broken through or unless you’re doing a pitch where you race to the outside
2 - It’s good to have a low center of gravity when you run, it makes you much harder to tackle, my team played an RB who ran low to the ground and he broke about 30 tackles and I’m not exagerating, run with all your strength forward so that you can take a hit and probably break it too
3 - When you do a juke head fake the way you’re juking too and do a hard leg plant on the ground, your leg should be in the position of one of those sideway lunges, that way you can accelerate strong off the juke, I use Clinton Portis as an example for this seeing as that’s where I picked it up
I’ve played RB for the past 2 years so this is just how my experience goes
First and foremost, your running style is unique to you so sometimes watching film of other running backs and trying to imitate them will just make you look plain ol’ silly. Eric Dickerson (and lately Adrian Peterson) are upright runners and you can’t argue with their result, while quentin griffin and barry sanders are shorter backs with a different style of running.
It depends on what you mean by shortening your steps. As long as you’re not overreaching and trying for too much in your stride length, there’s a natural balance between your leg frequency and length. While full extension may not be absolutely necessary, your foot contacts must allow you to accelerate at any moment.
Simple rule is think of accelerating as extending your body and coming more upright and decelerating is flexing your body and coming down. When you’re waiting to make a cut or are preparing for contact, it’s best to be in a position that works best for the demand.
You’re talking about two very different types of cuts. There are speed cuts and hard cuts so you have to have the ability to do both (very much like a wide receiver has to make harder cuts in man coverage and faster cuts in zone).