It's in the Start

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JGUARANTEED!

IT’S IN THE START By Dr. Greg Shepard It has always amazed me how we time forty yard dashes in the United States. Does a pro-scout mark down a 4.7 time with an asterisk indicating a track stance or football stance? Or does he just put down 4.7 seconds? Does a college coach at a summer camp for high school players care about what kind of stance is used in a forty? questions is “NO”! Since hundreds of thousands of dollars, careers, and scholarships hang in the balance on the numbers that come up on a stopwatch, it would seem only smart to study and practice the start of a forty. Also, the better one’s time, the Place the lead foot right ON the line!

better the times recorded by a team, the more positive the attitude. If you study and practice the start in this article, I can guarantee at least a one tenth improvement over a football stance! What an advantage! Your competition will be using a football stance and you'll be using a new kind of track stance which is easy to learn for football players. And get this, the guy timing you doesn’t care! This new track stance was used by a number of 100 meter state champions last year. To assume this stance, simply put your lead foot right on the starting line. left foot. The other foot or back foot is placed about 12 inches behind the lead foot. feet are about shoulder width apart.

In this track stance, your feet are only four to six inches apart.

Now place the opposite hand from the lead foot right on the line. touch the starting line. Your weight will be supported by all the fingers and thumb. Do not put the palm down on the surface. This is a conventional track stance, except you’re only putting one hand down instead of two. The other arm should be cocked back with the elbow slightly bent. Keep the hand relaxed. top photo on page 59. Many beginners will want to pop their heads up and look down the runway. This makes everything tight which is very bad. keep the head down so that a straight line is created from the head down the back. The final phase of the start is to lean forward as far as possible.

Try to get the shoulders way over the starting lean. uncomfortable but go as far as you can. Then, pause for a split second before you explode forward. The timer will click the watch on your first movement. You should concentrate on punching the back hand 54 Continued from page forward. Automatically, the but you should accentuate hand that was down back foot will come forward a quick pop of the knee. The The lead leg should be completely extended place his foot behind the runners back foot for extra support and push-off ability the side at the starting line. Put one in a football stance and one in this new stance. You'll laugh because the start.

football stance player will be clearly two to three feet behind before the race has even begun ion.

Source: The BFS Journal Over 150 Pages!

GET THE STARTING EDGE Assume the Starting Position possible. Keep your head down. Then, when you've almost lost your balance, Punch the back arm straight forward. At the same time, drive the back leg forward and begin SPRINTING!

From BFS Magazine — Spring 1990. Part of the BFS Magazine Archive (1980–2014).