I know that we have been advised to steer clear of sprinting hills on concrete and instead to do them on grass. Is the main reason for this simply the concern about injuries resulting from concrete hills like shin splints and/or possibly falling? I understand that grass hills would be much better for the prevention of injury, but i honestly dont know of any grass hills in my area that provide the proper steepness level, but i have many concrete hills i know of that can be used. So…barring the injury possibility, would concrete hills be just as good as grass hills for speedwork?
I also have one more question–when sprinting hills i have found in the past that when i go from a flying start off of a flat surface and then accelerate at full speed up the hill i have gotten great results. When trying to improve acceleration speed, should i start my sprint from the very base of the hill or would it be better to jog from a flat surface and then accelerate up the hill once i arrive at the base of it? I am not a track sprinter so i am not worried about anything regarding the proper stance out of the blocks, i am a soccer player who wants to maximize acceleration speed and top-speed. Please help with these questions! Thanks!
Concrete hills are fine… they’re not as bad as running on flat concrete. Less impact.
Starting on the hill is fine. Hills help with sprinting technique.
thanks for the reply, i appreciate it…and i got one more question. To improve on acceleration, should i sprint slightly inclined hills or should i go for the steep hills. I know that this has been discussed on here before b/c ive searched like crazy for info on it, but i keep getting conflicting info from different people. So again, for acceleration training…slight incline or steep? Thanks for the help!
I stick with slight inclines. The ones that are barely noticeable. Big hills are ok but I don’t see any advantage to sprinting up a mountain. With the slight inclines hills you can achieve higher speeds and the technique correction is definitely noticeable. If you run on flat ground afterwards you’ll see what I mean. Your knee will come higher in preparation for an early ground contact.