Intermediate

A-Skip

The A-skip is a cornerstone sprint drill that teaches the front-side mechanics of fast running: a high knee drive, a tall posture, and a quick pop off the ground. The hip flexors and rectus femoris fire to lift the knee while the calves deliver a springy forefoot bounce on every skip. Use it in every speed warm-up to reinforce clean running form before you sprint.

Equipment
Body Weight
Body part
Calves, Quads
Type
Functional, Plyometric
Browse by movement
Gait Drill
Muscles worked
Target
Rectus Femoris, Gastrocnemius Lateral Head, Gastrocnemius Medial Head, Gluteus Maximus
Secondary
Vastus Lateralis, Soleus Gastrocnemius, Tibialis Anterior, Biceps Femoris, Semitendinosus, Gluteus Medius
Tertiary
Erector Spinae, Abdominal External Oblique, Deltoid Anterior, Deltoid Posterior

How to do it

  1. 1

    Stand tall with a slight forward lean and the arms bent at ninety degrees.

  2. 2

    Drive one knee up to hip height while adding a small skip off the ground foot.

  3. 3

    Snap the raised foot back down under the hip, landing on the ball of the foot.

  4. 4

    Immediately drive the opposite knee up with a matching skip.

  5. 5

    Coordinate the opposite arm with each knee drive to stay balanced.

  6. 6

    Keep a steady, rhythmic skip as you travel forward over the set distance.

Tips

  • Keep the ankle of the driving leg dorsiflexed with the toe pulled up so you strike the ground with the forefoot.
  • Stay tall through the hips and torso; leaning back or collapsing forward kills the mechanics.
  • Punch the ground down and back quickly rather than reaching the foot out in front.

Variations

Common mistakes

  • Each skip covers three feet of ground, which turns the drill into bounding. The A-skip should travel slowly so you can work on mechanics rather than distance.
  • The knee comes up but the thigh stops well short of parallel, so what you practice is a small knee lift rather than the hip height the drill exists to teach.
  • The heel flicks back toward the glute on the way up instead of the knee driving forward, which is a running fault the A-skip is meant to remove, not rehearse.
  • The hop and the knee drive happen at slightly different moments, so the rhythm stutters. The ground foot should pop at the same instant the other knee reaches the top.
  • The support foot lands flat and heavy, which keeps you on the ground too long and takes the pop out of the next skip.

Frequently asked

How many A-skips should I do, and over what distance?
Two or three trips of 15 to 20 yards, walking back between them, is what most sprint sessions use, and it belongs after easy jogging and before any fast running. Quality falls apart quickly, so end a trip early rather than finishing the distance badly. As a standalone technique session, four or five trips works if you take one cue at a time: posture on the first, toe up on the second, and so on. Two or three times a week keeps the pattern sharp.
How do I make the A-skip easier or harder?
For an easier version, march it: no skip at all, just a tall walk driving each knee to hip height with the toe pulled up, which is where most people should start, and doing it on the spot first cuts the coordination load further. To make it harder, raise the skip frequency so the contacts come faster, move to an A-run where the same knee drive happens on every stride at running speed, or roll straight out of the last skip into a 15-yard sprint. Do not add ankle weights; anything heavy on the feet kills the pop.
What is the A-skip for, and when is it not useful?
It rehearses the front half of a sprint stride, knee up and foot down under the hip, at a speed where you can actually think about what you are doing. Sprinters, field-sport athletes and anyone learning to run faster should have it in their preparation. It is neither conditioning nor strength work, so if your training never includes fast running it has little to offer. It also needs feedback to be worth much: skipping badly for twenty yards reinforces the habits you are trying to change, so film a trip occasionally or have someone watch.

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