3 Reasons the squat is not the cornerstone of strength

training for sprinters

The winner of a 100m dash puts the most force into the track the fastest, and in the
proper direction. Speed and direction are typically improved via deliberate practice on
the track, but maximizing force is an area where the weight room reigns supreme. Track
and field is all about pure human movement, yet strength training programs following
that precision are not always common. The point I am trying to make is this: many track
coaches have their events coached to an exact mechanical model, but all that precision
and attention to detail can go out the window the minute their athlete steps in the weight
room.
What makes the winning difference for strength work in an aspiring sprinter is the
emphasis of each big exercise and how that exercise is coached. (Strength training,
although not as complex, should be approached with a similar precision to sprinting).
Oftentimes, the positive effects of strength work can be negated through reducing
mobility, the creation of muscular imbalances and an inappropriate shift of adaptation
reserves. On the other hand, properly selected and coached lifting can lead to the
benefits of increased muscle cross-sectional area, increased force production potential,
more synchronized muscle firing patterns, hypertrophy of fast twitch fibers, and
increased strength of the muscle-tendon complex.
There are many considerations to look at when designing resistance training programs.
The focus of this article will be on the side-effects of over-squatting sprinters and
the need for a hip dominant weight room environment. The fact that, in the past, I
boosted many of my sprinterssquats by a large number, without similar increases on the
track led me to question my selection of exercises in the weight room. There are three
good reasons that a coach should take care as to the amount of squatting their sprinter
does.
Squats are a knee dominant exercise, while top-end speed is determined by
cross sectional area and strength in the psoas, hamstrings and glutes (hip
dominant musculature).
Too much squatting can create a muscle size, muscle tone, and postural
imbalance for a sprinters frame.
Excessive squatting can promote a lack of extension in hips and plantar flexors.
Lets dissect each of these areas briefly.

Are squats or deadlifts better for athletes? This is a common strength training question,
but the answer lies in what the goal of your sport is.
Determinants of Top-End Speed: Knee Dominant vs. Hip
Dominant
Squats are generally a quadriceps dominant exercise, and this is where the first
problem of over-squatting arises. Sprinting relies heavily on the quads for the first few
steps out of the blocks, but once an upright sprint posture is assumed, their importance
to sprint success is diminished. Research by Dorn (2012) highlights top end speed
sprinting as a function of hip flexor, hamstring and glute power. Because of this, the
longer the upright phase of the given race, the greater emphasis is given to the
posterior chain in the weight room (over the anterior chain). Quad dominant athletes can
make great accelerators, as they push the ground away from themselves well, but when
it comes to upright sprinting where they are forced to pull it underneath themselves,
they struggle.
Improving the size and strength of the glutes, hamstring, hip flexor, and the ability of
those muscles to transfer force through the torso, is going to provide the most direct
source of improvement for sprint performance. Posterior chain power can be improved
in the weight room via Olympic pulls, deadliftvariations, Good Mornings, glute ham
raises, Nordic hamstrings, and hip thrust variations. Properly coached squats will
certainly develop the posterior chain, but dont hold a candle to some of the alternatives
for building glute and hamstring strength.
Squatting can be altered to engage the posterior chain to a greater degree, such as
wide stance box squatting, but there are other, simpler, exercises that offer a more
practical engagement of the posterior chain. Therefore, the athlete should gravitate
towards those exercises rather than trying to turn the squat into something it is not really
designed to do for sprinters.
Muscular Imbalances
The second problem of over-squatting is the creation of an imbalance in the strength
ratio between the hip flexors (psoas) and the quadriceps. Research by Hoshikawa
(2006) has shown that sprinters who had a larger cross sectional area of the psoas
musculature in relation to their quadriceps were faster sprinters than those with a small
cross sectional area of the psoas compared to the quadriceps region. Squatting
excessively can produce postural imbalances on sprinters due to their emphasis on the
anterior chain, excessive shortening of the psoas and promotion of lordotic posture.
Athletes who visibly pack much larger muscle mass in the front of their leg compared to
the back are going to be in big trouble when it comes to upright sprinting, and will rarely
be able to get into the proper sprint position of tall knees and good hip extension,
regardless of their coaches efforts to technically correct them. The engine of these
athletes lies in their anterior chain, so their sprint form will always reflect that engine
with a low knee action which pushes the ground away rather than pulls the ground
underneath. These athletes reflect their quad dominance in squatting as well and for
these athletes, squatting heavy creates a vicious cycle of quadricep dominance that can
cripple technical efforts on the track.
The final muscular imbalance that excessive squat work creates is a tendency towards
anterior pelvic tilt. Most sprinters carry with them some form of anterior tilt, yet manage
to correct it during dynamic motion. Some, however, cannot correct, and a coach needs
to be careful in regards to how the work in the weight room is affecting that athletes
posture. Squatting less, and pulling more (with cues for neutral or posterior tilt at the top
of the lift), while stretching the hip flexors regularly will help athletes learn to achieve a
more powerful posture.

Soccer players have large quadriceps and adductors to help them decelerate and
accelerate in linear and lateral directions. Sprinters have one goal: to beat their
opponent to the finish line, and their build reflects that in large hamstring and gluteal
muscle groups
Extension Power
Building a lack of finish in the explosive toe-off power in sprinters is the third way that
squat overload can hurt the competitive sprinter. Traditional squat work builds a
neuromuscular pattern in a manner that involves a deceleration aspect towards the top
of the lift. Fortunately, 1000s of sprint strides each week will balance out a few dozen
reps of squatting quite easily, but sprinters who love the weight room to the point of
sacrificing volume on the track may notice a damage in their ability to extend at the hips
and the ankles during high velocity sprinting. The solution to this is relatively simple,
which is to always keep sprinting as the primary means of training and keep squat
volume in check.
Part of the reason that Olympic lifts are popular for sprinters is due to the fact that they
work the posterior chain a manner that teaches acceleration and finishing power. A
properly performed Olympic pull will teach a strong and rapid stretch-shortening of the
hamstrings and glutes, finishing with a strong toe-off and hip extension, things that carry
over well to sprinters. Keeping a large volume of properly performed Olympic pulls in a
sprinters workload is a valuable practice to minimize losses in extension power.
Conclusion:
All this doesnt mean that squatting for sprinters is a negative thing, in fact, taking
squats completely out of a sprint program would more likely than not, be a bad idea.
What coaches need to do is make sure that the priority exercises for sprinters is
balanced between knee dominant (squats) and hip dominant (deadlifts, hip thrusts) lifts.
I prefer two hip dominant lifts for every one knee dominant lift in the program.
Remember all lifts are tools, and it is far better to have a small tool-set performed
perfectly than a large one performed with mediocre skill, so stick with the exercises you
know how to coach correctly. Match your on-track demands with the weight room, and
you will be one step closer to athletic success.
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