A new training idea that I have implemented with others over the past few years is something we call “Athletic Runs” or “Athletic Running”. This is something that I, along with many others (shout-out Kiyoshi, Kirby, Ben, Joe, Ricky, Jeff), have refined to help our athletes in a number of ways. As I will explain in this post, I love Athletic Running because of its versatility, adaptability, and engagement factor.

What is Athletic Running, and how do we implement it?

Essentially, Athletic Running is a series of intervals of “athletic movements” performed over a set period of time. To perform Athletic Runs, place two cones 20 yards apart. You (or your athlete) will perform an “Athletic Movement” over the span of the 20 yards, walk back 20 yards, perform a different “Athletic Movement” for 20 yards, and walk back. You will repeat this cycle for the given time allotment.

You’re probably thinking: “Easy enough. But what is an ‘Athletic Movement’”? Fair question. The simple answer is “Any movement you deem to be athletic”. After some consideration on my end, I have decided this really breaks down into four categories.

Category 1: Warm-Up Movements

Category 1 is deemed “Warm-Up Movements” and will include all your standard dynamic warm-up exercises:

              -High Knees

              -Butt Kicks

              -Striding

              -Backpedaling

              -Light Skipping / Shuffling / Carioca

This category is typically performed at 50-60% intensity/effort. The goal here is to get the blood flowing a bit and keep it light and loose.

Category 2: Dynamic / Power Movements

Category 2 will progress slightly from the warm-up movements in Category 1. You can use the same exercises (Striding / Backpedaling / Shuffling) and just do them at a higher intensity (60-75% effort), or you can add new exercises, such as:

              -A-Skips

              -Double / Triple Skips

              -Power Skips for Height or Distance

              -Bounding

This category focuses more on “upping the intensity” (again 60-75% range) and challenging yourself or your athletes with some uni-directional work (save the multi-directional work for the next category).

Category 3: Curvilinear/Agility Movements

Category 3 is where we start to challenge the body. Intensity is again increased in this section (75-90%). This can be used as a building block to the “Sport-Specific” Category, so you can really use this block in a number of ways. Common exercises in this block include:

              -Half Moon Runs

              -S-Runs

              -Various forms of Cut Runs

This category is where you can really start being creative and tailoring the work you are doing to be more “specific” or “individualized” based on the level of the athlete, the sport the athlete plays, the position the athlete plays within the sport, etc.

Category 4: Freestyle/”Sport-Specific” Movements

You are really limited by your own creativity within this category. You can make this as “sport-specific” as you would like to (including the use of implements from the actual sport). The goal in this block is to ramp the intensity up to the 85-100% range.  Examples for various sports are below:

-Baseball – Secondary leads, Pivot turns for an outfielder, Charging a slow roller for an infielder

-Football – 180 Degree Turns, Route Running, Receiving a Handoff with a Slight Cut

-Soccer – Dribbling, Through-Balls

Again, the point of this block is to practice skills that will most likely be used in the given sport.

Why the Athletic Run?

I mentioned that I love Athletic Running for three reasons: versatility, adaptability, engagement.

              -Versatility – Athletic Running can be used in a number of ways:

                             -General Dynamic Warm-Up prior to a training session

                             -Specific “Build-Up” Block prior to a training session

                             -Conditioning Session (separate to or at the end of a training session)

-Adaptability – You can be as basic or creative as you want with Athletic Running based on a number of factors:

-The desired outcome(s) of the training session (Warm-Up vs. Sport-Specific)

              -The abilities of you or your athletes

              -The positional needs of your athletes in their chosen sport

-Engagement – Athletes will buy-in to this style of training for a number of reasons:

              -It’s fun

              -It can be challenging

              -It can be tailored to them (“Individualization”)

Putting It All Together

Now that you understand what Athletic Running is (20 yards of Athletic Movements done in an interval fashion using 20 yards of walking back as your rest), and you understand what Athletic Movements are (warm-ups, dynamic / power, curvilinear / agility, freestyle / sport-specific), you can put it all together to make a training session. A typical session will last 10-30 minutes (depending on goal, time available, etc.). Your goal should be to get three Athletic Movement / Walk Back intervals per minute (meaning a 10 minute session will get you 30 total Athletic Movements). These sessions will be broken down into “Single Category” or “Multi-Category”.

Single Category Session

As the name suggests, we will only do one category during these sessions. Examples are below:

-Category 1: General Dynamic Warm-Up (10 min block prior to practice session)

                             -High Knees / Walk Back

                             -Butt Kicks / Walk Back

                             -Shuffle Left / Walk Back

                             -Shuffle Right / Walk Back

                             -Carioca Left / Walk Back

                             -Carioca Right / Walk Back

                             -Easy Skip / Walk Back

                             -Stride / Walk Back

                             -Back Pedal / Walk Back

                             **REPEAT THIS CYCLE UNTIL YOU HAVE COMPLETED 10 MINUTES**

              -Category 4: Football “Sport-Specific” Finisher (10 min block post-practice)

                             -180 Degree Turn Left / Walk Back

                             -180 Degree Turn Right / Walk Back

                             -Sprint with Catch Over the Shoulder / Walk Back

                             -Sprint with Catch Over the Shoulder / Walk Back

                             -Screen Pass Catch & Go / Walk Back

                             -Screen Pass Catch & Go / Walk Back

                             -20 yard Backpedal / Walk Back

                             -20 yard Backpedal / Walk Back

                             -20 yard Sprint / Walk Back

                            **REPEAT THIS CYCLE UNTIL YOU HAVE COMPLETED 10 MINUTES**

Multi-Category Session

As the name suggests, we will be combining categories in this session. You can combine as many categories as you like, depending on the ultimate goal of the session. Example for a football player is below:

-All Categories: Pre-Practice “Build-Up” Block (20 min block prior to practice session)

              -Category 1: General Warm-Up (5 min)

                                           -High Knees / Walk Back

                                           -Butt Kicks / Walk Back

                                           -Shuffle Left / Walk Back

                                           -Shuffle Right / Walk Back

                                           -Carioca Left / Walk Back

                                           -Carioca Right / Walk Back

                                           -Easy Skip / Walk Back

                                           -Stride / Walk Back

                                           -Back Pedal / Walk Back

**REPEAT THIS CYCLE UNTIL YOU HAVE COMPLETED 5 MINUTES**

              -Category 2: Power Movements (5 min)

                                           -A-Skip / Walk Back

                                           -Double Skip / Walk Back

                                           -Triple Skip / Walk Back

                                           -Power Skip (Height) / Walk Back

                                           -Power Skip (Distance) / Walk Back

                                           -Power Shuffle Left / Walk Back

                                           -Power Shuffle Right / Walk Back

**REPEAT THIS CYCLE UNTIL YOU HAVE COMPLETED 5 MINUTES**

              -Category 3: Curvilinear / Agility Movements (5 min)

                                           -Half-Moon Run Left / Walk Back

                                           -Half-Moon Run Right / Walk Back

                                           -S-Run Left / Walk Back

                                           -S-Run Right / Walk Back

                                           -S-Cut Left / Walk Back

                                           -S-Cut Right / Walk Back

                                           -Backward Half-Moon Run Left / Walk Back

                                           -Backward Half-Moon Run Right / Walk Back

**REPEAT THIS CYCLE UNTIL YOU HAVE COMPLETED 5 MINUTES**

-Category 4: Football “Sport-Specific” Drills (5 min)

                             -180 Degree Turn Left / Walk Back

                             -180 Degree Turn Right / Walk Back

                             -Sprint with Catch Over the Shoulder / Walk Back

                             -Sprint with Catch Over the Shoulder / Walk Back

                             -Screen Pass Catch & Go / Walk Back

                             -Screen Pass Catch & Go / Walk Back

              **REPEAT THIS CYCLE UNTIL YOU HAVE COMPLETED 5 MINUTES**

The goal after this 20-minute session would be to be completely prepared for a training session with a position-specific coach to work on further improving specific skills relative to the sport / position in the sport.

Conclusion and Summary To summarize this all, Athletic Running can be a better way to get more out of your sessions with your athletes. It can be fun, challenging, and individually tailored to the athlete in front of you (or for you yourself in your own training). It allows you to be creative and can be used as a warm-up or a solid conditioning session option. Trying new exercises and pushing athletes slightly out of their comfort zones on certain movements can help to improve athleticism and engage them further at the task at hand. Hopefully you got something out of this article, and if you need further clarification on anything please reach out to me on Instagram or via email: chrismessinaasp@gmail.com. Thank you for taking the time to read this article!