How to Increase Your Speed, Mobility & Longevity with Plyometrics & Sprinting | Stuart McMillan
My guest Stuart McMillan, a renowned track and field coach, discusses using plyometrics like skipping and striding to improve mobility, strength, posture, and overall health for all ages. He emphasizes skipping's benefits for joint health, coordination, and as a zero-cost activity, alongside insights into running mechanics and the expressive nature of human movement.
Deep Dive Analysis
18 Topic Outline
The Allure of Sprinting and Event Distances
Identifying Natural Sprinters and Athlete Identity
Gait Patterns: Walking, Jogging, Running, Striding
Visual Focus and Body Position in Movement
The Benefits and Importance of Skipping (Plyometrics)
Incorporating Skipping into Fitness Routines and Transition Activities
Concentric vs. Eccentric Forces in Running and Striding
Skipping for Eccentric Control in Older Adults
Naming Conventions and Public Perception of Plyometrics
Cross-Body Coordination and Posture in Daily Life
Authenticity and Expression Through Movement
Coaching Cues and 'Mood Words' for Performance
The Dichotomy of Pressure and Peace in Performance
Influence of Music, Art, and Culture on Movement and Sport
Genetics, Environment, and Athletic Prowess in Sprinting
Optimal Running Form and Key Mechanics
Weight Training for Sprinters: Individualization and Transferability
Performance-Enhancing Drugs in Sport and Overall Vitality
10 Key Concepts
Gait Patterns
Five distinct patterns of human locomotion (walking, jogging, running, striding, sprinting), each optimized for different speeds and requiring different biomechanical strategies. The body typically self-organizes towards the most efficient pattern for a given velocity.
Flat Foot Contact (Cue)
A mental cue for foot strike during locomotion, where the actual contact point (heel, mid-foot, or toe) is naturally determined by the speed of movement. This cue helps the foot self-organize for optimal efficiency without conscious micro-management.
Hyper-extended Position
An overly arched back and upright posture, often resulting from the eyes and chin leading movement, which can lead to inefficiency and disconnect between body segments during sprinting. It causes a 'pushing' rather than 'bouncing' motion.
Plyometrics
Activities that involve rapid stretching and contracting of muscles, like skipping, which improve power, speed, coordination, and the function of muscle, fascia, and the nervous system by enhancing eccentric force capacity. It's a simple and effective way to tax the system similarly to high-intensity sprinting.
Eccentric Control/Capacity
The ability of muscles and connective tissues to absorb and control force during the lengthening phase of a movement. This capacity is crucial for handling high impact forces in activities like sprinting, preventing injuries, and is often lost as people age.
Striding
A gait pattern faster than running but slower than maximal sprinting, typically occurring at 75-95% of maximum sprint speed. It's characterized by a larger shape and primarily involves eccentric forces in front of the center of mass, acting as a traditional spring-mass system.
Two-Mass System (Sprinting)
A concept describing elite sprinting where, in addition to the body acting as a spring (spring-mass system), there's a secondary mass of the shank and foot that contributes significantly to up to 8% of the total force through ground contact, enabling higher velocities not available to most athletes.
Cross-Body Coordination
The natural, rotational movement of the pelvis and shoulders in counter-oscillation, connected by the spine. This creates a big torsional system that is fundamental to efficient human locomotion (walking, running, skipping) and allows for effective coiling and uncoiling of forces.
Mood Words
Emotional or feeling-based cues (e.g., 'pressure,' 'peace') used in coaching to align an athlete's internal state with specific technical instructions. The goal is for athletes to think about the emotion, and all the technical instructions come along for the ride.
Run-Specific Isometric Strength Training
A method of resistance training that involves holding very heavy loads or pushing against immovable objects in specific body positions that mimic critical moments of ground contact during sprinting. This aims to improve force transmission and strength in positions directly relevant to the task.
13 Questions Answered
Sprinting is seen as the ultimate human activity because it's a direct, unequivocal measure of human speed, with the fastest person on the planet being truly the fastest, unlike team sports where 'best' can be subjective and influenced by many factors.
Natural sprinters often display a qualitative component of ground interaction, characterized by an efficient 'pop, pop, pop' sound and a fluid, coordinated movement that makes it look easier than for others, even if their form isn't perfectly refined.
The speed of movement naturally dictates the foot strike; for optimal efficiency, one should aim for 'flat foot contact,' and the body will self-organize to strike on the heel for walking, mid-foot for jogging/running, and more towards the toes for sprinting.
During sprinting, the eyes should not lead by looking up, as this can cause hyper-extension of the body; instead, the torso should determine when the chin and eyes come up, maintaining alignment and preventing a 'pushing' rather than 'bouncing' motion.
Skipping is a highly effective plyometric activity that improves power, speed, coordination, and muscle/fascial/nervous system function, particularly enhancing eccentric control, which is crucial for handling forces and preventing injuries, especially as people age and lose the capacity for maximal sprinting.
Skipping, even low-amplitude skips, is an excellent activity for older adults to improve eccentric control and coordination, helping to maintain the ability to handle forces and express maximal speed safely, which is a key metric for vitality and fall prevention.
In jogging and running, concentric forces (propulsion) are dominant, occurring behind the center of mass, while in striding and sprinting, eccentric forces (breaking) are almost entirely dominant, occurring in front of the center of mass, requiring high capacity to handle these forces for speed.
Cross-body coordination involves the natural counter-oscillation and undulation of the pelvis and shoulders, connected by the spine, creating a torsional system that allows for efficient, fluid, and powerful movement, which should be leveraged rather than constrained.
Genetics provides the foundational capacity (e.g., fiber type, limb length, joint structure) to be in the 'room' of elite athleticism, while the environment (e.g., cultural emphasis on a sport, training opportunities, peer influence) determines what an athlete does with that genetic potential.
Optimal sprinting form involves three non-negotiables: getting the knee up high (to waist height), creating a very stiff spring on the ground through the foot-ankle complex on impact, and having an effective hip extension pattern where the knee can come behind the butt with high quality (force, velocity, range, control, repeatability).
For sprinters, weight training should focus on force transmission rather than just force magnitude, as there's a diminishing return on maximal strength. Exercises like specific isometric strength training (e.g., holding heavy loads in sprint-specific positions) and single-leg or staggered-stance exercises are emphasized to transfer capacity directly to the track.
According to Stu McMillan, it is not common among elite sprinters today, with testing being very stringent. While it was prevalent in past decades and exists in certain pockets, the vast majority of top athletes are believed to be competing clean.
The ability to safely express maximal speed (sprint maximally) is suggested as a strong proxy for overall health and vitality, as it encompasses numerous underlying physical capacities like eccentric control, coordination, and tissue resilience, which are crucial for longevity.
33 Actionable Insights
1. Balance Pressure and Peace
Cultivate well-being by developing the ability to exert mental and physical pressure for challenging tasks, followed by experiencing peace from their successful expression. This balance of effort and release is key to mental and physical health, allowing for productive work and restorative recovery.
2. Embrace Daily Pressure for Peace
Structure your days to embrace periods of intense pressure, knowing that peace and reward will follow. This mindset allows for sustained effort and productivity, leading to a greater sense of accomplishment and subsequent relaxation.
3. Overcome Self-Consciousness Through Movement
Overcome self-consciousness to use your body for self-expression and self-discovery through movement. This approach fosters a deeper connection to your physical activity, leading to greater enjoyment, authenticity, and personal growth.
4. Use Movement for Self-Discovery
Engage in movement to discover and express your authentic self. Movement can be a transformative process that helps you reconnect with your innate abilities and personality, fostering a deeper understanding of who you are.
5. Train Around Your Unique Abilities
Build your training and approach around your unique abilities and what makes you excel. This leverages your natural strengths, fostering a deeper connection to your activity and leading to greater success.
6. Coach to Individual’s Best Solution
As a coach or self-coach, focus on finding the best movement solutions for the individual, not imposing a generic ideal. This approach respects individual capabilities and leads to more effective and authentic performance.
7. Reconnect with Innate Movement Joy
Reconnect with the original joy and natural movement patterns that first drew you to an activity. This helps to overcome learned behaviors that may not align with your true essence, improving performance and enjoyment.
8. Maintain Maximal Running Speed Ability
Prioritize maintaining the ability to safely express your maximal running speed as a key metric for vitality and health. This ability serves as a proxy for overall physical health, tissue capacity, coordination, and resilience.
9. Prioritize Foundational Health for Performance
Focus on fundamental practices like quality sleep, good nutrition, and a balanced social life for optimal performance. These foundational elements are crucial for achieving speed and overall well-being, as there are no shortcuts to true athletic development.
10. Include Skipping & Striding Weekly
Incorporate skipping and striding into your weekly fitness routine. They are zero-cost, take minimal time, improve movement, posture, protect against injuries, and improve longevity.
11. Incorporate Skipping for Sprint Benefits
Incorporate skipping into your routine. It taxes the coordination patterns, tissue, and joints in similar ways to high-intensity sprinting, improving tissue capacity and joint capacity.
12. Integrate Skipping into Jogs
Integrate skipping into your jogging routine by alternating 30 seconds of skipping with 30 seconds of jogging. This is an effective on-ramp to gain comfort with skipping, making you feel bouncier, lighter, more coordinated, and rhythmic, which can improve your jogging.
13. Maximal Amplitude Skipping Workout
For a solid plyometric workout, perform maximal amplitude skips for 50 meters, walk back, and repeat 10-15 times after a warm-up. This builds speed, force, and velocity, providing significant plyometric benefits safely.
14. Reframe Skipping as Plyometrics
Reframe skipping as ‘plyometrics’ to overcome social stigma and recognize its value. Skipping is a simple, effective plyometric activity that builds eccentric control and coordination, crucial for longevity and injury prevention.
15. Seek Hip Extension Opportunities
Actively seek opportunities to incorporate hip extension exercises into your daily routine and workouts. Maintaining and improving hip extension is crucial for efficient movement, posture, and athletic performance, as it’s easily lost with modern lifestyles.
16. Skip for Hip Extension & Coordination
Use skipping to improve hip extension and coordination of ankle, knee, and hip flexion/extension. This mimics sprinting mechanics, helping to maintain or regain the ability to get the knee behind the butt and improve overall coordination.
17. Prioritize Movement Quality in Sprints
For high-intensity or sprint work, prioritize the quality of movement over simply completing the work. Quality is the governing factor for effective and safe high-intensity training, ensuring proper mechanics and reducing injury risk.
18. Increase Expressiveness for Faster Gaits
Progress through gait patterns (walk, jog, run, stride, sprint) by increasing the ‘space’ you take up and becoming more maximally expressive. This conceptualization helps to understand and achieve the desired movement quality for faster gaits.
19. Stride/Sprint In Front of Center Mass
For striding and sprinting, focus on movement happening in front of your center mass. This involves a longer eccentric phase and a shorter propulsive phase, which is characteristic of faster, more efficient running.
20. Speed Dictates Foot Strike
Allow your foot strike to be dictated by your running speed. The body naturally adjusts foot contact based on velocity (heel strike for walking, more towards toes for sprinting).
21. Focus on Flat Foot Contact
When running, focus on flat foot contact. This allows the foot to naturally adjust its strike point based on speed without conscious effort.
22. Torso Leads Eye/Chin Movement
When running, let your torso lead the upward movement of your chin and eyes. Leading with the eyes/chin can cause hyper-extension of the spine, leading to pushing rather than bouncing.
23. Torso First, Head Last Lifting
In movements from a bent-forward to upright torso (e.g., deadlifts, squats), move the torso first and the head last. This proper sequencing of motor neurons can lead to significant strength increases and improved safety.
24. Deadlift by Pushing Feet Down
When deadlifting, focus on pushing your feet into the ground and driving back, rather than pulling the weight up. This approach enhances stability and can lead to greater strength and safer movement.
25. Prioritize Unilateral Weight Training
Incorporate unilateral (single-leg or staggered stance) exercises in your weight training. This approach is more specific to running mechanics and can improve core stability and force transmission, with bilateral exercises like trap bar deadlifts used occasionally for neural drive.
26. Flex Big Toe in Elevated Foot Exercises
When doing exercises with an elevated foot, aim to get onto your big toe (first ray) and flex it. This strengthens the foot’s ability to bend and flex, which is crucial for dynamic movements and force transmission in running.
27. Full-Chain Cross-Body Exercises
Prioritize full-chain, cross-body force transmission exercises in your weight training. These exercises, like those connecting the left foot to the right hand, improve functional strength and transferability to dynamic movements like sprinting.
28. Explore & Optimize Stretches Individually
When stretching, actively explore different body positions (rotation, side bend, hand flexion, pelvic tilt) to find what enhances the stretch for your unique body. This exploratory process helps you gain better control of your body and discover optimal, individualized stretching techniques.
29. Trust Natural Movement Patterns
Trust your body’s natural movement patterns for efficiency. Your body typically self-organizes towards the most efficient and stable mechanical solution when not overthought.
30. Avoid Walking While Phone Gazing
Avoid walking while looking at your phone. This practice leads to unnatural, constrained, and overly flexed posture, which is detrimental to natural movement and overall health.
31. Focus on Principles, Be Creative with Methods
Focus on core principles rather than rigid methods in your training and life. This allows for creative and flexible application of methods that suit your individual needs and preferences while adhering to fundamental truths.
32. Focus on Interacting Health Metrics
When evaluating health or performance, focus on the relationships and interactions between various data points and component parts. The holistic interplay of factors is more important than individual metrics in isolation, providing a more comprehensive understanding.
33. Strive for Fluid, Easy Movement
Strive for fluidity and ease in your movements. The most effective and efficient athletes make their performance look effortless, indicating optimal coordination and efficiency.
10 Key Quotes
Running fast for me is the ultimate human activity. Like the fastest human on the planet is the fastest human on the planet.
Stu McMillan
The best athletes are always the ones that make it look the easiest.
Stu McMillan
We find ourselves through movement.
Stu McMillan
I don't know why we stop skipping. I think it's associated with only childlike behavior.
Stu McMillan
The ability to handle ourselves eccentrically is just it's it's we don't do that work anymore. Everything that we do is concentric in nature.
Stu McMillan
This is your ability to be plyometric, to work on those eccentric force capacities and move in a way in which you can actually express yourself again.
Stu McMillan
If you can connect your entire way of being with the thing that you're spending most of your time doing, chances are you're going to be really successful at that thing.
Stu McMillan
Principles are few and methods are many. There's many ways to do different things as long as they align with the principles.
Stu McMillan
Sprinting is how you transmit that force into the track in a really fast period of time in the right direction. So the transmission of force is typically more important than the magnitude of the force.
Stu McMillan
You don't take drugs to be fast, you got fast first and then you took drugs and that made you faster. That's how people did it.
Stu McMillan
4 Protocols
Beginner Skipping Incorporation into Jogs
Stu McMillan- Perform a 10-15 minute warm-up, including low amplitude skips, jogs, and stretches.
- During a typical jog, alternate between 30 seconds of skipping and 30 seconds of jogging (or walking).
- Focus on feeling bouncy, light, coordinated, and rhythmic during the skips.
- Gradually increase the power and expressiveness of the skips, driving the thigh up and back for more hip extension.
Maximal Amplitude Skipping Workout
Stu McMillan- Perform a thorough warm-up for 10-15 minutes, including low amplitude skips, jogs, and stretches.
- Skip as hard as you can for 50 meters.
- Walk back to the starting point, allowing for full recovery (90 seconds to 3 minutes, depending on explosiveness).
- Repeat 10 to 15 times, ensuring you feel fresh going into each skip and prioritizing quality over fatigue.
Run-Specific Isometric Strength Training
Stu McMillan- Identify the specific position: foot directly underneath the center of mass, foot flat on the ground, about a 15-degree knee bend, and 5-10 degree hip bend.
- Push up against an immovable bar or hold a very heavy bar on one leg in this position.
- Hold for 3 to 5 seconds.
- Perform 3 to 4 repetitions.
- Complete 3 sets.
Staggered Stance Weight Training for Transferability
Stu McMillan- Perform most weight room exercises in a staggered stance (one foot slightly in front of the other), kickstand, or split stance.
- Vary the lead foot between sets or even mid-set to enhance core stability and transferability to running.
- For exercises with a foot elevated (e.g., lunges, step-ups), ensure the front foot is flat and the rear foot is up on the big toe to promote first ray flexion and hip extension.