Track; drills to increase your speed;running a curve

                                                             Blog number 5


Drills: Butt kickers and the forward lean are my favorite drills in track. Butt kickers helps you with your form. This drill helps you with making sure you are always pumping your arms when you run and helps with strengthening your thigh muscles.



Running a curve: The strategy for running a curve is to lean into the curve. The closer you are to the inside, the sharper the turn and the more you have to lean. "Accelerating and sprinting on a curve is primarily characterized by a body lean...Athletes should try to run on the inside of the lane around the curve as this is the shortest distance"(191, Jeffreys). When running the 200m dash, everyone fights over lane 1. Lanes 1-3 are always the best lanes since those lanes you run the shortest distances.

What other strategies do you think will be helpful for running a curve?
Jeffreys, Ian. Developing Speed. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics, 2013. Print

Basketball speed mechanics

                                                                   Blog number 2

The four components of sprint mechanics important to basketball are arm action, hip action, body lean, and running stride effectiveness. The athlete should bend their elbows at a 90-to 105- degree angle and swings the arm from the shoulder, focusing on moving the arms forward ad back in a straight line.  The faster an athlete can swing their arms efficiently, the faster the legs will move. Athletes who improve their speed give themselves a distinct advantage in terms of enhancing the quality of their play.

By improving your running mechanics athletes can improve their half-court running time by .1 to .2 seconds. While you are running keep your shoulders down and relaxed. Proper body lean can also maximize your speed.

What type of drills do you think can improve your speed?

Jeffreys, Ian. Developing Speed. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics, 2013. Print