Frontside Mechanics: Mike Young on Pelvic Position

Based on Episode 30 of the Just Fly Performance Podcast, a conversation between host Joel Smith and Dr. Mike Young.

Frontside mechanics usually get coached as a position to hold, and Dr. Mike Young’s research suggests the position is largely decided further up the chain. Young, a biomechanist who owns Athletic Lab and founded elitetrack.com, ran a pilot study on how the lumbopelvic-hip complex governs the swing leg, and the practical version of the finding is simple enough to check while an athlete is standing still.

Key Takeaways

• Pelvic orientation drives the swing leg. Where the pelvis sits changes what the leg can do relative to the ground.
• Neutral to slightly posterior helps. Young’s research supports what many coaches had already observed.
• You can see it standing. A simple standing test exposes the effect in seconds.
• Team sport athletes need this most. They take 50-plus maximal starts in a match.
• Strip the cueing down. With limited time, fundamentals beat gimmicks.

Mechanics are not optional for team sport athletes

Young starts by pushing back on a common assumption, which is that mechanics work belongs to track athletes and everyone else should just lift.

There is a notion amongst many coaches that work with field sport, team sport athletes that we don’t really need to work on mechanics. We just hit the weight room or do set rep type scheme workouts, and then our job is done.

His counterargument is a volume argument, and it is the number worth remembering from this episode.

Fixing mechanics and increasing movement efficiency is super important, especially for team sport athletes who are gonna take more accelerations in a match than a track and field athlete ever would in their competition. You’re looking at guys that are taking 50-plus maximal starts over the course of a match.

What the research found about the pelvis

The study Joel asks about was Young’s first-year doctoral work, originally intended as his dissertation before biomechanics work with USA Track and Field made it impossible to carry both. It produced a pilot study rather than a finished dissertation, which is worth noting when weighing the strength of the finding.

The study you’re referencing is something I did my first year as a doctoral student, looking at the effect of the lumbopelvic-hip complex on swing phase sprinting mechanics. We only got a pilot study out of it.

What it showed lines up with long-standing coaching observation rather than overturning it.

This research validates what a lot of coaches have seen over the years, and that is that a neutral to slightly posterior pelvic tilt can be beneficial on increasing frontside mechanics, or getting the knees in front basically.

The standing test

The most immediately usable part of the conversation is that this does not require a lab to observe. Young says the relationship is visible without running at all.

This is pretty easy to do with basically a standing test. You can very quickly see that the orientation of the lumbopelvic-hip complex has a profound effect on what the leg is able to do with respect to the ground, the orientation of the swing leg with respect to the ground.

That reframes frontside mechanics as something you can influence by changing where the pelvis sits, rather than only by cueing the knee higher during a sprint.

Cueing when time is short

Young is realistic about how much technical work a team-sport athlete can absorb, since sprinting is not their sport and the calendar is not theirs either.

We obviously don’t have the time to devote to it that we might have for a track and field athlete, where that’s essentially their sport. So I try to distill it down to the fundamentals as much as possible and rid ourselves of any gimmicks.

Paired with the pelvic finding, that produces a coherent approach: fix the position that governs the pattern, keep the cueing minimal, and let the improved mechanics show up across the many accelerations the sport already demands.

Frequently asked questions

What are frontside mechanics?
Frontside mechanics describe the action of the swing leg in front of the body during sprinting, often summarized as getting the knees in front. Young’s work looks at how pelvic orientation influences what that leg can do relative to the ground.

Does pelvic tilt affect sprinting?
Young’s pilot research found that a neutral to slightly posterior pelvic tilt can benefit frontside mechanics, which he says validates what many coaches had already observed.

How do you check pelvic position quickly?
With a standing test. Young says the effect of lumbopelvic-hip orientation on the swing leg is visible very quickly without needing to run or use lab equipment.

Do team sport athletes need sprint mechanics work?
Young argues yes, and more than many coaches assume, because team sport athletes take more accelerations in a match, 50-plus maximal starts, than a track athlete takes in competition.

How much cueing should team sport athletes get?
Less than a track athlete, by necessity. Young distills technical work down to fundamentals and deliberately avoids gimmicks, because the available time is limited and sprinting is not the athlete’s sport.

Related on SimpliFaster

• How to Improve Front-Side Mechanics and Force Production with the Wicket Drill
• Better Pelvic Positioning for Better Sprinting
• Verbal Cues: Matt Gifford on Coaching Speed
• How to Increase Sprint Speed: Ken Clark on Three Trainable Qualities

About the authors

Dr. Mike Young holds a PhD in biomechanics, owns Athletic Lab, and founded elitetrack.com. His background spans biomechanics research with USA Track and Field and coaching across track and field and team sports, and his work focuses on translating mechanics research into what coaches can actually apply.

Joel Smith is the host of the Just Fly Performance Podcast and the founder of Just Fly Sports, a former collegiate strength and track and field coach focused on speed, power, and athletic development. Listen to the full episode with Dr. Mike Young on Just Fly Sports.