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Runners Taking Off

               The Start Doctor

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The start of a short sprint can set the table for success throughout the rest of the race. The top speed (max velocity) attained in the race is of the utmost importance, but the skill of executing and managing various aspects during the start and initial acceleration, not only impacts performance during the early portion of the race but also can put the athlete in position to maximize the quality and effectiveness of the top speed. Because of this, sprinters in the sport of track and field may significantly underachieve when they fail to skillfully utilize the starting blocks. There must be an effective teaching strategy because using starting blocks can provide quite a challenge for athletes of all stages of maturity and ability levels. If you don't want to take my word for it, listen to former 100-meter dash world record holder and Olympic Gold Medalist Maurice Greene in this short video weigh in on the challenges posed when teaching starting block use. Greene is now a high school coach, and he appears to be referring to his experiences with the athletes that he coaches, but even athletes at the most elite level have their difficulties with starts. Prior to his death, former Olympian and revered bio mechanist Ralph Mann did a video with soon to be Olympic 100 Meter Dash Champion Noah Lyles. In the video, Lyles stated, "we're gonna figure out why my start is so bad". This is just one of numerous examples I can give from those at or near the very top of the sport that expressed difficulty mastering the start.

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In the "lead up" to using blocks, like many I believe that sufficient attention should be spent on starting and accelerating from various positions without blocks, ie, standing, falling starts from various positions, three-point starts, etc..., before adding starting blocks. A variety of muscle recruitment patterns, force application aspects, and movement patterns and progressions should be initiated during the start and early acceleration that can be applied to the rest of the race, and beginning to develop those skills is an easier task without blocks. Jonas Dodoo does a very good job of describing a number of these patterns and skills in this video, and I will address these patterns and more during my various blogs on this website. 

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Understand This

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Pushing off from the ground to start a sprint obviously involves some differences when compared to starting from the angled platform that the starting blocks provide, and it is also very helpful if the coach and athlete recognize the subtle differences in what efficient sprinting looks like when coming out of blocks vs when blocks are not used, ie, how the hips, torso, and head move forward and upward through a sufficient range of motion in response to pushing off from the ground versus pushing off from blocks. Another part of the equation to consider, especially when blocks are not being used, is the surface being run on and the shoes being worn, but we'll get into that in my blogs.

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In my mind, presently, the gap between the "lead up" activities and when starting blocks are added, is such that it is very much at the root of many bad habits and "less than best" practices in regard to sprinting at all levels. â€‹One important difference is that when loading the legs against starting blocks, there is significantly more of a need to learn to distribute body weight to keep too much weight from being on the hands when in the "set" position, as well as learning to be in a sufficiently coiled position without being overcome by a feeling of tumbling forward. This often distracts the athlete away from being able to position the body to best launch up the track in a manner that lends itself to continuing on for the best race. In addition, for athletes that are successful in managing their body weight and who can explosively launch their body up the track with good technique during block clearance, there also is the difficulty of effectively building upon the momentum generated by the block clearance, and to direct it up the track with ensuing steps in the best possible manner. Many like to drag a toe to start the step after block clearance. We'll take a look at that in some of my blogs, so read on!

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A Revolutionary Product is on the Way!!

 

At some point during the fall, my company, Level One Athletics, will bring to the market a starting block that is designed to make it far easier to learn to use starting blocks effectively. The blocks can be used during track meets as well as during training sessions. Although the blocks should eventually become a staple at all levels up through high school, very importantly, the blocks are for all ability levels, as these blocks will even help address the root causes of problems experienced by some of the most elite sprinters in the world! Although there are two patents pending on the design, I don't feel it is wise at this time to specifically describe on this website, specifically how the blocks are different than any other on the market, but I am open to doing so when communicating with those in the industry with whom we hope to form partnerships with. Later this summer/early fall, this website will be professionally revised to provide a suitable platform to introduce the Level One Starting Blocks.​​​

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Technique

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Ralph Mann described two different factions in track in regard to starting. One he says, "advocates a powerful, explosive start that seeks to jump out and make steps as long as possible (Jump Start), and one that believes that the action should be a quick turnover action that makes the steps as short as possible (Shuffle Start)." He said that both starts can be effective. I say this to recognize that there is a bandwidth of acceptability, and I'm sure that many athletes that start effectively fall somewhere between Mann's two descriptions. In some of my other blogs I'll get more into the differences Mann points out in regard to the two factions.

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In addition, Adarian Barr describes some key aspects of movement in this video. He references gravity and the two falls an athlete should experience with each stride while running. A coach having a good understanding of this can use appropriate cues and wording to help the athlete to adopt the proper perspective of how this impacts each stage of the race. In my experiences, less than skillful wording and/or a coach's misunderstanding of subject matter can be counterproductive. Sometimes resulting in the athlete slowing down movements in an attempt to be aware of what the coach is describing. Coaches often are best served by watching and assessing the athletes and choosing words carefully if they must say anything. Because sprinting, ideally, occurs with a very high stride rate, I often qualify what I'm telling my athletes by telling them that they will best work things out when competing with others, and I add that at times they may say to themselves, "wow, I felt what coach was talking about that time", but again, things should happen fast through sufficient ranges of motion, with an effective use of power, timing and rhythm. Many times, I like to use general terms like "moving well", "moved away from competitors", etc..., to keep things in the proper perspective when talking to athletes about technique.

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Important Aspects of Starting Positions Are Shared to Some Degree 

 

Learning to position and balance the body, and coordinate movements to react quickly and to get out and up the track effectively and efficiently includes recruiting key muscle groups and utilizing reflexes to start explosively while using good ranges of motion. Moving up the track with good body positions includes applying forces effectively and having the coordination, timing, rhythm and general ability to effectively channel the various forces that are acting on the body. In my mind, learning to do this skillfully from the "standing start" position, not only can be valuable to sports where movements are initiated from a standing position, but can also provide valuable carryover to the 4-point and 3-point starting stances used during sprints, first without starting blocks, then with blocks. What I have found though is that far too many people neglect learning to effectively execute the standing start, but instead, settle for having to always roll or otherwise move into the start from the standing position. It is one thing to roll and/or ease into starts in order to spare the legs some wear and tear, it is another to not know how to position and balance the body for a legal start from the standing position. Failing to learn how to effectively apply force to overcome inertia from that position can deprive an athlete of a useful steppingstone in the learning progression. See "Standing Start" Blog. â€‹â€‹

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Some Limiting Factors 

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For sprinting, various limiting factors are critical components. Some of these factors are strength, flexibility, mechanics, coordination, and conditioning. Much of the information in my blogs pertain to mechanics, but I hope to make it clear how technical aspects are supported by various physical abilities that often go hand in hand with these abilities. I believe it is important for coaches to attempt to assess their athletes early on in regard to their physical qualities, and execution of fundamental aspects. This should allow the coach(es) to individualize instruction to some degree. As coaches, we love to find athletes with a lot of raw ability, but it takes a lot of skill for the coach to effectively nurture those abilities and help to effectively steer the athlete. When dealing with youths, age-appropriateness is an important consideration. Coaches need to be able to recognize various limitations athletes may have at the varying levels of maturity and developmental stages as they are trying to accomplish various tasks.  

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Flexibility

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It is important not to underestimate the importance of flexibility. For child athletes, their flexibility is most often very impressive, but with maturity, as the muscles and tendons strengthen, flexibility inevitably lessens. According to Ralph Mann (rest his soul)," The biggest non-genetic factor affecting flexibility, however, is neglect." He explained the critical role flexibility plays, stating, "If a sprinter is not flexible enough in their pelvic area to shift their hips forward at Touchdown, then they are forced to "sit back" at foot strike. This position not only shifts the body center back (insuring more braking forces) but also presents a "soft" (less rigid) body position which leads to time consuming hip flexion, as well as requiring the hips to move through a longer range of motion (both time and energy wasteful).

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There are varying degrees of flexibility and ranges of motion demonstrated by successful sprinters. Understanding what Mann explained can help coaches identify various methods of compensation athletes may use, as well as help coaches consider strategies to address root causes of various movement issues. Left unaddressed, some issues not only can hamper performance, but also can lead to injury. It is important to realize that athletes at all levels exhibit compensatory actions related to body structure/development, previous injuries, etc... Although I certainly am not an expert in this area, I hope to provide helpful information in some of my blogs. Last summer I participated in the Altis Apprentice Coach Program this past summer in Atlanta, and it made a huge impression upon me when I saw the attention the athletes got on the therapy tables, getting massages and other forms of body work meant to address various issues that if untreated, could have been problematic. â€‹â€‹â€‹â€‹â€‹â€‹â€‹

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Strength/Conditioning

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There is obviously a significant genetic component to strength, but a major challenge for the coach is to adequately address the static, dynamic, and elastic strength needs, as well as getting the athlete to apply these abilities effectively to help maximize performances when sprinting. Deficiencies in the needed specific power and strength can manifest themselves as collapsing hips, knees and/or ankles during movement up the track. Poorly conditioned bodies are also prone to injury. As with flexibility, being able to identify various functional strength needs can be very valuable, and as with flexibility, various functional strength aspects support good technique, ie; joint stability. My "Physical Development" blog covers this as well as conditioning. 

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In Addition

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Check out this reflexes link also. Forming an understanding of the roles that reflexes play, as much as anything, can help coaches better recognize and understand the high-level performances that they are looking at with the naked eye, as well as understand how their athlete's performances may regress a bit when learning new things. In my mind, as athletes get more accustomed to various positions and techniques, given the time, they hopefully will be more able to better coordinate movements, improve timing and rhythm, and ultimately better incorporate reflexes into their movements. In the sprints, however, especially in the 100-meter dash where the separation between competitors at the top level is very small, you definitely don't want that bit of regression at important times of the season. Hopefully coaches can identify both the positives and the negatives, weigh the risk vs the reward and proceed cautiously when correcting mistakes. At the elite level, many of the sprinters exhibit impressive reflexes and powerful movements throughout the entirety of the race while turning over at 4.5-5 strides per second. Some sprinters, however; are obviously consistently better than the others. I hope to be able to describe in my blogs a learning progression that can help identify areas that even elite athletes can improve upon and lead to an improvement in their sprint performances. Read on!

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How Speed Development Impacts Other Sports

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Improving an athlete's skill of starting and accelerating to a top speed in a sport where speed is important obviously can be helpful. This includes accelerating from the various game-like conditions. In a perfect world, though, I believe that speed training that introduces new aspects to the athletes should occur in the off-season where the athlete doesn't have to be overly concerned with quickly seeing results on the field, court, pitch, etc... Having said that, I do believe that the balls, implements, sport specific movements, etc..., need to be adequately incorporated in the speed training even in the off-season, ie; dribbling a basketball, soccer ball, defensive movements, etc... My blogs on incorporating speed into specific sports include videos of how some of the fastest athletes in those sports looked during game play. Athletes should not lose sight of the primary objective still being to effectively execute the fundamentals of the sport, however, there often are movement abilities and physical qualities that are parts of fundamental aspects. An example is how basketball players are to jump off of one foot under control to shoot a layup after dribbling down the court very fast. A fundamental of jumping events in track applies here, as well as to many "jumping off of two feet" scenarios. The speed needs to be under control enough to execute the jump effectively, and the last few steps are important for executing this. In my " Speed Training for Basketball" blog I go into the details. For injury prevention, there is also the aspect of preparing the joints, tendons, and musculature for the stresses that an improvement of speed may have when starting, stopping, changing direction, jumping/landing, and achieving top speed during play. My blogs address this as well.  

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My Blogs

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At the top of this page are the titles of a series of blogs where I go in depth into particular topics. Most of the blogs, however; are less than a 5-minute read. The exception is my The Start is Actually the first Three Steps blog, which is a 9-minute read and along with the Initial Acceleration Beyond the Start blog, pretty much lays the foundation for the rest of the blogs. In regard to sports that feature jumping, pivoting, and changes of direction, I suggest first reading my Care for the Knees blog, as it includes valuable information about the possible susceptibility to non-contact ACL Tears and how possibly to help prevent them. Even if you first read my Preparing Athletes for Sports That Feature Starting, Stopping, and Changes of Direction blog, you will see how it is necessary to get the information from the other blogs.

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That aside, my suggestion is to read the blogs in the order you see below.  You'll notice that I have numerous blogs listed before the blogs that describe the particular starting positions. This is intentional, in order to give you a good overall view before considering the starting positions. You can easily access the blogs using the "Blog" button at the top of this page, then click on each blog that you want to read. You will probably have to scroll down to the "Start is Three Steps" blog. If viewing this on your phone, click on the three lines in the search box at the top of the page, then click on "Blog". I welcome your comments, but I admit, this being a new site, I'm not sure how easy it is to post a comment. I plan to check and respond periodically. 

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My Availability

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I am located in Lexington, South Carolina. The school where I teach Physical Education and coach Track and Field begins the school year July 21st, so after that date, my availability is limited to weekends. You may contact me at youthspeedcoach@gmail.com to see when I am able to consult and to help train; track teams/clubs, football teams, soccer teams, basketball teams, etc..., as well as with individuals and small groups for training.

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Now Posted

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The Start is Actually the First Three Steps!

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The Initial Acceleration Beyond the Start and Pre-Max Velocity

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Rotational and Linear Aspects of Sprinting

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Effective Recruitment and Coordination of Key Muscle Groups

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Developing a Good Standing Start

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The Three-Point and Four-Point Starts 

 

Max Velocity (Top Speed) in a Short Sprint

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Physical Development and Resistance Training for Sprinters

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Sample Early Season Training for Your Sprint - Jump - Hurdle Groups

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Running the 40-Yard Dash

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Care for the Knees During Sports That Involve Jumping, Pivoting, and Cutting

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Preparing athletes for Sports That Feature Starting, Stopping, and Changes of Direction

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Applying Sprinting Skills and Speed to the Football Field

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Speed Training and Basketball

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Speed Training and Soccer

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Contact me at youthspeedcoach@gmail.com for other topics you would like me to address

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