Quick Tips for Faster Sprint Starts

A fast  and powerful sprint start is essential for all athletes who hope to run a faster 40 yard dash, steal more bases, or win a state championship sprint race. Most team sport athletes are tested in a distance over 30-60 yards, so you would bet that training them to get very good at sprint starts would be top priority… Right?

I would hope so! By simply following a few simple cues, learning how to get set up properly, feeling and seeing how it’s like to be in the right start position, and a couple other cues, you’ll be on your way to faster sprints in no time.

Watch the video below to see a great sprint start from Asafa Powell, one of the fastest men on the planet today who shows great starting mechanics.

Now, after watching that, a couple things stand out to me. I’ll make it as simple as possible as to not bore ya to tears with biomechanics and stuff like that, but here we go.

-He fires out forward from his start, not up. Try to pause the video exactly at 45 seconds and notice his body is in a straight line from his rear leg all the way to his head. This is the full extension of the rear leg we want.

-He’s very aggressive with his arm drive. Coming out of a sprint start, think quick and fast with the lead arm (same side as front leg in a sprint start).

-The rear leg clears fast and low. In otherwords, the rear foot doesn’t need to be pulled up aggressively; just focus on fast and low clearance to the track while using aggressive arm drive.. Which leads me to my next point..

-Stay relaxed! The start should be very aggressive, but the body operates best and most efficiently at 9/10th’s effort. Trying to muscle out a sprint will exert energy quickly and cause you to tighten up; which will cause you to lose sprint form and mobility, and possibly costing you a slower time or losing an important race. To quote the great sprint coach Bud Winter “Go Faster, but Run Looser”. Maintain composure and remain relaxed; let the hands, jaw, and face remain relaxed and loose. Once you tighten up, the race might as well be over..

Try these out next time you run some sprints!

See ya,

John Cortese