This is going to be a 2 part series covering the 3 most common problems I see in athletes that prevent them from being as fast, agile, and explosive on the field as they could be. To improve your ability to accelerate, decelerate, cut in and out and jump higher you need a combination of strength, power and good movement patterns.
You can be strong and powerful but if you do not move well because you have very poor hip and ankle mobility then you will not be able to transfer force efficiently and therefore you will not be performing to your true potential.
On the other hand you can have great mobility and coordination but if you don’t have the strength and power to drive the engine then you won’t move very fast and explosively either.
1) The Foot Strike
If you have a look at all the best athlete’s foot mechanics while sprinting, they hardly hit the ground with their heels. Most people who lack speed and quickness tend to contact the ground with a lot of their weight on their heels. When you are running and your foot strikes the ground more towards the mid and forefoot it makes it easier to activate the powerful hip extensors (glutes and hamstrings). These are your engine so if you feel the need for speed then you better activate these bad boys by getting a better foot strike.
2) Lack of Mobility and Activation in Key Areas
Poor Glute and Psoas Activation:
As I said before if you want to go fast then you need a powerful engine. Generally speaking, accelerating, jumping, and most other athletic movements are driven most efficiently from muscles acting on the hip. The glutes and psoas are the main muscles driving hip extension and when movement is primarily generated from these muscles the result is a less stressful more fluid running pattern.This is why the best athletes in the world have big, strong glutes and when they run it looks so effortless, graceful and smooth. Yes I like strong butts and I cannot lie! All you other brothers can’t deny..
A strong psoas promotes optimum hip and foot mechanics as it is the muscle that is responsible for raising the knee up away from the ground. If the psoas weak and you can’t get your knees up this is going to have a negative impact on the force you will be able to put back into the ground to generate forward momentum. It may also lead to overuse injuries like IT band soreness and problems, knee pain, and plantar fasciitis.
Poor Hip and Ankle Mobility:
The quads, rectus femoris, ankles, and hip flexors often tend to be tight especially with athletes that workout a lot. Without full range of motion in all planes (i.e healthy joints and surrounding tissue) you will not be able to be able to efficiently and safely transfer power through your lower body. If you have had knee, foot pain or lower back pain then you probably need to work on hip and ankle mobility which I will cover in part 2 of this series.
3) Lack of Strength and Power
Addressing this problem will make the biggest difference to you improving as an athlete. It’s quite simple really; if you want to get faster, improve your agility and be more explosive then you need to train for strength and power.
Why? Because the more force you can impart on the ground the further you will be able to move away from it. Tomorrow I will cover some things you can start to implement to address these three main issue which will set you on your way to improving your speed and agility.
