But I’m Not A Runner!

I love questions, particularly when a client takes such an interest in their training that they want to know “Why?”

As in “I am not a runner, I don’t understand why we are doing drills like ‘through the gears’, it doesn’t make sense to me.”

That is actually a great question for a couple reasons. Besides the obvious, it also lets me know that we need to do a better job educating. It’s a win-win, because both student and teacher are getting better at the same time.

So why do we do this type of drill anyway?

Last week we talked about the TFW formula for Agility Training.

ADSR = CI

Acceleration. Deceleration. Stopping. Re-acceleration = Conditioning and Injury Prevention

You see agility training is not just about pro athletes running through cones, stopping on a dime, and exploding in the other direction.

• It’s about you and I being stepping off a curb and having to screech to a halt before the kid in the truck runs us over.
• It’s about being reaching out and quickly grabbing our children or grandchildren before they take a nasty tumble.
• It’s about maintaining our ability to move, adjust and react as we get older.

And if we want to maintain it, we got to train it.

So let’s talk about those seated sprints and through the gear drills.

Consider all the things that we are accomplishing, training, and learning:

• Posture – staying tall
• Core Work – maintaining low back position
• Flexibility – can I keep my legs completely on the ground, toes pointed up?
• Shoulder mobility – can I move through a full range of motion?
• Reaction time – how fast can I respond to the commands through the gears?
• Conditioning – gets my heart rate up, blood is pumping!

And once we get that arm action down, our standing work becomes even more effective.

Does it apply to running and sprinting?

You bet! But all these thing also apply to many other aspects of training as well.

Effective arm action helps us create more power, maintain our center of gravity, and keep our balance. And moving better and being more efficient in these areas translates to all of our training.

And helps us get a little bit better, every day.

Keep those questions coming, and keep Making It Happen!

Coach Dean

P.S. – If you are a runner, want to be a better runner, or intend to start running, you need to be at Coach Sarah’s “Running Mechanics & Injury Prevention” Seminar on May 7th.

Sign Up Here!