Analyzing Sprint Mechanics with Field Sport Athletes

If you’re a strength and conditioning coach who still thinks your job is solely in the weight room, well, just find a new profession already. That’s probably the easiest part of our job, unless you consistently fuck it up by over-analyzing and fad-hopping.

I spend a good deal of my time trying to enhance speed, which in my opinion, will indirectly raise a lot of other bio-motor abilities at the same time. I like my time, so I try to be efficient and do the most with the least.

So, I’m going to post some pictures and Kinograms of some running from my athletes this summer.

These are from week 1 on the left to week 3 on the right. Obviously I wanted him to be more upright and tall, which you can notice in the trunk angle. I also wanted more powerful hip extension and better front side lift, which in turn will improve the remaining portion of the sprint. The same for his touch-down phase, higher head, tuck the knee under the butt more, and stiffer ground contact.

At the same time, his main sport is pro hockey, not pro sprinting, so I don’t need to get too crazy here. However, if we are going to sprint, I want it to be at the highest possible velocity with the safe(st), most efficient mechanics. Through analyzing how the biomechanics of the sprint influence force output and ground contact time, you can determine which shapes allow the athlete to flourish.

How we achieved this – SPRINTING MORE, obviously. I also used wicket drills and medball sprint marching drills. Tempo runs to feel the form at lower velocities and intensity. In the gym, I focused on trying to improve mobility a little so we could get the knee closer to the butt and drive the front knee higher. I also included some additional unilateral plyometrics and unilateral eccentrics.

This athlete came to me after multiple injuries to her foot. After filming her run initially I could see some things that MIGHT have contributed. I say might because I’m not a soothsayer and injuries are always multi-factorial. However, injury after injury and you will want to breakdown movement mechanics a bit and see what you uncover.

It was clear that nobody ever addressed her mechanics (high school coaches are amazing, right?). She was literally striking the ground with her heel and way too far in front of her body, leading to excess stress on the hamstring and all sorts of issues up the foot. We improved this mainly through Tempo runs and wickets, similar to above. Her program is still more generic as she still has a lot of room for improvement in terms of general strength and fitness.

Next week I’ll show some of the exercises I used after watching some of their early runs.