How To Train Glutes and Hip Flexors For Speed
Your glutes and hip flexors are very important to help increase your speed. Novice athletes have under developed hip flexors and struggle to drive off the ground with their glutes. Learning to activate the correct muscles when sprinting will help improve your sprint speed. This combination is slightly different from the traditional wall drill where you continually run against the wall. Here we will have two different formats of the drill. Let’s take a look at the video.
First Variation To Increase Your Speed
Just like the wall drill, you will begin in a 45° angle off-the-wall. Maintain a nice flat back and focus on your knee lift. If you let your back arch or come up during this exercise you will take the focus out of the hip flexor and the glute. The glutes are activated on the lower leg while the hip flexor and quad is activated on the lift leg. Hold each leg raise for 6-8 seconds before switching.
Second Variation
During this variation you will complete the same setup. Next, you will exchange your legs quickly and hesitate where you started. You will do repetitions with the left leg being the dominant mover, and then repetitions with the right leg being the dominant mover. This exchange will help get you ready for running. Push yourself and move through the resistance.
Why Use Resistance Bands
Most athletes will find this exercise very easy to complete without Kbands. The resistance bands are designed to mimic adding a load just like weight training. The more resistance you can manage while staying explosive will help build fast twitch muscle fibers and increase the mind body connection to increase speed. Spend time working through the resistance and increase the level of bands as you improve.