Sprinter Clean- Thayne Bukowski
Introduction
Sprinting is all about neuromuscular coordination, movement patterns, and power production. Being able to apply more force to the running surface in less time has always been a key aim in sprinting. A lot of coaches think that this can be accomplished just by getting stronger. While strength does play a role in power, there is a lot more that goes into it. Power is a combination of strength and neuromuscular coordination. Neuromuscular coordination is basically the neurophysiological concepts such as order and sequence of motor unit recruitment, inter- and intramuscular coordination, and synchronization. This brings us to speed which is a combination of power and neuromuscular coordination, but here neuromuscular coordination follows principles of motor learning as well, which effects changes in the athletes technical model. I believe that the sprinter clean will be an exercise that takes all of these models into account to be the optimal specialized-preparatory weightroom exercise for all athletes that sprint.
The Sprinter Clean
Background
I would explain this lift by calling it a staggered-stance RDL into an alternating split clean then driving out of the split stance knee up-heel up-toe up. I came up with this exercise because I was thinking about my speed/power day in the weightroom. Every time I would program, it would consist of a clean variation, a unilateral split squat variation, and some sort of posterior chain work, usually a normal or staggered-stance RDL. I always wanted the posterior chain work to be as elastic as possible and it turned into me doing light weight below knee RDLs up into an explosive pull. I decided that it was wasting my time doing those extra sets of RDLs when I could just do some sets of below knee power cleans and this would get the intent I wanted anyways. Then I started thinking about all the exercises I mentioned before and decided that I could put all of those exercises into one explosive, power based exercise, and get some unique benefits based on the intent of the work that I was not getting when I would split them all up. I am now going to get into what these specific benefits of this exersice are to sprinting.
The Pre-stretch
The hamstrings are bi-articular, which means that the muscle and tendon spans more than one joint. In this case, the hamstring muscles used in sprinting have insertions on the bottom of the pelvis and the lower leg spanning the hip and knee joints. These muscles also have pennation, meaning that the fascicles attach obliquely allowing more fibers to be packed into a given volume of muscle, and is the primary reason for the elasticity and power production based on tension. These are the types of muscles that are very good at taking advantage of the stretch shortening cycle. Pretty much everything works together from hips to toes in a proximal to distal reflex. This can basically be explained by the use of pulling a rubber band and letting it go versus pulling the rubberband and volitionally putting it back down. The pulled rubber band that is let go is obviously going to move a lot faster. This is how bi-articular muscles work and specifically the hamstrings in this case.
In this sprinter clean, we are starting the movement by eccentrically lengthening the glutes and hamstrings with the staggered RDL. This will alert the GTO’s and muscle spindles in our hamstrings based on tension and length, respectively. Because the muscle doesn’t want to be over-stretched, it is going to send a neurological response to the spinal cord, igniting the stretch reflex, and the hamstring muscles are going to naturally fire and rapidly shorten starting the first explosive pull. The bar then reaches the hip or “power position” where we are almost tall with slight knee bend. This is where the whole posterior chain is going to be in pre-stretch, and we are putting force in the ground causing the whole posterior chain to fire explosively. This is the same type of use of the stretch shortening cycle that we see in sprinting. In sprinting, during the contact phase, when the foot comes in contact with the ground, the whole posterior chain is going to be pre-stretched. The athlete is then cued to continue to push through the ground utilizing the muscles in the hamstring and glutes. Now as you can see we are utilizing all of this stored elastic energy in our posterior chain the same way in the sprinter clean and in sprinting itself. Not only that, we are also utilizing it in some very similar positions which will allow the exercise to transfer even more. What’s better about the sprinter’s clean than a regular clean is that this pre-stretch is all on one leg, as it is in sprinting so that brings some more unique benefits that I will get into later.
The Catch and Drive
In the sprinter clean, we are going to utilize a split catch. Not only does this make sense based on the unilateral component of the exercise, but it also provides some benefits to sprinting and change of direction. Some benefits of split catch in Olympic lifting are quicker foot speed, timing, coordination, balance, and lateral core stability. The split catch will also improve stiffness and tension of the muscles based on the high velocity of the weight being caught on a single leg. When you stick the catch in a split stance, there is a high amount of tension in the muscles based on the amount of force they are absorbing, and this is where the leg drive comes in. The goal is to catch and immediately drive up into knee up-heel up- toe up as is seen in the forward propulsive forces in sprinting. But not only that, there is an interesting force production benefit based on the length-tension relationship in the muscles of the leg. Since there is so much pretension of the muscles on the catch, the muscles will be able to utilize stored elastic energy to drive out with greater power production. Another benefit of the split catch into knee drive is that we will be firing sequence of quad, glute, hamstring, calves, which is what is seen in sprinting. Also, a lot of the time when you get slow sprinters, the problem is that there is a co-contraction of the hamstrings and quads. The quads are almost always stronger than the hamstrings, so if they are co-contracting, one has to give and it will be the hamstring because it is weaker, and even if it doesn’t, this co contraction will make you slower because the muscles are not firing in the correct sequence. Most bilateral exercises like backsquats and normal power cleans exasperate the problem of co-contraction. When we put an athlete into a unilateral position, the co-contraction problem is minimized. Not only this, but in sprinting, muscles are rapidly being turned on and off, and this is exactly what’s happening in the immediate catch into drive phase, something that we could not achieve in almost any other movement in the weightroom and definitely not to the extent with the aforementioned benefits. This exercises provides similar benefits to a weighted plyometric with less injury risk. You could do the front rack reverse lunge, but you are not going to see the rapid turning on and off of muscles, and you are not going to see the same amount of force production, strictly because an exercise like that doesn’t give you the physiological benefits that the sprinter clean does.
It is important to drive up knee up-heel up- toe up with tall posture because body position is a top focus in high speed running. Athletes will not be able to optimize running technique without good posture and body position. The correct body position will keep a neutral pelvis allowing for optimal length tension relationships of the hip flexors to store elastic energy and produce angular acceleration force of the thigh during the recovery phase, which starts when the thigh begins to accelerate towards the ground. Core stabilization is also important here because with out a stable core, the athlete will not be able to get in the correct positions and in turn, leak energy.
Asymmetries
Being that this is a unilateral exercise, you are going to be able to see major power and elasticity asymmetries from the movement. If you check out the video, you can tell that the movement is a lot smoother and faster when I go right leg compared to my left leg. This will be a good indicator of elastic strength in each limb and will also be able to determine possible injuries based on overcompensation of one limb compared to the other.
Programming Considerations
This is a specialized preparatory exercise that I would use with my most proficient lifters after a few years of training, that have had experience with some of the olympic lifts. This works well with programs that train their athletes based on lifting proficiency with a development group that is learning the basics of lifting up to the most highly specialized group of lifters. I would start by teaching the developmental group the basics of the hang clean, below knee clean and power clean. I would teach them to possibly split jerk, or use a different variation of a split catch so they could develop the neuromuscular patterns necessary to catch in the split position. General work I would do related to this movement is a split squat eventually into a front rack reverse lunge progression. After they are proficient in these movements, they will be able to start learning the technique of the sprinter clean because they have a basis of all the movement patterns necessary.
This is a movement that I would use on a speed and power day. Like I explained in the paragraph about the way I thought about this exercise, I believe it will be best used on a speed development day on the field/track and then in the weightroom. This exercise is all about improving elasticity and improving strength-speed or speed strength. In my opinion, I would be okay utilizing this exercise on days where we are spending most of our training time on the field doing competitive speed exercise like sprints or bounds, and then come in the weightroom and hit sprinter cleans and maybe some dynamic backsquats and a contrast effort. I think this exercise is also unique in that it gives you the benefit of a lot of movements all wrapped in one and can save valuable time especially if you don’t have unlimited time to train.
Contrast Training Possibilities
This sprinter clean is an exercise that provides neurophysiological benefits that would also allow it to be utilized in contrast training. Contrasting the sprinter clean with an explosive bodyweight unilateral exercise could increase the benefits of its use even more so. Some of the exercises to pair this with could be split stance jumps, skips, or bounds for height or distance based on the emphasis of the training session and sport. There are plenty more exercises that could be progressed to as well from the basis of those exercises depending on the time of year and what phase of training you are in.
Conclusion
The basic thought process behind the sprinter clean is that it will be the optimal specialized-preparatory exercise to obtain all the necessary power development and length-tension relationships that are seen in acceleration, top end speed, and change of direction. I understand that we are not trying to completely re-enact specific movements in the weightroom to the field, but this is an olympic based, power movement that has some unique qualities that I believe will be able to transfer to the field even more so than most other exercises. Also, if you are proficient in the clean, and have a basic understanding of a split catch, this exercise will not be any more difficult to learn than any of the other olympic lifts.
Finally, like I said before this exercise provides some unique benefits to any athletes that sprint or change direction. I think this could be a game changer for power development based on all of the physiological advantages I have explained in this paper. There is no doubt there is a time and place for all exercises, and almost all exercises currently used should continue to be used, but I think this exercise could give a unique advantage to an athlete that is able to utilize it in training.
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