Benefits of Backward Sprinting
One thing I admittedly don’t do enough of as a coach is have my athletes sprint backwards. Backward sprinting is a very effective way to add some variety to workouts and to add an element of strength training to running workouts.
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When I was in college, we had a very steep hill, about 40 meters long, behind our stadium. Our coach would often end practice by having us sprint up the hill. Some days he had us sprint forward, some days he’d have us sprint backward, and some days he’d mix it up. While sprinting forward was very demanding and quite tiring, sprinting backward presented a whole new challenge. I noticed that some of my teammates who dominated the forward sprints struggled mightily on the backward sprints. Guys who were much faster than me and could destroy me in a 200 or 400 were falling on their butts on the backward hills while I powered right past them. We only had one other hurdler on the team, and he and I always did the best on the backward hills.
Dangers of Backward Sprinting:
The most obvious danger of sprinting backward is the one I just mentioned – you can lose balance and fall. For that reason, backward sprinting should most often be done on the track, so you can use the lane lines to guide you without needing to look back at where you’re going all the time. When going backward uphill, as described above, it helps to take a peak every now and then to make sure you’re staying straight.
I think the problem my teammates had was that they were trying to cover too much ground per stride. Going backwards, that doesn’t work. As sprinters, they had spent years training themselves to cover as much ground as possible with each stride, which can get you rocking from side to side pretty quickly when going backward. If you try to hard to cover ground, you’ll have too much bend in the knees, you’ll land on your toes, your hips drop, and the rocking from side to side will occur because your toes cannot support your weight. My hurdling teammate and I, who were used to fitting in our three strides between the hurdles, knew how to get the push we needed off each stride without reaching too far back, relying more on our ankles and lower leg muscles to do the bulk of the work for us.
Benefits of Sprinting Backward:
Arguably the most glaring benefit is that sprinting backward can improve your muscular balance. In a 2010 article by Joanne Stacey entitled “The Benefits of Running Backward,” she states that “running backward will strengthen the opposing muscle groups that you normally work when running forward. Forward running puts a lot of pressure on the hamstrings and knees. Backward running will strengthen your calves, quads and shins to balance your muscular growth.”
For hurdlers, who need a lot of calf and quad strength when taking off into each barrier, backward sprinting therefore will help in the ability to explode into position on top of the hurdle.
For coaches who are working with an athlete who tends to run flat-footed or heel-toe, backward sprinting can be effective in addressing this problem. When running backward, you can’t help but run on the balls of your feet. This explains why the calves are strengthened, but also, from a running mechanics point of view, it teaches the athlete what it feels like to run on the balls of the foot. That way, when the athlete runs forward again, he or she now has a frame of reference in regards to how it is supposed to feel. Long-term, athletes will have more natural bounce in their stride, which for sprinters means longer strides with less effort; for hurdlers it means less effort put into sprinting between the hurdles.
Another benefit that Stacey points out is that it improves posture. Keep in mind that her article has more to do with distance runners and recreational runners, but it also applies to sprinters and hurdlers:
“Many runners will slouch, drop their head, and lean too far forward. This is especially true when runners are tired…. But with backward running, you will naturally keep your back straight as you move. The added benefit to running with straighter posture? You will work your core abdominal muscles as well.”
Many athletes experience breakdowns in posture late in races, particularly in the 300/400m hurdles, which, obviously, requires much more running between the hurdles. Backward sprinting strengthens the core muscles, thus addressing that issue of sinking in the chest late in the race – an issue that leads to an inconsistent stride pattern and less control over the rhythm of one’s race.
Along the same lines, backwards sprinting forces you to use your arms more vigorously, because if you drop your arms you really can’t get anywhere. So it ingrains a good habit in regard to arm carriage that can easily carry over when it’s time to go back to sprinting forward.
So in regards to running on the balls of the feet, maintaining good posture, and using the arms, sprinting backwards ingrains good habits and muscle memory without a lot of teaching needing to be done on the part of the coach.
Incorporating Backwards Sprinting into Training:
To me, backwards sprinting is best incorporated during the fall and early winter, prior to the competitive season, as a strength-building method as well as a way to improve overall sprint mechanics. When I was in college, we also did the backwards hills as part of our cool-down well into the competitive season, similar to how many teams will do ab work at the end of a training session on the track.
In the workout for this month’s issue, backwards sprints are a component of the workout. The backward sprints are followed by forward sprints, so the body can feel the contrast in the muscles used, and so any weaknesses or imbalances can be exposed.
For hurdlers in particular, I feel that sprinting backwards uphill two or three times a week at the end of practice would be a good habit to get into. If you’re talking about a steep hill that’s 40-50 meters long, then three sets of 6 reps would serve as a good cool-down.
Source:
http://www.runaddicts.net/tips-tricks/the-benefits-of-running-backward
Other links:
http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/the-running-blog/2013/dec/20/running-backwards-way-forward-technique-benefits
http://fitness.mercola.com/sites/fitness/archive/2012/12/14/walking-backward.aspx
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