running drills
Running Drills
Running drills play a very important role in an athlete's fitness and endurance routine. They are great to increase speed and efficiency. Here are some extremely helpful drills.
Athletes and sportsmen have to be on their toes all the time. They cannot slacken or compromise on their strength and stamina. For the same reason, they are required to undergo vigorous training and conditioning sessions. These are predominantly meant to improve their endurance, stamina, and polish the skills which help in improving their performance on field. Running drills, especially for track and field athletes, and some other sports like soccer, football, and a few others, are an important part of such conditioning. These are an opportunity for the athletes to get insights during speed training.
An Uphill Task
Okay, don't worry, this drill is not that difficult a task! I am referring to a drill which involves climbing up a hill. This will serve a lot of purposes. One of them is that, it aids in acceleration development, and the other is that, if there are any faults in the posture of the athlete's running or jogging technique, it can be corrected. The best part is that, all this can be achieved without any equipment!
Acceleration, the Key
To do this, first a warm up of 2 to 5 minutes involving easy running is essential. Then start with a slow jog and slowly increase the speed as much as possible. The total distance covered should be around 100 meters. Again, jog easy for the first 100 meters, and do the sprint-like action again. This way steadily increase the speed over the complete distance.
Backing Off
Running backwards is I believe a universal drill for almost all the sports, isn't it? Nevertheless, let's check what it is all about. An advantage of this drill is that it can restore a balance of the body with its movement, which counters the movement involved in running forward. Most of the time, drills like these involve running forward, which leads to some muscles being over developed. Running backwards is great to strengthen hamstrings and loosening lower back and knees. Start this by running in place and then moving backwards. Run with a straight back, head up, shoulders back and looking straight ahead. A slight bend in your knees is perfect.
Skip It
An all time favorite of trainers to get the athletes in that killer fitness and running efficiency, is skipping. Further, it is not just skipping, it is skipping with long strides. Begin with skipping lightly. Step from one foot to another using a long stride. Concentrate on elongating the action of your arms and legs in a heightened and exaggerated manner during the skipping.
Stiff Tiff
Bend your arms at 90 degree angles at your sides and rise on your toes. Let the knees be locked and run or rather sprint as fast as you can. The strides will automatically and naturally be short, but you need to do this for at least 100 yards. This can work well for distance runners.
Speed Up
Stand on a spot and take as many steps as you can in let's say 20 seconds. Keeping the feet low to the ground, move them up and down lightly and quickly. Lean a bit forward. In addition to this, move your arms in sync with your feet movement and say 'fast feet, fast feet' to yourself. At the end of 20 seconds you will be breathing real hard.
In Your Stride
The objective of this drill is to attain quicker leg turn over. Have a good warm up and then run as fast as possible for 17 strides. One stride is counted every time your foot touches the ground. Count 17 such strides and then stop the watch. Focus and aim towards running these strides as fast as you can. Try exploding from the beginning and lift your legs up and down in a good speed.