Month: June 2023

The first step when entering the acceleration phase of running is essential, within us all is a fear of falling, this fear of falling actually prevents us from moving faster.

Try this at home and you will see the results in real-time, stand with two feet together and lean forward from the ankles keeping the rest of your body straight. As you begin to lean forward gravity will take hold and you will inevitably fall forward, so to prevent this fall we will put our foot forward and prevent this, but this causes a braking motion which is usually an athlete’s first step. So the first step causes the body to slow down which if fixed will lead to and increase in speed instantly.

This is corrected by allowing the body to lean forward from the ankles but instead of putting the foot out to prevent the fall, drive the foot in a backward motion pushing the ground away from under your feet. A good image is to think of pushing something heavy, like a car, if you try to push the car standing upright not a lot will happen, but if you lean forward and drive your feet back pushing the ground behind you the car will begin to move. This is the same principle that must be applied to the acceleration phase, and a great way to training this effectively is to run as hard as you can until your body is upright, this is called running through the fall which means that if you are running faster than you are falling down you are running though the fall and now you have free energy in the form of gravity and you are moving faster.

I share lots of techniques like these in my personal training, 1-1 running coach and GAA coaching sessions.

The first leg session will be initially dictated by an assessment of the athletes mobility and flexibility abilities. If for example there is an ankle mobility issue this may force a change in
the planned session. If there are no underlying issues that need immediate attention the initial leg session will look extremely similar to the following:

• Initial warm up including hip releasing exercises, glute activation and posterior chain release.
• Glute med activation through abduction resisted movements which often causes problems in the lower back due to a weakness and inability of the glute med to assist the stronger gluteus max.
• Hip thrust- this is the best glute focused exercise an athlete can perform. This exercise is very low risk and this allows us to load the bar without fear of movement pattern failure which often results in injuries.
• Basic back squat with both high bar and low positioning being incorporated. The high bar squat position will utilise the quad and glute muscles but will force the quads to do more of the work. A low bar squat position will force the glutes to do more of the work.
•  Box squat which will assist with starting from a place of inertia to maximum speed in the shortest time possible.
•  Single leg / Bulgarian split squats: a unilateral movement pattern exercise that forces a single leg to work which will strengthen and create more power during the running process which is itself a unilateral movement pattern.
• Nordics / glute ham raise, an essential exercise for any athlete that requires stable, strong and durable hamstrings. This exercise alone can reduce injuries in the hamstring by 50%, a number that no serious athlete should ignore.
•  Hip flexor variations – hip flexor strength is a vital part of the athletes over all ability to move at a high speed. For the leg to move fast the hip flexors must be both strong and fast.
•  Calf raise variations – The calf muscle needs to be stiff and strong, not to be confused with tight and strong. By performing a variety of calf raise exercises we can develop calf power and Achilles strength and durability.

Who is interested in speed development? GAA Teams, Beginners and Advanced running clients alike. Contact me if you would like to chat about your running goals – I would be delighted to hear from you!