Best Sprint Acceleration Drill? The "Squatty Run" Explained

Joel Smith explains the squatty run drill, designed to help athletes stay low and time their limbs during acceleration.

The "Squatty Run" taught to me by Adarian Barr, is a powerful drill that improves the ability of an athlete to time the arms and legs together in a squatted position. If you look closely at the best accelerators in the world, you'll notice they move with their hips very close to the ground, which is the epitome of "running low" or "staying low". Most athletes will simply put their head down when instructed to stay low, but this drill gives athletes substantial practice at running in a lower hip position. Many coaches will say this drill is counter-productive since you aren't "running tall" or "triple extending" but the reality is that "running tall" and hitting those "post" positions have very negative ramifications. You can learn more about why this is in my new book "Speed Strength" which is a fast-rising book that redefinines what we know about speed and sprint training mechanics.