How To Stretch: Innervation Exercises

For our innervation drills, we want to use the distance of five yards, going two repetitions or down and back as one repetition. Linear quick skip—forcing the muscles to fire as quickly as we possibly can for working maximum speed with maximum control, popping off the ground, holding the ankle in dorsiflexion driving the elbows back. Lateral quick skip—forcing the feet to pop off the ground again, do not cross the feet as we enforced the feet to bounce and push opposite direction we want to go. Push away from the direction we want to travel. Arm action should match the feet, ankles should be dorsiflexed. Lateral crossover skip—using the hip and the knee, be quick as you crossover and pop off the ground. Focus on rotating at the hip and knee. Drive the elbows back to maintain good control. Dorsiflex the foot so that we bounced off the front part of the foot when the foot contacts the ground. Backward skip—be light and quick from the hips popping off the front part of the foot pushing yourself backward. Think about pushing your toes through the end of your shoes when you do this drill. This will help to move the body backwards. Eyes should stay up with good posture. Again, the arms should match the foot action. They are light and quick as they drive the elbow forward and back. Drop skip—opening the hip and the knee, step down to the ground popping and pushing away from the direction we want to go, in this case, backwards. Keep the arms in for good body control. Emphasis here is on being quick with the hip and knee as we open up and step down to the ground, not reaching back but stepping down to the front part of the foot so that we push away for the direction we want to go. Turn-ons—on coach’s command, the athlete goes fast and quick, slow, fast, slow, fast. Good. Ready, and go. Slow, fast, slow, fast. Ready, and go. Fast, slow, fast, slow, fast. Now let us go laterally, thinking about pushing away from the direction we want to go. We want to be quick with the feet. Hold the ankle in dorsiflexion and respond to the coach’s command explosively, quick and light off the ground. Ready, go. Slow, fast, slow, fast. Ready, go. Slow, fast, slow, fast. Tapioca—same thing as carioca, but now we have wildly fast hips and fast feet. Emphasis is on body control and rotating and snapping the hips and knees to move the feet more quick, quick, quick but controlled throughout the movement. This is great for sports that involved rotational movements, crossovers, lateral movement, back-pedal. Runs and short hops—these are real quick, short, hops, focusing on one leg at a time. Keep that ankle in dorsiflexion and think about popping off the ground. Do not stab the ground with the toe. Bounce off the front pad of the foot. This is where your propulsion system works from. If we stab the toe, we are going to be slow to respond to the ground. If that ankle is loaded, we can explode more rapidly and quickly for faster speed movement. Powells—here we go a specified number of contacts, three to five, stepping down explosively with the other foot in doing three to five with the other foot. Arm action matches the leg action; this is great for sprinters and anybody that runs straight ahead that needs to put more force into the ground explosively. Side-to-sides—using a line so that we are quick to respond off the ground. We are going to go over and back as one, 10 repetitions. Three sets of 10 would be sufficient for this drill. Keep flexed with the knee and hip, and pop off the ground. After doing both feet, isolate the body and so single leg at a time. Emphasis again—dorsiflexed that ankle so we bounced off the front part of the foot. And, we do not stab the ground with the toe. Front-to-backs—using the same line, now focus on going forward and backward with good body control. Emphasis is on bouncing off the ground not stabbing the ground with your toes. After doing both feet, isolate the body and do single leg at a time.