Fall 2024
Prevention of hamstring injuries through tension inoculation
I had a high level of success throughout my career in improving measurable speed. We improved 40-time records in every position group repeatedly without anxiety about hamstring issues. The most successful off-season produced 26 players under a 4.60 forty time. Always the same surface, same shoes, and same conditions. The protocols and ideas of “track guys” helped me become very creative with my own. Trial and error and science were the recipe for a refined practical perspective toward highly gifted athletes.
Over the years I became friends with Boo Schexnayder. Boo once hit me with a statement that reinforced what I had been believing for three decades but could never put on paper: “Sprinting provides more tension to the muscle and connective tissue than anything else you can do and serves to advance the neuromuscular system further than any other form of training.”
Sometime later, I attended a clinic where local brainiac Mike Young (a disciple of Boo-ology) stated that “sprinting in itself serves to inoculate an athlete from hamstring injury.” These statements are the reason that I believe that the volume, frequency, and nature of sprinting itself greatly contributed to the success of our program, which was based on the following credentials:
- Omitting all traditional sumo and trap bar deadlifts from skilled athletes. Low back tightness can impact the nerves associated with the hamstring.
- Replacing heavy squats with ballistics in-season to preserve hamstring mobility elasticity and proprioception with skill athletes, particularly defensive backs.
- Valuing variation glute work throughout the offseason. Glute strength is vital.
- Focusing on hip mobility. Tight hip flexors — anterior pelvic tilt — increased the probability of hamstring injury.
Supplementary favorites include kettlebell swings, drinking birds, RLE single-leg squat superset RLE RDL, and supine single-leg-flexion extension suspended between two benches.
The following five-day program is the culmination of a three-decade journey. It is a five-day run and three-day lift program directed toward athletes who run in space. I have limited it to the linear work to simplify.
5 Days – 9 Weeks
Day 1 (Acceleration)
Dynamic Warm Up
- Resisted Sprints (sled, hill, prowler, wooden sled)
- Piston marches pushing prowler or wooden sled
- Benefits of hill training early in a training cycle are well documented.
- Resisted acceleration bounds piston-like action (non-cyclical)
- Fly in speed bounding over 2″ wickets x 6
- 3-4 lanes with varied distances between wickets
- Multi-starts — supine, prone, lateral, 3 point, 4 point, 1 knee, 2 knees, 1 knee lateral, facing away, crouch
- Essential flex cool-down
Day 2 (Postural Integrity Drills to Address Posture and Hip Position Issues)
- Jump rope warm-up
- Pogos (vertical bounds with variations)
- Hurdle mobility series
- Single-leg pose chop
- 3-count pose chop
- Scissors march (switches)
- Switches (stationary front foot elevated to box)
- Rapid knee lifts
- Partner tempos: Partner tempos is a drill I devised as a strategy to maintain a tall posture and perform more cyclical mechanics without confusing acceleration cues. I never taught top-end cues because I did not want cyclical action to poison acceleration. I chose to place these premier skilled athletes in situations where it would happen naturally.
- 3 zones / 20 m each
- Line up with a partner of same height and speed (usually assigned)
- 2-point crouch stance
- Athlete A sets tempo on the go call. Athlete B is only one yard away, lined up hip to hop and matches tempo, staying tall and hip to hip through Phase 1 (on the rise out of a crouch stance thinking to get hips tall). This is ½ to ¾ speed.
- As they hit the second zone at Phase 2, Athlete B takes over the tempo slightly building as Athlete A works to match the tempo and hip-to-hip relationship.
- As Ahletes A and B hit Phase 3, both increase tempo and work to match foot strike which is simply a controlled race for 20m.
- Yoga Day if available
Day 3 (Max Effort Speed)
*Blocks and track shoes if available
*Extended Dynamic Warm-Up
*Sprint Ladder Prep 10m/20m/30m/40m
*The Athlete must gain confidence at 60m (when coaches fear the distance, athletes fear the distance)
*This is a crucial day in advancing the neuromuscular system
*Use blocks to reinforce proper stance and start — the stance dictates the rep.
*Track shoes are beneficial for optimizing foot strike
- 60m sprints 4-6 reps
- Week 1 – 80% top speed
- Week 2 – 90% top speed
- Weeks 3-9 – Full Speed
- Power Bounding (vertical emphasis and more air time)
- Straight leg bounds
- Mobility drill cooldown
Day 4 (Postural Integrity)
- Jump rope warm-up
- Pogos (vertical bounds)
- Wall drills (45-degree head to feet)
- Hips stay set in a posterior position. This is volitional and needs to be coached.
- Chops
- Scissors
- Continuous
- Fast leg sequence
- Continuous Singles
- Doubles
- 3 Count
- 3 Count Build-Ups
- Partner tempos
- Essential flex cooldown
Day 5 (Choice)
» ALSO SEE: University of Texas study suggests activity lengthens REM latency
Options:
- Competitive multi-starts
- Groups of 6 athletes with similar speed (pre-determined)
- Same standard positions.
- On the whistle (you jump you lose)
- Each athlete scored 1st to 6th place on every rep.
- Must be videoed.
- Scored and posted by coaches
- 1 round 10m, 1 round 20m
- Sprint – Float – Sprint
- 50 m – 70 m – 90 m (4-6 reps)
- Tall posture
- Arm stroke
- This can be adjusted to fly-ins for variation
- 110s for volume (12-15 reps) / Overspeed for advanced sprinters who run strong
- Manipulate times in clusters with 110s:
- 3 moderate – 3 fast – 3 easy – 3 moderate – 3 fast