Problem #1: Poor Hip Extension Development

In the past months I have had the opportunity to visit some high schools across the Midwestern United States. They invited me out on consultation to assess their programs with relation to speed development and give them some tips as far as program design. Most schools have variations on the same pieces of equipment and wear their T-shirts with slogans like “450 lb Squat” or “1500 lb Club” and other variations on the theme. Others take pride in the depth of their squats or their Tuesday/Thursday plyometric program. Despite the programs that people are using, I seem to find the same four problems at every high school.

The first problem is the lack of hip extension. Hip extension is the pushing off portion of a sprint gait or the extension of the lower limb to the rear. Its purpose is to propel the runner forward. Some indications that your athletes lack hip extension is when you see a runner bouncing up and down when they sprint, it is a sign that there is poor hamstring strength ("Bouncing" Video). It shows that the runner is using his quads to push his body to propel himself forward in a vertical manner instead of using his hamstrings to pull his body down the track in a linear fashion ("Pull" Video).

Another indication of poor hip extension is watching a runner start. The runner will have no propulsion out of the blocks. Their feet will almost be on the ground at the same time, or pretty close. The distance covered will be small ("Bad Start" Video). In fact, they will almost shuffle out of the blocks. Listen, because you can hear the difference. The same holds true when they are sprinting. Their stride will be short and sometimes even have a shuffle ("Shuffle" Video). These circumstances are very similar to what can be seen as a push runner. While a push runner may have some hip extension weakness, this group prefers to use their quads as the main source of propulsion. They will be slightly bent forward and it literally looks like they are pushing themselves down the track and they may cover some ground due to the strength that they have built up in the quad area.

Here is a comparison between the two types of runners side by side. The athlete in the yellow seems to be pushing down the track, hunched over to allow the push to occur. There does not seem to be much of any extension from the hips. The athlete in white has more extension. Notice the extension in back and the increased distance covered. Both athletes are over 6’ and 220 with similar numbers in the weight room. The athlete in white is .2 faster in the 40 yd dash ("Comparison" Video).

So why do athletes seem to lack hip extension? The simple conclusion is that they don’t train to develop hip extension. When you walk into most weight rooms, what do you see? Some squat racks, a leg press of some sort, a leg extension and a leg curl. It is an Arthur Jones/Joe Weider/ Hammer Strength dream come true. Do any of these pieces develop hip extension? No. Do we tell our athletes that these are the things that will make us fast so we’ll do them on every leg day? Do we tell our athletes this because that has been the way that everyone else has done it, and in the back of our minds we think fast athletes are born and not made? The leg press does not help our cause. In fact, it locks our hips so there can be no hip extension. Squats are a little better but there is no propulsion to the rear and we are teaching our body to decelerate when we need it to be accelerating.

Leg extension and leg curl are not helping at all. Once again our hips are in a fixed position and we are moving around the knee joint. In fact, a good road to ruin is the leg extension. Everyone thinks it helps you knees but it is really wearing them down. But this is a different subject. The power clean seems to be the answer for the gym rats. Watch most high school athletes perform any Olympic movement. There is minimal hip action because too much emphasis is on the amount of weight used and everything becomes a complicated shrug/reverse curl. Additionally, the speed of the hips during the lift is incredibly slow in comparison to the extension in a sprint and again, there is no true extension. If there was, you would end up on your back with the weight across your neck.There is hope however. There are many exercises that develop hip extension. In the weight room, an athlete can do ISO or RA/REA Glute-Ham raises or Reverse Hypers, preferably with a toe pad and not a strap, strictly for Reactive purposes (it will smash your shins or fingers, I think I have a permanent bump on my finger). The ISO Glute–ham can be used on any lat pulldown machine or a seated calf raise. Put your ankles where your knees go and extend your body and hold. For the reactive style, you need to use a glute-ham machine("REA Glute-Ham" Video).

ISO Reverse Hypers can be done anywhere by holding your lower body off an edge of a bench and putting weight between your ankles. The reactive types need a Reverse hyper machine. Also, reactive split squats can help ("RA Split-Squat" Video). Make sure that you have mastered the drop before going on to the reactive movement ("ADA Split-Squat" Video). Another great exercise is the 4-way hip machine. On the track, stiff leg sprints or prime times are great ("Prime Times" Video). So are any other types of bounds both from a fly start and from a stance. RA Split squats in any form also seem to work well. All of these would be a good start.

Stay tuned, the next 3 "HS Problem" articles are on the way!