Four Simple Reasons Athletes Must Sprint

The athlete’s ability to sprint at high velocities is an integral component in the related fields of Sports Rehabilitation and the Performance Enhancement Training of athletes. A principal objective of the rehabilitation process is to restore the athlete to their previous level of athletic performance including the athlete’s pre-injury running velocity. With regard to the athlete’s performance enhancement training, a necessary component of training, when appropriate, would be to enhance the athlete’s abilities in linear velocity. The review of the various rehabilitation and/or performance enhancement training programs often leads to the inquiry, as well as reveals the lack of an appropriate programmed sprinting volume as often the majority of the running volume prescription is “tempo” in nature. The Rehabilitation and Strength and Conditioning (S&C) Professional must ensure that the athlete incorporates an appropriate and proficient amount of sprinting volume into their rehabilitation and performance enhancement program designs. Based on the athlete’s medical history, physical quality levels, biological age, training history, etc., these appropriately prescribed sprinting volumes will vary from athlete to athlete. Nonetheless it is essential to include appropriate high velocity sprinting volumes into the athlete’s rehabilitation and training program design.

The following are some of the simple explanations for prescribing suitable sprinting volumes for the athlete:

1. Speed Enhancement – The obvious reason for the incorporation of appropriate sprinting volumes is for the athlete to increase their linear velocity. Speed is a dangerous weapon in the world of sport and the fastest athletes will have a distinct advantage over their slower opponent on the field of athletic competition.

2. Improve the co-activation index of the lower extremity musculature during high velocity activity – An additional benefit of performing high sprinting velocity training is the effect upon the body’s co-activation index. A simple example of the co-activation index occurs during slower velocity body weight (as well as applied weight intensity) activities resulting in the stabilization of a joint via the agonist and antagonist muscle groups working together as these slower movement velocities result in an applied stress application over a prolonged period of time. Thus the co-activation index of the agonist and antagonist muscle groups working together during a prolonged slow activity performance is close to a 1:1 ratio.

High speed sprinting movements are dependent upon a brief factor of time. The performance of high velocity activities requires a prominent contribution from the agonist muscle group(s) while the antagonist muscle group(s) has a lower level of contribution. This emphasized contribution of the agonist muscle group results in a shift in the co-activation index in favor of the agonist. This emphasized contribution of the agonists result in optimal high speed propulsion, as well as a fluid motion of the body in the desired direction of movement. Tudor Bompa has also stated that the highest skilled athlete’s are those with the ability to completely relax their antagonist muscle groups during high velocity movement and that ridged and rough movements are a result of poor coordination between the agonists and antagonists.

3. Speed Endurance – It’s one thing for the athlete to perform at top sprinting speed for a few repetitions, but a necessity of many sports is for the athlete to perform at top velocity frequently throughout the length of the competition. If the athlete does not have the speed endurance to perform at top velocity repeatedly over time, excessive fatigue will occur resulting in a loss of force output, technical proficiency, and the neuromuscular efficiency during the sprinting performance. The athlete must perform an adequate volume of sprinting to establish an appropriate level of speed endurance.

4. Neuromuscular timing – The literature has demonstrated that hamstring muscle most often injured during athletic competition is the biceps femoris (BF). One possible mechanism that may result in the injury of this muscle is poor neuromuscular timing. The BF muscle is comprised of a long head and a short head. The tibial nerve innervates the long head of the BF while the short head is innervated by the common peroneal nerve (Figure 1). If the neuromuscular “timing” of the BF muscle innervation is poorly coordinated, this may result in a hamstring injury.

Figure 1 The Biceps Femoris MuscleAn analogy of neuromuscular timing made be made during the rehabilitation of the rotator cuff musculature of the shoulder in a baseball pitcher. During shoulder rehabilitation a neuromuscular timing must be established between the musculature of the gleno-humeral (GH) and scapula-thoracic (ST) joints of the shoulder for optimal throwing performance to occur. The initiation and throwing progression of a post-operative rotator cuff repair may be prescribed as follows: Short Toss to Long Toss to Pitching on Flat Ground to Pitching from a Pitchers Mound.

This rehabilitation throwing progression requires the shoulder/arm to travel at higher throwing velocities during each throwing phase of the athlete’s rehabilitation. Thus the neuromuscular efficiency, or timing, of the GH&ST musculature that is required for optimal throwing performance is enhanced via a progression of higher throwing velocities. Therefore wouldn’t the efficient timing of the dual innervation of the biceps femoris require the same high speed program design for optimal performance as well as the prevention of injury?

Optimal running velocities are imperative for success in many athletic endeavours. Appropriate applied sprinting volumes at the appropriate times will not only enhance and athlete’s sprinting velocity, but maintain that linear velocity throughout the course of athletic competition while assisting in the prevention of lower extremity injury as well.