How do you “program” yourself to sprint/jump relaxed in competition. I assume this is done in training through various drills. If so, what are those?
Thanks in advance
Well, every time you sprint or jump, you should strive for relaxation, until it becomes your second nature. It could also help to choose your competitions in such a fashion that you can treat them as little more than training sessions. Progressively putting yourself in more important situations where relaxation follows naturally. I suppose the coach also has an important role in controlling effort, immediately reacting to stiffening up when fatigue and such kicks in.
Competition is also a training session for long term development, thus it’s not always the time or measurement that matters; what matters is that you constantly become better at controlling the situation – better results follow naturally.
From my own experience, it seems that being afraid of failure is one of those issues that could become a long time hindrance. In a way, we’re also a little bit like machines, and when we repeat stuff (favourable or detrimental) they tend to become part of routine behaviour given enough time and opportunities.
Thanks for your answer.
What about plyos? when you’re doing light plyos, I assume you have to be as relaxed as possible right?
With plyos it’s important not to confuse relaxation with sloppiness. At first, in terms of relaxation, I would focus on sprinting, that’s the key. With plyos I would focus on speed/quickness (with quick/relaxed arm movements).
Ok, thanks. I am trying to improve my vert, not my sprint but I think same thing applies here also.
So you’re suggesting a few relaxed jumps before/during practice, or trying to relax ALL my practice jumps even if that makes decreases performance(short term ofc)?
Oh, okay, however if you do them properly, you shouldn’t experience a decrease in performance. I’m not so sure how much relaxation plays into strict vert jumping, it’s more of a power issue. But you could try to jump as high as possible (in terms of effort) and focus on relaxed & quick arm movement nonetheless. I think you’ll find out what works best for you the more you do them.
You could start the training session by focusing on letting your limbs/muscles work through their full range of motion, and then gradually turn up the effort.
Thanks, deffinately helpful
i say relax as soon as your take off…no need to relax before…run hard…
look at Mike Powel, Lewis, Howe, sabee…these guys work really hard when they jump and you can see it as well.
I believe that a lot of people confuse relaxation with flaccidity, laxness, that actually hampers performance. Rythm is king.
yes rythm is the king…totally agree…
In sprinting John Smith has not just drills, but whole workouts dedicated to RELAXATION. One of these is 4X(60,80) with walkback rest (reps) where the emphasis is on form (hopefully perfect). Another one is 5X150 where a pylon is placed 50m from the finish and it is timed from there and you are REQUIRED to relax. These workouts are run fast, but they’re about form an relaxation when running fast.
For jumps, I’m guessing the equivalents would be one plyo I’ve seen many times where you run several steps then EXPLODE in a single jump (emphasis on relaxation during the runup I would think); Another would be a whole workout with the runup-jump…and then the emphasis is on form in the air.