You just heard the starting gun of the race, you're angled 45 degrees, driving your legs and doing great. Now what? After the first few strides, gradually lean up with your torso so there's a 5 degree lean. Your stride length and frequency should hit top gear. Your eyes should be focused straight ahead. Within 20 meters you should have some of these technique points:

• Minimal Ground Contact Time - Think like you're running across hot coals. You're applying as much force as possible down and back. Elite sprinters like Andre DeGrasse have contact times around 0.1 seconds on the ground!
• Leg Kick - The back leg (hip, knee, ankle) fully extend during propulsion. But then your knee should kick back up towards your butt as the leg swings through. This decreases the lever of the leg, making it easier to swing forward
• Posterior Pelvic Tilt - This point is really important. Posterior tilt is when the pelvis slightly tucks under. Having a bit of tilt allows the runner to drive the hip tighter. Why is this important? It allows you to apply more force down to the ground and can increase stride length by about 3cm!

If you look at the final stretch of an Olympic race in slow-motion, often the top runners are in posterior pelvic tilt. While the losers are in forward pelvic tilt!

Having a great start doesn't make or break a race. But it really helps. this is where muscle strength and power make a big difference. However technique is still key. The main points to accelerating quickly (in running or any sport):

• Body Angle - You want to aim for around 45 degrees. You want the chest and eyes angled to the ground, this relaxes your back and neck muscles
• Triple Extension - the back leg should have full extension of the hip, knee and ankle for the first strides, to maximize power generated
• Triple Flexion - the lead leg should have great flexion of the hip, knee, and ankle with foot contact (like a coiled spring)
• Arm Swing - you want big, powerful arm movements to counterbalance the opposite leg movements. Front arm should flex high with elbow 90 degrees, back arm should fully extend

All of these techniques work to convert energy horizontally and forward. If your arms aren't moving correctly you lose energy sideways. If your torso angle is too vertical you lose energy upwards. Counterbalance is key, because leg forces can be more than 1500 Newtons of force! Tomorrow I'll talk about accelerating and hitting maximum speed

Growing up everyone had that one gym classmate that could just burn you in a race. You always heard a common phrase from teachers and coaches: 'You can't teach that speed'. This is true to an extent, but my belief is that these kids just have a knack for the fundamentals of running fast. Some of these techniques can still be taught. As a refresher from the last running series: running is a simple formula:

SPEED = Stride Frequency X Stride Length

If you look at the 100m dash finalists, they're all different heights, weights and muscle sizes. Each has found their own way to manipulate the number or length of their steps to be lightning fast. The legend Usain Bolt for example has a big advantage with his monster leg length. He only needs around 40 steps for the 100m dash!

All this speed comes at a cost. The faster you run the bigger the muscles you end up using the more energy you use. For example when sprinting you're using more glute max and hamstrings; whereas jogging you use more calfs and lower leg muscles. But a lot of the same rules apply as jogging:

• Good Torso Positioning
• Limit Overstriding
• Neutral Food Strike
• Limit Vertical Bouncing

There are obviously some technique differences but your goal is still similar: efficiently convert as much energy as we can forward. Next posts we'll get into starting and accelerating

Your ankle sprain is also a 'strain'. Ligaments aren't the only injured tissue with an inversion ankle sprain. The fibulas muscles and tendons (outside leg muscles) are commonly injured as well. These are very important to rehab as to get balance of the ankle improved and prevent re-injury. A great way to rehab this area is banded 'Monster-Walks'.

Monster Walks - Place a looped theraband around your forefeet. This forces you to have to resist the band from bringing your foot into adduction (turning in). This will help retrain the fibulas muscles on the side of your lower leg. It will help with balance of your ankle, activate your glutes and co-ordinate your knees! Perform slowly and with control. You should feel the exercise mostly on the outside of the hip and lower leg.

Using these you can bulletproof your outside leg muscles and prevent future sprains. Perform 10-12 reps in each direction.

GET YOUR ANKLE MOVING!

In our last ankle post we talked about how one of the biggest errors in ankle sprain rehab is being too cautious. Within 48 hours of a mild ankle sprain we try to achieve as much range of motion within pain tolerance. The 4 primary directions the ankle moves are:

• Dorsiflexion (Toes Up)
• Plantarflexion (Toes Down)
• Inversion (Ankle in)
• Eversion (Ankle out)

Pay careful attention when trying to work both plantar flexion and inversion, as these directions are how the ankle was injured in the first place. Other ideas for early stage ankle rehab include:

• Assisted Dorsiflexion - bring the ankle up with the assistance of a theraband or towel
• Ankle ABC's or Circles - draw the alphabet or circles with your foot. This is an engaging way to get more range 
• Band-Resisted Isometrics - without actually moving the joints, contract the muscles around the ankle by gently resisting into a resistance band in different directions

Doing multiple sets of these exercises after injury ensures the muscles stay active in the lower leg and that ankle joint mobility is maintained!

'Don't Worry It's Just an Ankle Sprain'. How many times have we heard this? Be it friends, doctors, coaches, we all think ankle sprains are no big deal. Tell the Toronto Raptors that. If you're from Toronto, you know forward Demar Derozan suffered a lateral ankle sprain a few weeks ago and they've lost most games since!

Ankle sprains are the MOST common injury in sports and exercise. In the NBA there are approximately 100 every year! This is an injury to the ankle ligaments (attach bones together), usually caused by rolling your ankle. Around 80% of them will be lateral (outside) sprains. This is from quick twisting or pivoting of the foot on the ground (like when DeRozan does a crossover). There are a few reasons these can happen:

• Poor Balance and Stability
• Bad Footwear
• Previous Injuries (Ankle or Knee)
• Bad Luck!

A huge problem with these injuries is how poorly they are managed. Usually rest and ice is all that's recommended. But people take this literally! Rest is reasonable for the first 24 hours. But after that we need to move and load that ankle within pain tolerance as soon as possible! You need step by step rehab after this, coming back too early almost guarantees another sprain. DeRozan came back too early this week and surprise, he's out another week reinjured! Get your ankle sprain treated properly by one of our therapists.

​Dead Bug Exercises For Core Control

Ok let's be honest, there are a thousand ways to train your abs and mid-section. But building off our most 2 weeks ago, we need to build a foundation of control for our low back and pelvis before progressing to dynamic movements.

'Dead Bug' exercises are an absolute staple of improving core control. It ensures proper activation of the local muscles like Multifidi and TrA (pictured above). This stabilizes each spinal segment so that when huge movements occur, shearing forces to the low back are limited.

Shown below is a basic dead bug exercise:

• Lie Supine
• Using your hands and knees, prop up an exercise ball without resting it on your stomach
• Tense up the muscles of your abdomen and low back (but don't suck in your stomach)
• SLOWLY bring a hand or knee off the ball
• Extend hand or knee away from the ball, making sure your low back stays neutral.

Notice my legs and arms move independently of my pelvis. Your back should not change position and your pelvis should not tilt when you move your limbs. It needs to be done SLOWLY to get the benefit. You can also use a rolled up towel or band behind your back to tell if your spine changes position.

These become pretty easy with practice, so there are countless variations (ex. perform with both arms extended). Driving home the point, this does not give you jacked abs, it is to retrain the brain to get co-ordination of the spine and pelvis when doing other movements.