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This summer, I am fortunate enough to work with some local high school football teams to coach their speed and agility training. After meeting with these coaches and discussing how to plan for the summer goals they set, I realized that many struggle with designing a field workout. Or maybe they don’t think they struggle with it, but I just disagree with how they go about it.

In these cases, it’s the strength coach I meet with—the one who can properly plan a weight room workout with an overarching long-term goal that is built with daily weight room objectives (upper body strength focus, lower body power focus, etc.). These workouts individually make sense and seem to build toward their longer-term goals, but when it comes to speed and agility, the programs aren’t as well designed. These coaches understand they want their football players to get stronger at squats—so they program squats. Then afterward, they program other exercises that help build a stronger squat—lunges, RDLs, and hip bridges.

Perfect. Programming for a field workout is the same process.

Start with a Focus for the Day

As a coach, what are you looking to improve that day? What is the desired adaptation? Charles Poliquin was the first person I heard say: “You only have one ass; you can’t sit on two horses.”

You can’t improve every athletic quality and movement in one training session—pick a focus, says @steve20haggerty. Share on X

You can’t improve every athletic quality and movement in one training session—pick a focus.

Whether you are looking to improve linear acceleration, max velocity, backpedaling, changing direction, curvilinear running, lateral shuffling, or whatever movement you choose, just pick one for the day. All of these movements are utilized in football and are important to work on, but for simplicity, I will focus on max velocity sprinting here.

Planning the Field Session

1. Choose the focus for the day (again, there are a number of different movement options here, but for this article, I will stick to top end speed/max velocity sprinting).
2. Pick a way to train that focus. I refer to this as the application—the drill that will carry over most to the desired adaptation for the day. Max velocity is pretty straightforward (I feel like there is a pun here); you can do full-speed sprints, flys, or sprint-float-sprint variations. In the early off-season, I like spending more time working on flying sprints, really looking to improve top end speed and keeping the total volume at max effort lower. As we get into the pre-season, it is good to transition more into full-speed sprints—putting everything together, getting more volume at max effort, and more specific to their sport.

Sprint-float-sprints are a good bridge between the other two: more distance at full effort but not yet a full-speed sprint. Of course, all these methods can be done with different distances and resistance or assistance to keep the stimulus new and engaging. With those three variables alone, you can create quite a few workouts.

3. Select a drill or two that will improve your application from a strength, elastic, or mechanical standpoint. I refer to these as the technical drills. For max velocity, you can work on the strength aspect with resisted sprints or marches—applying more force into the ground, you can program plyometrics for the elastic component, or you can use different A- and B-skip drills to improve the technical model.

Pick a drill or two for the day and bounce back and forth between your application and your technical exercises. This does not have to look like a conditioning circuit—not only is recovery necessary for the demands of max velocity sprinting, but fatigue is the enemy of motor learning for all of your different movement focuses. Although I am a fan of the Feed the Cats idea, I have also witnessed speed improvements in a training session with technical drills used between sprint reps. Using drills to improve the components of a sprint will improve the sprint.

Now, with that being said, doing 100 yards of heavy sled pushes or even 10 yards of heavy sled pushes will most likely result in a decrease in sprint performance. I think that’s okay. I think we are allowed to take a day to improve a specific quality in the hopes of a big improvement in the future. Especially in the early off-season, performing a higher volume of A-skips, B-skips, moving claw, ankling butt kick, or any type of sprint drill to build up the tissues involved can be more beneficial for the long term. These are more extensive plyometrics and help strengthen the hip flexors, hamstrings, and ankle for the more intense sprints to come in the future.

Pick a drill or two you think will improve the movement focus for the day and utilize both the technical drill and application as a superset, says @steve20haggerty. Share on X

In the late off-season/pre-season, I would use fewer drills and focus on more volume of sprints, which is what football players need to be prepared for in their sport. So, pick a drill or two you think will improve the movement focus for the day and utilize both the technical drill and application as a superset.

Field Session Examples

1. Full-Speed Sprints Paired with an Ankling Drill

Depending on the time of year and position, the sprint work could work up to 60 yards or could stay as low as 20-30 yards. Most of the time, I stay around 30 yards for high school football players—they hit top speed sooner than an Olympic sprinter and therefore do not need 80 yards to work on top speed. I typically keep the ankling drill at 10 yards in length. Sometimes, it is just as simple as 10 yards of ankling, and sometimes with a 10-yard jog into the 10-yard ankling—this leads to an even faster ground contact time.

I use this drill as more of a neurological prep or stimulus, focusing on quickly recovering the foot off the ground. If the players perform the ankling drill well, as a coach, you should see less backside swing with their leg dangling behind them. This drill should teach them to quickly flex the hip and bring their leg back in front of them as soon as their foot leaves the ground. I like this drill for football players because they tend to have a more forward lean with excessive backside swing.

I don’t think many high school coaches think of pairing a drill with a sprint to improve the sprint, but rather just sprint and cue athletes how to run better. The drill can allow for less cueing from the coach, an actual physiological adaptation, and enabling the player to think less while sprinting—it’s difficult to swing your limbs as fast as you can while thinking about head position, arm swing, high knees, heel to butt, toe up, and getting off the ground quickly.

I don’t think many high school coaches think of pairing a drill with a sprint to improve the sprint, but rather just sprint and cue athletes how to run better, says @steve20haggerty. Share on X

This workout would look like:

• 2×20 yards sprints
• 2×10 yards ankling
• 1×30 yards sprint
• 2×10 yards ankling
• 1×30 yards sprint

Video 1. During the ankling drill, I look for quick hip flexion. The purpose of the drill is to recover the foot immediately after leaving the ground.

2. Flying Sprints

Build up 20 yards gaining speed and run full speed for 10 yards—with butt-kick skips. Most of the time I keep the sprint zone at 10 yards with a 20-yard run-in for football players. Butt-kick skips get progressed from 10 yards up to 60 yards. I think the butt-kick skip drill is good for building up the tissues involved in the recovery phase of a sprint cycle, basically getting the hamstring to pull the heel to the butt as soon as the foot leaves the ground.

The more you can dynamically strengthen the athlete’s hamstring and hip flexor to quickly recover the foot, the less backside motion you should see and the more efficient the sprint cycle should look. Again, excessive backside swing seems to be something football players typically struggle with, and this is one of the drills I like to correct it. You want to use the drill to improve the sprint. A typical workout would look like:

• 2×10 yards flying sprint (20-yard build-up)
• 2×20 yards butt-kick skips
• 1×10 yards flying sprint (20-yard build-up)
• 2×30 yards butt-kick skips

Video 2.   With butt-kick skips, I really only look for knee up, toe up, and heel to butt. Groove that motion you see in the sprint cycle and strengthen up the tissues involved.

3. Sprint-Float-Sprint Paired with Hurdle Hops

My last example would pair together sprint-float-sprint (sprint 10 yards, stride or jog 10 yards, sprint 10 yards) and hurdle hops. Hopefully, we are all aware of the need for a stiff/elastic ankle to transfer force into the ground for sprinting: if not, check out this article. The unrivaled way to improve these qualities in the ankle is with plyometrics.

Hurdle hops, albeit an advanced plyometric, are a good way to do this. I would start with the sprint-float-sprint, 10 yards each zone, two reps of this. Then go to the hurdle hops, four track hurdles, one time through. Back to the sprint-float-sprint, I would either increase the distance of the sprint zones or add more sprint zones—sprint-float-sprint-float-sprint.

For this example, I would increase the distance of the sprint zone to 20 yards and only do one rep, then back to the hurdle hops. Then, finish with one more sprint-float-sprint.

I think it is good to mention that, as the coach, you dictate the rest between drills and exercises. Rest could be a water break or deliberate rest (telling the athletes they have three minutes before their next sprint). It could also be giving the athletes a quick coaching cue while taking your time to walk to the group, giving the cue on what to think about, and then taking your time to walk back to where you watch the sprints.

Use the Drill to Improve the Sprint

As a coach, you should expect to see improvements in the athlete’s movement by using this method. If you improve the athlete’s ability to have a stiff ankle, their hamstring’s ability to bring their heel to their butt, or whatever you think a drill does, then of course you should see that improvement in their sprint.

The improvements I really look to make with football players are to improve ankle stiffness, strengthen the hamstrings and hip flexors (not just with slower weight room movements, but more sprint-specific speeds), force production into the ground, and better overall running shapes. Football players notoriously struggle with hamstring injuries—improving sprint-specific hamstring strength and getting them into better sprinting positions should not only help to minimize that but also improve speed. Again, this is not solely for sprinting but for any movement you want to focus on for that field session.

Since you’re here…
…we have a small favor to ask. More people are reading SimpliFaster than ever, and each week we bring you compelling content from coaches, sport scientists, and physiotherapists who are devoted to building better athletes. Please take a moment to share the articles on social media, engage the authors with questions and comments below, and link to articles when appropriate if you have a blog or participate on forums of related topics. — SF

When laying out a training program, we always want to do what is best for our athletes and fill multiple boxes from the physical preparation checklist. This requires considering characteristics such as movement capacity, general strength, and coordination, along with several other subcategories that lead to more physically prepared and durable athletes.

Crawling is one of the most fundamental movements with which to examine general, foundational human abilities. Other than rolling, crawling is the first effective means of movement we perform as infants. Crawling is the first step that we take to get from point A to point B, though somewhere along the way we forget this and miss out on the value in crawling for athletic development.

When looking to develop the most robust athletes possible, crawling movements should be a cornerstone of training—especially in the training for youth athletic development. Share on X

When looking to develop the most robust athletes possible, crawling movements should be a cornerstone of training—especially in the training for youth athletic development. Crawling patterns promote total body strength and body and spatial awareness, and they create an engaging environment for young athletes to be challenged in and have fun.

Looking outside of youth athletes, crawling is still beneficial—though the older the individual, the less potential there is for movement development and quick learning (kids are like sponges). That doesn’t mean crawling won’t offer improvements: along with the previous mentioned benefits, crawling is great to develop hip and shoulder mobility, as well as trunk and spine stability in a slightly older population. These are things that I still want to develop in my high school, college, and tactical athletes.

Introducing Crawling with Isometrics

Introducing crawls is about focusing on positioning: teaching how to get into proper positions and then maintaining them when disrupted.

Introducing crawls is about focusing on positioning: teaching how to get into proper positions and then maintaining them when disrupted. Share on X

The two base crawl positions I recommend starting with are the bear and crab crawl positions. When labeling the isometric holds, we will refer to four-point, three-point, and two-point positions, designating to how many limbs you have for support. This also makes for an easy progression if you are in a group setting or writing a long-term program.

Video 1. Bear Crawl Iso Series. Holding the isometric for the bear crawl, you want to keep the hands under the shoulders, knees under the hips, and a neutral spine when holding each position. 

Video 2. Crab Crawl Iso Series. The crab crawl is similar to the bear crawl but with the hips staying off the ground during the hold.

When holding the positions, it’s important to evenly distribute your weight through your points of contact, especially when performing a hold with fewer limbs.

Holding the crawl positions for time should only be progressed to longer durations once the athlete has demonstrated complete control over the position. Clearly, a two-point hold will look different then a four-point one and allow time for the individual to gather themselves and balance, but they shouldn’t be falling onto the ground.

You may increase time from session to session or weekly, depending on how many times you implement crawls into the program. I start at a manageable 10-second hold and work up to 60 seconds for four-point holds. I have worked in longer holds, 75–90 seconds, but those were specific cases and more appropriate for those athletes.

When doing a three-point hold, you have to consider that if you perform each position for 20 seconds, that would be a total of 80 seconds; so, either give rest in between each position or account for total time, holding each position for a decreasing duration. If an athlete can manage a 60-second hold, they can begin moving with the crawls.

This is three weeks of a progression of time. Once completed, you can then progress into a three-point position and conclude with the tougher two-point position.

Taking it one step farther, you can also add resistance or a little chaos through partner perturbation if you’re able.

Video 3. Advanced Iso Holds. When adding resistance, I use either a weighted vest or chains, as these are safer, more comfortable options.

Crawling

Once positions are set, you can begin having the athletes crawl in motion. Here you will begin to challenge the positions that were easy before.

There are several variations of crawling that can and should be incorporated into an athlete’s training on a regular basis. The more practice and exposure to various crawling patterns, the more the athlete will gain from the movement. I typically keep crawling exercises between 5 and 20 yards. Five yards is a great marker to begin at, with most exercises being performed in the 10- to 15-yard zone, and 20 yards being where I cap the exercises.

Video 4 & 5. Bear Crawl & Crab Crawl. Once the distance begins to exceed 20 yards, fatigue begins to settle in and can dramatically affect the movement, leading to more risk than reward.

When performing the crawls, the cues will be different depending on the crawl, but universally you want to maintain proper, consistent body positioning throughout the movement.

Video 6. Spiderman Crawl. The Spiderman crawl forces the athlete to keep their body as low to the ground as possible. This helps with hip mobility and a high amount of upper body strength.

Video 7. Monkey Crawl. Monkey crawls allow the athlete to push away from the ground with their lower body while pulling themselves forward with their upper body. This is also great for hip mobility while achieving total body synchronization. 

Video 8. Shrimp Crawl. If you have ever done a Brazilian jiu-jitsu class, you have probably performed a drill known as shrimping—a movement where you essentially bridge the hips and curl your body in, moving yourself down the mat with your hips. While I don’t use the shrimp crawl for the same reason as jiu-jitsu does, it is an excellent way to teach individuals how to use their hips to create movement.

Video 9. Butt / Back Crawl. The butt crawl has been popularized by former powerlifter and coach Donnie Thompson. It is fantastic to help with lower body warm-ups and activation by shifting your hips up and side-to-side to create movement.

The back crawl is a humbling movement where the athlete begins on their back. Have them maneuver down the field like the butt crawl, shifting with their shoulders, lower back, and hips.

Keep these movements shorter in distance, 3–5 yards, as they are difficult to cover a lot of ground with.

Video 10. Plank Crawl. The plank crawl can be performed from either the hands or elbows and is exactly what you are probably imagining. The athlete locks themselves into a plank position and then begins crawling down the field, working to maintain body position.

Video 11. Tactile Cues. If athletes are struggling with the movements, including tactile cues with equipment can help teach and drive the intent of the exercise. An example of this is the commonly seen cone or object on the flat back when performing a bear crawl. Another option that may be easier for coaches to implement is the use of a stick to keep the athlete in position.

Video 12. Crawls in Various Lanes. Many of the crawls previously mentioned can also be performed in other directions such as backward, laterally, and in a circular movement. This helps keep the options fresh but doesn’t change the movement entirely.

Advanced Crawls

If your athletes are crushing the crawling exercises seen so far, here are five more advanced variations that you can place into the program for those they may be appropriate for.

1. Kettlebell Resisted Backward Crawl

While adding external load to crawls is not high on my list, this banded kettlebell setup is an exception and a phenomenal exercise. I first came across this exercise from John Hunt, an athletic trainer and professor who primarily works with baseball players of all levels.

Video 13. Kettlebell Resisted Backward Crawl. The crawl involves tying two resistance bands together and anchoring one end to a heavy kettlebell and the opposite end around the athlete’s waist.

The athlete pushes away from the ground, fully extending the arms, as they begin dragging the kettlebell. This is great for shoulder and trunk stabilization but also hammering at the connection between the upper body and trunk—a good alternative to get the arms overhead in a stressed but safe manner.

2. Disc Crawls

The athlete places their feet onto a pair of Valslides and begins making their way down the field while maintaining a strong body position. I introduce this exercise first going backward, where the athlete can push themselves away from the ground as opposed to pulling themselves going forward. 

Video 14. Disc Crawls. Each direction is difficult and requires the hips to stay engaged as you drive your feet into the discs the entire time.

3. Ab Wheel Crawls
This is similar to the disc crawls but this time the athlete has their hands on the ab wheel as they crawl down the field.

Video 15. Ab Wheel Crawls. Perform this movement slowly, working to maintain a complete flat back while in motion.

4. Plus Sit-Out

Adding the sit-out component to crawls continues to push the qualities of total body strength and coordination.

Video 16. Plus Sit-Out. This is also great to include some rhythm into the crawls, as they should be on a cadence of when to sit out.

5. Plus Drag

Video 17. Plus Drag. Dragging a kettlebell or sandbag during a crawl requires tremendous amounts of trunk and spine strength and should be used only with the athletes who have demonstrated the ability and capacity to do so.

Honorable Mention

While not technically crawling, I do find tumbling drills work hand-in-hand with the movement.

Video 18. Tumbling Drills. Activities such as rolls, cartwheels, falling, and other movements work similar characteristics as crawling but require different movement and landing strategies.

Applying Crawling

Applying crawling movements to games and competition is the final objective. Don’t be overly cautious when doing this with younger athletes—kids shouldn’t be worried about their perfect crawling positions when you tell them they’re going to play a game where everyone crawls around like a bear. Keep it stricter when the environment is more controllable (such as the isometric holds), but there are ways to keep games fun, yet safe.

Video 19. Catch Game. When introducing games, start from the isometric position in the same way you introduced the crawls to begin the progression.

A simple toss and catch, or even Simon Says from the bear or crab position, promotes additional challenges. From there, you can implement more speed and movement to the games, having races and chases.

Video 20. Capture the Flag. Another, more complex game is Capture the Flag. Using a flag or even a towel can create a competition for athletes to try to crawl into better positions to capture their opponents’ markers for victory. We also use this or ankle tag for a quick, fun warm-up.

Crawling is far too beneficial to be excluded from your athlete’s physical preparation. Share on X

Crawling is far too beneficial to be excluded from your athlete’s physical preparation. From helping improve mobility to strength and coordination benefits, it serves as a complete exercise prescription. It is also a fun way to enhance engagement during training sessions. You can follow the crawling progressions as you see fit and work to improve these capacities over time to benefit your athlete’s physical development.

Since you’re here…
…we have a small favor to ask. More people are reading SimpliFaster than ever, and each week we bring you compelling content from coaches, sport scientists, and physiotherapists who are devoted to building better athletes. Please take a moment to share the articles on social media, engage the authors with questions and comments below, and link to articles when appropriate if you have a blog or participate on forums of related topics. — SF

Welcome back to another episode of Facility Finders. I have a gem of a facility for you this month. I reached out to the man in charge of training some of the future protectors of our great country, Coach Conor Hughes from Army Football in West Point, New York.

This episode is special for me, because I have wondered how one of the last teams in the country to still run the triple option is able to train to run that offense at a high level while also training the future soldiers of the United States of America.

Design and Purchasing

The O’Meara, Malek, Dawkins, Class of 1959 Strength Development Center is 20,000 square feet split into a large main training space with 28 racks and a 60-yard turf area, a turfed multi-use area, and a nutrition area. Initially, I thought why such a big space for a football team to train? Then Coach Hughes reminded me that he isn’t just training football players but also cadets.

Their schedules are incredibly packed and intense. It requires elite planning for a team to be able to do sprinting and plyometrics in the same building as their strength training, but it was a necessity for Army to be able to train the number of guys in the timeframe they do and still have space for a nutrition station.

“The biggest thing we needed was space and racks,” Coach Hughes explained. “With the time restrictions the cadets are under, we need to be able to handle large groups of athletes all lifting at the same time. That is why we try to have everything our athletes need for the workout right there on their rack. If we have a group of 100 guys lifting at once, whatever piece of equipment we are using we need to have 20 of.”

Another planning marvel that Army had to figure out was how to make this second-story weight room work effectively. Yes, I said it, this beauty is not on the bottom floor of the building. This was something completed before Coach Hughes arrived at West Point, but for the program to have the most maximized space, it was a necessity. The logistics behind this design came from the partnership they created with PLAE flooring.

Another planning marvel that Army had to figure out was how to make this second-story weight room work effectively. The logistics behind this design came from a partnership with PLAE flooring. Share on X

“The weight room on the second floor produces its own set of challenges, with our locker room and our athletic training room underneath it—every time we dropped a clean, it sounded like a bomb going off in those two areas,” Coach Hughes said. “We worked with PLAE to develop a unique system, which is multiple layers of different thicknesses of foam for our clean drop zones, our platforms, and our turf space, so under our floor is about 8 inches of foam padding. PLAE has been outstanding throughout the entire process. Anytime there is an issue with the floor, PLAE comes and immediately fixes it.”

When deciding what racks to go with, Army chose to partner with Sorinex Exercise Equipment out of Lexington, South Carolina. This was a simple choice because of the quality that comes with Sorinex and their ability to create what needs to happen at that rack. The ability to add things like jammer arms and different pull-up handles or even to squat in the power rack and clean on the platform allows for guys to be constantly moving. Also, the purchasing power that comes with Sorinex is next-level; because of the size of the space, Army will not ever buy just one of something, they will need 20+. So, they need someone to be able to handle that type of volume.

Specialty Equipment

Coach Hughes told me that with the different training cycles his guys go through, supporting the ability to run the triple option at a nationally ranked level means needing special equipment and A LOT of it. He talked about the Run Rockets, Tendo units, and PowerBlocks that go up to 175 pounds (I need to get my hands on those), Keiser functional trainers, and specialty bars like the Kabuki Safety Bar, as well as different training bars (Olympic and Power bars). The crazy thing is that EVERY rack has all this stuff—that way, those 4–5 athletes have access to everything they need for their program in that space.

This is the streamlined process that it takes to train effectively and efficiently at the high level as they do. The Run Rockets are an ideal product to use to help you train speed indoors: the resisted sprint not only helps in acceleration but also enables athletes to run without needing 80–100 yards of turf and can be used to help train things like sprint mechanics or even crawls.

“Our Kabuki bars have been outstanding for us to do any hand-assisted type squats, but also for our guys with an upper-body injury to be able to train the lower body,” Coach Hughes said. “The Tendo units we only really use when we are doing our secondary squatting and benching movements, and it is a dynamic effort movement. KISS principle the majority of the time—we give them a percentage and a speed and say move it faster than X, and they will adjust the weights up or down based on the speed. The Keisers are a huge space-saver for us; they are easy to set up and the exercise selection opportunities are endless.”

Finally, the unique pieces of equipment in this weight room are the BEAT NAVY training plates. This is a rivalry that has stood the test of time and continues to this day. This, like anything, is a choice that is made to serve a specific purpose—for Army, the plates deliver a daily reminder to handle business and beat Navy.

“You cannot walk 50 feet at West Point without seeing Beat Navy; it is the best rivalry in sports,” Coach Hughes adds. “That game is electric. Every game on our schedule is important, but the Army-Navy game is the highest of highs when you win it, and the lowest of lows when you lose it. Everyone involved with Army football has to bring a Beat Navy mentality to every task they do.”

Takeaways

Coach Hughes was a valuable resource. I enjoyed getting to talk to him about all the little details that make his training facility special, and his passion for his athletes can be heard in the way he talks about the space.

“It needs to always work; you need to always be able to take your population from their origin to their destination,” Coach Hughes told me. “The fancier it is, the more likely you will have to make costly repairs: power windows break, but crank windows will always work. Build a solid base of equipment you know is always going to work, and as your budget increases, then get fancier.”

Power windows break, but crank windows will always work. Build a solid base of equipment you know is always going to work, and as your budget increases, then get fancier. Share on X

This idea gets lost many times because we all chase the “newest and best” without thinking about the longevity of equipment and products. Thank you again for following this series, and as always, if there are more details that I can pass along for ya’ll, please let me know!

Since you’re here…
…we have a small favor to ask. More people are reading SimpliFaster than ever, and each week we bring you compelling content from coaches, sport scientists, and physiotherapists who are devoted to building better athletes. Please take a moment to share the articles on social media, engage the authors with questions and comments below, and link to articles when appropriate if you have a blog or participate on forums of related topics. — SF

As a high school athlete, I was clueless. I ate all the wrong things, almost never warmed up properly, and didn’t push myself nearly hard enough in practice. Despite these realities, I was a fixture in both hurdle events and the 4×200 and 4×400 meter relay teams during my junior and senior years.

As a young coach, I wasn’t a whole lot better; however, I’ve been lucky to have great mentors who have taught me a lot and given me opportunities to lead. I’ve had some decent success teaching kids how to hurdle, developed a race plan for the 300-meter hurdles, and evolved in my sprint training, becoming heavily influenced by Tony Holler’s Feed the Cats philosophy for everything from the 60 to the 400.

But as much as I’ve grown, for the first 15 years of my career, there was one nut I couldn’t seem to crack: the best way to get the stick around the track in the 4×200 meter relay.

For the first 15 years of my career, there was one nut I couldn’t seem to crack: the best way to get the stick around the track in the 4x200 meter relay. Enter the fly-by exchange, says @TrackCoachTG. Share on X

The 4×200 is not the 4×100. And while this is an almost insultingly obvious statement, along with many other coaches, I’ve been guilty of running those two exchanges in very similar fashion—as a blind exchange with a push pass from the incoming to the outgoing runner. Simply cut the outgoing runner’s “go-mark” a little shorter than in the 4×100, I thought, and the stick should get around the track safely. But this led to all kinds of problems that I would be willing to bet almost every coach has experienced:

• The outgoing runner leaves early.
• The outgoing runner leaves on time but leaves too fast.
• The incoming runner is inexplicably tired at the end of their leg.
• The incoming runner is running well but is so nervous about not being able to catch their teammate, they shout “go slow!”
• The outgoing runner is so nervous that the incoming runner is tired that they barely move at all.

All these problems mean one thing: The outgoing runner must stop or slow down to keep from running away from their teammate and get the stick inside the zone. This brings your race progress to a standstill (or at least a massive deceleration).

The 4×200 is also not the 4×400. I know you know this. But another approach to the 4×200 exchange is to treat it like a sped-up 4×400 with an open exchange, or a hybrid approach where the outgoing runner takes off, then turns and looks back to get the baton from the incoming runner. In my opinion, this is a much safer option than the blind exchange, but it still leaves something to be desired, since running sideways is slower than sprinting straight ahead—also, turning back to look for the baton doesn’t help acceleration.

Many teams run variations of these exchanges. And while they are reasonably safe, if well-executed, consider this question: What is the goal of your relay exchanges—to play it safe or to be fast?

I think every coach would agree: It doesn’t matter how fast your kids are. A slow stick destroys relay times. But the same is also true of a dropped baton, and given the choice between a slow baton and one that’s bouncing on the track, many coaches will opt for the safest exchange. After all, a slow baton is a bummer, but a dropped baton or a zone violation is a death sentence.

But what if I told you that you don’t have to choose between safety and speed?

What is the goal of your relay exchanges—to play it safe or to be fast? What if I told you that you don’t have to choose between safety and speed? asks @TrackCoachTG. Share on X

You can have it all. You can ensure that your outgoing runner will never leave your incoming runner in the dust, and the baton will move fast through the entire zone without any slowdowns, turn-arounds, or (heaven forbid) screeching halts at the end of the zone. All you have to do is implement the fly-by exchange.

Learning the Fly-By Exchange

Like so many good ideas in coaching, the fly-by exchange is one that I stole. Several years back, I was coaching in Illinois at Monticello High School, and I saw something at a meet I’d never seen before. I watched the sprint relay teams from Champaign Centennial destroy the field using a goofy handoff where the incoming runner actually ran past the outgoing runner. I watched those sprint relay teams every chance I got for the next two seasons, and I loved the efficiency with which the stick moved through the zone. They never had a bad exchange. At the IHSA State Meet in 2015, the Centennial boys ran 1:29.22 in the 4×200, good enough for a seventh-place finish. The seed had been planted. The idea has been growing inside of me ever since.

In 2021, I took over as the Head Track and Field Coach at Kalamazoo Central High School. It was a COVID-19-impacted year, and our first practice of the season was April 5, with the MHSAA State Finals exactly two months later. We had some talented athletes on that squad, but we certainly weren’t world-beaters. Still, I felt like we had enough depth that we could find some modest success in the sprint relays.

But it wouldn’t come easily: The last time we had a sprint relay team qualify for the state meet was in 2014. After seeing our first attempt in the 4×200 fall victim to the relay-killing issues I mentioned earlier, I knew we couldn’t afford to have poor handoffs and sniff success. So, I got to work.

I used my old Illinois connections to learn that the mad scientist behind Champaign Centennial’s unorthodox exchanges was Mike Shine. An assistant at Centennial, Mike previously had collegiate coaching stints at West Point, Penn State, and the University of Illinois before joining the high school ranks and forever changing my perspective on relay handoffs. Not only that, but he was a silver medalist in the 1976 Olympics in the 400-meter hurdles. I am almost embarrassed to admit that I knew none of this at the time—I just knew I needed to talk to him.

With the help of a former colleague from Monticello, I was eventually able to get Mike’s number and pick his brain. To be clear, Mike happily agreed to pass his number along and was just as happy to talk to me. I’m not a stalker. He may never read this, but I have to give him credit regardless. After talking to him a couple of times, I knew it was time to implement the fly-by exchange in our sprint program. We haven’t looked back since.

But enough about my escapades as an amateur sleuth. Let’s talk about relays.

What Is a Fly-By Exchange, Why Does It Work, and How Can You Implement It?

A fly-by exchange inverts the standard operating procedure for a sprint relay. In normal circumstances, the outgoing runner takes off sprinting when the incoming runner hits a specific “go-mark.” The incoming runner then chases the outgoing runner and places the baton in their hand in any number of ways, be it via push-pass, upsweep, or some other technique. The idea is that the incoming runner will be able to catch the outgoing runner simply by virtue of the fact that the outgoing runner is starting from a static position as the incoming runner is flying toward the exchange zone. But in a fly-by exchange, the incoming runner overtakes the outgoing runner and finishes through the end of the zone; it is the outgoing runner who must chase the baton and retrieve it from the incoming runner before the exchange zone expires.

In a fly-by exchange, it is the outgoing runner who must chase the baton and retrieve it from the incoming runner before the exchange zone expires, says @TrackCoachTG. Share on X

Given this definition, you either think I’m bonkers, or you might be starting to see why this exchange is effective. Let’s go with the latter.

Here’s why it works. For starters, since the incoming runner passes by the outgoing runner, you will never have to worry about the outgoing runner leaving too early or too fast, causing them to run away from the baton. Next, it doesn’t allow for feelings of panic from the incoming runner. If they’re tired at the end of the race, so what? The outgoing runner cannot possibly escape them. The incoming runner’s only job is to run as fast as they can for as long as they possess the stick. That’s it.

Finally, because the incoming runner is sprinting hard and the outgoing runner is trying to catch up, it encourages an exchange that will take place at the end of the 30-meter zone. This is a good thing, because it allows a full 20 meters of acceleration for the outgoing runner, meaning that by the time they take the stick, they’re already moving fast. An exchange that occurs in the first half of the exchange zone is safe but slow, since most sprinters do not get close to top speed in the first 10 or 15 meters of any sprint. We want our handoff to occur in the second half of the zone—or, even better, the final third of the zone, passing from one fast runner to another.

To implement the fly-by exchange in your 4×200 meter relay, have the outgoing runner start by creating a go-mark. We use chalk in Michigan, so for us that means drawing a box that is 5 to 7 feet from the exchange zone. Video 1 shows our second leg measuring and drawing his go-mark at a dual meet earlier this season.

Video 1. Starting from the beginning of the exchange zone, have the athletes measure back five of their feet and draw a line. Then measure two more and draw another. Use those lines to draw a box on the track. Squigglies are optional.

Bada-bing, bada-boom, you’ve got yourself a go-mark. I should mention that these marks are drawn in chalk, not etched in stone. You can adjust, if need be, but this is a good starting point for your experimentation. Our anchor leg, for example, uses a mark that’s just 3 to 5 feet from the zone. At any rate, upon finishing their sidewalk art, the runner will then go stand just inside the exchange zone on the outside half of the lane.

That last part—the outside half of the lane—is critical. For the incoming runner to overtake the outgoing runner, there has to be enough room to do so. We imagine that the lane is split in two. The outgoing runner moves all the way to the outside, so the incoming runner has enough room inside to sprint past.

Given this positioning, the next important bit is that runners are carrying the baton in the correct hand. The incoming runner will always have the baton in their right hand. The outgoing runner will then take the baton in their left hand before transferring the stick to their right. This allows for the exact same exchange to happen in every zone—the incoming runner, with the stick in the right hand, sprinting on the inner half of the lane and through the end of the zone while the outgoing runner chases in the outer half and takes it with their left.

For the baton to pass safely from one runner to the next, as soon as the incoming runner passes their teammate, they continue sprinting as hard as they’re able (which will certainly be submaximal at the end of a 200-meter race) and hold the baton out in front of them like a candlestick. The outgoing runner, who is accelerating as fast as possible, eventually catches their teammate, grabs the candlestick baton, and keeps on truckin’.

I’m going to show you a few examples of the fly-by exchange in action. Before you watch, know that we were not happy with the exchange below—after the video, I’ll explain why and offer some coaching points. I’ll show you a better example a little later.

Video 2. Here’s the first exchange from the same meet as video 1. While not a perfect example, there are a few things that work well here.

As I mentioned, this handoff leaves something to be desired. It’s early in the season, and the incoming runner is coming in a bit slower than we’d like. He lets off the gas as the exchange gets nearer. Our outgoing runner takes the baton about 12 meters into the zone—not our happy place! But let’s focus on what works well here, even in a less-than-ideal example.

If we run this traditionally, and the incoming runner comes in slowly due to fatigue, the outgoing runner will either leave them entirely or have to run very slowly just to get the stick. That means that if they get the stick at all, they’re crawling when they do. But here, even though the incoming runner doesn’t execute perfectly, the outgoing runner is still sprinting hard when he takes the baton. Even in a bad exchange, I find this to be better than running blind.

To correct the issues seen in the video, I’ve hammered home two points for the incoming runner.

1. “Finish your race”: The distance from the starting line to the beginning of the first exchange in the 4×200 relay is 180 meters. With a 30-meter zone, that means the end of the exchange represents 210 meters of sprinting for the first leg. The distances for the rest of the runners depend upon where they receive the baton, but the significant takeaway is this: If the baton leaves your hand in the beginning of the zone, you didn’t finish your race.
   
   It is vitally important that each runner sprints their full 200 meters (I actually tell them to sprint 210 meters) to ensure that the stick makes it to the end of the zone with speed. Running less than 200 meters with a fly-by exchange means the incoming runner has slowed down, and the result is that the outgoing runner takes the baton early before coming close to their top speed. No bueno.
2. “Make them chase you”: We want the outgoing runner to feel some pressure to catch the teammate that just ran by. I’ve yet to find a runner at the end of a 200 who could outrun a similarly fast but infinitely fresher athlete over 30 meters. The fresh athlete will always catch up, but we want them to have to chase hard to do so. The result? The incoming runner sprints with as much gas as they have left through the zone, and the outgoing runner sprints their tail off to catch them. Fast kids running fast means a fast stick and a fast relay time.

The incoming runner sprints with as much gas as they have left through the zone, and the outgoing runner sprints their tail off to catch them. Fast kids running fast means a fast stick and relay time. Share on X

As for the outgoing runner, there aren’t a lot of cues. As long as this athlete leaves on time and runs the outer half of the lane, the only job they have is to chase their teammate down and grab the stick. Then, it’s their turn to sprint a full 200, finish their race, and make their teammates chase them.

To practice this exchange, I’ve done a couple different things. One option is to incorporate 4×200 relay exchanges into a lactate workout. Simply run a full 4×200-meter relay, then after an eight-minute rest period, do it all over again. During the rest period is a good time to coach and correct any exchange issues you may have noticed in the first rep.

You could probably do even more reps of this given a longer rest period if you so choose. But if you’re working your handoffs in as part of an already difficult workout, you can’t really do very many reps in total, no matter the amount of rest. That’s why we practice handoffs in isolation most of the time. To do this, I send the incoming runner back about 20–30 meters and instruct them to come into the zone at around 90% intensity, maintaining that intensity all the way through the exchange zone. This forces the outgoing runner to practice chasing.

Here are a couple examples of what that looks like in practice.

Video 3. Our first and second runners from the start of the exchange zone.

Video 4. Our third and fourth runners from the end of the exchange zone.

Since implementing the fly-by exchange, our boys 4×200 meter teams have qualified for the MHSAA State Finals in consecutive years. In 2021, we took a varsity team that ran an abysmal 1:37.25 in their first attempt (with a blind exchange) to a season-best time of 1:31.77 and a 15th place finish at the state meet. In 2022, we opened the season by improving upon our previous year’s best and running 1:31.74, then continued to improve all season long before running our best time of 1:29.15 at our regional competition. Unfortunately, at this year’s finals we ran .86 seconds slower than our season’s best time to run 1:30.01 and finish tenth overall.

Video 5. Here is the video of our 4×200 run from State Finals. While a couple of our legs did not have their best splits, the handoffs were executed as well as any we ran all season. We’re in lane three.

A week or so ago, as I was in the process of writing this, a freshman on our relay team asked me, “Coach, how come we do the exchanges this way and not like other schools?” It was something I had taken for granted, since all the other guys on our team had been around since last season. I saw the opportunity to not only teach this kid the method to my madness but also to reaffirm for the rest of the team why we do things a little differently. After I got done explaining, one of our senior relay members turned to him and said, “It’s made a huge difference, bro. We were sorry before we started doing this.”

The fly-by exchange will be a big reason why we’re able to maximize the potential from our relays and squeeze every ounce of juice out of our athletes, says @TrackCoachTG. Share on X

A couple days removed from our State Finals appearance, I know there is still work to be done, but I also know we will be back. And the fly-by exchange will be a big reason why we’re able to maximize the potential from our relays and squeeze every ounce of juice out of our athletes. We’ll never have a sorry 4×200 relay team again.

Since you’re here…
…we have a small favor to ask. More people are reading SimpliFaster than ever, and each week we bring you compelling content from coaches, sport scientists, and physiotherapists who are devoted to building better athletes. Please take a moment to share the articles on social media, engage the authors with questions and comments below, and link to articles when appropriate if you have a blog or participate on forums of related topics. — SF

The 2011-12 NBA basketball season was off to a tough start—having been shortened due to the lockout, players and fans alike were excited to get back to supporting the teams and players they knew and loved. The excitement was particularly high for a young guard who was hungry to make his mark on the league. But on March 10^th, 2012, a severe ankle sprain threatened the player’s career—this was one of a string of major ankle injuries to be experienced by the star you may know as one of the Splash Bros: Steph Curry.

Ankle sprains are an all-too-common injury that plagues athletes at all levels of play, and they can be devastating. The effects of an ankle injury can outlast an athlete’s career in extreme instances, with the most severe cases requiring surgery. These injuries are often combatted with high top shoes, ankle taping, and restrictive ankle braces…but what if the very elements that athletes look to for safety are the things that are actually leading to more injuries?

Ankle sprains are an all-too-common injury that plagues athletes at all levels of play, and they can be devastating, says @Jucaelite. Share on X

Mobility and Stability

The ankle is a hinged, synovial joint that chiefly operates through dorsi and plantar flexion, in addition to inversion and eversion. The ankle is also capable of circumduction (a combination of the above movements), and it has been suggested that it is also capable of medial and lateral rotation.

Regardless of its ability to rotate, taken together this demonstrates that the ankle is a very mobile joint, and was designed to operate as such. The joints of the body operate in a remarkable, alternating fashion all the way up to the head and neck. For example, the foot is designed with more of a stability bias while the ankle is more mobile; the knee is more stable while the hip is more mobile; the low back is stable while the thoracic spine is mobile; and the scapula-thoracic joints have an element of stability while the cervical spine upon which the cranium sits has a more mobile bias.

These rules are not clean-cut, especially in the case of the scapula-thoracic and cervical spine, which are capable of quite a bit of mobility. However, the point can be illustrated that they have more of a stability bias as illustrated by the body’s response to scapular winging or issues of cervical instability, which are sometimes characterized by dizziness and vertigo, balance issues, and difficulty holding up the head.

So if the ankle is a mobile joint and designed to operate as such, what is the harm in introducing a little stability into it? The answer: MAJOR DYSFUNCTION.

Basketball is played at a high speed (at least if the athletes are good at the sport), and the body’s segments need to be able to respond at a high speed. When an athlete is moving quickly and needs to change direction, the joints act as shock absorbers to dampen the forces. When one of the stability–mobility pairs is not working up to par, then another joint will have to take up the slack and work double time. When that joint is at its breaking point, an injury can occur in the ankle (ankle sprain), knee (ACL tear), and many others. These components are only part of the whole picture (factors such as torsion, strength, and a smattering of other pieces fit into the injury puzzle), but restricting a mobile joint does not help in any respect.

When an athlete is moving quickly and needs to change direction, the joints act as shock absorbers to dampen the forces, says @Jucaelite. Share on X

High Tops & Low Tops

In addition to braces and wraps, footwear can play a major part in limiting or promoting injuries, and even limiting or promoting athletic performance. In an article by Brizuela et al., performance in running, jumping, and injury resistance were looked at between two different prototype basketball shoes—a low top and a high top.

The results indicate significant differences between low and high top shoes. Studies of impact forces show higher impact forces in high top shoes that transmitted up to the forehead, potentially because of limited plantar flexion movement. What does this mean? There is potentially a higher risk for low back pain with high top shoes. In addition, the high top shoes demonstrated restricted ankle range of motion in eversion and plantar flexion, but also increased inversion (which is typically the most common type of ankle sprain). On performance tests, the high top shoes most limited vertical jump ability, but also decreased performance in running with direction changes.

On performance tests, the high top shoes most limited vertical jump ability, but also decreased performance in running with direction changes, says @Jucaelite. Share on X

Results of this study demonstrate that high top shoes may be more appropriate for an athlete who isn’t required to move quickly as often (post players), but can limit performance for athletes who play at lower angles and at higher speed (guards). In addition, high top shoes may be appropriate for athletes suffering from a history of ankle sprains.

Is footwear the only factor that plays into an ankle sprain? Absolutely not. In total, athletes should look at the following solutions to attenuate against ankle injuries:

• Restoring stability of the foot.
• Restoring ankle mobility in all ranges.
• Limiting mobility disparities between limbs.
• Improving proprioception.

This list is generally ordered anatomically from the bottom up and is not exhaustive. When attacking dysfunction, I recommend focusing on areas that may be the cause of issues, whereas other areas may be the symptom. For example, dysfunction at the foot level may present as a dysfunction of the ankle. Once the foot has been addressed, the ankle may clear up. If, however, you address the ankle and then the foot, results may not prove as successful. Below are some solutions aimed at improving any limitations in the ankle and foot.

1. Restoring stability of the foot

To restore stability of the foot we must look at multiple structures. The arches of the foot, and the toes are all major players in stability that are commonly operating in dysfunction. The toes are often weak and immobile in the way that you are not able to consciously move them as you should. The toes are the fingers of the feet, and should be able to abduct (splay), adduct, flex, and extend. Any limitation in degrees of freedom will contribute to dysfunction. In addition to the exercises listed below, rolling the bottoms of the feet are highly encouraged. An example of how to roll the feet can be found here.

Exercises

• Flexion (curling the toes with the foot flat)/extension (raising the heel while keeping toes planted; also demonstrated in video above)
• Abduction/adduction (splaying the toes outward and inward)

2. Restoring ankle mobility in all ranges

Ankles are made to transmit forces up the chain to the muscles that can help to dampen forces that could transmit up the axial skeleton and cause damage. The major movements of the ankles are to plantar flex, dorsiflex, evert, invert, and circumduct. Additionally, the ankle pronates (dorsiflexion and eversion) and supinates (plantar flexion and inversion). By actively moving the ankles through these ranges, as well as manually manipulating the ankle, you can improve the function of the joint as a whole.

Ankles are made to transmit forces up the chain to the muscles that can help to dampen forces that could transmit up the axial skeleton and cause damage, says @Jucaelite. Share on X

Exercises

• Plantar flexion
• Dorsiflexion

Video 1. Ankle mobility, plantar flexion (pointing the toes down) and dorsiflexion (pulling the toes toward the shin).

Video 2. Front Foot Elevated Split Squat (drive the front knee forward past the toe).

Video 3. RFESS (keep back foot plantar-flexed, drive up).

Video 4. Eversion/inversion (move foot side to side), pronation (dorsiflex and evert), and supination (plantar flex and invert).

Video 5. Circumduction (circular motion).

Video 6. Manual manipulations (keep forefoot stable, manipulate heel side to side). More on this can be found in Anatomy Trains by Thomas Meyers.

3. Limiting disparities between limbs

Working together with the two previous points, if there is a major limitation in one joint as compared to the other, this should be a major focus.

4. Improving proprioception

Proprioception, put simply, is the awareness of the limbs in space as well as how fast they are moving and how much force they are producing. There are many ways to improve proprioception, including PNF stretches and patterns, but most functionally you can use balance exercises. If there is no injury present, unstable surfaces may provide some benefit—but manipulating other factors may prove more beneficial.

Video 7. Clock taps (lightly tap free foot).

Video 8. Limiting visual feedback (keep core engaged, slight bend in knee).

Video 9. Manipulating the vestibular system (keep core engaged, slight bend in knee).

Programming

Implementing these exercises periodically pre, during, or post training will greatly assist in reducing injury risk and cleaning up dysfunction. There is no one perfect method for avoiding injuries, but by making your approach multifactorial, you have a much better chance of succeeding in your efforts.

Implementing these exercises periodically pre, during, or post training will greatly assist in reducing injury risk and cleaning up dysfunction, says @Jucaelite. Share on X

The difficulty lies in how you program exercises in this category to keep the attention span of the population you are working with, while also not eating away the time you have for your session. One practical way I have used is to split your athletes into “buckets.” Each athlete would be put into a different bucket based on what they need most and perform the mobility exercises barefoot.

When athletes arrive, they grab their lift card (or a card made specifically for this group) and get to work on their own before the group warm up. In the early stages, it is crucial to take each group through the movements so you can set the tone. As time goes on you can let them take the wheel until the movements change, and then the cycle starts again. Additionally, I have found that some athletes need more than one exposure to a specific movement, or a different movement that attacks the same limitation. In this case, implementing one of these “correctives” during the rest period of a major lift can be a great way to make sure your athletes get adequate rest time. This can add density to their training and keep the movement quality high.

Since you’re here…
…we have a small favor to ask. More people are reading SimpliFaster than ever, and each week we bring you compelling content from coaches, sport scientists, and physiotherapists who are devoted to building better athletes. Please take a moment to share the articles on social media, engage the authors with questions and comments below, and link to articles when appropriate if you have a blog or participate on forums of related topics. — SF

Intuition would probably tell you that athletes are faster when they race. Makes sense, right? It’s competition, they have motivation, it turns their brain off so they can just sprint. But my analytical brain wanted to know if that was actually true. We can scientifically answer that question with sport science and the scientific method, in addition to using our coaching intuition.

From a coaching standpoint, we are always trying to draw more effort out of our athletes to run harder and faster. However, as coaches coach more and athletes learn more, too many drills and cues can potentially slow down full-speed sprinting in training. Thus, it’s important to bridge the gap between training and games. But how do we replicate game speed (literally and figuratively) in training?

Sports are played in competition and sports are played fast. In training, although things need to be slowed down and emphasized to improve things like technique, we can’t forget about the true end goal. Racing serves a purpose to bring the technique and drill work full circle, create a fun and engaging training environment, and draw out some pretty fast times. But what is the effect of racing on sprint times? Effort might be up, engagement might be up, but does racing actually make athletes faster?

What is the effect of racing on sprint times? Effort might be up, engagement might be up, but does racing actually make athletes faster, asks @CoachBigToe. Share on X

Sport science is simply just applying the scientific method to getting better at sport. The scientific method is:

• Ask a question/create a hypothesis.
• Collect your data.
• Analyze the data.
• Figure out what the data means.
• Apply it to the real world.

That’s just what I did to answer my racing question, and I’m here to explain my process.

Methods

Although this is a personal and informal case study, it’s still important to get the highest quality data possible. As they say: garbage [data] in, garbage [data] out. Having gone through the entire process of starting, finishing, and publishing my thesis in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research not too long before doing this case study, my research brain kicked into gear. Here’s everything I did (especially things I did NOT do) to control for the confounding variables:

1. I kept my instructions and general words to a minimum. The instructions followed something like this: “We’re going to do four timed sprints: two are by yourself and two are racing against someone else. Walk back in between. I’ll tell you whether you’re going by yourself or racing when it’s your turn. If you’re racing but not being timed, you’ll run next to them but outside the timing lasers.”
2. I didn’t share my research question, hypothesis, or anything pertaining to my motive for the experiment. I didn’t want my athletes knowing that I was comparing and contrasting the two types of sprints to artificially draw out more effort during the race. One might be able to assume my intentions and guess the purpose based on my instructions, but at least it wasn’t my explicit words that influenced their motivation.
3. I didn’t coach in-between sprints, as I didn’t want a cue that they didn’t have the sprint prior to improve a sprint time.

4. I didn’t let any athlete see the sprint times. I didn’t want an athlete to become motivated by seeing a slower sprint time than what they are used to or expected. They tried peeking over my shoulder, but don’t worry, I had my head on a swivel.
5. I paired up my athletes with someone of a similar speed. If there was a big discrepancy in speed between athletes, this could’ve led to a lack of effort by the slower athlete. If there was not an athlete of similar speed, I gave the athlete not being timed during the race a head start if they were slower or made them start a few steps behind if they were faster. It’s not a perfect science, but that’s how I would handle a discrepancy in speed during a normal session.
6. Collecting this data over multiple training sessions with multiple groups of athletes, I alternated between one group doing their solo sprints first and the next group doing their races first. This minimized two things: the sprints at the beginning acting more like a warm-up and making the sprints at the end faster, and the sprints at the end being slower due to excessive fatigue from the prior sprints.
7. I was intentional about the rest periods. Although it wasn’t perfect, I did time the rest of the first person in each group to make sure they had at least two minutes of rest.

Athletes

Twenty-two athletes (n=22: 8 youth (9-11 years old), 11 middle school (12-14 years old), 3 high school (15-18 years old)) participated in speed and agility training sessions coached by me and had been attending for multiple weeks.

Data Collection and Analysis

After a full warm-up and a pre-data-collection sprint, they ran 5-15’s. A 5-15 is an acceleration test that’s 15 yards in length with the timing lasers set up on the 5- and 15-yard lines, respectively. Each athlete performed two 5-15’s solo (by themselves), instructed to run as fast as possible. Each athlete also performed two 5-15’s against another athlete. The races were started verbally by me saying “Ready, go!” The two sprints for each condition were averaged to give each athlete one time for solo and one time for racing. Solo times and racing times were then run in a paired samples T-test in jamovi.

Statistics Made Simple

A “p value” of < 0.001 means that less than 0.1% of the time, the difference between solo sprints and races happened by chance, or greater than 99.9% of the time the difference was actually there.

A “Cohen’s Effect Size” of 0.857 means that the magnitude or size of the difference between solo sprints and races was large (as opposed to medium or small).

The combination of these two stats means that the difference between the solo and the race (2.4% faster) wasn’t by chance, and it was a large difference.

Conclusions

Athletes sprint 2.4% faster when motivated by racing. Racing provides another tool in a coach’s toolbox to get faster training reps from their athletes. It’s a perfect option to help bridge the gap between controlled drills focused on technique and the true end goal of training being fast at game speed.

Racing is a perfect option to help bridge the gap between controlled drills focused on technique and the true end goal of training being fast at game speed, says @CoachBigToe. Share on X

Ultimately, because no one gets faster overnight, and we’re playing the long game in speed development, intentionally making athletes race will add up over time. Let’s say of your timed sprints during a training session, half of them are solo sprints and half of them are races. You just improved the output of 50% of your athlete’s training reps. Now add that up over the course of multiple months of training—that’d be a big difference in the stimulus given to your athletes. Sounds like an interesting and practical option to me.

Future Considerations

Although this makes sense in theory and the numbers make sense, there is some context and other factors worth mentioning.

• Races might not have same effect with older athletes who truly know how to sprint at max effort regardless of solo sprint or race. Considering 19 of my 22 athletes were ages 9 to 14, the numbers might’ve been a little different if there were more high school athletes.
• Technique sometimes decreased when they were just thinking about winning. Athletes sometimes tried reaching for the laser with their hand to “win” (those times weren’t recorded). It’s important to remind them to not let the finish line influence their technique.
• The number of athletes in a training session is an important factor. With larger groups, racing is a great option to keep more athletes moving and minimize the standing around. However, with smaller groups, rest times should be kept in mind since athletes sprint twice as frequently when racing.

Practical Applications

Races should be programmed during speed training for at least multiple reps at the end of a session. Although technique might slightly decrease, speed increases, and at the end of the day, that’s what we’re training for. A 50/50 approach of solo sprints to races might be effective in getting those quality, coaching-intensive reps in at the beginning then putting it all together at the end.

Since you’re here…
…we have a small favor to ask. More people are reading SimpliFaster than ever, and each week we bring you compelling content from coaches, sport scientists, and physiotherapists who are devoted to building better athletes. Please take a moment to share the articles on social media, engage the authors with questions and comments below, and link to articles when appropriate if you have a blog or participate on forums of related topics. — SF

We all know the meet. Four to six big teams show up together on an April Saturday afternoon for a no-limit entry track meet. The last heat is scoring, but the rest are non-scoring. Some people find a way to kill the 45 minutes of 100m dashes with their meal ticket or find another coach to talk to about the problems of post-COVID-19 coaching. While I eat during the three heats of the 3200 and reapply sunscreen during the five heats of the 1600, I like to plant myself midfield right next to the track and watch the 18 heats.

As I watch athletes project their mass down the track in various sprinting styles, I wonder what can be done to make the 12.5 into an 11.5.

I know there are basic things that can be done to start making progress down that road. Stuff that I have written about in the past: crossover feet, heel strikes too far in front of the body. And we know how to deal with these issues with mini-hurdle runs and stiff-legged runs (Paytons or Prime Times). But if it is halfway through the season, and the drills aren’t catching, maybe we should start looking at some other things.

Posture is the first thing that jumps out from the early heats of the 100. Something that is so basic that we forget to deal with it in practice, drills, or even weightlifting. Why does posture fall apart? When the system is red-lined, like in a full sprint, there is a hierarchy to movement.

After breathing and keeping a horizon (and few other things), not falling is important. Safety is far more important than speed. The body quickly assesses what muscles can support the movement. It will shift so the muscles used are the ones that can support the body safely. They are not always the most powerful or efficient but the safest. If you don’t think this is true, watch how fast posture and gait change when someone injures themselves while sprinting.

In a full sprint, not falling is important. The body quickly assesses what muscles can support the movement and shifts so the muscles used are the ones that can support the body safely, says @korfist. Share on X

Once we are safe, we will move toward our target. This is why different body parts sometimes move toward the finish line. We are throwing as much as we can at where we are going. This is the reason when you blindfold someone and have them sprint, their form changes. Or when a happy 3-year-old is sprinting for fun and running fast, they always seem to have good form. Form becomes more natural when we eliminate intent.

There are three sections of the spine:

• Cervical
• Thoracic
• Lumbar

All three work together to counterbalance each other. The more an athlete can keep a neutral spine, the better the body performs. A good athlete can keep a neutral spine in various positions. A really good athlete has the ability to use their spine to create more power in their movement.

Where to Begin?

Let’s start in the middle. I know it is a strange place to start, but it is the place that controls both ends—really, it’s no different than an axle with two wheels on each side. The stiffer the middle, the more stable the ends will be. Same with a runner: if the middle is not stiff, both ends will compensate to get the body to the target.

In the case of the runner above, to gain extension, he loses pelvic control. As you can see, his right pelvis is over-rotating, which leaves his right leg long in the push. A telltale sign is that his right knee is behind his glute. This creates the problem of a longer time to swing the leg through, and the knee cannot get to the needed height for a good, fast tangential velocity.

Here are some effects of a wobbly middle. The first impact is the head.

If the body follows the head, the net propulsive forces are reduced with the 12-pound weight falling backward. If a coach asks the athlete to stand in place with the same head position, they will fall back.

Below are examples of what happens of what happens on the pelvic end of the axle.

Why Does This Happen? We Do Core Every Day!

You may be using the core exercises, but not properly. How often do you see people doing planks and dropping their head or pelvis? How often do you see side planks with the chin sticking out to balance or the spine not neutral in three planes?

Once you have a base of spinal control and strength, try challenging the spine with movement. Ask the spine to control itself in unpredictable scenarios, says @korfist. Share on X

When doing any of your running drills, how often do you focus on posture? Once you have a base of spinal control and strength, try challenging the spine with movement. Ask the spine to control itself in unpredictable scenarios. Enter the water bag. Try your drill and sprints with a water bag on your back. The spine has to constantly adjust.

For more advanced drills, I will be presenting at the University of Minnesota with Dan Fichter and Cal Dietz in July and will cover postural progression in detail. You can find sign-up details for the clinic here.

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