In our society, we can get away with not having to do very much physical labor and exercise. Contrast this with our ancestors, whose survival included a necessity to perform manual labor, walking, etc... This obviously provided our forefathers with a better fitness base than we typically have today. I like to keep this in mind when I advise and train athletes in strength training. My thoughts go toward contributing to their general fitness base and letting it benefit sprinting as it will.
Having to Walk and Run During Day to Day Activities
When an individual, often times, is subjected to walking at various speeds, and maybe even having to run at an easy pace during day-to-day activities, in my mind, that person is likely to learn to somewhat move about in a reasonably economical fashion to keep from unnecessarily overtaxing various muscle groups. In my mind, this can contribute to an awareness of the coordination, timing, and rhythm required for economical movement during other gaits. I'm not implying that the technical aspects of moving at different speeds are very similar, but more that the athlete should realize that coordination and economy of movement is an important aspect.
Even At the Elite Level
Although most if not practically all sprint training programs for world class sprinters include a significant amount of time in the weight room, even many of the coaches of these athletes will own up to the fact that the function of this portion of training, although important, is mostly in a supporting capacity. In other words, rather than believing that it is a simple matter of, getting stronger enables the athlete to be propelled faster down the track, the realization is that the route between strength training and speed improvement is not at all that direct. John Shepherd does a great job of articulating this in this video, which includes both pros and cons of weight training, and can be helpful when considering how to proceed with youths.
General Physical Development
Sprinting is a very specialized activity where the athlete is trying to get from "Point A" to "Point B" before his/her competitors. The human body, however; is capable of doing so much more, ie; changes of direction. Without a training program that recognizes the need to condition the body in various ways and movement patterns; strength imbalances, overuse injuries, and other assorted injuries related to this can result. Youths playing multiple sports is a good way to address this, as well helping them to avoid burn out.
This video spotlights some commonly overlooked and/or undertrained muscles. Having said all that, of course, it is valuable to be aware of the muscles that are more directly related to sprinting success and give them the attention they are due. This includes, being patient in choosing when to subject these muscles to intense stress, ie; intense sprints.
Flexibility Deficit
As child athletes, the "flexibility" is most often very impressive, but with maturity, as the muscles and tendons strengthen, this ability inevitably lessens. According to Ralph Mann," "The biggest non-genetic factor affecting flexibility, however, is neglect."
In his book, The Mechanics of Sprinting and Hurdling, Mann added, "If a sprinter is not flexible enough in the pelvic area to shift their hips forward at touchdown, then they are forced to "sit back" at foot strike. This position not only shifts the body center back (insuring more braking forces), but also presents a "soft" (less rigid) body position which leads to time consuming hip flexion, as well as requiring the hips to move through a longer range of motion (both time and energy wasteful). Multiply this action anywhere from 45 to 250 times (for each Ground Phase) during a Short or Long Sprint race, and the detrimental effects are evident."
Address Flexibility Appropriately
Flexibility/mobility needs to be addressed appropriately. There are different schools of thought concerning stretching, but I don't know of anyone reputable that thinks that stretching before loosening the body with some movement beforehand is a good idea. So, after some jogging, various low intensity movements, dynamic warm up, etc..., do your homework to come up with an age-appropriate routine. Know the difference between dynamic and static stretching and when each is best used.
The best source that I've found for stretching is the Stretch To Win book. They also have a website and a lot of videos out there.
Primary Objective for Young Athletes
Along with basic conditioning that prepares the athletes to compete, I believe it is important to not lose sight of how important it is to develop good running technique. Learning to position, balance, and effectively coordinate movements to run with good mechanics also facilitates effective recruitment of key muscle groups.
Learning to recruit the glutes effectively is universally understood as a key aspect. This glute recruitment video is worth looking at, as it references external and internal pelvic rotation and the big toe being in contact with the ground—aspects that relate to various exercises used in training, as well as to sprinting. In addition, the book Running by Frans Bosch and Ronald Klomp also details how the glutes work with the quads, hamstrings, and calf muscles through each stage of the sprint.
Youth Strength Training
When athletes are really young, the capability to have very good ranges of motion is typically there, but there are certain limitations regarding power, strength and joint stability because the body hasn’t matured enough. To help address these deficits, in my opinion, there is nothing wrong with youths doing age-appropriate strength work of various types to help attain a basic level of strength and stability that an active youth should have. As for maturation, of course, that will happen when it happens.
In my opinion, body weight exercises, appropriately weighted medicine balls, tires, farmers carry bars, trap bars, push sleds, hills that are not too severe, and jumping and skipping exercises of different types, are some of the things that can be parts of a good youth strength program provided by qualified individuals. In my mind, however; the objective is to, over time, ease the youth into a level of strength work that a youth around the farm may have had to deal with back in the day. An active youth in our time may play a lot of sports and be active with friends, but the strength piece is typically missing. So, putting too much strength work on him/her too soon, I believe is unnecessarily risky. I'm also a believer in training functional movements in functional ways, ie; pushing, pulling, squatting, lunging, deadlifting (lifting something from the ground), and walking.
Strength Training for More Mature Athletes
As I also stated above, a good goal should be to address general strength in various ways. Static strength as Mann states, "relates to ability to produce force in those instances when the athlete's segments are stable or moving at a fairly low rate of flexion and extension." Fairly low rate of flexion and extension doesn't mean grunting and groaning slowly moving a weight to achieve a max performance. Dynamic strength, Mann says, "involves the ability to produce force where the body limbs are moving at high velocities." Great examples are shown in this Box Jump Variation video. FYI - The website of the people that produced the video in the previous sentence is something you may want to check out. Lastly there is elastic strength, "which is the ability to use the elastic components of the body (muscles, ligaments, tendons, etc.) to produce a spring-like force in certain situations." Mann says, "It is not clear whether this force potential can be trained, however, dynamic lifts and plyometrics are currently the training mode of choice."
Conclusion
My belief is that "age appropriateness" is a key consideration. For immature athletes, their need may be more along the lines of developing strength, and their flexibility may be just fine as I alluded to previously. For more mature athletes, especially those who have been weight training, giving flexibility and mobility their due attention may be a priority. Obviously taking the time to warm up and cool down properly, as well as not rushing into a focus on repeated intense sprints is important. Be patient with conditioning. I suggest erring on the side of caution with the dynamic strength exercises and activities. Note how cautious and safety conscious the trainer in the box jump video above was. Lastly, regularly assess performances in regard to how strength, stability, and flexibility support good technique as has been described in my other blogs.
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