The Importance of Proper Sprint Technique

Luke Williams, CSCS, USAW

Anytime we get an athlete in our program that wants to increase their speed, one of the main things we’ll look at is their sprint mechanics. As you can imagine, having poor mechanics or technique will negatively affect your speed as well as possibly lead to injuries over time.

Our coaches will typically look at 3 main areas when it comes to analyzing someone’s sprint mechanics:

1. Foot Contact: Are they sprinting on the balls of their feet? Or are they heel striking or flat footed when they sprint? Running on the balls of your feet allows you to have shorter ground contact time which in turn will increase your stride frequency which will make you faster. It will also allow you to use your big quad muscles to drive down and push the ground away, which will make every step more powerful. If you let your heel strike first, you will be pulling with your hamstrings. That will equate to a longer ground contact times, loss of power in every step as well as potentially causing hamstring issues over time.

2. Arm Swing: Having proper arm swing will increase your running efficiency – basically helping you run faster without having to work as hard. For example…If you are trying to sprint forward but your arms are moving side to side or across your body, your body has to compensate for your torso rotating/twisting while your trying to run straight. So your using more energy and your arm action is likely slowing you down!

3. Posture: This is important in all phases of sprinting. When you are accelerating, you want to be leaning into the sprint so you can shift your momentum forward and allow your feet to push the ground away. As you get into your max velocity phase, you want to be tall to allow your knee to come up so your strides will go into that cyclical motion. Having proper posture will also allow you to have better arm action and balance as well.

If we can correct those three areas while you are sprinting it is a guarantee that you will increase your speed and power. But it’s not something that will happen over night or in 1 or 2 sessions. Improving sprint mechanics is something that is done with lots and lots of repetition and practice. Sprinting is a skill, and just like any skill, can always be improved with focused and specific practice!

We have to force your body to break old habits and form new ones. This can be uncomfortable or feel awkward during the process but over time, it will start to become second nature and you will see and feel the benefits.

For more of an explanation of the 3 areas we look at and how you can improve your own sprint technique, take a look at video in the link below.

Sprint Technique Video

For questions or more information on this topic or any of our Athletic Development Programs, don’t hesitate to reach out to us!