Does Sprint Technique Matter?

This was the topic of my presentation at the National Strength & Conditioning Associations Sport Specific Conference. Instead of a presentation that just gave coaches a bunch of speed drills, I looked at the path I have gone trough as a coach and how I view the importance and application of sprint technique to team sports. We have a number of different camps today although these are stereotypes we all have seen them (and I've been in all of them at one point)
1 - Pure Strength Coach - "technique doesn't matter wothout strength"
2 - Classic Track Coach - perfecting technique is essential.
3 - Sports Performance coach - do it. "the athlete will figure it out if you work them hard in the drills"
As I have grown through the years I can see there is some degree of truth in all of these. The key is what you take from each, and how you apply it. We'll get much more indepth in this in the February webinar, but lets focus on one question for now.

DOES SPRINT TECHNIQUE MATTER IN TEAM SPORTS?
Of Course It Does! If we want to really break it down, there is no coach out there who is going to same that an athlete take 15 steps to cover 10yds, who is up on a planter flexed ankle or on their heels, with a frontal plane arm action, is using the optimum technique. Now thats an extreme example, but haven't we all seen that athlete?

A better question would be, "Can We DO Anything About It?"

Can we change technique?
Of Course!In the video below we have a visually subtle difference, but one that makes a world of difference. This athlete is preparing for the NFL Combine and Draft. This was part of a Max velocity mechanics coaching session.

In the second part you can see the blocking angle of the leg in front is slightly higher and the angle between the lead and trail leg is also slightly greater. Whether this is good or bad is irrelevant for this discussion. Its changed. And it changed because of different cueing and focus by the athlete.

There are some that argue about whether technique changes matter or whether its just about ground reaction forces. Silly question because how do you seperate the two? This particular treadmill is self propelled and it measures both the vertical and horizontal forces produced.

So now we can quickly answer the question; did changing the technique change the forces into the ground?
YES!
This athletes forces changed a little vertically, but a lot horizontally. This in turn led to greater power output and higher top speed.

So YES, we can change technique and alter ground reaction forces, the the question becomes "Can We Make the Change Last?"

Acceleration bounds

I have always been a big fan of acceleration bounds. In this drill we get to help the athlete focus on developing a big force, emphasize driving in the proper direction, and can help reinforce the development of an optimal range of motion.



We did this today with our athletes getting ready for the NFL combine. This athlete is a defensive back and is very fast on his maximum velocity. However, since he is also so quick he often takes a lot of fast steps with no force production in his first 10. This drill is particulary good for him because it helps him reinforce an emphasis on power production instead of just fast. In this case he is doing a bound for a few strides and transitions into a sprint.



He actually does this drill in contrast with a 3pt stance start where he tries to carryover the longer stride and greater force production. Using it in contrast really helps to reinforce the focus into the applied motion.

Doing this helped him instantly drop his 10yd time by 0.11 seconds. He changed the entire rythmn of his first 10. Not only is this time better, its setting up a better progression through the entire 40. Now we just have to continue to train and reinforce so he does it at the NFL Combine when the pressure is on.

Ground Reaction Forces

Ground Reaction Forces are a key component to consider in improving an athletes speed. Today in the track world there are some big arguements in this realm. They can become oversimplified and end as technique training vs. force training. Using the Woodway FORCE treadmill, we actually get to see whats happening in terms of ground reaction forces.

One of the things that surprised me as we started research with this several years ago, was that the horizontal forces are more sensitive to differences than the verical. Coming from the strength side of coaching and having been a weightlifting coach, I had an early bias (and still do at times) towards the "force" side of things. "Build more of the right strength qualitites to improve impulse and they will run faster" My thinking and understanding have evolved dramatically over the last 16 years, but there is still a lot of truth in this.

This ia typical horizontal GRF graph during an unloaded sprint on the FORCE treadmill. It Shows some variability as expected from prior reserach, but no consistent pattern. The athlete is not displaying a significant difference between the left and right legs.
An interesting note is that this athlete had an injury to the knee about a year ago. They rehabbed and played the season. On intake, they reported no pain or problems in this knee. As they were doing the test. this one was bad enough that we could here it before we could see it. However we find this differences even when they are visible or audible.

However, what we often see is below. It doesn't take a Master's degree in biomechanics or motor control to understand there is a problem here. We have an athlete that is generating a fraction of the force on one leg versus the other. This athlete was getting ready for the NFL COmbine where 40yd dash is critical to his draft position and making money. Obviously this can't be optimal. This also has to lead to some seriously unbalanced force through the kinetic chain and may lead to problems in the hips or lumbar spine.



The real key step to any assessment however is how do you use the information to help the athlete. Research is great to help us learn and grow, but for each athlete the questions is "What Now?"

Some we do a number of things. First we will use this data with data from functional movement assessments, joint rom and testing, other performance tests. Then we address the specific strength, stability and range of motion issues on this leg. We will also probably do some additional work on this leg with drills like fast leg, gallops and bounds when appropriate.

NFL Draft Speed Testing

As we are in the midst of NFL Combine Prep, we are doing a lot of assessments. One of the elements of our assessment process, is using the Woodway FORCE treadmill from Woodway.

One of the unique things we get from this is the actual measurement of Ground Reaction Forces. It's self propelled and the athletes have to do the work. Over the last several years, one of the things we have learned with research is that many old injuries show up in un-even force production. We regulary see athletes that are sufferring no symptoms, but end up putting very un-even force into the ground.

This has several implications from un-tapped performance potential, to unbalanced stresses that may increase injry risk and overuse.

Mark Sanchez is pictured here during testing and he had great results, but thats not what we see from everyone.


We have tested 100's of athletes over the years, and while some we can pick up with our eyes and ears, those great tools don't tell us everything. It is amazing what we find, and even greater when we can do something about it. Finding an athlete has a significant difference, lets us target their specific needs and make a difference.