⚡️SSL #022: This 1 THING Makes Elite Sprinters “Different”

Jan 01, 2023

Below is a screenshot of American football star Tyreek Hill calling out Usain Bolt to race for the 420th time.

Fast athletes in other sports are regularly compared to elite sprinters.

Some of those athletes like Tyreek are even bold enough to challenge the fastest men in the world.

That's why today I’m going to discuss the 1 thing that makes elite sprinters much faster than other fast athletes.

#1 The $100,000 Analysis

Using a treadmill that is reportedly worth over $100,000 the SMU Lab in Texas was able to analyze vertical forces in competitive sprinters and non-sprinters.

This graph represents vertical forces applied by the competitive sprinters at 10.3 meters per second, 23 mph.

You can see where the forces are spiked during the first half of ground contact, and then quickly forces drop off.

This graph represents vertical forces applied by the non-sprinters at 8.1 meters per second, and 18.11 mph.

You can see their forces are nearly symmetrical, lower, and wider.

Indicating that they are:

applying equal amounts of force during their ground contact
reaching lower peak forces
spending more time on the ground.

#2 The 1 Thing

Based on this it seems that when competitive sprinters reach higher top speeds are able to apply more vertical forces in the first half of their ground contact.

Essentially this allows them to apply more forces in less time.

More force + less ground contact time = more speed.

The non-sprinters were not able to do this.

Based on this experiment, that is what separates competitive sprinters from others and allows to them reach higher top speeds.

The elite sprinter's ability to “spike their forces”.

#3 How To Do This

Sprinting as fast as possible is a complex process.

That being said there are a few things to consider if you want to “spike your forces”.

1 - The Speed Of Your Leg Recovery.

If it takes too long to cycle your leg you won’t have time to strike the ground properly, I call this being a “lagger”.

2 - Your ability to “Stab” the ground.

Assuming you recover your leg efficiently, now you have to attack the ground which I call “stabbing the ground”.

3 - Your Leg Stiffness

Let’s say you recovered your leg without “lagging”, then you “stab” into the ground. If your leg bends excessively then you lose the power that was supposed to into the ground.

4 - Your Reactivity

Let’s say you do steps 1-3 correctly but then your muscles and tendons around the ankle are not trained to bounce like “springs”. Well, then all of that effort is lost at the last possible millisecond.

#4 How You Can Do This

Honestly, it would require an entire series of videos to teach how to discover which of these is your weakest link, and how to fix it.

That’s why I created Sprint Cheat-Codes where I explain the “3,2,1 Sequence” and provide you with a library of exercises for each problem.

However, I know if you’re reading this far you probably want immediate-actionable info.

Here it is:

use tempo runs to practice recovering your leg efficiently (knees at least parallel on first contact, 1-2x per week)
use A step, A skip, & bounds to practice “stabbing the ground” (during warm-ups, at least 3x week)
for leg stiffness work on your coordination, not just strength (can’t hold a position that you don’t get into, leg switches are 1 drill for this)
to develop your natural “springs” focus on low-intensity high-volume plyos first (1-2x per week)

TL;DR

competive sprinters reach higher top speeds are able to applying more vertical forces in the first half of their ground contact
study shows non-sprinters were not able to do this
use tempo runs to practice recovering your leg effeciently (knees at least parallel on first contact, 1-2x per week)
use A step, A skips, & bounds to practice “stabbing the ground” (during warm ups, at least 3x week)
for leg stiffness work on your coordination not just strength (can’t hold a position that you don’t get into)
to develop your natural “springs” focus on low-intensity high volume plyos first (1-2x per week)

Stay Fast,

Cesar

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