xlr8,
with better starting mechanics, you could have run much faster. if they clocked from first movement you lost at least .1 right there. also, you seemed to “pop up” right away. check your email for that bench program tonight, i’ve been a bit busy with rehab.
Nice to put a face to the name! btw what weight are you? Your looking ‘uggh’ as a buddy of mine would say!
They finally posted video on the combines site for all of the ‘pro-rated’ players (including me!)
I created an animated gif of my start in the 40. Not my best effort. I wound up a bit (look at my left arm move backwards before I drive out) and then kind of stepped out of my stance and chopped off my left arm drive Perhaps because I was worried about slipping(?) I also did quite a bit of ‘skating.’ But all in all not too bad, I think. Comments or cues?
Enjoy!
Not bad for a guy training on your own…not to be a jerk, but I feel that your start could use a lot of work to have you test better. I will be heading your way in 2 weeks if you want any help.
xlr8,
you mentioned that you got some good shoes to run on turf, im wondering what they were? do you recommend them for running on turf?
espn3,
you mentioned a bench program, chance i could get it as well? id appriciate it!
Originally posted by gf_200
Nice to put a face to the name! btw what weight are you? Your looking ‘uggh’ as a buddy of mine would say!
I’m right around 200 lbs…probably a bit heavy for a sprinter and a bit light for a football player 
Originally posted by ESPN3
xlr8,
with better starting mechanics, you could have run much faster. if they clocked from first movement you lost at least .1 right there. also, you seemed to “pop up” right away. check your email for that bench program tonight, i’ve been a bit busy with rehab.
Yes, I think I did lose some time from my “wind-up” And probably did come up too quickly, but a lot of guys were slipping when they tried to drive out, so I was probably a bit too conservative to make sure I kept my footing. So let’s see: 0.1 for the windup and 0.1 for the popup… I should have gotten a 4.3! :o
I was out at the track last Thursday and doing some easy runs because I still felt fried from the combines. I ran one 40 and got a 4.4(h). Go figure…
BTW, I’ll look forward to that bench program you were talking about. I definitely need the help! I hope rehab is going smoothly.
Originally posted by athlete
xlr8,
you mentioned that you got some good shoes to run on turf, im wondering what they were? do you recommend them for running on turf?
I just bought some lightweight and cheap adidas turf shoes at a local store because by the time I figured out that was what I was going to need on the slippery field, I didn’t have time to order anything on-line.
I think mine were called something like the Speed Burst Low Turf (but I can’t find them on-line). If you go to Eastbay, there is a great selection of other turf shoes. Go to the football shoe section and select the turf shoes. I like as lightweight as possible, so I usually go for low tops.
However, realize that the shoes are only half the battle, even if you have great grip, you still need the body control to run a fast time. If I get some free time and can get the file size down small enough, I will post my shuttle so we can talk about 5-10-5 technique as well.
Originally posted by Clemson
I will be heading your way in 2 weeks if you want any help.
Yeah, that would be great! Where will you be and when? I’ll do everything I can to be there. I’ll be in the Carribbean all next week (through the 29th of June) but should be back after that. u2u or email if you like.
xlr8, I was going to comment about your arm action and then I saw your comment on trying to avoid slipping. Certainly it would be better to be more aggressive with the initial arm action though I completely understand your reservations about being too aggressive for fear of slipping in bad conditions. Your technique overall looks pretty good. Congratulations again on your showing at the combine. Also, I don’t know if it’s the camera angle or what but it does appear that even several strides into your acceleration that you are waddling-excessive side to side action with the whole body. If you could perhaps square up a little bit sooner in your run maybe you would be more efficient with your energy and ensure that your energy is helping you go from point A to point B in a straight line. It could be just the angle or my eyes playing me tricks.
Thanks for the tips Pioneer. You are probably correct. I tend to run (as one track coach told me) “like a football player” with lots of side to side movement. It’s one of many aspects of my technique I need to work on.
I also think that I tend to under-utilize my arms, perhaps as a result of running too much carrying a football. Safely carrying a football tends to impede full arm action.
Training on my own, I can handle the strength and speed work, but it is very difficult to self-coach technique…know any good coaches in my area?
Silky:
Indeed we are a band of brothers. LOL. My rehab started this week, and I am making improvements everyday. Are you a professional athlete? 3-4 hours per day 5 days per week is very extensive, much more so than what I am doing.
mikeh: no, i’m not a pro . i know that this rehab program is extremely intense, but that’s just what my insurance offered to me (and I’m glad about this!)
what type of surgery did you have?
They constructed a new ACL for my left knee. My existing ACL was completely torn and provided no structure to my knee joint at all. I first noticed the problem when the joint began to slip on me while playing basketball. That is about as painful as it sounds.
Anyway, they took a piece of my patella tendon and formed it into a new ACL.
The pain post-op was considerable for me. For about the first 2-3 days I took 3 Vicadan every 3 hours, plus two muscle relaxers a day.
any calls from scouts yet?
Nope, nothing. I was on vacation all last week and was hoping to have a message on my machine when I got back but no luck.
In any case, I was having some knee pain prior to my vacation and found out that I have a partial tear of my meniscus. The thing that sucks is that I can’t idenify any trauma or event that caused it. It jus started achining a bit one morning and got worse.
The good news is that the week off (sailing and snorkelling in the Carribbean) has done it a world of good. I am prety much pain free doing normal (non-training) things. I am going to try to start leg training again this week. My plan is to start with light (body weight) squats, then work up to something reasonable. If that goes ok, I will start adding in some tempo, and then move on to sprints again. There are a few local track meets coming up and I am hoping to enter a few but we will see how it goes.
Anyone else have any experience with rehabbing a partial tear in your meniscus?
Good stuff ali_p83wr.
I tore meniscus and cartilage a few seasons ago. Bearing in mind I live in the UK, so got free medical care, but I underwent 6 weeks of massage and ultrasound therapy. I also got treated by a physio who was trained in accupuncture. Beforehand, I was kind of dubious, but afterwards I was a believer! For the few days after the accupuncture session I had no pain, and could walk and run as normal. So, if you get the opportunity, try accupuncture. My knee is fully recoverd by now, and I only have a few games left in the UK football season to play and so far, touch wood, I have had no injuries! Watch this space though! My next message will probably me complaining that I shattered my collarbone or something! LOL!
There have been some questions about football lately so I thought I’d bring up one of the classic threads.
xlr8,
Have you contact any agents? A list of agents throughout the US is located at NFLPA.com. Go for it. Your numbers look good! acudave