Today’s episode features coach, biomechanist and inventor Adarian Barr.
Adarian has had a number of appearances on this podcast, speaking on common sprint and jump training myths, athletic asymmetry, and the foot. As long as I’ve known Adarian, it’s as if I am talking to someone coaching many years in the future where we have a more thorough and integrated understanding of movement. I’ve never came across a coach or training equipment manufacturer that has gotten me the results I’ve found with Adarian’s methods, while at the same time alleviating my injury symptoms.
Adarian is a coach of “fast”, which is fundamentally different than the process of strength development, since it requires the ability to “connect the dots” on many pieces of human machinery, many of which we know relatively little about (i.e. the foot, pressure, joint articulation, breathing, etc.).
In this episode, we continue our discussion on the foot, this time specifically digging into the training of the arches, and particularly, the transverse arch of the foot. In the world of foot training, we tend to see a lot of talk on various ways to strengthen muscles, or even see interesting devices that separate or even spread the toes, but we’ll see limited or even backwards gains by following many of these routes.
To reach an ultimate level of performance, an intimate understanding of our direct link to the ground, the foot and its arch system, is needed. In this episode, Adarian covers that, as well as concepts of angular force application and pressure regarding the foot and squatting, and also “same-side” coaching and motor learning strategy.
Adarian Barr will be teaching out of Santa Clara, CA on June 22 and 23, you can sign up for that here: Rewire 2019 Registration
Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster, supplier of high-end athletic development tools, such as the Freelap timing system, kBox, Sprint 1080, and more.
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Key Points
- How the best athletes can create a large amount of foot pressure in a small space
- The importance of the transverse arch of the foot in jumping, sprinting and athletic movement
- How to sprint fast from an arch oriented perspective
- How to get all three arches of the foot to activate
- How the straightness or turn-out of the foot can determine the outcome of the movement
- “Same-side” strategy in sport movement and motor learning
Adarian Barr Quotes
“A million people wear Nike shoes… one blows out, it does not make it a bad shoe”
“If I have 1000lb of force, and an area of 10 square inches, that will be divided up into the area, so now I technically am putting out 100lbs per square inch. What if I can put the whole 1000lb through 1 inch? The return is going to be so much greater than the 10 square inches.”
“When I straighten the foot out, I reduce the pressure, and I don’t go as fast”
“A lot of times we look at the end product, but we have to look at how the end product came about”
“If I slam my foot down, that is going to press the foot into dorsiflexion… at that point I’ll collapse the ankle, which is why I am not a fan of slamming the foot into the ground”
(Regarding the shin in accelerating and sprinting) “How fast is it going to move, how far is it going to move, and once it does move, you are done with it (i.e. don’t over-extend/triple extend)”
“If I stomp too hard (in sprinting), the force will come back too me too fast”
“When the transverse arch hits, you have to do more work to anchor that thing to the ground (regarding squatting when accelerating and sprinting)”
“There is nothing happening (in terms of pressure) from a tall position”
“Based on your shin range, it is going to dictate what lifts you are going to do”
“When it comes to being fast, how can I make the shin drop faster, what can I do to get the arch to anchor faster”
“Your arches don’t work automatically, you need to do something to get them to work; when you are standing around doing nothing, you aren’t using your arches”
“A well used arch, and a well anchored fulcrum point allows you to move fast”
“The pinkie toe sets up the transverse arch; when I lift it up I see the transverse arch form”
“Same-side strategy gets your foot down really fast”
“If I just exposed the smaller part of the foot to the ground I just sped up”
“If you want to get faster, understand how to reduce the surface area”
“If you want to just stand somewhere, go ahead and spread your toes, but if you want to be fast, don’t spread em’”
“Instead of contralateral (arm and leg pairings) go same side”
“We try to time things to the same side arm and leg occupy a certain space at the same time”
Show Notes
Zion’s Shoe Blowout
Grant Holloway 60m Hurdles, Same-side steering and foot pressure (see slow motion at 55 seconds)
Squatty Running
About Adarian Barr
Adarian Barr is a track coach and inventor based out of Woodland, California. His collegiate track and field coaching stops have included UW-Superior, Indiana State, UNC Pembroke, Yuba City Community College.
He has invented 9 devices from footwear to sleds to exercise devices. Adarian is a USATF Level II coach in the sprints, jumps, hurdles and relays. He has a master’s degree in Physical Education.
Adarian’s unique coaching style gets results, and his work on speed and biomechanics is being adapted by some of the top coaches in the nation.
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