Top Five Strength Training Exercises For Sprinters Revisited

This article is guest blogged by Karsten Jensen and Steve Millward.

You many remember Karsten wrote The # 1 Lower Body Strength Exercise to Improve Horizontal Acceleration (Part I) and Part 2. (Karsten Jensen, M.Sc. Exercise Physiology is a Strength and Conditioning Specialist. Visit his website at www.yestostrength.com )

Steven,a Masters sprinter from Toronto, wrote Comparison of Running Speed for Masters Aged 40-65

Top Five Strength Training Exercises For Sprinters Revisited

We would like to suggest a completely different list of “top five strength training exercises” for sprinters. We have reduced the number to four essentials. The four (lunge variations, eccentric calf exercise, kettlebell swing and Romanian dead lift) were chosen based on relative ease of learning, safety and, where possible, evidence in the scientific literature. They can also be done with minimal equipment – just a few dumb-bells in a pinch!

Lunge variations

The single most useful group of exercises. Based on the Principles of Mechanical Specificity (dynamic correspondence) the lunge, characterized by single leg horizontal backward directed action forces, is the primary choice of lower body exercises to improve sprint performce. ⁽¹⁾ In support for this statement velocity during unilateral jumps shows greater correlation to sprint speed than velocity measured during bilateral vertical jumps and, with few exceptions, peak and mean force in horizontal bilateral and unilateral jumps shows greater correlation with sprint speed than peak and mean forces during vertical jumps. ^(2).

For sprint training, walking lunges dragging a sled are preferable. These can be accomplished by dragging a weighted sled (attached by a waist belt). The load can be increased by carrying dumb-bells or a barbell in the overhead squat (snatch grip) position.

When the load on the sled reaches a certain percentage of the sprinters bodyweight, the lunge style can no longer be maintained. The exact percentage of the sprinters bodyweight where the lunge style cannot be maintained is yet to be established. However, the coach/sprinter will see that at certain loads the sprinter will have to lean forward more and more in order to bring the centre of gravity in front of leading foot. At this level of loading sled pulls walking with great forward lean while dragging the sled behind you can be used

Differences between the lunge style and sled pull:

	Lunge	Walking Sled Pull
Torso	Almost vertical	Greater forward lean
Lead foot contact	Entire foot (“pull your body over the contact point”)	Ball of foot only (“pushing backwards with lead foot”)
Loading options	Sled, vest, DB in hands etc	Sled, vest

Similarities between the lunge style and sled pull:

	Lunge	Walking Sled Pull
Simultaneous extension of hip, knee and ankle joint of lead leg	Yes	Yes
Intended explosive drive of lead leg	Yes	Yes
Attachment of sled to sprinter	Through harness or belt at waist level	Through harness or belt at waist level

Pulling a sled loaded with 10-20 % bodyweight results in higher activity of the gluteus maximus muscle, measured by electromyography, and velocity and movement specificity compared to the block start and thus excellent transfer from the training of that exercise to the block start is expected. ^(3).Also heavier sled pulls with 80-120 kg may transfer well to sprinting by maximizing antero-posterior ground action forces. ⁽⁴⁾

Eccentric calf exercise

The next essential and a must for all sprinters. One foot on a step or box, descend slowly to a count of five. Load with a dumb-bell and vary the weight and the number of reps. Eccentric calf raise has a great track record in preventing Achilles tendinopaties. However, this empirical finding is not fully supported by current research. ⁽⁹⁾

Kettlebell swings

Training with the KB Swing can improve vertical jump power. ^(5,6) Vertical jump height is correlated to various aspects of sprint performance, although not as strongly as horizontal jumping force. The Russian swing (to eye or shoulder height) is the simplest; the Crossfit version (to vertical) is more difficult and possibly unnecessary. Vary the amount of weight and the number of reps and sets to challenge explosive strength versus strength endurance.

Romanian or stiff-legged (not straight-legged!) dead lift

The more flexed the hip joint the greater the stretch experienced by the hip extensor muscles. The greater the stretch of these muscles the greater the tension these muscles experience as the lift is initiated. Placing high tension on a muscle in the stretched position results in high levels of active and passive myo-fibrillar tension and is thought to be a strong stimulus for the laying down of sarcomeres in series and in parallel. An increased number of sarcomeres in series and in parallel support muscle size, maximal shortening velocity and power. ⁽⁷⁾Thus, the stiff legged dead lift – compared to the conventional and sumo dead lifts – should be a stronger stimulus on the gluteus maximus for both strength and size and power. Further, the stiff legged dead lift yields high-maximal activation of the hamstring musculature. ⁽⁸⁾