Improving Ballistic Push-off Performance

Many sports require athletes to produce ballistic push off movements without any prior landing or eccentric loading including sprint events across a variety of sports (e.g. sprint start, swim start, etc.), explosive takedowns or throws within combat sports (e.g. mixed martial arts, judo, etc.) and acceleration from a standing start (e.g. team sports and racquet sports). The performance of such movements requires athletes to generate large ground reaction forces and peak power production without any prior accentuated eccentric landing. This quality is referred to as ballistic push-off performance, and is vital to competitive sprint performance where races are often won or lost depending on an athlete’s ability to explosively push out of the blocks.

Maximal Strength

Research by McBride et al (2009) previously demonstrated a strong relationship between 1RM back squat performance and the 40 yard and 10-yard dash in American college football athletes. Likewise, Young et al (1995) reported a greater transfer of training effects between maximal strength and acceleration performance when compared to rate of force development qualities. This relationship is explained by biomechanical principles and the need for an athlete to overcome their inertia by generating large horizontal and vertical ground reaction forces over time (300 to 500 milliseconds) and thus, generate large impulses and changes in momentum. Hence, the ability to produce high peak ground reaction forces within ballistic push-off performance is key. These findings demonstrate the importance of improving peak force capabilities (via basic and maximal strength training) in athletes that require ballistic push off performance, in conjunction with other required performance qualities.

Plyometrics  

The explosive nature of ballistic push-off performance demands athletes to perform a large amount of mechanical work (e.g. explode forward and upward by breaking inertia) within a fraction of a second, and therefore requires athletes to produce a high level of power output. Bezodis et al (2010) previously reported that normalised horizontal power was the most appropriate performance measure to quantify sprint start performance (incorporating block velocity and time spent producing the velocity). It would appear that power production is key to ballistic push-off performance, and should therefore be a key focus when aiming to improve ballistic push-off performance in athletes.       

Bishop et al (2009) previously reported that dryland plyometric based training within adolescent swimmers had a positive impact on swim start performance. Potdevin et al (2011) reported similar findings when investigating the effect of plyometric training on swim start and turn performance, with the authors strongly recommending that plyometrics be incorporated within swim performance programs. These findings suggest that plyometric training is an effective training modality for improving ballistic push-off performance in athletes, and should therefore be applied within strength and conditioning programs that look to improve this quality.    

Olympic Weightlifting & Loaded Jumps

The explosive power requirements of Olympic weightlifting and loaded jump training offer an effective method for improving ballistic push-off performance in athletes. In particular, the concentric dominant nature of the Olympic lifts and single effort hex-bar jumps provide an ideal transfer of training effects, matching the kinetic demands of a ballistic push-start within sport. Furthermore, the performance of both the Olympic lifts and loaded jumps require a rapid triple extension at the ankle, knee and hip during the explosive 2nd pull phase (Olympic lifts) and jump phase (loaded jumps), and therefore closely match the kinematics of many sporting actions that involve the same movement demands (e.g. jumping, sprinting, etc.). Hence, the inclusion of Olympic weightlifting and loaded jump training within performance programs may be beneficial towards improving ballistic push-off performance in athletes.

Strength and conditioning coaches need to ensure that maximal strength training and speed strength training methods are correctly implemented within performance programs aimed at improving ballistic push-off performance, therefore improving an athletes ability to explosively push-off from the start blocks, from a deadstart, or any other sporting movement that requires an explosive ballistic push-off action.