A thread on sprinter & athlete posture

Here is a client of mine, a stud sprinter (runs 10.64 for 100m, HS Junior) he’s made big strides in training.

You might look him and say he still has anterior pelvic tilt & asymmetry.

I hope he does. Extension is what makes him run fast..

As coaches it’s important to understand the needs of our athletes and when to intervene and when to back off.

If I were to get his pelvis completely neutral, I would be limiting his ability to leverage his extension potential.

Look at Usain Bolt.

He’s extended. Look how deep his low-to-mid back goes in extension.

Many athletes are asymmetrical too.

Look at the two sprinters in blue here. They have higher propulsive capabilities out of their left hip which is pushing them to deviate to the left from their initial drive.

I’m concerned about injury potential when asymmetries and/or their pattern becomes so ingrained that they cannot get out of it, even if they wanted to.

So I will provide just enough variability & range of motion to provide him the ability to do so.

Example 2: Christan McCaffery

My goal is to provide just enough movement variability to keep movement options maximized while still keeping him good at what he does best.

We might look at some athletes and think they have a lot of red flags with movement and posture. Maybe they do.

Maybe we can think about how so many high-level athletes display movement abnormalities but stay healthy.

I am not anti-extension, or anti-anything. My goal is for my athletes to be able to shift in and out of positions & orientations effectively.