Activ8 Performance Personal Training

💥Enhancing acceleration phase mechanics and power via sled sprints💥

Stride Length: Avoid short strides and aim to create horizontal force by pushing the ground away. Short strides waste time and leaves behind lost distance that can’t be regathered.
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Ground Contact Time: The amount of time each foot spends on the ground is longest at the beginning, as the body is trying to overcome the weight of your body fighting gravity. This takes a great deal of strength.
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Shin Angle: The shin angle is going to determine the projection angle (roughly 50 degree) as well force application to the ground as the athlete is driving out.
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Heel Recovery: Heels should recover quickly, with limited backside mechanics (movements occurring behind the center of mass) such as heel to butt, especially during the first 4-6 steps. Keep the heel recovery low.
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Body Position: Foot should strike directly below or slightly behind the hips. Look for Triple Extension of the driving leg– ankle, knee, hip. The body is driving out at a 50 degree angle to the ground. (This is a straight line from your head to your back leg.)
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Often athletes concern themselves too much with trying to be quick with their legs. Instead of trying to push out and be powerful, athletes are ‘spinning their wheels’ and are not getting triple extension (ankle, knee, hip). The sled push sprint sets up the ideal environment to ‘feel their feet behind them’. If you are getting that sensation, then you know you are finishing off your leg drive.
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During sprinting, the hamstrings, adductor magnus, and gluteus maximus (hip extensors) produce the majority of their force at high-velocity while the foot is in contact with the ground.
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When we train using high-velocity exercises, like trap/hex bar jumps in this video and Olypmic lift variations we improve our ability to produce force at high velocities to a much greater extent than against very heavy loads, which require low velocities. Using heavy loads to improve maximum strength does transfer, but not as well as you might hope, to high-velocity force production. Even though it produces increases in neural drive in the muscle, it does not increase the speed of motor unit firing in the initial phase of a contraction.
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Therefore we hip extension should be trained for sprinting using high-velocity exercises like jump squats, trap/hex bar jumps, and Olympic lifts. I like the trap/hex bar jumps as they are quicker to teach and address athletes with mobility limitations. Yes Olympic lifts do have their own unique benefits such as force absorption and coordination.

📈BAR PATH 🏋🏾‍♂️
Plays an essential role in not only the ex*****on but as seen here the landing mechanics of Olympic lifts. The bar shouldn’t travel perfectly vertical, from the bar’s contact at the hip (sn**ch) and upper thigh (clean), it will travel forward slightly (the less the better), and then must come back toward the lifter into the rack position or overhead position.
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Keys to an effective bar path include:
🔑 Keeping the bar close (especially after passing hip)
🔑 Hip intention (vertical brush/bump)
🔑 Wrist angle (knuckles facing down)
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The end result you will find is that the bar should move backwards slightly to towards the lifter. Starting with the bar over the ball of the foot and receive it over the center of the foot. A negative bar path outcome can include being forced forward onto fore foot at the catch instead of the heels. (On the right)

REDEVELOPING THE PHYSICAL QUALITIES FOR ATHLETIC PERFORMANCE
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The mid-thigh pull is a great exercise to initiate rate of force production (RFD) training after ACL reconstruction or meniscus repair 6-8 weeks post op depending on the athlete. Once strength/stability has been re-established in the joint and surrounding muscles.
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You can’t be explosive unless you are first strong.
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Why mid-thigh pulls? They produce peak power output compared to other lifts, create peak ground reaction forces and it is not technically difficult for a return to play athlete to perform. (Except these are a bit high)
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12 week post op progression - mid-thigh power clean - be able to decelerate and absorb force under load.

Similar to the suitcase carry, the J carry (with a trap bar or barbell) is a great anti-lateral flexion progression to challenge the core.
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It challenges the core to maintain a neutral posture as the body tends to adjust to weight on one side with a hip shift. I like to pick a straight line on the ground and walk with each foot on each side of the line. This gives me some instant feedback on body alignment and positioning.