SuperPOWERed Part 2: HOW to train for explosive power at any age
So HOW do we safely train for power? If you haven’t already, please check out Part 1 of this series on WHY we want to…
So HOW do we safely train for power? If you haven’t already, please check out Part 1 of this series on WHY we want to…
I think we can all agree that seeing elite level sprinters like Usain Bolt or Flo Jo run is truly poetry in motion. Their seemingly effortless strides down the track is possibly the most beautiful expression of power that I’ve ever seen. Sprinting is the closest thing we can do to flying. OSI co-founder and avid sprinter, Tim Anderson sums it up well: “ It’s ‘soaring’ on two feet. It’s poetic power and it’s exhilarating”.
The way someone sprints is also very telling of how well their body is wiring and firing together along with their general mobility. It’s a culmination of everything working harmoniously together and right up there with throwing as the ultimate expression of pulsing power.
Many strong people look very awkward and cumbersome when they run because they don’t spend time sprinting, so the nervous system essentially becomes lazy and wants to protect the body from injury, so the tissues become stiff from the static lifting many people do. They lack the athletic, full range of motion of the hips and shoulder that sprinting provides.
Franz Snideman, my good friend, and elite sprint coach says, “sprinting is the one activity that recruits all of our body systems in one primal pattern that is hard wired in our DNA on the highest level for survival”.
Starting full on into a sprinting program is probably a bad decision for anyone who hasn’t been sprinting regularly throughout their lifetime, but we have some simple progressions you can work into this amazing skill at almost any age or ability level. At OS, we consider sprinting to be the top of the food chain for “reflexive strength” training once a person is slowly conditioned to it.
Now again, we can fast track this skill into something that we can reclaim or add as a new skill at virtually any age, and that starts with one of our favorite OS gait pattern skills..marching! The skill of marching may seem a little simple or underwhelming, but when practiced regularly with focus and intention, it's a superpowered skill that delivers so many benefits from fat loss, hormone production (growth hormone and testosterone) to max end explosive speed.