14 Oct 2026

How to fix your sprint problem in 13 words or less

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🥇 The Athlete Development Journal

Simple solutions for complex athletic problems.

For the full story, listen to this episode on your way to practice. ⬇️

You can also listen on ​Spotify​ or ​Apple Podcasts​.

If you just want the quick-hitters, you can read the summaries below. ⬇️

What’s going on at GT?

From our athletes:

  • Jayelyn Luft up 6 lbs of muscle, doing 3 reps of nordics, hitting a 7’9.5” broad jump (up 4.5” from December), running a 1.68 sec 10-yard dash (down from 1.75 sec in December), and most importantly, throwing 67 mph.
  • Bailey Podolinksi with a big 1.59 sec X/10 Fly PR! Down from her most recent PR of 1.65 sec in August.
  • Rocko Capozzi has been going off: 1/10 Fly from 1.83 sec in May to 1.72 sec in August, X/10 Fly has dropped a whole tenth of a second, going from 1.56 to 1.46 sec, and his 10/10 Shuttle L has gone from 4.66 sec in March to 4.35 sec.
  • Briella Quinn hit a huge X/10 Fly PR: going from 1.60 sec to 1.52 sec.
  • Maisie Jarnot started at a 1.61 and now she’s at a 1.42 X/10. She also just PRed on her 10/10 shuttle: 4.83 to a 4.60.
  • Meg Duncan hit a 22.4″ vert!
  • Mike Cluss hit a 17.7″ vert!
  • Pam Cullen DB benched 40s for 6 and works so hard when she’s at GT
  • Katie Barry PRed on vert and her 10-min bike test: 16.9 and 2.67 miles

In our business:

  • We renamed our groups: RiseAthletes (9 to 12-year-olds), PrimeAthletes (13+), and EverAthletes (adults).

Physical deep dive: How to fix your biggest sprint problem in 13 words or less

Accel

  • Lacking triple extension in the first 3 steps:
    • Put holes in the turf.
    • Imagine you’re bounding over a long puddle.
  • Abbreviated arm swing:
    • Imagine you’re elbowing your little brother in the face behind you.
  • Roadrunner syndrome (short strides):
    • Reach (or punch) your knee forward through the front wall each step.
  • Heel contact:
    • Your foot is a hammer, the toes are the head. Hammer the turf.
  • Vertical projection angle:
    • Take off like an airplane, not a helicopter.
    • Let yourself feel like you’re falling.

Max velo

  • Excessive backside mechanics:
    • Run like there’s a brick wall behind your glutes.
  • Low frontside knee lift:
    • Imagine you’re climbing a stairway to the sky.

What’s going on in my life?

  • Grace is almost done with tee-ball season. She’s kind of liking it? She likes when she’s there, but she’ll randomly just tell me she doesn’t like “softball.” She’s getting so much more upper-body strength now though. She’s crushing the monkey bars at the playground, she’s doing more cool stuff on the bars at gymnastics. It’s awesome.
  • Evie has been doing SO GOOD at soccer. She listens to everything. She tries hard. She stays focused (and it is absolute chaos there). She still cares most about getting her snack at the end, but I really love watching her try new things.
  • Annnnnnd… Rachel’s pregnant! I’ve alluded to her being a “trooper” on here many times and that’s why. It’s been a rough pregnancy so far: tons and tons of puking (which didn’t happen with our first two) and some medical complications that make it a little more nerve-wracking this time around. (As a side note, Rachel hit me with a not-so-subtle jab. I asked her if I could share the news and she told me I can’t put it on social media, but I can say it on the podcast because no one listens to the podcast. Ouch.)
  • I failed at the Athletic Hour (but I’m happy about that) and now I’m announcing my free agency for a Turkey Bowl this year.

Mental deep dive: Can you predict injuries?

Predicting the order of a shuffled deck of cards is entirely impossible.

In fact, literally every single time that you shuffle a new deck of cards, you are putting them in an order that has never been done before in the history of the universe by anybody.

The 52 cards are each unique variables that can be arranged in 8.066x 10^67 number of ways.

Now, if the possibility of predicting the order of a deck of cards is that mind-blowing, think about how insane it would be to expect to be able to predict injuries with 100% accuracy.

There are only 52 variables in the deck of cards, but there’s way more than that when it comes to injuries.

So, if anyone tells you they can guarantee that they can prevent all injuries or that they can predict exactly when an injury will or will not happen, run fast. They’re nothing but a snake-oil salesman.

By focusing on the big rocks (highquality strength training, clean and adequate nutrition, sufficient sleep, and workload management), you can make a big dent in reducing the odds of an injury happening. So, focus on that. Don’t focus on silly little gimmick exercises. Don’t buy that super-niche supplement the really athletic guy on TikTok told you you needed.

Don’t panic when an injury does happen, because it’s inevitable at some point to get hurt if you’re pushing the limits of your performance.

Let’s wrap it up with a couple of important things…

  1. This newsletter and podcast are completely free. I spend many hours each week researching, writing, illustrating, recording, editing, and uploading. The best way you can support them and allow them to continue is to share them with people you know. You can just send them to ​gtperformance.co/newsletter​ and they can subscribe there!
  2. Everything in these newsletters and podcasts, on social media, and on our website is for educational purposes only and should not be taken as medical advice for you or your athlete. Consult directly with a healthcare professional.

Thanks so much for your help in spreading the word about athlete development!

Go be great out there,

Zach

Dr. Zach Guiser, PT, DPT, CSCS