Lateral Start Video Analysis

Training/Competition Videos
1

Acceleration Video Analysis

Could you all have a look at this short piece of video with me coming out of my baseball start:

http://www.angelfire.com/fl5/setpro/_dvcr024.mpg

It is the first time I’ve seen myself run on tape, and I’ve always wondered why my acceleration doesn’t feel like I’m accelerating and my times are slow. My attempt in coming to this website and utilizing its training log and all of your minds was to overcome this deficiency. My thoughts on this are that I don’t get the extension from head to back toe out of the start that I need to, that’s why it looks like I’m chopping at the ground. After watching Charlie Francis’ GPP Essentials, I’ve found (but haven’t yet used) ways to develop acceleration. I believe that the stronger the acceleration, the better my max speed and the much better my time will be. This will take a good 6 weeks to develop as CF says (I think), and that is exactly the time I have up until the season.

Critique the video, use Windows Media Player, and stop it and view little bits of it. I aplogize about the first second being a blue screen.

I look forward to hearing everyone’s thoughts on why my running looks so funny (kind of like a typewriter) out of the start and what I need to do to improve.

I am a very hard worker and will do whatever you say.

Thanks,
–Smoot

2

You’re right. You’re choppy and it looks like you’re desperate to increase your ground contacts. Good self-analysis though, now apply what you know.

3

I think the main problem is that you’re struggling and either you’re cutting off your stride in the process or you are down on power. either way, follow the pattern in the GPP essentials (starting with the hills) and things should improve- keep us posted.

4

Will do. There is a dilemma here: I have worked with an ex-NFL player (http://www.prospeed.com/prospeed_team_rob.html) for seven months now. He is set in his ways (telling me that tempo will break me down and lead to injury, overstressing speed endurance [2x week sometimes]) and controls what I do every week (that he can… I run tempo anyway and don’t tell him about it). He is only beginning to develop acceleration with me, giving me 10 x 60 m w/ lean after I allowed him to view the DVD. This seems wrong.
Yet the facility is the best within 150 miles. He has everything necessary
to develop top-of-the-line athletes, based on his testimonials. I need the indoors with seven inches of snow on the ground and a strong coach (He can be one or give me one of four) to perform GPP Essentials.
Charlie, First of all I have a tremendous amount of respect for your accomplishments. I was amazed to find that the greatest track coach in the world had responded to my message.
I have a request, if it is not too much to ask: if and when you have the opportunity, could I please get a statement on behalf of me as an athlete telling Robert why I need nothing but to perform the GPP program over the next month and a half? I am a great fan of yours, and have now read all of your books, just finishing SpeedTrap. I have received numerous recruiting letters from your alma mater, Stanford, based on my hitting and throwing abilities in baseball as well as a 3.91 GPA and my size, yet speed still holds me from achieving my goal and time is running low. I will work until I achieve success.

I would greatly appreciate a reply that could be submitted to Robert.

Thank you so much,
–Smoot Carter

5

Its worth giving some local universities a call to see if they have a guest system set up. If they do you might be able to wait outside the facility and ask someone at the university to sign you in.

6

I’ll try that second.
Let me try this route first (Prospeed has all of the equipment in one place, mediballs,physioballs,sleds,all lifting eqt., PNF available, etc., as well as Robert being very familiar with me).
I need Robert to agree to follow through with the GPP Program, which was why I made the request above.

–Smoot

7

I can pretty much guarantee that someone from the outside, without all the training facts and unsolicited, telling another coach what to do would be the kiss of death. If he reviews the DVD- that’s a start- probably the best you can do, but the final program must be tailored to you.

8

Upps - the only thing I get is:

The page you are attempting to access has been removed because it violated Angelfire’s Term of Service…

9

Try this:

http://imageevent.com/scarter

10

Robert came through and accommodated to my needs. He has now watched the GPP video three times, learned to like tempo, and things are going well.

Thursday: For my acceleration development, I was run through a sort of SE workout by Adrian Cumberbatch, who will be in the Olympic Trials this summer. It was x 10 with no rest in between.

30 meters full-out acceleration, slow up, do 15 reps of an exercise (crunches, mountain climbers, burpees, etc.), 30m back is another rep.

We did this activity twice.
The idea was to have your final time equaling your original rested sprint time.
He had some term for it, like “Oxidative deepening” (deepening is wrong, I can’t remember the word).

The emphasis was to be quick and drive.

After we finished he noted that I am driving my knees upward. He showed me a photo from Sports Illustrated’s 100 Greatest Athletes of a Carl Lewis sideshot coming out of the blocks in Seoul warming up prior to the 100m. His driving knee is pointed to the ground, foot dorsiflexed, body clearly falling.

Today: Did coast, fast, coast. 60 m at 20 m intervals. x 4, with 4 mins. rest in between, then 4 again.

Pulled the 375 lb. sled x 4, driving forward and walking backward.
then 4 laterally both ways. 20m.
Robert says I am pulling more weight than a lot of college FB players. He says that when I pull the weight I have the right lean and am in the correct acceleration position. He says I just need to transfer that over to the track.

When I did the standing fall done on GPP Essentials, and I accelerated, I felt very weak (unable to drive well), and it felt awkward, like I’ve never done it.

Charlie, could I get some comments on what you’re seeing in these two workouts? I would really appreciate it.

Thanks,
–Smoot

11

Robert sounds like a real coach.

12

Specifically I would like Charlie or anyone to comment on three things from my message above:

a) Using this form of SE Work and using coast/fast/coast already (this isn’t used in the video until the 4th week
b) Pulling a 375 lb. sled in the fashion that I did and at a higher weight and better lean than very fast athletes and am unable to accelerate properly
c) The angle of the knee I described above used by Carl Lewis and how I described today’s weak feeling and awkwardness.

13

When accelerating, do you use your arms in a pronounced fashion?
If you don’t do that at the start, but cut off the action, you will end up running at a lesser angle. When pulling a sled most people use their arms correctly simply because they have to. Maybe you could try accelerating without the sled shortly after using it?

14

Well, you could view the video above, but I will try to piston my arms more. I do drive them to face level. Underway I am told that I have very good mechanics. Don’t know though if I utilize the arms accelerating. I will check the video. However, give me something to key me, such as flicking the wrist or elbow drive.

Someone have a look at those other questions for me.

Thanks,
–Smoot

15

I finally got to see it now and though it is hard to tell from the video-clip I would say that you are emphasizing frequency to much. This is really what every non-sprinter does and I struggled with it for a year myself. Everyone who saw me said that I was upright to soon and when I finally learned to relax and not force anything, the forward lean just happened.
In my case it was a question of mentality.
(The mechanics looks fine to me too by the way.)

16

I think Charlie would agree that in my case it is a strength/power issue. My nerves have been an issue in start/acceleration phase only because I don’t know how/have the ability/havent had the experience of doing it correctly.

I think a good month of GPP Training like above will begin to cure it.
In Speed Trap, “The 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th sprinters succeed based on ability…The 97th is worried about the mental side.”

If this is true then it is a strength and mechanical issue that hard and smart work will improve.

Comments?

17

Pulling a sled with 375 lbs on it has no bearing on acceleration as it will eliminate any elastic response (you’re doing well to move it at all!). While this may be good for match-ups off the line etc, it changes the ground reaction forces so that it has no relationship to fast accels. Resisted runs which slow you no more than 10% are an excellent lead-in to accels, but heavy sled work, if needed, should be done at the end of the session, as you’ll be cooked afterwards.
Easy, fast, easy sprints can be done fairy early- it all depends on how intense they are. As the Special Endurance requirements are lower for football but speed change requirements are very high, perhaps it makes sense to start earlier- if you’re ready.

18

Thanks so much for the note. I thought that that poundage was overdoing it. I’ll let Robert know. As he was an end for the Packers, it would make sense that he would be familiar with the use of the sled. I play baseball, which is linear and all acceleration (30yd to first, very rarely is anything over 60yd)
Tire pulls will be a better substitution (Correct?) Robert seems to use these for turnover, but I guess I can do accel work with these.

Again I appreciate it.
–Smoot

19

I’m not saying the sled is too heavy- for the purpose intended- it’s just not an aid to acceleration.

20

Charlie and others,
It’s been 2-2.5 wks. since I last checked in relating to your GPP Program, and I have been following it strictly. I have seen great strength, fitness, and flexibility increases. Yet on Monday we worked on starts and I’m still cutting my stride off and looking like I’m typewriting. They (the sprint coaches) are telling me that I just need to relax and run, to just clear my mind. I do that, having an almost Zenlike relaxation (for baseball, yoga and Zen are a big part of training these days, so I am able to settle into a relaxed phase easily), yet I still chop. They say to run like I do on the straightaway, which looks fast to everybody, yet my first 10m are terrible. My question is: Should I emphasize stepping over out of the start? They say I gain no ground, but my lean has improved a lot through your training. Anything else to think about?

Thanks,
–Smoot