Running Posture

Remember that this is not a 3000m, 800m, 400m, 100m, or even 60m race. This is only 10m between turning points. Because of this, we never need to stand upright. We are in a crouch run all the way thru the race.

At first this might seem unnatural. But you just need to imagine that you are in a room with a really low ceiling about waist high. So stay LOW all the way.

The reason for this is the turns. The turns require you to keep a low position to touch the lines. We can save 0.3-0.5 seconds per turn by already being in that low position. We don’t need to waste that time standing, crouching, and then standing again.

So stay LOW and save time! You look at the ground the ENTIRE TIME during the 10m Shuttle Run.

Turning

The turns are where good times become great. The key to turning correctly is called the “turn position”. This position requires strength, coordination, flexibility and practice. But it is the best way to save time on the turns.

One reason that you save time is that you will never overrun the line. That makes each 10m leg of the shuttle run only 9m because your body never goes that last meter. Only one of your legs and one of your hands do. Cutting off 1 meter per turn is 3m in total over a 40m race! That’s 8% less to run.

Another reason you save time is that you can accelerate very well out of the “turn-position”. You are already halfway “out” of the turn even as you touch the line. More time saved.

The thing that needs practice is the transition between the crouched running posture and the turn position. Remember to stay low and reach your hand DOWN toward the line. As seen in the picture below.

You should feel like a plane coming in for landing, at a gentle decent. Rather than a helicopter landing vertically on the line.

I see many people reach up with their arm before swinging the arm down and touching the line. That is more time wasted and it also prevents you from staying low.

Below is the “turn position”. You run only as far as you need to to touch the line. And you keep your weight and center of gravity on the BACK FOOT, in the picture below that’s my right leg. My weight NEVER passes this point. My left leg and hand just barely reach the line

The turn position takes practice! Spend some time in slow motion getting into this position till it becomes second nature. No it’s not easy, and yes you need to be strong to do it right. But that’s where the strength training in the shuttle run programs comes in.

Once again, at all times, you look downward.

Exiting from the turn is the next component. Once again. Airplane not helicopter. You ascend from the turn position the same way you descended into it. Gently and horizontally. No “popping up”. Just like the starting stance, drive forward not upward and remember to stay low again.

I pivot on the back leg (my right leg in the pictures) and drive forward keeping low as usual. My weight is always on the back leg so I’m ready to turn as soon as i touch the line. No time is wasted shifting my weight from foot to foot.

Now its just practice.

Race specific warm-up

The shuttle run requires a special warm-up because the crouch run position as well as the turn position are special movements that need specific warm-up. Here is how you warm-up.

Start in the starting stance and accelerate out at 80% speed. Go 5 steps and turn, then go back 3 steps, and turn, then 3 steps and turn and once more 3 steps and turn. All this is done at about 80% of your best speed. Do this twice and you should be ready for the real test without becoming too tired.

Now we move on to the shuttle run technique. The shuttle run is an extremely technical test. Every component has a good technique that can cut 0.3 to 0.5 seconds off your final time. And since you need to do some components 3 or 4 times, that’s 2 or more seconds off your total time. Just like magic. Just do each component correctly.

Stance

The stance affects how you take your first step. In such a short race, that first step is very important. The important thing about the stance is getting your body in a position to go forward rather than anywhere else.

There are many wrong stances that I have seen. The rules state that your entire body must be behind the line, and that that you respond to the Instructor’s command “go” or your press a plate that starts your timing.

Feet slightly narrower than shoulder width, front foot about 1/2 foot length behind the start line, rear foot about 1/2 foot length behind front foot (adjust this according to your own body type and length, but remain balanced)

Get down onto your knees and without moving your feet.

From this position, tuck your entire body behind the line as of you are loading yourself into a cannon. Head down, body tight and coiled backward (not downward). We want to drive forward not upward.

This is the final stance, you should feel like you are about to fall forward. You can see that your stance is correct by observing the position of your lower back just above the belt line. Your lower back is almost parallel to the ground.

NOTE: About 80% of your weight is on your feet not your hands. After all you are going to run with your legs right!

This means that when I fire my leg muscles I will propel myself forward. If the lower back is at any other angle, I will go upward instead. One hand is on the floor and one is bent and at your hip.

First Step

The first step feels like a jump. You should feel like you are falling forward. You need to get used to this feeling because it means you are coming out of your stance at the correct angle. Remember you are not a rocket taking off vertically. You are a racecar accelerating forward, out of the starting position.

• Explode out of the stance with torso at a 30 degree angle to the ground or less (this means that you will go forward not up)
• Throw arm forward
• Positive shin angle (take a first step about 1m ahead of your front foot)
• Big stride (small choppy steps go nowhere)
• Head goes forward not up (keep looking DOWN)

Ok according to MINDEF’s IPPT website, the shuttle run is a test of “General speed, agility and coordination”. Yup it is. It tests very similar attributes to the broad jump. But there is the addition of the turning and acceleration/deceleration which requires additional skill. But again, once the physical attributes are in place, skills become fairly easy to learn. (Assuming you were not locked up as a child).

If you are already doing lots of leg training for the broad jump. There will be a large carry-over of the strength that you have gained from broad jump training into your shuttle run performance.

However, every move of the shuttle run is different from the broad jump in one very significant way. It is performed on one leg.

From the starting stance, to the turn to each stride that you run, they are performed with one leg dominating the movement.

Because of that, single leg exercises become important for the shuttle run.

The next main item to take care of is technique. Here are the mistakes I have observed participants make when performing the shuttle run.

No Routine

The shuttle run is a test. It is the same every time. (All this sounds familiar?) Just like the broad jump, you must have a routine.
For example, do you know…

• Which leg you will put forward in your starting stance?
• How far apart your feet will be in the starting stance?
• Where will your arms be when you start?
• Where you should look when you start?
• How many steps to the first turn?
• Which leg will be in front when you turn?
• And more!

No Specific Warm Up

• Yes, we do a general warm up before the tests start, but the Shuttle run has special turning and acceleration components that need specific warm-up.

Poor Stance

• The stance determines your first step and that is the key to good performance. Even in a 100m race, the first step is vital. Imagine how important it is in a race as short as a 10m shuttle run.

Poor Acceleration Posture

• Running “up”, not “out”. The common mistake is that the first move for many people is to stand up. This is not a good idea because the end point that we want to reach is in front, not above.

Incorrect running position

• This is not a 100m or 200m sprint. Once a track and field sprinter gets out of his starting blocks, he starts to rise to a vertical sprint position (the best way to run fast) by about 30-40m. But this is a 10m race, there is no need for the vertical sprint position because we NEVER reach top speed in this race.
• All our time is spent accelerating and decelerating. For this, a low running position is best.
• Oh yeah, way too many people run in a circle i.e. not a straight line. It goes without saying that a straight line is the fastest way

Incorrect turning

• Taking a big hop does not allow you to keep your feet on the ground to decelerate correctly
• Taking too many small steps wastes a lot of time

Once you know these things, which will be taught in this section on the shuttle run, do you believe your time will improve? Of course it will.

Firstly because your technique will improve, and secondly because you will be mentally sure of a consistent performance that you can do any time.

Can you imagine an Olympic sprinter not being sure which leg should be in front in the starting blocks? Of course he is sure. So you should be too.