The 3 Best Acceleration Drills for Athletes
You’ll need acceleration whether you want a faster first step, or just want to dust your competition. The past couple of weeks, I’ve shared the BEST Acceleration Drills for Athletes (Vol. 1 and Vol. 2). Now, we’ve come to the third installment of the series.
Today, I want to share two drills that will teach your body to stay in a mechanically advantageous position. The three best acceleration drills for athletes I want to share are:
- Ground Starts
- Kick Up Starts
- Half Kneeling Starts
Both of these drills take a bottom up approach in terms of mechanics. I mean that both of these drills emphasize positive shin and torso angles when I say that. Having positive shin and torso angles puts your body in a more mechanically advantageous position to produce force into the ground.
These drills place the athlete in that mechanically advantageous position to train him to propel forward and apply force into the ground.
Below, I’m going to jump into the benefits of each of these drills and how to properly perform each drill.
Ground Starts
Athletes who have a hard time maintaining a forward shin and torso angle should look to Ground Starts. With ground starts, this problem takes care of itself. This acceleration drill FORCES the athlete into the “golden position” and propel forward as opposed to popping straight up.
How to Perform Ground Starts:
- Start on your stomach, hands flat on the ground
- Extend your arms and get your feet into a staggered stance
- Extend your hips and cock one arm back
- Drive out as you pop one thigh and throw your arms
- Continue with proper acceleration mechanics
Kick Up Starts
Kick Up Starts are very similar to ground starts. The difference is that Kick Up Starts force the athlete to react off the ground and propel himself forward. The reaction off the ground raises the threshold of driving out of both legs. The athlete should be able to sprint at higher velocities as well, as he can use the force absorbed from his ground reaction to fire out horizontally.
How to Perform Kick Up Starts:
- Start on all fours with your knees off the ground and feet in a staggered stance
- Kick your feet up off the ground so your torso tips forward
- As the feet come back towards the ground, prepare to drive forwards
- When the feet touch, react off the ground and drive out
- Throw your arms as you do this
- Continue with proper acceleration mechanics
Half Kneeling Starts
Half Kneeling Starts are one of my favorite acceleration drills for athletes. They place you in a mechanically advantageous position to produce force out of. They also train the front leg at a deeper range. By doing that, we can increase the amount of power that front leg produces in normal acceleration scenarios.
Remember, after using these drills, you should be performing a 2 point start to practice every aspect of your start.
How to Perform Half Kneeling Starts
- Start in a half kneeling position
- Drive your front knee over your toe to create a positive shin angle
- As you do this, lean your torso forward
- Drive out horizontally, throwing throwing the arms and popping the opposite thigh
- Continue with proper acceleration mehcanics
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Lots of athletes do.
Truth is, there is no magic pill to get faster instantly.
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