Learn some of the most common errors athletes make with sprinting technique and how to avoid them. In this post I ´ll share with you coach the errors coach Karim Abdel Wahab has seen athletes make throughout his time working with elite sprinters as well as football players preparing for the NFL draft combine.
Starting with the the most common mistake, which is staying too low out of the blocks or at the beginning of the sprint, you’ll learn why staying low dramatically reduces the ability to produce force down to the ground and results in slower speed. Coach Karim provides an effective cue to help solve this issue.
Another common error is breaking at the waist. This breakdown in technique also inhibits speed and will result in slower times and can potentially lead to injuries. Learn how to spot a “fake lean” and some tips on optimal sprinting biomechanics.
Finally, there area two Athlete Insight sections in which Olympians Jeremy Dodson and Janay DeLoach discuss about the biggest myths and worst advice they heard in high school and why you should avoid them if you want to reach your potential.

Today I´m going to discuss about the common mistakes athletes make when sprinting. Coach Karim Abdel Wahab has been worked with sprinters and some football players that were preparing for the NFL. Some of the athletes that he works with, when they first come into the program, the number 1 common thing is leaving the blocks too low, pushing in that first step being so low. You see them not being able to push, but landing to catch themselves from falling because they’re so steep. Their whole body angle is very steep, way less than 45º, where they’re stumbling forward versus extending and posting up, and pushing down and back. So teaching them not to be too low in the first step, not be lower than 45º, it takes a lot of trust. The cue that coach Karim Abdel Wahab usually uses is: “Get your shoulders up” or “Stick your shoulder up with a line of force at 45º”.

Common mistake:

• Leaving the blocks too low

Cue:

• Get your shoulders up

Number two is being broken at the waist. A lot of new sprinters have been told: “Stay low”. Their way of staying low is to make the break at the waist and lean forward with their torso, thinking that they’re driving, and they’re not driving. They’re basically bent at the waist, and they’re not in a position where they can apply force. A very good way to see if your athlete is fake leaning basically bending at the waist or having a total body lean, which this is what we look for, is to look at their shin angle at the moment of ground contact.

• Let’s say if their shin angle is 45º or 50º, you want to see their torso at the same moment and at the same angle. They´re basically parallel with each other.
• But if the shin angle is 90º (perpendicular with the ground), but their torso is leaning forward, that means that they’re not leaning forward. They’re broken at the waist. They’re trying to stay low to please their coach, and they’re not in a position where they can apply force.

Common mistake:

• Being broken at the waist

Right posture:

• Shin angle at 45º
• Torso at 45º from ground

MAINTAINING YOUR TECHNICAL FOUNDATION

A big deal, once we have that good technical foundation, is to make sure that we’re always maintaining or always rehearsing the correct movement. We’re never going to stop. Even the best of the best, even Usain Bolt, had to progress and had to continue to rehearse how to leave the blocks, how to push… So if Usain Bolt has to do that, and the best of the best in the US have to do that as sprinters, how about a developing sprinter?

So we continue to rehearse the correct movement because it’s easy to forget, just like any other skill. Ask a pianist that stopped playing the piano for a couple of days and get back. They get rusty, although maybe they might be world-class pianists. Coach Karim Abdel Wahab actually read about that in technical development and motor learning. So it’s very important to continue to rehearse the movement, but to start adding more power to the movement (more strength in the weight room to be more explosive and more powerful).

JEREMY DODSON´S INSIGHT ABOUT SPRINTING MYTHS AND BAD ADVICE

Back when I was young, there was a huge myth that if you run on your toes, you’ll be able to grab the ground better and you’ll be able to be light on the ground and move faster. It wasn’t until I grew older that I realized you´ll apply zero amount of force to the ground when you do so. You end up messing up your ankle, and you end up messing your knees. Don’t run on your toes. Use the mechanics of your body. Learn how to work with your body and not against it.

I’ve also learned that developing power, you have to be low to the ground. The lower you are to the ground, again, the more you work against your body. You end up breaking at the hips. You end up using half of the amount of power, as you would if you were in a proper formation.

So, regarding running low to the ground and running on your toes, try to stay away from that. Learn how to run fast according to the body you’ve been given.

Everyone thinks speed is all about pumping your arms and moving your legs as fast as possible, but we have to learn how to apply that force at a split second or apply this movement within a restricted amount of coordination. I can’t lift my legs up as fast as possible because then my foot would end up swinging out too much. So I have to learn how to control this limb while paying attention to the other limb at the bottom. So it’s more about controlling the chaos that you want to let happen.

JANAY DELOACH´S INSIGHT ABOUT SPRINTING MYTHS AND BAD ADVICE

Some of the worst advice I’ve ever gotten about sprinting is get low. I think actually I hear a lot of kids even say that: “You’re supposed to be low”, and it actually is counterintuitive to the proper position that you’re supposed to have. Getting too low doesn’t allow you to bring your knees up in the right position to apply force in the right direction. So don’t get too low because then you won’t have a good hard post line as you’re sprinting or at least in the drive phase of sprinting.

Bibliographic references:

• Outperform. (2019). Sprinting Technique | Common Errors & Myths [Video file]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/tKOkYrflrW0?si=6an3akjOIbemiW2v