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This week’s guest is Dr. Ken Clark, professor of kinesiology at West Chester University, PA.   Ken is one of the top experts on speed in the world today, both from a research and practical perspective. Ken is not only a researcher, but is also a coach and consultant in the world of speed, so he is able to apply this work in a practical setting.   I’ve heard Ken on a number of performance-related podcasts, so I was excited to get him on mine and answer a number of questions I had in the world of building speed in both the context of track and field, and team sport. Based on the number of times I’ve heard him on these shows, I can really say that Ken Clark might be the most in-demand speed expert in the world. On the podcast today, we’ll cover a variety of topics, including sprint cues, relationships between top-end speed and acceleration, individualizing speed training, sprint drills, resisted and assisted sprint training, and more.   Of particular interest is the in-depth approach Ken takes to addressing speed development in team sport through the compete-technique-compete model, mirror and reaction drills, and more. This talk is an amazing addition to the already incredible lineup of guests in the world of speed and power development we’ve had thus far. 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. View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. Key Points: Ken’s athletic background and transition into coaching and research The “two-mass” model of sprinting and related applications in training Relationships and similarities between acceleration and top-end speed Using “punch” as an acceleration cue Simple ways to approach individualizing speed training Common sprint drills that coaches cue that are counterproductive Cues to avoid in top-end speed Thoughts on resisted and assisted sprint training Ideas of sprinting being built around the attractor length of the hamstring Team and field sport applications for speed development Mirror and reactive speed drills for team sport athletes The Compete-Technique-Compete ideal “Competitive sprinters have better upright posture, they have a higher knee lift, more aggressive down-stroke, and they have a stiffer ground contact… we need to train for posture, mechanics and stiffness” “There is no doubt that the faster sprinters had a greater velocity of the foot and lower limb, both down and back into the ground (negative foot speed)” “Elite sprinters could not only accelerate the foot down into the ground faster, they could decelerate it once it was on the ground faster” “The better sprinters would strike the ground on the track spike so to speak… as they loaded their foot their heel would come down a little bit…. I teach runners that you need to strike on the ball of the foot, and you need to strike stiff” “Developing stiffness at the foot ground contact, at the ankle and all the way up the chain is something that every athlete needs, whether they are a track athlete or a field sport athlete” “I think that always having the ability to get very explosive hip action, hip flexion-extension is very important both in acceleration and top end speed, it’s just that the type of muscle action differs.  It’s very concentric at acceleration, and it’s much more reactive during ground contact at top speed.  Ankle stiffness and foot ground contact stiffness is going to be important all the way through the race.” “The best athletes have some unifying strategies from acceleration through top speed (posture, front-side dominant strategy, aggressive scissoring of the thighs)” “Once a sprinter loses their front-side mechanics from step one, or step two, that it’s hard to regain front-side mechanics further down the track” “If an athlete can’t demonstrate proper posture,