January 5, 2017 Categorised in:

We would like to share an interview with a guru who knows everything there is to know about running fast. Explosiveness is the name of the game. Here are the main takeaways:

  • Excessive knee flexion – flicking the heel back – shuts off the hip flexor muscles
    o resulting in a loss of power
  • Correct technique for running fast:
    o start by pulling the hip forward and popping the thigh, moving the leg from the back of the body to the front of the body
    o pull the leg forward before pushing all the way down
    o keep the ankle cocked
    o keep toes behind the knees and strike the ground
  • Use a camera to film yourself doing exercise and correct your position
  • The capacity to use stored elastic energy in the contractile and non-contractile part of your muscle is even more important than muscle contraction
  • The capacity to use bounce can be reprogrammed with a series of exercises aiming to teach you how to put big force into the ground in a short amount of time, in the proper direction and through the optimal range of motion. For instance:
    o countermovement jumps where you drop down and quickly bounce up
    o death jumps where you jump from a box, and learn to land on the ground at 120 milliseconds
  • The standing long jump is an exercise that represents your power-body weight ratio, predicting your ability to accelerate body mass, which is especially critical in the 100m race
  • Body type does not necessarily determine how fast you can run
    You can watch the full interview here.