Postural issues dominate the mechanics of track and field. Conserving posture throughout a race or trial in a field event is a key to optimal performance in any event. Initial postural issues from the start will be carried throughout the extent…
Shot Put Rotational Drills – Travis Geopfert – Univ. of AR
Coach Travis Geopfert explains and athletes demonstrate these Shot Put Rotational Drills
Flexibility for Cross Country From the Ground Up
Cross country athletes and runners in general typically have two goals: run faster and avoid injuries. Achieving both requires balance—between conditioning and recovery, joint stability and mobility, and the left and right sides of the body…
Pole Vault Approach Drills Using Mini Hurdles – Jeff Martin – IN ST. Univ.
Coach Jeff Martin explains and vaulters demonstrate these Mini Hurdles Approach Drills
Hurdles Wall Flexibility Drills – Karim Abdel Wahab – CO ST. Univ.
Coach Karim Abdel Wahab explains and hurdlers demonstrate these Wall Flexibility Drills
Breath Based Training – A Different Approach to Distance Training
For the past eight years, our cross country teams at Grove City College, an NCAA DIII school in western Pennsylvania, which competes in the Presidents’ Athletic Conference, have been using breathing-based training. My background in athletic…
Discus R.V.M. Drill – John Ridgeway and Greg Pilling
Coach John Ridgeway explains and Greg Pilling demonstrates the Discus R.V.M. Drill
Horizontal Jumps – Box Drills – Cliff Rovelto – KS ST. Univ.
Coach Cliff Rovelto explains and an athlete demonstrates these Horizontal Jumps – Box Drills
Training With Data
In High School, College, and at the Professional Level: Insights into how mid to long distance coaches perceive and use data to drive performance and progress.
100m Race Strategy with Dana Boone – Texas State Univ.
Coach Dana Boone discusses 100m Race Strategy
Common Ground – Technical Commonalities in the Jumps
Developing Horizontal Force. The approach should provide the jumper with horizontal momentum and velocity. This assists performances in events with great horizontal components. This horizontal velocity also eccentrically loads of the muscles of…
Discobolus
Old may not be quite the right word in the above title. Ancient may be the better word to describe twist in the context of this article. The most accurate Roman copy of the Greek original, Myron’s Discobolus circa 450-460 BC, “…is today…
High Jump Landing Drill – John Gartland – IN State Univ.
Coach Gartland explains and High Jumpers demonstrate this Landing Drill
Hurdle Landing Drills – Doug Case – Univ. of AR
Coach Doug Case explains and Hurdlers demonstrate these Landing Drills
Restoration and Recovery – Will Freeman
Coach Will Freeman discusses the importance of Restoration and Recovery
Acceleration Drills with Cliff Rovelto – Kansas State Univ.
Coach Cliff Rovelto discusses Acceleration Drills
800-1500M 8 Lane Tempo Run – Rose Monday
Coach Rose Monday discusses this 8 Lane Tempo Run
Hurdles Form Training Drills – Karim Abdel Wahab – CO State Univ.
Coach Karim Abdel Wahab explains and players demonstrate these Hurdles Form Training Drills
Track Exercises that Build Explosive Muscle
If you are a sprinter, jumper or thrower, you need to be explosive. Without this essential attribute, you will be left standing on the blocks, miss your jump height or fail to match your opponents on your throws.
The key to getting more…
Ties that Bind
After over twenty years as an athlete and coach in the sports of cross country and track & field reflecting on my experiences, both positive and negative, has helped me understand what it is I do and where my greatest successes have been…
Warm Ups for Sprints and Hurdles with Cliff Rovelto – Kansas State Univ.
Coach Cliff Rovelto discusses warm ups for sprints and hurdles
High Jump Takeoff – Short Approach Drill – John Gartland – IN State Univ.
Coach John Gartland explains and high jumpers perform this Short Approach Drill
Women’s Track Workout: Increasing Speed in the Weight Room
Over the course of my career, I have had opportunities to work with some very talented female track athletes, including NCAA Championship Qualifier and Academic All-American Jenna Caffrey (Iowa State). One overarching theme I’ve seen: no elite…
Ground-based Exercises to Aid with Acceleration
Acceleration is a force characterized by pushing. To accelerate forward an athlete must impart a backward force, a push, into the ground. The stronger the force is applied (with optimal technique), the faster the athlete accelerates. Force should…
Warm-up and Cool Down – Two Crucial Details on Race Day
In thirty years of coaching successful distance runners I listened to, read about, or discussed with colleagues the merits and shortcomings of many different types of training programs. Many people, athletes in particular, seemed to spend…
Projected Maxes: A Safer Approach to Maxing Out
In order to monitor progress in the weight room, it is necessary to devise a safe and accurate testing procedure. Single repetition maxes are the most frequently used form of testing and monitoring progress. In single repetition maxing, heavy …
Pre-Season Conditioning
The key to a successful track and field season can be made or broken in the first 35% of the season. Most training theorist state that the general preparatory facet of the season should be between thirty and forty percent of the overall season.
Properly Programming and Scheduling In-Season Weight Training
For the most part, certain sports have it easy when it comes to in-season weight training. Football has games on Friday nights so weight training on Mondays and Wednesdays makes perfect sense. For many other sports like track and field…
Using General Strength in the Training Regimen
General Strength exercises are exercises that develop strength, using the athlete’s bodyweight as the sole load or resistance. In general strength work no external loading is applied. General strength exercises can run the gamut from simple…
7 Awesome Medicine Ball Drills to Increase Speed!
Here is a quick tutorial on physics. Newton’s third law of action reaction basically states that when ever there is a force applied, there is an equal and opposite reaction meeting that force. This is the concept I use medicine ball training to…