By Ryan Banta
Ryan Banta was inducted into the Missouri Track & Field and Cross-Country Coaches Association (MTCCCA) Hall of Fame in 2021. He is the 2022 USTFCCCA Girls’ Coach of the Year and two-time MTCCCA Coach of the Year. He is author of Sprinter’s Compendium and has a Master of Education from University of Missouri in educational, school, and counseling psychology with an emphasis in positive coaching, and is USATF Level II certified in sprints/hurdles/relays, endurance, and jumps.
“Biomechanical laws are like all other laws; live within them and you’ll do fine, break them and you are in trouble.”
— Donald Chu, plyometrics guru
You cannot be a successful sprint coach without understanding biomechanics. Perhaps that’s why much has been written about sprint drills, like the ‘A’ skip, ‘B’ skip, and quick-leg. While coaches have used these drills for a long time, the devil is in the details, and so we can make these drills unique by manipulating the details, such as surface, hand position, loading, and straight vs. curved and hilly vs. flat terrain. We can also combine drills and skills. For example, when training at maximum velocity, the exercises done at the beginning of a practice session should mimic the neuromuscular recruitment of muscle fibers the athlete will experience later in the session.
When an athlete runs at maximum velocity and is therefore recruiting muscle fibers as quickly as possible, it is imperative to protect the athlete from getting injured. The speed and forces sprinters produce make them susceptible to various risks, including muscle and joint injuries, because of the speed and timing required to reach important biomechanical positions in such a short time. Running with maximum efficiency at high speed is not necessarily natural, and so athletes need to learn optimal body-segment positions, which need to be taught appropriately. Another value of drill manipulation is to help diagnose potential issues during warm-up before athletes perform the main part of the workout.
A great drill strategy is to package your drills, setting two-day rotations for two weeks at a time. Packing your exercises this way keeps them fresh for your athletes and prevents them from overloading certain muscle groups. It also helps with focus on proper drill execution, preventing athletes from losing focus when getting comfortable with a routine.
Every two weeks, the packages of drills should change and build on previous skills. For example, progress from a walking quick leg to a jogging quick leg, alternating quick leg, double quick leg, or progressing from quick ankles to a quick leg, and so on. The drill packages should mimic your focus for that particular training microcycle.
Using drills to correct poor technique takes a long time, perhaps even more than 500 hours (USATF Super Clinics, 2004). If this is indeed the case, working on an athlete’s biomechanics must start on the first day of his or her freshman year of high school. It takes an athlete’s commitment to the process and constant cueing from the coach to achieve optimal mechanics.
The ultimate goal in training sprint drills is to increase movement efficiency (economy), which comes from sprinters’ improved biomechanics. It should be noted that efficiency in sprinting means having biomotor fluidity, rather than using less energy and oxygen to run at a given speed, as is the case in distance running. The more efficient the athlete, the less energy he or she expends on maximal effort or running multiple races in a single meet and the less likely to get injured. By moving appropriately, the athlete is less likely to fall in the “overflow” trap, in which an athlete recruits less efficient or inappropriate muscle fibers to run at a fast speed. These muscles might not be a part of the normal firing pattern or lack contractile resiliency to be used long enough without being overly stressed and causing an injury. The fewer injuries, the longer an athlete will be able to train and compete. The longer the athlete can compete, the more likely he or she will reach significant breakthroughs and set new personal bests. Between the sexes, anecdotally, women may be able to get away with suboptimal technique more frequently than do men, decreasing the frequency of injury, especially at lower performance levels, because they run at slower absolute speeds and have more innate suppleness (Fudge, 2017). Additionally, improved mechanics strengthens typically underused but important muscles in the sprint cycle. When done correctly, they enable the sprinter to optimize force production against the ground and improve stride length.
The younger the athletes, the easier it is to get them to ingrain and adopt new technical skills. Think of programming the body like programming a computer. Computer programming is done in zeros and ones; fast and slow for a sprinter. The more an athlete’s body is programmed to move fast, the quicker the sprinter will become. The opposite is true if the athlete spends too much time learning skills at a slow speed.
To correctly program the athlete’s computer, the drills must be done when the athlete is as fresh as possible. Do not try to teach these skills when the sprinter just finished a long interval workout, when energy stores and central nervous system are drained. Attempting to teach athletes new skills in a fatigued state will do more harm than good because the sprinter will learn unhealthy habits or sustain an injury. When tired, a runner contacts the ground differently and teaches the body to perform skills at a sub-optimal firing pattern, which can become challenging to reprogram.
Many coaches leave poor biomechanics alone by claiming that biomechanical anomaly is simply the athlete’s style. However, an athlete’s “style” may be a cover-up for poor mechanics. Coaches must cue athletes to move appropriately while running, changing the drill stimulus on a regular basis to avoid habituation and plateaus. Several “tricks” to accomplish continued progression include:
- Adding mini-sprints
- Different hand positions
- Changing surfaces
- Performing drills on the curve
- Exercises on an incline or decline
Not all aspects of sprinting will be trained on the same day, as we don’t want the body to get mixed signals. Rather, program individual drills, drill routines, and training blocks with modules
or packages.
Front-Side Mechanics
Sprinters tend to have many discrepancies in front-side mechanics (Mann, 2024). These discrepancies exist because elite sprinters project power, are technically better at “stepping over the knee,” and have greater range of motion during maximal sprinting compared to lower-level sprinters. As coaches, we should not simply ignore this as “talent being talented.” Change can happen. When athletes change their technique, many expose themselves to an increased risk of injury. How do you manage the transition to improved skill acquisition while limiting the risk of damage?
Coaches should periodize the teaching of sprint mechanics to help build the skills in athletes, progressing from general skills to precise movements. Each package of drills should be designed to build off the skills mastered in the previous package. Start with basic activities, adding new wrinkles and greater complexity as the athletes progress. Set up these skills to develop athletes, not just sprinters. The consistent variety allows the athlete to have a starting point with new skills, while, at the same time, he or she is stimulated by the slight tweaking throughout the season. Only give athletes a particular drill or exercise after setting up the necessary bio-motor foundation. An athlete needs to learn what an A skip looks like before he or she can move to a B skip or an A-B skip complex. Better yet, sprinters need to learn basic dorsiflexion of the foot before they can appropriately perform an A skip. Foot placement during drills is also essential. For example, sprint coach Dan Pfaff has his athletes use a full-footed landing when doing drills to help dissipate forces over the entire foot. As the sprinter increases the speed of the drills, he or she will naturally land farther up to the ball of the foot.
More Efficiency Equals More Speed
Training the sprinter’s biomechanics improves specific strength and posture stabilization that reduces the sprinter’s loss of speed near the end of races. Sprinting at high speeds is a series of explosive, well-timed movements with increasingly shorter windows of error as the athlete improves. All things being equal, the sprinter who maintains his or her highest speed for the longest time and decelerates the least is routinely the sprinter who wins and runs the fastest time. For example, the top three sprinters in the 100-meter World Championships final had a degradation of speed of only 2% of their maximum speed. Maintaining maximum velocity is critical, and biomechanical efficiency is essential to hold those high speeds for as long as possible. One way to practice this is to train in spikes. Although training in spikes may confer less protection from the large forces incurred when landing, it offers the maximum return in effort, intensity, and technique, and enables the sprinter to stay more on the front of the foot, thus making the athlete more efficient.
Maximizing Stride Length
Among all biomechanical factors considered, data suggest that stride length is the most significant determining factor that separates the highest performers in the World Championships from those who do not make the finals (Hanon & Gajer, 2009). Figure 1 suggests that a longer stride length is extremely advantageous to faster times in a world-class 400-meter competition. In Pierre-Jean Vazel’s database of more than 550 athletes who have run sub 10.30 seconds for 100 meters, stride length averages 1.4 times the athlete’s height. An athlete’s stride length relates to his or her power. When performing wicket drills or stride length runs, the muscle power necessary to achieve a stride length of 1.4 times height should therefore be the goal for developmental sprinters when training to improve stride length.
Stride rate, the other kinematic variable that affects speed, remains remarkably stable among sprinters.
Individualizing the different maximum velocity targets and stride lengths means a coach needs to employ several different wicket setups for the variety of different strides. Stride length is created by the vertical and horizontal ground reaction forces, per Newton’s third law of motion, as the athlete’s foot lands and subsequently produces force against the ground during the stance phase. Vazel stated during the World Speed Summit that he uses two drills to improve vertical or horizontal forces (Vazel 2016). He sets up miniature hurdles to improve vertical forces with increasing spacing as the sprinter runs down the track over the hurdles. The athlete running over the mini-hurdles should start at the first barrier, running as if he or she is performing an “A” run. The second drill also includes mini-hurdles set up at the goal stride-length distance apart from one another. In this second drill, the sprinter starts going over the barrier with a slow bound, blending into an exaggerated run and finishing with a high-speed run. However, be careful when planning a sprinter’s emphasis in training, as both stride-frequency and stride-length sprinters tend to do better practicing their strengths. Please note, the coach needs to be cautious to not over-emphasize stride length to the detriment of stride frequency.
‘A’ Run
The ‘A’ run should be a staple drill in any sprint program. It teaches a large number of positive aspects of maximum velocity biomechanics. The ‘A’ Run is a practice sprint with exaggerated high knees focusing on front-side mechanics and lifting the legs off the ground. The drill is intended to simulate what the sprinter will experience in a controlled environment when he or she reaches maximum velocity. Coach your athletes to do the ‘A’ run correctly. They must do high-knee drills while sprinting. Cues I often use for the ‘A’ Run are “be bouncy, stay tall, or run above the track.”
An athlete’s stride length relates to his or her power.
Some athletes will get stuck trying to exaggerate the movements in the ‘A’ run. The coach should remind them to keep the action fast. If an athlete still has issues performing the skills correctly, you can use mini-hurdles spread out far enough to maintain good speed while forcing the sprinter to lift the knees to navigate the hurdles properly. If athletes still struggle to learn the movements, you can record a video of them doing the drill. Then show them the correct model, followed by their next attempt at the drill, and another example of the drill performed correctly.
An ‘A’ run is difficult to maintain at first if the athlete doesn’t have the power or balance to move down the track in the correct positions. As the athlete improves his or her drill execution, extend the distance of the drill, with the maximum length capped at 50 meters. Once athletes perform the ‘A’ run technically sound and at a good speed, their sprint times should start dropping.
Drive for 8 into ‘A’ Run
After a sprinter has mastered the ‘A’ Run, have the athlete run from a standing start and add a drive phase to the drill. Using a designated drive phase to go with the exaggerated mechanics of the ‘A’ Run gets the sprinter close to blending the beginning stages of the sprint race. Start by performing eight driving contacts to ensure the athlete drives for a reasonable distance. Some athletes will drive for too short of a distance without a designated number of driving steps, and others will push too far. Eight-driving contacts are four left and four right steps. This drill can also be used to prepare the athlete for what comes later in the training session. If the athlete creates eight powerful contacts, you can choose to do more later as he or she masters the skill. Once the drive steps are complete, the athlete should flow into the fully upright exaggerated running mechanics of the ‘A’ Run. The drill should be used later in the track season’s competition or championship phase.
‘A’ Run with 5 Steps Low-Heel Recovery + 5 Steps High-Heel Recovery
This drill forces the athletes to think and pulls them out of their comfort zone. The key to this drill is that no matter the heel recovery, you must challenge your sprinters to keep the training dynamic, elastic, and quick. Runners can reach speed threshold by becoming hardwired due to consistent training rhythms. This speed threshold has been called a dynamic stereotype. Gary Winckler developed a special preparation to disrupt this artificial ceiling to push the limits of individual speed. You can give verbal cues as to what the athlete is doing in the drill concerning his or her heel recovery: “high,” “low,” and “go.” Give these three cues repeatedly until all the athletes have finished their exercise. As the athletes on your team wait in line to repeat the drill, their first move is the ‘A’ run with high-heel recovery. Then, after a couple seconds, say, “Low,” and the athlete will respond with a low-heel recovery resembling a shuffle, during which the athlete steps over the ankle in a rotary movement. Finally, cue the next athlete to start the exercise by saying, “Go,” and repeat the process.
‘A’ Run with Speed Change
‘A’ run with a change in speeds is another excellent practice that helps fight a sprinter’s dynamic stereotype. However, this exercise differs because the sprinter must keep his or her heel recovery high like a traditional ‘A’ Run the entire distance of the exercise. The variation in this drill comes from the speed. The athlete will be at fast and slow speeds at specific points during the drill. Constant change in speed forces the athlete to concentrate and does a fabulous job of exposing the neurological system to a new stimulus. As with the previous drill, cue the athlete in what his or she is doing at any particular moment in the exercise, with commands of “Fast,” “Slow,” and “Go” for the entire distance of the drill. When prompting the athletes “Slow,” they should slow down but try not to break the rhythm or mechanics of the movement. When you cue “Go,” the next line of athletes begins the drill and follows the groups in front of them until they reach the end.
‘A’ Run with Alternating Straight-Leg Run
‘A’ Run alternating into a straight-leg bound is an advanced drill used by more experienced sprinters needing a new stimulus. This drill requires a lot of coordination in a controlled environment. It also helps strengthen the athlete in areas he or she needs for sprinting, including the hip flexors and hamstrings, and does an exceptional job of warming up the sprinter for what he or she will do in the training session. As with the previous two drills, cue the sprinters about what to do at particular moments in the drill. That forces them to pay attention and makes them aware of their bodies’ levers at different points in space. This drill, along with the previous two, are very demanding, and should therefore be performed later in an athlete’s training cycle, which gives him or her a continued challenge at the end of the year.
Mini-Hurdle Rhythm (Wicket) Runs
To help train the ‘A’ Run positions, you need to force the sprinter to get his or her feet off the ground quickly without sacrificing speed. A common biomechanical flaw with developmental sprinters running at maximum velocity is that many have limited front-side mechanics due to a lack of heel recovery. Having sprinters run over mini-hurdles is one of the best activities to improve heel recovery. An acceleration zone before the mini-hurdles is essential to simulate the speeds the sprinter achieves during maximum velocity. After the acceleration zone, the coach should set up several mini-hurdles to force the sprinter into a particular step pattern with a high heel recovery. As the sprinter improves, adding distance between hurdles and increasing the number of obstacles will be essential.
Another strategy coaches can use is a standing start and a several wickets close together. As the sprinter runs over the wickets, the distance between each mini-hurdle expands. Progressively spreading out the barriers trains acceleration and stride length. Only add distances and hurdles as long as the sprinter improves his or her speed over 10, 20, or 30 meters. If the sprinter loses rhythm and/or speed, reduce the space between or number of hurdles. If the sprinter continues to lose speed, it is time to stop the workout. An athlete can sprint over the mini-hurdles and then have a cone he or she must reach after completing the first part of the rhythm run. You can also use the wickets during an interval workout. For example, the sprinter would run over the wickets, then, after a short recovery period, perform a near-maximal sprint.
References
Fudge, S. Diving deep into speed technique. World Speed Summit (online), 2017.
Hanon, C. and Gajer, B. Velocity and stride parameters of world-class 400-meter athletes compared with less experienced runners. Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research, 23(2):524-531, 2009.
USATF Super Clinic, Sacramento State University, July 2004.
Vazel, P.-J. Measuring improvement in speed athletes. World Speed Summit, 2016.
Mann, R. The Mechanics of Sprinting and Hurdling. Independently Published, 2024.
