A fast sprint is about more than just running. These 4 exercises will help improve your sprint speed by priming our muscles for more explosive action. Let's get to work!
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00:00 The art of the sprint is about so much more
00:02 than just getting out and running.
00:04 If you really want to build speed
00:05 and if you really want to be a great sprinter,
00:07 if you really want to have a great 40 time
00:09 or a great 100 meter dash time,
00:10 you've got to get in the gym
00:11 and you've got to get in the weight room
00:12 and you've got to build some serious strength
00:15 in very specific ways.
00:16 - Yeah, I mean, sprinting is the fundamental power exercise.
00:19 It's one of the first things you learn,
00:20 whether it's running to mom and dad
00:22 or running at field day at school or playing a sport.
00:25 We are sprinting through the majority of our lives.
00:28 And at a certain point, a lot of people, they stop sprinting
00:31 and when you lose that power capacity,
00:33 you can't gain it back as quickly as you used to
00:35 when you were younger.
00:36 So knowing how to sprint
00:37 and knowing how to properly sprint
00:38 and generate that amount of force in a body weight action
00:42 is such an important thing you can do in your workout.
00:45 - Yeah, it's critical to understand
00:46 that sprinting is not just running.
00:48 When I go out for a marathon,
00:49 I'm trying to conserve as much energy as possible
00:53 with every single stride
00:54 so that I can make it over my two to three hours of marathon.
00:57 When I am trying to sprint,
00:58 I'm trying to be as powerful
01:01 on every single stride as possible.
01:03 That's gonna require more energy output on every stride.
01:06 I want to create that energy.
01:08 I want to drive off the ground.
01:10 That is about strength and that is about power
01:12 and that requires muscle, not just running.
01:15 One thing we wanna focus on
01:16 is this idea of explosive hip extension.
01:19 So it's this idea that when I drive up,
01:21 I'm driving my hip through
01:23 and on every single stride, if I can do that,
01:26 I'm gonna be a lot faster,
01:27 I'm gonna be a lot more powerful.
01:29 We also want to think about the actual stride
01:31 and we wanna train to be powerful
01:34 into this high knee position.
01:35 That is how we're gonna get a complete stride
01:37 and from this position,
01:38 I can drive back into the ground and create acceleration.
01:41 So we wanna own a very strong high knee position.
01:43 We wanna think about core strength
01:45 and core power through this.
01:46 So with all of that in mind,
01:48 let's go over our favorite moves
01:49 to get you faster for sprinting
01:51 and for any kind of running activity
01:52 that you're gonna wind up doing.
01:53 ♪ I'm in control, control, control, control, control ♪
01:58 - So if you wanna be fast,
01:59 you have to understand the idea
02:01 of explosive, powerful hip extension.
02:04 That's where we squeeze our glutes
02:05 and drive the hips through.
02:07 And one of the best ways that we can start to learn that
02:10 and also move explosively
02:11 is going to be our trap bar deadlift.
02:14 But we're not just gonna do this trap bar deadlift
02:16 and think of this as some exercise.
02:17 We're gonna load as much weight on the trap bar as we can
02:20 and lift up.
02:21 Instead, we wanna think power.
02:22 So you wanna think two to four reps
02:24 and we're gonna go with a slightly lighter weight
02:26 and focus on being really, really explosive
02:29 as we drive up on every single rep.
02:30 - Yeah, I mean, you wanna get from point A to point B
02:32 as fast as possible.
02:34 And that's the effort
02:35 that you're gonna have to drive into sprinting, right?
02:36 I'm giving all out effort
02:37 if I'm sprinting from point A to point B.
02:40 We need to start to groove that mentality for yourself,
02:43 get the muscle tissue used to you operating in that way,
02:45 get the joint systems used to you operating in that way.
02:48 And if we can start that with trap bar deadlifting,
02:50 which is a nice neutral grip option for you,
02:52 lower body dominated,
02:53 not a whole bunch of upper body involved
02:55 except for gripping onto it.
02:57 It's a great exercise.
02:58 It's gonna help build some power potential down there.
03:00 - The one thing I like about the trap bar deadlift
03:01 and about all the exercises we have on here
03:03 is the core engagement.
03:05 Your abs have to stay nice and tight.
03:07 We're not arching through our back
03:08 and you'll need that stability,
03:09 especially when we're moving with power on this.
03:11 So we wanna think three to four sets,
03:13 do two to four reps.
03:15 Again, keep the weight a little bit lighter
03:17 than what you would normally use
03:19 because you just wanna focus on that power and intent.
03:22 You wanna set the stage on all of our exercises.
03:24 It's all about power and intent
03:26 because that's what's gonna propel you on your sprint.
03:28 So start with that trap bar deadlift.
03:29 - Next exercise is gonna be a very classic power movement,
03:32 but a little variation to what we're doing.
03:35 And that's the staggered stance kettlebell swing.
03:38 So with the kettlebell swing,
03:39 we're gonna get a lot of power generation through the hips,
03:41 focus on that posterior chain,
03:43 snapping from that loaded position
03:44 all the way up to the extended position.
03:46 But that staggered stance is gonna start to change
03:48 our base of support from foot to foot,
03:51 where it's now gonna integrate some of the balance aspects.
03:53 It's gonna vary some of the muscles
03:55 that are being regulated either at higher volumes
03:57 or lower volumes because of that base support change.
04:00 It's a nice add on if we're trying to generate
04:02 a lot of power and give it some variation
04:05 that's gonna mesh well with our sprinting activities.
04:08 - Yeah, I like this especially
04:09 because there's an element of anti-rotation.
04:11 We've gotta keep our hips and shoulders
04:14 square to the front.
04:15 We get to work on that while we're in that offset stance.
04:18 And that is very, very similar
04:20 to what's gonna happen when I'm running.
04:22 I don't want my hips and shoulders
04:23 going all over the place.
04:25 I wanna have a level of control over that.
04:27 That way I can keep everything moving forward
04:29 as I'm shifting from leg to leg to leg.
04:31 So because of that,
04:32 I really like the staggered stance kettlebell swing.
04:34 What kind of reps do you wanna do here?
04:36 - So I'm gonna end up doing somewhere
04:37 from three to four sets,
04:39 and I'm probably gonna stay anywhere
04:40 between the four to 10 rep range.
04:43 And the reason I'm gonna go that wide with it
04:45 is we wanna end up focusing on power,
04:47 but you can add a little volume if you need to,
04:49 specifically on the type of workout that you're doing.
04:51 But again, we're gonna focus on side to side.
04:53 So remember that, that four reps isn't four reps one way,
04:56 it's four reps on each side
04:58 to make sure that you're evened out with those two areas.
05:01 So understand that four equals eight and 10 equals 20.
05:04 So you gotta be careful with what you're gonna end up doing
05:06 when it comes to your programming
05:07 and how you're gonna implement it.
05:08 - So continuing up our list,
05:10 we've talked a lot about getting into powerful hip extension
05:12 and squeezing our glutes.
05:13 Now we're gonna start to add a little bit
05:15 of that high knee component to the action.
05:17 We're gonna go with a reverse lunge to high knee.
05:19 A lot of ways you can do this.
05:20 I like doing this out of a front rack
05:22 with a pair of kettlebells.
05:23 We get to focus on power,
05:25 we're continuing to generate power,
05:26 but we're also starting to get into the next position
05:29 in our runner's stride with the high knee action.
05:32 - Yeah, I mean, the key thing
05:33 with going through the reverse lunge
05:34 is to focus on that single leg engagement,
05:37 going through the full range of motion,
05:39 and then bringing yourself forward.
05:40 It's gonna integrate different muscles
05:41 and different varieties of how you would actually do it
05:43 through bilateral movements.
05:45 And then when you're doing that knee drive,
05:47 it's not to mimic the sprinting,
05:48 but it's actually to help make sure
05:50 that you fully lock out on that grounded leg.
05:53 That's gonna get that full hip extension that we want to
05:55 that is very similar to sprinting.
05:57 So the extra range of motion's gonna help you out with it,
06:00 and that knee drive just is the whipped cream
06:01 on top of the sundae.
06:02 - Exactly, the knee drive does a couple of things,
06:04 'cause you're right, it's gonna get you
06:05 into that explosive hip extension.
06:07 Suddenly, it's gonna get you into that true hip extension
06:09 where you can't hide anymore
06:11 and maybe skip a split moment of it.
06:13 But in addition to that,
06:14 we've also got the balance component to it too,
06:16 because once I get into that hip extension,
06:18 what I like to do when I do this move,
06:20 I like to hold for a good one, two seconds at the top
06:23 and make sure I've got everything going in one direction.
06:26 It winds up being a good way
06:27 to get a little bit more anti-rotation action into things.
06:30 Make sure that when I'm sprinting,
06:32 I want all my energy going in one direction,
06:35 and I get to reinforce that
06:36 and create a little bit of power,
06:38 create a little bit of acceleration
06:39 as I'm driving up from that bottom reverse lunge position
06:43 into that high knee.
06:44 It winds up being such a great move.
06:45 In terms of reps and sets,
06:46 I like being around three sets per side,
06:49 around six to eight reps.
06:50 I keep the reps on the lower end.
06:51 That way, again, I can continue focusing on intent,
06:54 focus on being explosive into that high knee position,
06:57 and just focus on control
06:58 as opposed to just doing a whole ton of reps.
07:00 I don't think there's a lot of value
07:02 when you're training sprint ideas, period,
07:03 in going too high with the reps.
07:05 - We talked about a lot of concepts
07:06 when it comes to generating power.
07:08 That can be generating force
07:09 with the trap bar from the ground up.
07:11 That can be producing specifically through the hip.
07:14 But when it comes down to it,
07:15 we need more athletic movements
07:17 in order to mimic sprinting.
07:19 And a great transition piece for that
07:21 would be an exercise as a plyo push press.
07:23 I traditionally like doing the plyo push press
07:25 with a landmine.
07:26 This way, I can lean forward on the balls of my feet.
07:29 I'm more active on the ground.
07:31 The biggest issue when it comes to working out in a gym
07:33 is most of our strength-based movements
07:35 are completely flat foot.
07:37 You are not flat foot when you are sprinting.
07:39 So I need more athletically-based movements
07:42 where I can get bouncy, twitchy,
07:44 and produce and generate that force outward.
07:47 And there's very few exercises that translate better
07:49 than a plyometric push press.
07:51 - Exactly.
07:52 This is starting to also get sprint-specific.
07:54 So when we're running, yes,
07:55 we can be essentially up and down when we're running.
07:58 But when you're sprinting,
07:59 we want to get all of our energy moving in one direction.
08:01 And that's going to have me
08:03 getting a little bit more body lean,
08:04 which I love that you can replicate that on the landmine.
08:07 The other strength of this exercise as well
08:10 is the idea of a combination
08:12 of deceleration and acceleration.
08:14 When you get that fly-on moment in here
08:15 where we're dropping a little bit,
08:17 that is mirroring a level of deceleration.
08:19 Your body is in every single sprint stride,
08:22 balancing, decelerating the load down
08:25 and to accelerating upwards.
08:26 And you want to get that combination of ideas,
08:28 which you get in one exercise here,
08:30 in addition to triple extension,
08:32 which is something that we don't have
08:33 in any of our other motion too, right?
08:35 - Yeah, I mean, it's actually a beautiful way
08:37 of engaging that stretch-shortening cycle, right?
08:39 We're loading that up, like you're loading that catapult
08:41 and you're letting that thing go.
08:43 And specifically when it comes to our triple extension,
08:45 we're able to really press those feet down
08:47 through the ground, extend the knees, extend the hips,
08:50 and we're even pressing that weight overhead.
08:52 We are literally moving this weight as far from ground
08:55 all the way up overhead as we can
08:57 with as much force as we can,
08:58 which is a great translator when it comes to our sprinting.
09:01 And because of that,
09:02 I would choose my programming very specifically.
09:04 I want to make sure that we're doing anywhere
09:05 from three to four sets,
09:07 but I want to stay in the four to six rep range.
09:09 We are going for explosive movements.
09:11 We are not trying to set a PR here.
09:13 It's all about the effort base to this.
09:15 So to that point,
09:16 you don't want to use all the weight in the world.
09:18 I want to use anywhere from 20 to 75%
09:22 of my one rep max weight.
09:24 All that should mean to you is not a whole bunch.
09:27 What you would imagine warming up with,
09:28 I want you to use that in this movement
09:30 and use it with speed.
09:31 And if you're doing that the right way,
09:33 you're going to see all the benefits that'll translate
09:35 towards activities such as sprinting.
09:37 Eventually you want to master all of these exercises
09:39 because they're setting the stage
09:41 for a ton of speed and power,
09:42 but that does not mean doing all four of these exercises
09:46 in the same workout or even in the same week.
09:48 What you really want to do is choose one of these exercises,
09:52 do it one to two times per week,
09:54 really master it and focus on your intent
09:57 during that session or during those two sessions.
09:59 You want to be explosive.
10:01 You want to be powerful.
10:02 You want to really focus on driving your hips through
10:04 on every single rep and owning the movement.
10:07 And doing that is really going to set the stage
10:09 for a ton of speed, whether you're sprinting,
10:12 whether you're on an athletic field,
10:13 or whether you're just going for a run.
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