xlr8: low COM when accelerating in football/rugby?

Other Sports
1

xlr8, I’ve read a lot about your physical training regarding football specific movement (eg. heidens, various drills).

Could you give me a basic breakdown of your running technique particularly when you’re near a contact situation and need to be able to stay strong on your feet and break the tackle?

Would you have a greater forward lean to get a lower COM? How does this affect your agility? (is it easier to get into an effective cut when you’re low like this, or more upright?)

thanks

2

David,

I generally try not to get my COM too far forward when running because it makes it very difficult to get sharp cuts and changes of direction. You have to control you COM carefully. Take a look at some of the greats in the NFL and you will see what I mean. The only time you want to get to an extreme forward lean is when you really need to drive through someone. But you do have to be careful. If you are too upright, you make a great target and it is harder to get going ‘downhill’ when you finally get a gap.

As far as my running technique when in trafic, I tend to try to chop my steps and make sure I keep my feet moving after contact. You hear a lot about guys high-stepping out of tackles, but I find that keeping my feet low to the ground and driving works better. The other thing is to make sure that you conciously turn on the jets as soon as you see a seam and accelerate through the hole. Lots of guys make a great cut and then don’t take advantage of it by blasting through.

I hope this is what you were asking for. I just got finished watching some video of my favorite - Barry Sanders; you can’t find a better guy to emulate as far as running style and effectiveness! Dig up some of his stuff on Kazza and be amazed…

xlr8

3

X

ive seen those videos of barry and you are right, awesome! have you seen any greatest hits videos of Bo? ive got the deion sanders one on my hard drive and as much as i couldnt stand the guy when he played, watching him return kicks and interceptions is really inspirational.

4

nightmare,

Your comment on another thread about the Deion was the reason I went to dig up the Barry videos. Bo is my second favorite RB all time, so I’m going to try to find some of his stuff next…good idea!

Thanks,

xlr8

5

cheers, I’m going to watch some football tapes. :slight_smile: