Sprinting form workout

Here is the sprinting form workout that Anna and Shimmy and I did last night. I had done something like this with Erin before, and I think it's good b/c I'm sure most of us know very little about good sprinting form.

This is a sprint form workout that I like to do a few times before the club season starts each year. You look really funny while doing it but if you run through it a few times you'll really open up your stride and gain a step or two over the opposition.
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These will be in the form of 10 sets of 2x40m. Remember these should be fast but short of sprinting. Take a lot of rest in between. 30-40 seconds.

1. Focus on your belly button. Always focus on your belly button when you're running! This keeps you leaning forward with your weight on your toes.

2. Arm form. As before, each arm is pulling a rope and your elbows are moving straight forwards and backwards.

3. Drive your knees. Over exaggerate! Pretend your running the 40's and kneeing a 7 foot dude in the groin with each step, if you don't take him down he's gonna beat the shit out of you, so you better get a lot of power behind your knee!

4. Kick out. When your knee gets to it's highest point kick your toe all the way out. Try to reach as far forward with it as you can. (Don't forget: Belly button, arms, knees!)

5. Drive down. When your toe gets all the way out drive the ball of your foot towards the ground as fast as you can. This is what's gonna get you the extra distance in your stride. If it takes your legs a long time to get down you'll lose all the drive and just waste all that energy.
These next few are to keep you from losing your forward momentum. Any bouncing up and down or tetanus you experience while you're running is causing you to work way harder than you need to!

6. Keep your eyes on the prize! By now you're probably bouncing a lot. Pick a point on the other end of the track at eye level. When you run this set keep your eyes fixed on that point and try not to let your head bounce at all. Keep doing all that other ridiculous looking stuff.

7. Limp wrists. This goes for the rest of your body too. If you're not using it to propel you forward and its tensed you are wasting energy! Before you run this one wiggle your jaw and shake your wrists. You're probably pretty tense by now. Relax! (belly button, arms, knees, kick out, drive down, level head!)

8. Breathe! After all this you're probably breathing sporadically down the track. Let's focus on that now. Your body will take in enough oxygen on its own so don't worry about that, focus on breathing out regularly. For the next set breathe out on every third foot fall. Left, right, out, right, left, out, left, right, out. Keep doing all that other stuff too.

9. Put it all together at 90%! Belly button, arms, drive with the knees, kick out with the toe, drive down quickly with the ball of your foot, eyes on the prize, limp wrists, and Breathe!

10. The last set kick it up a notch think about your form but this is to tie it together at full speed (95-100%). You should feel your stride open up even after this one run through.

We finished with some abs and the air alert workout for the week.

Julia