For a while now, my training has been focused on developing strength and explosiveness. I had always felt like focusing on sprint form wouldn’t necessarily have a great carryover to the field because of the nature of the game and the position I play (tight end). Also, until recently, my strength was inadequate so that was obviously the focus of my training.
Yesterday, I did track work for the first time in probably over a year. I’m looking to begin developing my technique in the 40yd dash in advance of potential pro day in 2009. so I performed some 10’s trying to get my stance and start correct and then progressed to run a few 40’s.
During the session, I felt like my running was very inefficient. Based on my strength and reactive abilities, I should be running much faster than I am. Interestingly enough, as I progressed to the 40’s, I began feeling some light “strain” in my hip flexors, and they feel “dead” today. Obviously, my biomechanics are so warped that my hip flexors are performing the majority of the work rather than my glutes or hamstrings. This is a common feeling for me during the season, that I had always thought was tightness from the 3 point stance and various drills our coaches have us perform that basically reinforce poor mechanics.
I’ve spent the last day researching on this site and others, and I have honestly come up with no information that addresses developing efficient running technique for football players. So, I’d like some help from the sprinting experts out there. What do you think would be the most efficient way to improve a skill football players running mechanics to atleast a manageable level?
The more you sprint the better you should get at it.
If you dont have a good coach that could help teach proper running then you must be a student of the game and spend hours studying and reading from other coaches and athletes.
1: Relax
2: Aggressive arm swing (drive the nail into the wall)
3: step over opp knee
Thanks man. I’ve kind of gotten away from the basics in terms of sprint training, so I’m trying to kind of teach myself some of these things. I’ve done some reading from various books at the library and have learned a lot. Any recommendations of resources for a beginner? I want to be careful to make sure that the information I take in is legitimate as I have yet to develop a discerning eye on the topic of sprint training. thanks
I don’t receive any kickbacks from them, but I would recommend some of the Parisi videos.
They are geared towards the athlete who is not in track, and are easy to follow.
well, for one thing, they focus on the 2 point start, and what to focus on during each of the stages of the 40 yard sprint.
Also, the “deceleration” videos discuss body control and change of direction, which is obviously not a concern for the linear track athlete
As a side note, I believe I got a lot out of the deceleration video, because I’ve come to believe that sport coaches (football,hoops, etc.) do a great job of telling the athlete where to go, but not coaching him on the most effective/efficient way to get there. I think I’ve become a better strength coach now that I’m trying to get the athletes from point A to point B - which is almost never in a straight line, or at one speed- in the most effective ways possible.
Several of our coaches believe that our workouts have gotten the kids “faster”. I’m not so sure that their sprint testing times would be that much faster, but rather the athletes have gotten better control of their bodies, and change directions more efficiently, so they appear to be faster!
