22 Sprinting muscles

um, sometimes in uh populations that are kind of uh adjacent to track sprinters, so maybe kind of middle distance runners or team sports athletes. But the vast majority of these studies were done in track sprinters. Um and it's really interesting just kind of looking through those studies and seeing which muscle groups are correlated with sprinting performance because in general it supports um our biomechanical analysis of our sprinting works, which we've done in the previous episode.

So broadly speaking, uh, we kind of look at um the proximal to distal sequence as being really important in sprinting. So it's gonna be the more proximal uh muscles, the hip flexors, hip extensors, which are gonna kind of drive the majority of the sprinting performance.

Um now, incidentally there's something else we need to be aware of which is that Because we've got the uh conservation of angular momentum to worry about, uh, we actually find that having heavier muscles lower down the leg is um not only un not as it doesn't actually help because obviously we're kind of like further away from the uh kind of proximal muscles, therefore the muscles are are actually

shortening too quickly to be able to contribute additional power outputs to the actual movement. But not only that, they're actually going to cause a negative effect by being heavy. So you imagine trying to run with kind of heavy boots on is actually a lot more difficult and that's because you're decelerating the boot at the end of each gate cycle and because it's a lot further away from your actual pivot point of the hip.

it creates a bigger problem for you than if it was a heavier object. Imagine kinda running with like a sort of uh a weight plate strapped around your waist. It's not really gonna be a big deal, but running around running with the same amount of weight as a boot on, you're gonna know about it. And that's basically just because of the way uh that the um you know, pivot point, as I say, is further from the load that we are kind of carrying. So um basically what we've got is a uh kind of

In this printing movement, as I say, proximal traditional sequence telling us that the proximal muscles are going to be more important. That's what we're expecting to see, and'cause they're generating uh power outputs that contribute to the entirety of the gait cycle, uh, all the way down the kinetic chain.

And then as I say, we've also got the issue which is that um the more distal muscles, if they get too large, uh not only are they unable to really contribute much much positively because they'd be shortening too quickly to contribute any power output, So having a large muscle isn't really going to be helpful. It's actually actively unhelpful because of the extra weight that we are trying to move.

Basically, when we look at these studies, we're expecting to see that the hip uh extensors and flexors is gonna be really important. And as we go down the kinetic chain, we're expecting to see things becoming less important and even starting to become uh negatively associated with sprinting performance. out of the kind of twenty, twenty four, twenty five studies that we've got, it's not um like a an absolute slam dunk to say that that pattern is uh kind of

you know, shown across the entirety of the studies, but it is relatively clear. Now what is super clear is that um hip flexors like the psoas, um the uh rectus moris, um, and hip extensors like the glutes and the hamstrings uh and even the adductor magnets actually are very, very reliably coming up as being positively associated, as in bigger muscle volumes are positively associated with sprinting performance, as in uh sprinters, track sprinters who have larger glute

Larger hamstrings, larger hip flexors in the form of psoas and the rect form of rectus formoris are sprinting faster than sprinters in a similar kind of uh population group uh who have smaller muscle sizes in those same categories.

As you start to go down the kinetic chain, uh again, not um a hundred percent reliably, and I think one of the problems here is that we've got the rectus femoris being part of the quadriceps group. So on the one hand you're kind of looking at the quads and going, well, are the quads associated positively sprinting performance or not?

There's quite a few studies show that quadriceps are negatively, as in quadriceps size is negatively associated with sprint deformance. So the bigger the uh quadriceps. Uh actually the slower the sprinter is. Um not reliably so. There's a couple of studies showing the opposite, some studies showing that there's no correlation. I think the issue there is that you're kind of wrapping the the the rectosphemoris up into the entire quad.

So uh you kind of got a positive and a negative happening at the same time. I think if they looked at the single joint quadriceps you'd probably start to see a slightly clearer picture, but that's kind of just uh one of the problems with measuring whole muscle groups. Um and then as we can continue down the uh kinetic chain,

um the uh plantar flexors, the the calf muscles, um pretty reliably uh problematic if those muscles get too large. So if uh we're kind of doing too much calf uh hypertrophy work, probably gonna see a negative effect of that.

on sprinted performance is exactly the same thing as trying to run, as I say, with heavy boots on. So there are reasons to train the calves, uh just probably not for hypertrophy. And again, we talked about that in our sprinting biomechanics episode that we did quite a long time ago now, I think. So um so yeah, that's basically what these studies show. Uh as I say, I just kinda did a bit of a literature review a while back because I was interested in it. Um

And uh we decided to share it with you guys today. Uh what we're gonna do now obviously is just talk a little bit about how we might go uh, you know, through a uh sort of hypertrophy focused uh sort of set of exercises. for uh kind of improving sprinting performance. So just to kind of uh repeat what I said, what we're looking at is um hip extensors, hip flexors,

um being the kind of power generators and then exercises that are gonna be training the rest of the uh kind of kinetic chain, probably trying to avoid uh creating too much hypertrophy in those muscles. So, Rob, Um, let's start with the easiest one of all. Talk to us about creating hypertrophy for the hip extensors, walk us through glutes, hamstrings and um a doctor magnus.

More often than not, I'm not gonna go unilateral. I've I mean, I have used it. I don't really usually something like a B stance, I think could be okay. Um, generally still stable enough. You know, you get a really good output. But rarely have I seen people, and I think you and Jake might have mentioned this as well, um, be doing very heavy on a single leg thrust. I think I've seen one or two people.

of the barbell. So it's constantly tipping you. So y most of your effort I mean if you've got like some proper weight on the bar, most of your effort is just going to anti rotation. Whereas if you've got a machine, then that machine takes care of that for you and it's less it's less problematic. So I mean I I like single leg stuff. I like single limb stuff. This context is hard.

Again, I think that's totally fine. Um, if for some reason you can't or don't want to hip thrust, although I'd imagine pretty much everyone can in some way or glue bridge, um you know, I guess if you're looking for like end range hip extension, could do some kind of horizontal back extension, but it's it's to be clear, inferior.

Massively so, yeah. I have people that for some reason just hate on the hip thrust and don't want to do it. And um although I try to convince them, they'll do a back extension, okay, or like a banded forty five degree back extension, okay. Like

Okay option or near as good as a hip thrust. Um so just hip thrust and then don't um try to argue with me about it, please. Um nothing's gonna be better. But for gluten pretty easy and then if you want something stretch position, you know, if you're doing squats, leg presses, maybe lunging with a or split squatting with a hand support, something like that.

you know, you'll get that growth from the the stretch position work. But again, the hip thrust is gonna be what I would suggest is the the bulk of your glute work. Um for the the hamstrings, you know, we can move on.

Um, in my opinion, you're not gonna do better than a free weight forty-five degree back extension. Um, you know, really matches where the hamstrings have best leverage really nicely, that mid-range hip extension, you know, just keep the knees stiff. Um barbell, dumbbell. Doesn't really matter. Most people use a barbell if they're quite strong because holding a hundred fifty, two hundred pound dumbbell, something like that is just unrealistic.

I'll just keep loading up barbell bilateral. If someone can do the single leg version comfortably, I can, no problem. Um, I even have some some female clients who are, you know, using like eighty pound dumbbells or so on that, um, stuff like that, or even using like some some barbell weight, they're very strong. So that's pretty impressive there. But yeah, I really like the unilateral. It's just kind of a a comfort thing, I guess, whether I use it for everyone.

Um I don't know if we talked about it, but I think a lot of people tend to think you want wide stance work for adductors and that and um I think we had gone over why that didn't really make sense. But

really so many different adductors machines and that can work pretty well. Um you can do cable poles I've used if you don't have a good machine. Um, you could do you know, on an inclined back extension, something like that. We're really the main ones are gonna be squatting, like pressing, those kind of variations.

um muscles getting too big are unfounded. We've talked about this before. You know, most people that were distance runners, we've talked about this. They don't need to worry about muscles getting too big. It's like it's not going to happen. They they're not going to be suddenly waking up and discovering themselves to be you know, kind of uh excessively muscular. I mean, would that, you know, were the case.

But um, you know, in this particular scenario we are talking about um, you know, track printers. who do have to maintain a specific body weight and we do want to make sure that that body weight is directed towards the muscles that matter and uh kept down in the muscles that aren't so important. We're dealing with very fine balance here and in this particular context it is worth considering that we want to make sure that we're not getting

uh too much quadriceps growth because we know it's negatively related with sprinting performance. So we want to make sure that we're getting our quadr uh kind of uh adductor magnets growth without getting the the quad growth. So um obviously with the squat we've got a challenge there because most people are gonna find that the quad will grow more so than the lectomagnus, at least a little bit. Um so in terms of other options, um obviously, you know, we've got things like

stiff leg deadlifts or deadlift variations in general. Um but do you have a particular preference on any of those?

Uh and then for the hamstrings we've got sort of seated leg curl, maybe forty five to back extension and then probably stiff leg deadlift really kind of for the for the uh kind of adductor magnus. And that that's gonna be a really, really solid kind of uh hypertrophy training program for for the hip extensors, isn't it?

kind of provide this, are they? I mean so we want a really solid hip flexion uh kind of exercise. And obviously, um, you know, you've mentioned the rich morris so as major and they're kind of different ends of the resistance curve. So we've got the rectham at the beginning and then the SOAS major at the end. So kind of how are you how are you navigating that problem?

is hardest, so a little bit at least depending on the lake girl you have. Um but, you know, that'll be a nice one.

you know, it's tied around your ankle and then you flex in from there. You can do them lying on your back as well, I've seen, but uh, you know, once you get heavy they're they're a little hard to to be super stable with. You know, I mean the weight's gonna pull you around a little bit. So I generally go for the standing option more often. Um and then just brace on the other side of the rack. And then the other one that I had mentioned before we hopped on was

Something like a hanging bent knee leg raise with a with a dumbbell, something like that. Um not not a perfect option, but if you especially if you place something behind your back. to make it a little more stable and keep from swinging around. Um, you know, just keeping in the range of motion, like kinda in the bottom before you would start flexing the spine a lot and the abs would start taking over.

Um, that'll be a decent enough hip flexor exercise, especially if someone has very minimal equipment, you know, they don't have a cable stack, they don't have a leg curl. Yeah. Um, those are the scenarios where I program those. a lot more often. And they definitely work. I definitely see you know, see growth and see progress with them. So, you know, again, not perfect, but minimal equipment, a decent enough option.

Um, and I think that means that really, if we're looking for um I mean like if you think about this in competitive terms. you know, everyone wants to focus on the hip extension stuff. But you know, if you're thinking as an S and C coach trying to support um uh an athlete who's trying to improve their sprinting ability

Do you really think that your kind of exercise selection and programming on hip extension stuff is going to be better than another guy's uh or girl's hip extension programming? I mean it's probably not. I mean, everybody's kind of working with the same exercise selection and kind of loading. You know. But if you can kind of find a way to get hip flexion to work, then nobody really is gonna be competing with you at that. Th with very few people are gonna be doing that. So

I think that's kind of one of those really interesting areas that we can sort of genuinely demonstrate value as a as an S coach is like, well yeah, we've got these exercises that we do. We're loading them, we're comfortable with programming them, we know how uh to uh make sure that they work properly.

you know, I think that's definitely gonna be a value add that other people aren't necessarily going to be bringing to the table. And that then makes the athletes that we're, you know, kind of serving, um, you know, kind of better uh than other people's athletes, if you like. So yeah, you know. Um so cool. Okay. So um

So we've got a number of kind of okay uh hip flexion exercises. Um again, um, no, uh uh competing with some pretty, you know, impressive hip extension exercises, so that's to be to be expected.

You know, so we would be obviously as we've talked about previously in sprinting uh kind of discussions, we would be programming eccentric work uh for the quads and the hamstrings and probably some kind of eccentric work for the plantar flexors, more likely in the context of apply metrics. exercise rather than a genuine uh eccentric overload, but it's fundamentally more or less the same thing, just different velocity. Um

So, you know, that's how they are being trained. They're still being trained. They're not being neglected. It's just that the focus is different. We're not focusing on hypertrophy'cause we're not trying'cause hypertery ultimately is mainly about power production.

Um, you know, so we're trying to add kinetic energy to the movement. We don't really need that lower down the kinetic chain. We need the ability to absorb um, you know, kind of uh the uh forces as we hit the ground or the kinetic energy from the previous gate cycle. Cool. So okay. Um so basically what we've got then is some really solid um hip extension exercises, some hip flexion exercises to go along with that.

Um, are you programming anything else or is that uh in terms of hypertrophy focus for sprinting, or is that basically the kind of um you know, the uh the framework that you're working with?

um things like that and and really raging against uh you know more stable standard exercises. Um one of them said that Back squatting, RDLs, uh with a barbell specifically, and hip thrusts were the three worst things you could do. And I mean obviously we covered why, you know, the quads, obviously around the knee and stuff size wise, might not be so important. Probably not a good thing, you know, maybe a net negative. But, you know, squat, not a terrible exercise.

RDL, again a stiff leg's better, but you know, compared to an unstable single leg dumbbell RDL, our barbell barbell RDL is infinitely better. And then obviously the the hip thrust Is it top your extra?

Cool, that's not the goal. You're getting good in the example. You're getting coordination gains, you're getting, you know, better balancing in a skater squat. That's awesome. Cool. Um, is that gonna help you as much as just a leg extension, a hip flexion, a stiff leg, a hip thrust like Absolutely not. Um not even just for us.

Um you don't get better at then, you know, kind of sprinting. Uh the coordination doesn't transfer. It doesn't make you better at that

But then when they go to to jump they don't jump higher. When they go to run they don't run faster. When they go to do a a stable, you know, exercise, like a normal exercise. They're not very strong at it. They're just good at this exercise they've coordinated for months. and that it's it's just so not transferable. And I don't know how people still cling to that idea that they're super useful and, you know, you know, the quote unquote functional.

kind of developed. And yes, the squat does develop the hip extensors, but it develops knee extensors faster. So you kind of uh you you're not in the kind of the ratio that we're looking for. Um we want uh kind of hip uh dominant exercises really, uh like we were talking about earlier. Um, you know, and I'm uh I'm guessing there's probably not very much on the hip flexor side, uh, in their training programmes either.

it's sort of sixty percent really for the you know, because of the bilateral force deficit. So yeah uh if we want to actually be saying, okay, you know, you're getting a comparable situation really and benefiting from it being unilateral, we would want to be really at kind of sixty percent. So like in in stable uh exercises we want to be hitting more than our, you know, kind of fifty percent of our bilateral effort. but you know i don't think that's ever gonna happen in the

uh adaptation like balance improvement or whatever it may be. They thinking those things co activation change, thinking those things might be transferable between movement patterns and they're really not. Something else she said though about technique

I think this is something that again is really important where people are obsessing about technique. And I've got no problem with people, you know, wanting to make sure that their technique is, you know, kind of solid and, you know, um looks appropriate, but there comes a point I think where obsessing about it is taking you away from the purpose of the exercise that you're trying to achieve.

So if you're focusing on just kind of lifting the weight, that's more of an external focus. If you're focusing on lifting the weight in a certain way, that's an internal focus. And that's taking you away again from what you're actually trying to potentially do, depending on what you're trying to do. Um You know, so again, people are like, Oh, we're trying to improve coordination but we're trying to also make technique good and like we pick one because you can't do both.

Coordination is about making the movement better, technique is about looking a certain way. And you can't they're not actually the same. Um so again the confusion I think uh exists there, not only in terms of

what adaptations are transferring from the exercise to the spore, but actually even what adaptations you're trying to create. Because if your focus is on technique rather than coordination, you are actually just focusing on making the exercise look pretty rather than actually improving the t uh coordination of that exercise in terms of making your self capable of lifting a heavier w a weight in that exercise. I mean

for sprinting and uh very specifically pro front squatting with a slow eccentric in this case. Um but I why you would think that's gonna have a great transfer and then a hip thrust would have bad transfer. is just absolutely mind boggling. My brain explodes.