... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nB2t3isc8KU

It's a major event in 20th century, Tommie Smith and training partner John Carlos on the victory podium with their gloved hands aloft, in silent black power salute. But in terms of sport performance, Tommie Smiths sprinting in the 200m in that Mexico Olympics was, or should be, remembered as a litmus test for athletes looking to incorporate relaxation into their sprinting. On the day of the 200m final, Tommie Smith had to run the semi final to qualify. He did so and won the heat but tweaked his groin when he slowed down over the finish line. It was bad enough for him to hobble off the track. It was subsequently iced by his coach Bud Winter but the 200m final was later that day. He decided to run in the final despite the injury. Now if you're a sprinter, you know an injury is not going to clear up in a couple of hours and you know that normally sprint on an injury, it will just get worse. What Smith achieved that day was incredible and defied logic. Having Bud Winter, one of the greatest coaches in hisory and the pioneer of reaxed sprinting under pressure must have helped but he knew that he could not come out of the blocks with the usual amount of power as that would put the most amount of strain on his groin. So he knew he had to pull back the effort and come out of the blocks relaxed. He did so and in the first 100, he was well behind john Carlos, his rival and training mate. coming into the home striight, he started to open up and drew in Carlos and halfway down the staright over took him as if he was standing still. He was now rewarded with the amount of relaxation he had prioritised in the first part of the race and fatigue did nto set in because of this. He crossed line at a canter with his arms aloft and winning the race easily smashing rhe world record with a time of 19.83. It was the first time an athlete had officially broken 20 seconds. This record would stand for 11 years. This race is a great leaarning tool for any sprinter and a litmus test for relaxed sprinting. If you are a sprinter, learn to pull back the effort in your training. Learn to prioritise relaxation in your sprinting. You will learn how it feels to run with relaxation and you will surprise yourself with your results. If you are a sprinter living near Taunton, somerset, book in a 1-1 activation session so you can learn to the art of relaxed sprinting. And as always, follow me on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/injuryfreeandfaster/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/relaxedsprinting Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/activatemindandbody/ and now TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@sprintingrelaxed To book a 1-1 muscle activation session with me, please go to my website www.relievepaintaunton.co.uk/Be-Activated If you found that the info in this video or ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04pMeoe8z2M

... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPOTmnX2-EM

Relaxation is so under appreciated and underprioritised in athletics today. Most coaches think that you get relaxation through training hard but this not right. You train hard and you train yourself to do hard work. Relaxation will never be part of the equation until you actively prioritise it in life. A lot of sprinters mistake relaxing as "going slower" but that's not necessarily true. Relaxation is a mindset. It's who you are. and it's a habit you practise. It's something that you have at your very core. It's not something that you just casually add to your training session. The result of that is just running slower. When you have relaxation and you feel good, you'll make the best of the effort you put into your training - without tension. Your strength, flexibility and speed will all go through the roof. Everything will feel easier but you will be applying more power to your performance in training and competing. And it will be a joy experiencing your own capabilities being achieved when you are in a relaxed state. Your sport will be a pleasure So here are 3 ways to incorporate relaxation into your training and competing. 1. Breathing - you must be able to breathe properly if you want to be in a relaxed state and that means you must be able to breathe to really perform to your capacity. Learn how to breathe properly here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRu7wTbEPxM 2. Positive thoughts - take 10-15 minutes each day to think of some positive experiences you've had in your life. This maybe a funny experience or a generally happy experience or maybe centred around an inspirational figure 3. Locate and Observe negative stresses in your life - this involves practise as you have to observe yourself. Once you find the stresses in your life then you can go about addressing your responses to those "negative" events that happen to you. You can never get rid of the challenges we face in life but we can learn how to deal with them. There's also meditation as well which is highly recommended but the above are all ones you can easily incorporate into your day without much effort. When you get this right then you'll see faster progress in your strength gains in weight training, your stretching and general flexibility, your energy, your endurance and motivation. There's more to your training than the physical work you do on the track. Training hard is only productive you have the capabilites to train hard. You have to be in the right state to train hard and that state is relaxed parasympathetic state. For the link to the breathing video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRu7wTbEPxM For the Link to the Positive Thoughts video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzwix3KFKkk ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYN-iseHrHw