One of the key areas you need firing properly if you want to run fast is your core. If your core is weak, then your torso slouches ever so slightly.  

If this happens, then your airflow isn’t set up right and you don’t get the proper amount of oxygen to your body. You also might be off with your other appendages as you are running. Thus, you have to work that much harder to get to a speed that is already tough to attain.

So, your core has to be solid, strong, and powerful if you want to run fast and maintain that speed.

That being said, I analyzed a lot of core exercises (or exercises that hit any part of the core) and figured out the 5 best to help you run fast. Here are the 5 in no particular order.

  1. PULL-UPS – Okay, if you know anything about pull-ups, you’re going to look at me funny. Yes, this is an upper body pull exercise that in my opinion is about the best exercise you can find for your back. BUT, if your core is weak, you won’t be able to do a whole lot of pull-ups. So, if you can do pull-ups effectively, it will build your core up. Strength coach guru, Joe DeFranco, said if he has an athlete that can do pull-ups then that athlete is usually a fast athlete.

  2. MEDICINE BALL SLAMS – This is a dynamic movement through the core where you stand tall with a medicine ball overhead. Then forcibly bend at the waist, flex in the knees a little bit, and slam the ball to the ground as hard as you can. Try to let the force come through your core and just let the arms fire through. The explosive force developed through the core really helps the forces your core needs to handle and dish out when the body sprints.

  3. REVERSE HYPERS – If you are a sprinter getting out of the blocks, then you need to have a strong lower back. You can use a glute ham machine or a table that is high enough where you lie on the machine to your waist with your legs hanging off the machine. Lift your legs until you are completely supine then lower. The explosive nature of the reverse hyper really works the posterior chain effectively to help with the explosiveness needed for sprinting and accelerating.

  4. TRX MOUNTAIN CLIMBERS – Get in a push up position and have your feet in the straps of the TRX. Do mountain climbers. You can do them slow and controlled or do them fast for time. Putting you in this position helps work the core in a similar manner it would be used if you were sprinting. You can also do this movement with sliders, putting your feet on the sliders.

  5. BALL KNEE DRIVE – A similar movement to the TRX Climbers, get in a plank position putting your forearms on a stability ball. Then drive a knee into the ball, replace, and move the next knee to the ball. The stability ball will activate the core to stabilize you. Hitting the ball hard will challenge the core to keep you stabilized so you don’t fall off.

There are probably some other core exercises you could argue are equal to these exercises. But, if you don’t want to sit and figure out what those are, do these and then watch your sprinting speed improve.

Photo courtesy of Steven Pisano on Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/stevenpisano/