How To Become Faster, By Improving Posture & Position

Below is a detailed breakdown on a recent Instagram post regarding lateral acceleration.

Lateral speed & agility is where field/court sport athletes will make their money. It’s also where athletes get exposed!

**Detailed breakdown of technical flaws, and reason why choosing the correct strategy can make you faster below**

These 2 videos were taken literally moments apart. We employed some corrective strategies to help the athlete fix some minor strategic flaws, which in turn, made him immediately faster than he previously was.

The video on top (before) vs. the video on the bottom (after).

Flaw #1. On the top video, the stance is higher and the shins are more upright. When the athlete is given a task requiring quick burst or change of direction (COD), he must first reposition his feet (creating a better angle, allowing him to put more power into the ground). This isn’t wrong and shouldn’t be “coached out” but rather understood that this is a natural part of the CNS. One should view that as a natural part of how the human body works.

However, was it the best position to be in? No.

By simply starting a little lower, and having the athlete take a wider stance (bottom video), this eliminated the need for the repositioning step all together. Allowing the athlete to put force into the ground immediately!

Flaw #2. Viewing the top video, the athlete’s right leg pivots during the initial phase of acceleration. As we all know, twisting a foot into the ground cause friction, which in turn makes us slow. Then, tries to use that same leg as the initial force producing leg.

This flaw is VERY common. We see this often.

During the lateral gait that leg (the inside) should be used to briefly pull the athlete in the intended direction of travel just long enough so the outside leg can recover and begin to push again. After utilizing a few correctives to help the athlete focus on covering more ground during the initial push off (which helped eliminate the need to pivot) the athlete was able to open the hip so the inside leg could begin to pull!

If you or someone you know can benefit from our sports performance program, feel free to give us a call, or reach out to us through our “Get Started” page!