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Ins and Outs

Ins and Outs alternate short segments of near-maximal acceleration with segments where the athlete floats, holding speed while consciously relaxing. The drill teaches sprinters to reach high velocity and then maintain it efficiently rather than straining, a key skill for the second half of a sprint. It is an advanced top-speed drill for well-conditioned runners after a complete warm-up.

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

How to do it

  1. 1

    Mark alternating zones, for example twenty meters accelerate and twenty meters float.

  2. 2

    Build hard through the first zone to reach a high, controlled speed.

  3. 3

    Entering the float zone, stop pressing and hold your speed while relaxing everything.

  4. 4

    Re-apply drive in the next zone without a full restart, accelerating again from the float.

  5. 5

    Continue alternating in and out for the full distance, staying tall throughout.

  6. 6

    Ease down at the end and take full recovery before the next repeat.

Tips

  • In the float, maintain speed by relaxing, not by slowing down or braking.
  • Keep mechanics identical in both zones so only effort changes.
  • Do these only when fully warm; they demand near-top-speed running.
  • Rest fully between reps so each acceleration stays high quality.

Variations

Common mistakes

  • Zones of forty meters turn each rep into a 160-meter run, and by the third zone the only thing being trained is running tired; twenty in and twenty out is plenty.
  • The second acceleration starts like a standing start, with a big lean and the hips dropping, when the job is to add pressure to a stride already at speed.
  • Relaxing gets confused with going floppy: the jaw and shoulders should loosen while the trunk stays braced and the contacts stay sharp.
  • Zones get eyeballed instead of marked, so you never know whether you floated for ten meters or thirty and no two reps can be compared; put cones down.
  • Short rest turns these into fast intervals, which is a different session; the float only teaches anything at speeds you could not hold for long.

Frequently asked

How many ins and outs should I run in a session, and what should I own first?
Two to four reps of about 60 meters, run as 20 accelerate, 20 float, 20 accelerate, with three to five minutes of walking between them, once a week. You should already be running at near-maximal speed regularly, with drills and a few build-ups done before the first rep. Add a rep or a zone, never both in the same week, and end the session when a float turns into a slowdown.
How do I make ins and outs easier or harder?
Easier: run the whole thing at about eighty percent so the float is a genuine cruise rather than a fight, or shorten the zones to 15 meters each. Harder: lengthen the in-zones, add a third acceleration so the rep reads in, out, in, out, in, or tighten the float to ten meters so the two efforts sit closer together. What does not belong in the harder column is cutting the rest, which turns the session into conditioning.
What are ins and outs for, and who should avoid them?
They teach a sprinter to reach high speed and then hold it by relaxing rather than straining, which is the skill the back half of a sprint is won with, so they suit well-conditioned sprinters and field-sport athletes in a speed block. Avoid them if you are new to sprinting, early in pre-season, or coming back from a hamstring strain, since the running happens at the speeds where that muscle is most exposed. They are also a poor conditioning tool.

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