SPORT SPEED: Marching and Skipping
Last week we talked about improving your linear speed with the use of Acceleration Wall Drills. Today, I wanted to stick with our linear speed focus and review marching and skipping. These drills are great, because they are relatively easy to perform and can be repeated several times through the week.We started with the Acceleration Wall Drills and now we are going to try and apply those same principles in a more dynamic way.
Prior to any explosive training, you must make sure you have done a warm-up that will help prepare your body. Your warm-up could consist of rolling and/or dynamic stretching hip flexors, calves, quads, and hamstrings, and activating your core, glute stabilizers and postural muscles.With repetition these drills will develop your posture and position so you can get the most out of your body. When you are stable and strong, you will have the ability to transfer power into the ground and utilize energy from one side to the other. This energy return system will propel you faster than ever before.
MARCHING
• Keep a tall spine, with shoulders set down and back, rib cage down
• Think of maintaining your elbows at 90 degrees and swing from the shoulders
• The knees should drive up in front of the hips
• The feet should strike on the ball of the foot under the hips, just slightly ahead of the opposing foot
• Think about use aggressive arm and leg action while maintaining a stable pillar or core
• Marching allows you to maintain connection to the ground, remain stable and work on position
SKIPPING
• Take the same set up as Marching
• You will strike and then perform a hop. Think strike-hop-strike-hop
• The movement should be smooth and rhythmical
• While Marching kept you more stable, Skipping loses some of that connection, just like sprinting
• You must remain stable and powerful
• For this drill, the goal is to remain at a level head height. We want to remain stable and create strong ground force contact
BONUS DRILL:
HIGH SKIPS
While this drill isn’t exactly a run technique drill, it’s still a great drill for athlete to work on single leg power and control and as it's a related movement pattern we thought we'd share it here·
Take the same set up as Marching, but rather than striking the ground once, you will strike and then perform a hop, aiming to create as much height as possible·
To create the most height possible think about i) arm drive, ii) powering off your support leg focusing on triple extension through hip, knee, and ankle and iii) driving the knee of the non-contact leg.
If you are interested in speed development, incorporate these exercises 2-3x/week.
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