The most distinctive characteristic of a player who can quickly accelerate is the quick first step. It has two key components; an explosive knee (thigh) drive and a powerful push-off. After the first step, most important is to have maximum turnover speed (stride frequency) together with an increasing stride length if running for any distance The faster the knee is driven forward and then back and down, the sooner the leg can make contact with the ground and the faster you can take the next step. In the first few steps, you must rely on powerful knee and ankle joint extension to propel you forward. In addition you should have a forward lean of the body to keep your weight in front of your body. The forward lean keeps the center of gravity in front of your body so that you are literally falling and, as a result, must quickly get your legs under the body to keep you in balance. The more you lean forward, the faster the legs must get under the body. As a result, you must have quick turnover to keep you in dynamic balance but yet moving forward very quickly. In sprinting, runners start in an “all-fours” position and have great forward lean when getting started. However, in tennis, soccer, football, basketball, baseball and other sports, you must remain upright to be able to see what is happening on the field or court. Because of this, when you accelerate, the trunk lean is not excessive, usually about 30-45?. Thus, for maximum quickness, it is necessary to get into a forward lean position before beginning to accelerate. In other words, you must lean forward and lose your balance as you push-off and step out. This is the key to a quick start. To learn and improve this action you should do the lunge followed by the knee drive with the Total Body System™. The improvement is quite remarkable. Ankle extension is especially important in acceleration. The main reason for this is that it takes too long for the knee to fully extend to drive the body forward except in the first step. The main role of the knee joint muscles is to hold your body up during the support phase while the knee drive and ankle extension propel the body forward. In other words, the role of the knee joint extensor muscles is to prevent you from sinking too low, which then requires you to raise the body. Doing this over an extended distance is uneconomical and can lead to early fatigue. You see this in all athletes who rely on leg extension to push the body forward. It is also necessary to drive the swing leg down and back as quickly as possible to make contact with the ground after it has reached its forward most position in the knee drive. The sooner the foot hits the ground moving backward, the more it propels your upper body forward and the faster you can take the next step to increase your speed. You should think of literally grabbing the ground surface with the foot in a pawing action to propel the upper body forward. Each acceleration stride should be slightly longer than the previous one until you attain a basic upright position, at which time you resume your regular running stride. However, you should still have a slight forward lean if you desire to continue accelerating. Most runners accelerate for up to 30-50 yards. Depending upon the situation, you should not take too many strides before you resume the full erect running posture — usually in the range of 4-6 steps. The more upright you become, the more important is the pulling of the swing leg down and back (known as pawback) to ensure greater quickness and power in each stride. In sports such as football, tennis and soccer, you usually accelerate for 5-10 yards. This is usually the distance you must run to get to the ball or to execute a particular action or to change direction again. Because of this, the first few steps are the most important, especially if you also must elude your opponent who is guarding you. In such cases, you should already be in an athletic position before beginning the first step. This means that you should have a slight bend in the knee joints and your trunk should be inclined forward slightly from the hips with the weight on the balls of the feet, but only if you know that you will be moving forward. When the direction is unknown, then you must keep the weight equally distributed on both feet in case you must first step out to the side or backward. When the direction is known, you shift your weight in that direction until you lose your balance and then step out. Under no circumstances should you step out with an erect body. In such cases, your feet lead while your body remains behind. This does not put you in a good position for executing a play action or to change direction again, if needed. Thus, it is important that you basically stay in an athletic position most of the time or drop down into the athletic position as you go into motion. Note that when your trunk is inclined forward and you step forward, it puts you in a good position to get low to receive the ball as in tennis or to execute a cutting action to the left or right. Many players, when taking the first step, instead of pushing with the rear leg and stepping forward with the front leg, actually take a small step to the rear with the rear leg and then push forward. Taking a step backward is a wasted step and takes more time to execute. This will give you a slower start. Even though this recommendation may seem simple, it is very difficult for some players to master. They are so accustomed to that little step backward before going forward, that it is difficult for them to make the change. To determine if you do this, have someone watch you or have someone film you so you can see exactly what takes place. To help ensure that you get a quick first step, both feet should be fairly close together or in a very slight stride position when you are getting ready to start. Keep in mind that in the basic ready position, your weight is equally distributed on the feet so that you can move out in any direction. However, when the direction is known, having your feet closer together with only a slight stride position is most effective. In this case, you push off the rear leg and step forward with the front leg. Always think in terms of stepping out on the first step. Do not push with the rear leg and only take a short step with the forward leg. The first step should be relatively long. In general, the more the distance you can cover on the first step (up to an optimal amount), the faster you will cover the distance needed to get to your target. If you start with a wide stride position, then it becomes increasingly difficult to step out and it takes a longer amount of time to bring the rear leg forward before you can push with the forward leg and step out again. This is one of the reasons why both feet should be fairly close to one another. Think of both feet as being on the starting line when you push with one and step with the other. As you push-off, you should cover new ground to shorten the distance to your target. For more information on running and quickness, see Build a Better Athlete.