Functional Path Training

Mach Sprint Drills – A Personal Perspective

The so-called Mach drills were part of a comprehensive system; frankly that is what I see missing today. Just because it looks like the sprint action does not mean there is much transfer. Similar is not the same. As I have seen the use of the Mach drills grow in popularity to the point now where they are universally used. I think the concepts behind the drills are quite simple but I am not sure that many people today understand them and the historical context of the system. My purpose in this article is to lend a historical perspective on the Mach drills. This perspective is intended to clarify the application of the drills. I must emphasize that this is my perspective and opinion based on discussion, observation as well as my coaching experience.

I was first introduced to the Mach drills in 1975 by a group of Canadian athletes training in Santa Barbara Calif. They taught me the drills and gave me an article on the drills written by Gerard Mach who was the national coach of Canada at the time. I was immediately attracted to the drills because I could see logic and a system to their application. Superficially they did not appear to be different from the drills that Bud Winter (Coach at San Jose State University and the coach of Tommy Smith, Lee Evans et al) had taught for years, but after reading Mach’s article there was a clear logical sequence that was not apparent with the Winter drills. Each drill had a specific place in the system and could be prescribed to address individual weaknesses or be modified to be event specific.  I began to use the drills myself and with my high school athletes with very good results. At the time I still thought the drills were technique drills. If fact the improvements in technique and performance were coming because of the improvement in specific strength developed that resulted in improved posture and leg action, which significantly improved ground contact quality and force.  

The introduction to the drills has gotten my attention I felt that I now needed to find out more about the drills and how they fit into the whole system of sprint development. In 1976 the Canadians had a training camp in Southern California where I was able to observe Mach coach for several days. This gave me a better depth of understanding of the drills and their application. I also saw how they applied in hamstring rehab when I watched Coach Mach work with a 400 Meter runner who had pulled his hamstring three days previously, which gave me an insight into the rehab application of the drills. This runner was back in competition within three weeks and ran a personal best. The rehab use of the drills was aggressive but very criteria driven.

In 1977 I met Dr. Al Biancani, who was the coach at Cal State University Stanislaus, he had apprenticed under Mach. Al was very generous to share his knowledge of the Mach system and his interpretation with me. This was a tremendous help in understanding correct technique on the drills, coaching cues as well as their place in the whole system. In January 1978 I was able to attend a day and a half clinic by Gerard Mach. He spent three hours detailing the development of the Mach Polish Sprint School from his own experimentation first as an athlete and then the application with athletes like Andzej Badenski and Irena Szewinska. It was an epiphany. It was an incredible system, as I look back he was far ahead of his time. The system and concepts that he articulated in the 1950’s are those concepts that every good sprint coach uses today. A cornerstone of his system was the A, B, & C drill series. Initially he designed the drills to enable the sprinters to get the repetition of work necessary to prepare to actually sprint in the adverse weather conditions that occurred in the winter in Poland. In his presentations he always pointed out that he did not have the good weather that the American sprint coaches in the west and south enjoyed, so he had to come up with alternatives to build a foundation of special strength.

Mach broke the sprint stride into its components parts, knee lift, foreleg action and the push off. Each drill is designed to work one of the components of the sprint stride. The “A” Drills work the knee lift component. The “B” Drills work on foreleg reach or pawing action. According to Mach “All exercises with leg extension and active down are special exercises to strengthen the hamstrings.” (Page 6, Sprinting & Hurdling School by Gerard Mach, CTFA 1977) “The marching and skipping exercises were designed to develop the technique required for body lean, arm action, high knee lift, leg extension, and keeping the center of gravity high, but did not emphasize the strong driving forward or push forward action.” (Page 6, Sprinting & Hurdling School by Gerard Mach, CTFA 1977) from biomechanical analysis of sprinting we know that sprinters do not paw the track, but this action is a specific hamstring strengthener because it works the hamstring eccentrically to decelerate the foreleg. The ”C” Drills were designed to work on push off and extension.

My interpretation, from discussions with Gerard Mach and Biancani, as well as my extensive use of these drills over the years is that their primary benefit is not as technique drills. They are drills to specifically strengthen the muscles in postures and actions that are similar to those that occur during the sprint action. It is through strengthening in the specific positions that technique is improved. I consider them posture drills, specific strength drills and functional flexibility drills. The technical benefit is ancillary. These drills do have a prominent place in a sprint-training program but if they are not taught properly and constantly coached incorrect execution and repetition will ingrain bad habits. Correct execution at the precise rhythm and tempo through a full range of motion are paramount to insure positive transfer. Posture must be a constant emphasis. Hips tall!

One of the biggest faults on the “A” series of exercises is the emphasis on knee lift at the expense of impulse into and off the ground. The knee lift occurs because of what happens on the ground. On the drills the knee should not be pulled off the ground, but driven down to create a quick strike on the ground, which will result in knee lift. Perhaps the biggest fault that I see in execution of the drills is the rate of execution. Mach emphasized that the drill should be executed at ”three steps per meter.” Most people today do the drills significantly slower than this. He also emphasized the necessity of correct arm action on the drills. Too many times I see athletes doing the drills with very passive arm action, which is incorrect.

Each drill is sub divided into a marching action, a skipping action and a running action. In his workouts this was designated by the subscript as follows:

            Subscript ₁ = Marching

            Subscript   ₂ = Skipping

            Subscript   ₃ = Running

The drills progress from marching to skipping to running. The drills can be incorporated daily as part of warm-up. They are used as workouts to emphasize either power speed or strength endurance and they were used for rehab after hamstring pulls. For workouts the drills done at less than ten repetitions, less that ten meters, less than ten seconds, this was termed “Power Speed.” Mach would also add resistance to the drills in the form of a sandbag or a weight vest. If this was the case then the drills were designated as “Power Speed Mixed.” If the drills were done longer that 20 meters, more than tens reps and more than ten seconds in duration they were designated as “Strength Endurance.” If resistance was added to this then it was termed as “Strength Endurance Mixed.” Irena Szewinska was reported to have executed a series of 200 Meter A₂’s. I personally have used A₂ and A ₃ for 4 –6 x 50 meters with a weight vest (10 % body weight) with developmental athletes.

The drills are a great lead in to teaching hurdles. The lead leg action is actually a “B” action, the trail leg is a “C” action closely coupled with an “A” action. Another aspect of the drills that picked up from Mach that I do not see applied very often is to link the drills to acceleration. For example execute an A₃ for 10 Meters and change it over to an acceleration of 30 Meters. The goal here is to work a particular component of the stride and to immediately place it into the context of the whole the whole action.

I feel Mach was a genius. His work has stood the test of time. If we understand that the drills are part of a complex system used to develop the sprinter, hurdler, or jumper then they do have a place in the daily preparation of the athlete. I feel very fortunate to have been exposed to Mach’s system. He will be missed.

Lessons from Japans Win in Rugby World Cup

When Japan beat South Africa I went back to my notes of Eddie Jones presentation at Global Coaches House in London 2012 during the Olympic games. In that presentation he detailed out exactly what their plan was and how they would execute it. It has been very interesting to watch their progress over the last three years as they worked the plan. It all came to fruition on Saturday with the win over South Africa. It was not a fluke win it was by design a combination of leadership with a clear vision and a deep understanding of Japanese culture and how to use that to their advantage.

Lesson One – That is why you play the game! Never believe what the pundits and so-called experts say.

Lesson Two - Get out of the gym, the weight room is only part of an extensive physical preparation process, it is not everything. You must be fit for the game to play 80 minutes. Strength you can use and the ability to move are paramount.

Lesson Three - Go outside your sport to learn – Eddies Jones spend a day with Pep Guardiola this past year. I met with Eddie for an intense discussion in 2007 in Brisbane, we never once talked about rugby, we talked about other sports and organizations.

Lesson Four - Be a learning organization & apply what you have learned – Eddies Jones sets the example, he is constantly learning and improving, the same can be said for John Pryor their Athletic Development coach. They made extensive use of experts like Dean Benton and Frans Bosch.

Lesson Five - You play the way you practice – They made practical use of tactical periodization concepts. Practices were high tempo and high intensity.

Lesson Six - Play your game – They were aware of their physical limitations and strengths so they designed a style of play that accentuated their strengths.

Lesson Seven - It’s not strength & conditioning it is Athletic Development – I know John Pryor’s philosophy having spent extended periods of time with him over the years. He has an deep background in the sprints, Aussie Rules Football, martial arts and sports science. He understands how the pieces of the athletic puzzle must be assembled.

What about LTAD?

LTAD has almost become a cliché. Everyone has an LTAD program and they all look the same. How can that be? We need to seriously rethink the whole concept of LTAD. It is not a model, a framework or a pathway. Everyone is not the same as is implied by the Balyi model and all the derivatives of that model. All of these models imply a linear march to the top of the athletic achievement pyramid. In reality it is a very chaotic process at best, full of detours, false starts and redirection. It is a challenging process that is sometime predictable but most often totally unpredictable.

We do that!

Nothing will take the air out of a conversation with a coach for me faster than the statement “we do that.” Usually I just walk away muttering to myself while shaking my head. Great, if you do that then why do have so many injuries? Why to do your teams and athletes consistently under perform. Sure you do the same exercises and workouts but you have missed the whole point. It’s not the exercise or the workout. It’s the system and the coaching of the exercises and workouts that are the difference makers. That is what makes it meaningful for the athlete. Just doing it is not good enough. What you do must be done better, with intention direction and purpose.

Work That Work’s

Work! Work! Work! It is comfortable to just do work. Anyone can do work and look busy but is your work actually working? Is it productive? Are you digging a deeper hole or making progress toward a goal? How do you know? As a coach this an important question to ask daily. Your athletes may be getting better in spite of the work not because of it. It is easy to get trapped into just doing stuff because it seems relevant at the time, but after taking a step back and putting it is context it may just be making the athletes tired not better. The answer is to focus on priority areas that will make the athletes better, no fluff, just absolute need to do activities that are manageable, measurable and motivational. Ironically sometimes what you are not doing can also have a profound influence. Listen to the advise of Francis of Assisi “ Start by doing what is necessary; then do what’s possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.”

If you do what you have always done …

You will get what you have always got. Not very good English but so true. Over the course of my career I have observed that those that are the best are constantly working at getting better. Sometimes the changes are subtle and other times they are very drastic – but change is a constant. Sustained excellence demands constant change and adaptation. Change is necessary to grow, to push the envelope but always building on what you have done before. Know what must be changed. How will you know? You will know through constant self-reflection and analysis of training. Get outsiders to evaluate what you do and your system. Involve the athletes ask them. Working to get better is a daily process.

Look outside your sport in fact look outside sport. Right now I am reading Toyota Tata to help me to understand how Toyota has been able to maintain a competitive advantage. They have been able to sustain a high level of performance because they build change into their system.

It is important to remember also that sometimes the most profound change is no change at all. Sometimes what you do not do is as important as what you do. In the process of change never lose sight of what got to where you are - something was right wholesale change is seldom necessary. The advice of the old cowboy stands true – always dance the last dance with who you brought to the dance.

My Strength Coach of the Year Nomination

I just got an email from NSCA soliciting Strength coach of the year nominations. Let me preface this by saying that these types of awards are ridiculous. Mostly popularity contests given those with winning teams with no understanding of what goes on behind the scenes.

That being said I have a nomination – I nominate Joe Anonymous, Joe is the coach Podunk High School, a school of 800 students in the middle of Florida. He has a 300 square foot weight room with no benches, dumbbells, three Olympic bars and three squat racks, no air conditioning, but he does have a concrete pad outside his weight room that is 800 square that he laid himself. He works with 23 sports boys and girls and he has no help. He does it all by himself. He does have a an iPad that he bought himself that he uses to video the athletes. He arrives to work at 5:30 AM to get ready for the first group of athletes who start at 6:00 PM. He has three groups before school and then he teaches five periods of history and then starts again at 3:00 PM to 6:00 PM.  During the summer he works with the athletes from 6:00 to 9:00 AM and then from 4:00 to 7:00 PM. He does this for a coaching stipend of $1500 that he uses to buy equipment. He has had zero ACL injuries the last four years. The teams are competitive, not great but they are healthy fit and functionally strong.

Folks this is reality! The NSCA does not even want to think to recognize this guy. He will never speak at a convention or get any recognition and he does not need any. There are thousands of Joe Anonymous out there all around the country. I tip my hat to you, you are the real coaches who do it for the kids. (PS - If you think this is fiction, look around)

Elementary, My Dear Watson!

Sherlock Holmes knew it was elementary and if you look closely at performance at the highest level – you will see huge commonalities – those commonalities are quite elementary it’s the basics. Great performance consists of the basics flawlessly executed with speed and precision in a chaotic environment. Because the competition environment is so chaotic it is easy to lose sight of the basics. But don’t be fooled. What is the message? Know the basics inside out. Teach the basics. Master the basics. Practice the basics everyday no matter if you are number one in the world or a novice training for the first time. Never allow the basics to become mundane. Basics win medals because they are stable and consistent. Never too elementary!