Running form training
Jack’s training story of how he went from the last in the group to now running with the pack.
Primary focus: Improving Speed & running form to be better at Cross Country for school
Age: 14 yrs
Began Acceleration training at: 10 yrs
Goals:
Jack, aged 10 at the time, had very straightforward goals of wanting to improve his jumping height, be the last man standing in a game of tag with his classmates, and (most importantly), be able to beat his younger brother in a race.
In alignment with Jack’s vast improvement, we had him – now aged 14 – set some new goals. These goals have grown towards achieving a top 3 finish in his cross country and 100-metre heats at school.
Areas of Improvement:
Jack needed to work on exercises to improve his stability so we could start to focus on helping him achieve positions to improve his force production for acceleration, change of direction and jumping.
How we helped Jack:
Jack originally completed a Little Accelerator Initial Testing Session in 2020 with our coaches so they could gauge where he was at in terms of his flexibility, deep system, and movement patterns and techniques.
Since he has started, Jack has completed weekly 30-minute speed and agility sessions through the Individualised Training option at our Brisbane North Centre.
Jack progressed excellently through these and aged to the point where it became appropriate to start doing 60-minute training sessions, which saw Jack begin further steering, strength, and mobility work with us. These sessions exposed Jack to further stimuli that facilitated further gains in the techniques we worked on with our speed and agility components.
Recently, in his sessions, we have been working on improving Jack’s lower body strength and step frequency with his early acceleration to help him get quicker off the mark.
Results:
Jack recorded a 20m sprint time of 4.74 seconds when he first tested with us back in 2020. Jack’s mum, Julie, had described this as slower than her walking pace.
We sent Jack through our timing gates for the second time at the start of 2025, where he recorded an immense improvement to 3.34 seconds… over 1.5 seconds, 42% faster!
Jack has smashed his original goals, outspeeding his younger brother and reaching a record 7th place in his school’s cross country in 2024.
Jack is a very committed athlete to us, always showing up with a smile, ready to rip in and get better every day. It is through his hard work and desire to succeed that Jack has been able to smash his goals with us.
What Jack had to say:
“At a young age, I’d developed a lopsided gait and running style that left me last in everything running-related. This made school life quite difficult for me, not to mention having a younger brother run faster than me was not great!
Thanks to the amazing (and very likeable) coaches at Acceleration and their skills and focus, I was able to reach my goals, and my running style was corrected to a level that I didn’t think was possible.
At my first carnival after I started with Acceleration, I was still at the back of my 100-metre race but, for the first time, I was finally in the pack. I then also managed to come third in my long jump. This early success fed my drive to see what else I could achieve. I was no longer the kid easily caught in tag, and I started to enjoy my peers’ surprise and frustration when they realised I wasn’t easy pickings anymore and that I could start to catch them.
To help hit my 100-metre sprinting goals, I needed to build more power and so I added in the gym component to start doing 60-minute sessions with Acceleration. One of the biggest improvements I’ve noticed already has been my power and speed on the soccer field. I am looking forward to seeing how far I can continue to take this. If you saw me run today, you’d never know how I walked into my initial testing session, hardly being able to run at all.
In my last year of primary school, I may still have come last in my 100m sprint, but I will always remember how surprised my friend looked when he turned around mid-race and saw me just a few metres behind him. Acceleration is honestly amazing, and you will one hundred percent get bang for your buck.” – Jack, 2025
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Written By
Dylan Trevarthan
Head Performance Coach and Jack’s weekly coach
20/03/2025
