Should You Sprint Under Fatigue?

Sprinting as we know, is regarded as the most neurological taxing exercise in the world. However, striving to hit a personal best week after week is a misguided approach. You wouldn't strive to hit a new 1rm in the weight room week after week. Therefore, sprinting for sport performance should be done under mildly fatigued states. Below are 4 reasons why: 

1. Building upon last week's post about neutrality in sprinting. A handful of benefits happen when we get an athlete to take ownership of this position. Having athletic posture sets the body to be ready to move. Core and sprinting deals not with muscles but with core and joint structures from the thoracic cavity, max chest expansion, and tailbone length. This allows the rotation movement of the shoulders to be transferred front the hips. Good sprinting posture reflects a “Harrell” chest pushing the xiphoid (lower sternum) up and out. 

2. Achilles relief. We know that the achilles is the strongest lever in the body and can be responsible for the most damage in regards to injury. Although we cannot prevent injury, we can reduce the likeliness by fixing our position. The achilles is a store and release function due to the excessive volume we place upon it. In sub max training, I want the athletes to use their levers and natural gait patterns to alleviate the achilles as much as possible. We use this prowler as shown here to help assist this position. 

3. Improving submax operating speeds. After talking with Derek Hansen and Dan Brandi a lot recently, sport is a game of repeated effort. I want to see improvements at 80-90% of one's max speed output as opposed to hitting a one off PR. This is sports performance. The ability to produce high output repeatedly over the course of a game. 

4. Improved Respiratory Performance. Hands on head vs. knees has broke the internet! Last week i talked about the Piston Mechanism. The diaphragm and the pelvic floor must work together. By getting into this relatively flexed position, we are helping the athletes open the airway, increase ribcage expansion, and increase O2 to working musculature.