The need for speed Part 2

Magnus Agren
www.magnusagren.se

Last we focused on the upper body and its effects on running technique and speed. Now it is time for the lower body to be dissected. Let us start with the hip, (the forces of power production are about seven times that of the ankle when sprinting)! In the hip area there are lots of muscles that in different ways affect running and speed production. Most important are the glutes and the hip flexors. The glutes are one of the largest and most power producing muscles in the body and combined with the hamstrings extend the hip and helps you move forward. Unfortunately, it is often deactivated and cannot fully deliver at its peak. This is mostly due to stiff and shortened hip flexors, a problem that is very common from too much sitting down or sports where you act leaning forward, eg. in hockey, golf etc. Stiff and shortened hip flexors will also lead to decreased stride length and disturbs the rotation of the spine, it will force you to rotate more to be able to keep your stride length and sprint at full speed. This unnatural rotation costs the system an unnecessary energy loss and keeps you from optimal performance in more ways than one. It is very important to have good flexibility in the lower core, the hips and legs. In order to be able to keep your foot longer on the ground during the stride you need to be able to fully extend in your hip, knee and ankle joints.

The hamstrings work in close connection with the glutes in the hip extension phase in running and therefore also become affected by any problems with the hip flexors. So you can see the importance of giving proper attention to it. Else you have no chance of performing at top level. But if you put proper attention to the stretching and lengthening the hip flexors, you should see to it that you strive to train the glute hamstring complex to work as one. This to ensure that you don’t get any strength imbalances between them. I often see this problem in athletes though. Often they have pretty strong glutes but lack sufficient hamstring strength and development. This leads to higher injury risk and faulty running technique. So it is very important to make sure your hip flexors are thoroughly stretched for optimal potential for speed and power in the hip area.
Balance between quadriceps and hamstring strength is also a big concern when you aim for speed. Most people will find that they feel more in their quads than in their hams when sprinting. This is very common and a indicator that you need to strengthen your hamstrings. If properly trained you should feel more in your hams than in your quads! If not then you know what to do.

Another common problem is insufficient flexibility in the quads. The flexibility of the quadriceps determines the ability to bring the ankle of the recovering leg past the knee of the driving leg at a height where the resting leg ankle is actually above the driving leg knee. This ability is not solely due to flexibility but also on core strength and calf strength.

The ankle is the last link to the feet and the ground so it is important that there is also good flexibility and strength around this joint. When sprinting at max speed you fully extend the ankle joint and therefore it is of importance that there are no limitations, in either muscles or structure. A lot of people would be helped if they received some soft tissue treatment around this joint and maybe even some chiropractic treatment of the joint. It is a very abused and neglected joint, considering its great importance in as well sprinting as everyday work.

Next time I will start to focus on how to train for speed. I will cover flexibility, strength, drills and running. So stay tuned!