Many sports and activities, such as including football and track, require different sprinting techniques and durations. Various muscles fire at different phases of the sprint, such as during the acceleration phase and foot strike on the ground. Regardless of the type of sprint you do, sprinting requires proper synchronization of different muscles to give you the best performance with a reduced risk of injury.

The Triple Extension

The triple extension refers to the extension of the hip, knee and ankle joints during the acceleration phase of a sprint. In this movement, your back leg is almost completely straight and aligned with your hip joint and spine. This movement allows your buttocks, quadriceps and calves to contract powerfully as they work together to push your foot off the ground to produce speed. The more extension you have in these joints and muscles, the faster your acceleration.

The Lower Body

A study published in "Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports," determined what muscles fire during certain phases of the sprint. The rectus femoris, which is one of the quadriceps, had the highest activity during ground contact, when the foot is planted on the ground and during the swing phase. Lateral and middle hamstrings and the buttocks showed similar peak activities during the ground contact phase. The tibialis anterior muscle, which is on your shin, showed the highest activity just before the foot hits the ground,and at the beginning on the swing phase. Additionally, researchers at the University of Florida concluded that an increase in hip flexor strength can increase agility and sprinting performance in untrained individuals.

Breathing Mechanics

Muscles that control your breathing -- called inspiratory muscles -- work just as hard as your legs. These muscles include your diaphragm, the intercostal muscles along your ribs and the scalene anterior that are attached from the sides of the cervical spine to the first rib. When you inhale, your diaphragm compresses downward and expands your abdomen to create more space for your lungs to expand. The intercostals and scalene anterior assist in expanding your ribcage as your demand of oxygen increases. Just like any muscle, the inspiratory muscles adapt to strenuous exercise to increase oxygen consumption and blood flood. Researchers at the University of Birmingham in the U.K. showed that sprinters who perform inspiratory muscle training had a higher lactate removal rate and shorter recovery time than those who performed normal breathing exercises.

Core Muscle Influence

Core muscles include the transversus abdominis, interval and external obliques, and rectus abdominis that make up the abdominal region. The pelvis floor muscles and deep muscles along your spine, such as your multifidi, maintains pelvic and spinal stability. They control your posture when you sprint to avoid losing your balance and help you control how your torso is moved. Whether core stability influences athletic performance is inconclusive among researchers since different studies yielded different results. In 2008, researchers at Indiana State University found out that core stability training has a moderate improvement on shuttle runs, short-distance sprints and other strength and power tests among college football players when the core stability tests and strength and power tests were compared. Likewise, a 2011 study published in "International Journal of Sports Physical Therapy" stated that core stability had a weak correlation to performance among 35 college students. However, researchers recognized that such studies are still in their infancy and a gold standard test for core stability has yet to be created.


  • Athletic Development; Vern Gambetta

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