Tuesday, December 21, 2010

New Sled

Santa came to Soar a few days early and brought me the baddest sled known to man! Home made by my friend Travis with a steel construction beam.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrtbnogs7zQ

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Run With Strength

For those of you who read my blogs/newletters on a regular basis, you already know that increasing strength will also increase your speed. But, you not only need to lift to be strong, you have to run with strength. I see nearly 40 kids per day at Soar, and lots of them make the same mistakes.

1. Lose control of their core or pillar. This is called an energy leak and basically results in them either falling down or stumbling. In order to put force in the ground, you must remain strong throughout the entire body.

2. Step instead of push. Even some of the really fast kids I train do this. Instead of pushing (putting force into the ground), they take lots of tiny steps. When they take off from a sprint start position, they just step forward with the back foot instead of pushing off the front foot. Stepping is slow, pushing is fast....end of discussion.

3. They do not finish each stride. Each stride should finish with full extension of the ankle, knee and hip. Failure to do this results in shorter strides and thus slower times.

All three of these errors are linked together. For instance, if you lose control of your core, you can't push as hard as you need to. Stepping outside your center of mass will result in folding at the core.

Bottom line, you need to train in the weight room to get strong (foundational exercises, plyometrics, sled training). Then you have to run with the strength you have built. Kids who are strong should look strong when they run.