Use these tips from Singapore's fastest woman Veronica Shanti Pereira to improve your sprinting game
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If you've been running for years but have always wondered how to improve your sprinting game, you are in for a real treat. 2015 SEA Games Gold Medalist Veronica Shanti Pereira recently shared three tips with us on how you can improve your sprinting game if you are a beginner.
1. Dynamic Warm-up for Sprinters
Everyone knows that warm-ups are needed before doing any form of physical activity, but the type of warm-ups do matter and for sprinters, a more dynamic warm-up than most is needed.
For elite sprinters, this can often go into a one-hour process just to get a sub-10 second run. Some ideas and suggested dynamic warm-up ideas are high knees with sprint-arm action to work on your upper and lower limbs.
Depending on what sprint distance you are looking to undertake, you could start off with running at a moderate speed, before alternating to strides and increasing your pace to 70-80% of your max pace. More on the science behind warm-ups for sprinters can be found here.
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2. Incorporate Technical Drills before you start on your Sprints
After you are done with your warm-ups, it is recommended for sprinters to go through technical drills before you actually start on your sprints.
Some of these may look like quick high knees, butt kicks or quick skips - focusing on explosive foot strikes coming off the ground.
PHOTO: SPORTPLUS.SG
3. Focus on Forward Drive when Sprinting
During actual sprints, it is important to focus on pushing forward. Many people have a tendency on kicking back in order to kick their butt, but for sprinting the emphasis is always on pushing forward. So push forward as much as you can, and it'll take you over the finish line.