Velocity Sports Performance Official Website

That was excellent! Well-articulated, well-translated to sport-specific realm. Videos like that one are interestiung, educational, and they make the whole network look good. BRAVO!

I agree with Corey, I'll be sure to add this one to our facebook page. Keep the information coming :) Thanks guys!

Good morning, I have just seen the video sent out via email stating that sit ups are not the best way to ensure you run fast. According to research skipping is better due to the contraction and relaxation of muscles when you hit the floor. I have to admit, this seems as you the person who made this does not fully understand the principle, and has just released a video on it... On a personal, I don't think people have thought this through when they mad thie video as the message on it is not very clear (perhaps it was just a marketing thing). You see, any Sport Scientist knows that the Abdominal muscles and Obliques play a vital role in any sport, especially sprinting.... However, they do a hell of a lot more than just ensure energy travels through on foot contact. For instance, even when the feet aren't in contact with the floor, the arms and legs are still moving, so they need a solid core to push through. A strong core (abs) will also ensure that the arms power through forwards and backwards, rather than the arms coming outside of the body. A solid core will also keep the chest up allowing the diaphram to contract and relax easier - resulting in a 200m runner having better performance. The core also ensures the hips stay high, even when the foot is not contact with the floor, the hips must stay high to ensure a full rotation (knee lift and claw back). If the hips sink then the knee lift will not only be lower, but a slower velocity and weaker, meaning that the legs will not turn over quicker and will have a shorter leg stride. A strong stomach will also ensure that when someone runs ru=ound a corner or bend, that the hips maintain ower and the body can lean with a straight back, allowing the transfer of power from arms and legs to be more efficient. A strong lean will also shift the centre of gravity in front of the body allowing for constant/immediate acceleration - again all through the stomach muscles. My point it that "skipping" is a fantastic exercise. I personally love it, it maintains strength and should be used as a "conditioning" tool. You can't skip in replacement of doing sit ups. My advice in a session with the skipping would be to do your full range of sit ups first! Make sure you work each "pack" individually then periodically work the packs together and synchronise it all. After this you should skip. Get the stretch reflex of all the ab muscles working together, as well as raising the heart rate... Strength and power and the ability to run fast and do all of the above comes from Ab work - could be anything from sit ups to bounding and plyometrics - skipping merely maintains this - Always work the core first, and then skip... All videos should have two sides of the discussion... It would be very interesting to hear your personal thoughts on this video... What do you make of it?

Great information! I will share this with my track team and see if I can get our school to pay for some jump ropes for our team. Thanks Velocity!

The biomechanics behind this tip makes a lot of sense. Appreciate it and will try it.

It is very interesting the more I think about it... I am a black belt Kickboxer, as well as an elite Sprinter, so I really do see both sides of the argument... The theory that he uses - relaxation before hand is great! It is completely accurate - due to the way the nerves conduct the impulses in to the muscles and illicit the contraction. It is alot easier to push something where there is no restriction. However, this is made possible because it is a "closed skill" - one quick movement. Sprinting is an "open skill". when a leg is not in contact with the floor there is always another limb that is powering on, requiring constant contraction and strength. The tighter the core and stronger it is, the better the ability of the that limb to propel not only itself, but the body forward. So in terms of "biomechanics" Keenya, which is the science of how the body moves... I do not agree with this video I look forward to hearing anyone's thoughts or comments, as before.

I agree more with Hadley.

Wow, you guys are the best. I will add this to my training for spring football.

This is very well explained. I play soccer many times a day every day and i will be sure to show this to my coaches for further training :) thank you!

What a great discussion it appears is emerging, I'm really glad you all took the time to post! Hadley - I actually agree wholeheartedly with almost everything you said, and I'm sorry if the video didn't clearly get my main point across. I'm tasked with putting together a "tip" in under a minute, which isn't easy when it's a concept that has a couple of layers. That can result in some oversimplifications that can be confusing, so I apologize. All those functions of the core musculature during running that you mention are of course true. What I'm saying is that in general, the function of the abs during sprinting is in the RESISTANCE of flexion, extension, or rotation, not the production of it. So, whereas we totally need our athletes to have core strength (and we train it all the time), we need it to be more STATIC in nature in order to promote more stability around the midline. Where we differ in opinion is that I don't ever want to train the abdominals (or more specifically the lumbar spine) to be MORE flexible. I'd rather do tons of plank variations and flexion-resistance exercises than have athletes groove a pattern of flexion by doing sit-ups or lumbar rotation using russian twists. I think that skipping and jumprope are quite similar in their conditioning of the body to be rhythmically stiff and compliant, which was the point of the video. I could just as easily have chosen skipping instead of jumprope so I appreciate the comment. I look forward to hearing what everybody has to say, so keep it coming! REtt

Hi Rett, I agree with you totally in your answer with regards to the resistance of flexion - well written and a good response :). I see where you are coming from with regards to the isometric exercise and you are correct, we should all encompass this in to our training. However, the only real query I had with the video was the claim that the abdominals should contract and relax – this is something I wouldn’t coach… May I ask, do you personally believe that speed is helped through contraction and relaxation of the abs with every foot contact?, or is speed “helped” through the CONSTANT contraction of the abdominal group allowing for all arm and leg forces to travel through? I am really looking forward to your response. I noticed that in your movie you gave the demonstration of the legs, but, with every leg movement there is an arm movement, so there is always force going through the abdominals, meaning that they “cannot relax”, they always need to be tight to allow greater running efficacy (leading to increased speed). I agree totally with your statement in the post about the fact that we need to improve our isometric strength, but, do you believe that the abs should stay tight throughout a race based on the information above? Or relax and contract as you propose in the video? I eagerly await your response as I truly believe that using the scientific information you gave of when there is a tight core then energy passes through (if the core is soft then energy is absorbed), the core must stay constantly contracted in order for the energy of ALL 4 limbs to pass through as they are all moving simultaneously. Therefore, using skipping/jump rope as an example may not have been the best… perhaps doing normal isometric activities would have been better as you quite rightly put in the post? P.S. I love jump rope activities and think that it is a great training tool, but not for the reason you gave in the video.

Hey Hadley - I sill think we're saying the same thing. There are 2 main concepts here: 1) leg muscles must be able to stiffen and relax quickly and in rhythm during sprinting and 2) the abdominals need to remain tight the entire time to prevent excess rotation about the midline. You're correct in saying that simple plank exercises may be the best way to train #1 while skips and jumprope may be the best way to train #2. The video attempts to address both simultaneously which may be confusing. But if you listen to it again, I mention a few times that the core musculature needs to be tight the whole time. The "mushy core" that I mention is definitely the enemy. Great feedback Hadley - there's no doubt that my next video will be even better as a result. Thanks. ReTt

I’m going to have to say I’m not sold. Essentially the benefit here is sticking the landing will have a greater transference over to running than traditional core work. However how much more deficient are other core work exercises that provide much higher tension gains (contractile strength) in term of transference against jump roping? I’m guessing less than 10%. I’m a huge specificity guy, but I don’t know that jump roping’s specificity advantage trumps the contractile potential of other exercises. Other points: 1)Posture- What about hanging knee raises? Back is straight, and your bringing your knees to 90, which is most specific to running and will work the hip-girdle/lower core area waistline around the entire trunk, the spot that is most crucial for pelvic stabilization. 2)Landing- Redundant? I’m assuming that your video about using this for “runners” means that they actually are runners and might be doing things like explosive work strength training/jumps for height&distance/plyometrics/running 3)Sit Ups don’t equal faster = incorrect. You may suppose your method of training is better, but there are numerous trials in physiology journals showing continuous positive correlation between sit ups from 10-150 and faster 40s. 4)Runners should always consider mileage in regards to injury and CNS fatigue. If I’m going to have runners doing jump rope, it would be for a reason other than to work their core such as stretch-reflex. I’m going to hook them up to the overspeed pulley after every workout that I planned on doing my core work in the form of jump roping if I’m just going to throw out injury and CNS considerations, it would yield better per landing results for sprinting than jump roping.