Noah Lyles is on fire. The field and track athlete took home his first gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympic in the 100 metre sprint by a very close 0.0005 seconds from Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson. With two more events lined up, the 27-year-old has spoken candidly about his determination to leave this year’s Olympics with three gold medals and, with the confidence Lyles oozes, you can only believe him.
The athlete trains hard. His YouTube channel alone reflects that, where Lyles regularly posts videos of his training sessions, including his running and strength workouts, as well as tips and advice around training. We took a little look through his channel and came across a video of Lyles sharing the exact running drills he uses to improve his speed and form. So, if you’re looking to shed some minutes off your current time, lace up your running shoes, grab your gym water bottle, and add these to your training, as they could be just what you need to hit a new PB.
1. Walking high knees
High knees are a great drill to include in your warm-up, mainly because they mimic several aspects of the running gait, which will help transfer into a more powerful and efficient run technique. “This is also where you’re going to be practicing getting up on your toes, as sprinters we run on our toes and balls of our feet,” says Lyles.
2. A-skip
A very popular drill amongst runners and help develop an efficient foot strike, which helps create a better dispersion of force. “You’re really just going to be the same angles as you do in walking high knees, but you’re going to have a bit of a bounce to it,” says Lyles. His top tip with this drill is to make sure your legs are coming directly under your hips, you don’t want them behind you or in front of you.
3. B-skip
Lyles says there’s controversy around this drill: “A lot of people think that you should be having a long leg extended out in front of you and dragging behind you.” Instead, the sprinter says you actually want to perform these just as you would an A skip, lifting your leg up but then pulling it underneath you. “So instead of landing and dragging, it’s a coming straight down underneath and ripping.” Think of it almost like a little snap towards your other foot.
(Image credit: Tim Clayton – Corbis)
4. C-skip
The C-skip requires a bit more rhythm as you start with an A-skip, then extend your knee out to the side (the C-skip), before finishing with a B-skip. Sound a little confusing? Lyles says it’s the lateral part of the movement that throws people off the most as they’re unsure with what to do with their arms. He says as you extend your knee to the side move your arms a little to the side too, as this will help counterbalance you.
5. High knees
This drill may be basic, but it’s highly important, as Lyles says it’s the closest drill to running. His top cues are to activate your calves before you start (Lyles like 10 pogo hops) and, again, to make sure your legs move directly underneath your hips. “You don’t want to be jumping up and down either, you want to be activating power into the track,” he says.
5. Karaoke
No mic needed, this lateral drill involves crossing your feet across and behind each other. It’s great for improving agility, opening up the hips and footwork placement. It is one of the more complicated drills (because of the fancy footwork), so if you struggle, just walk yourself through it, gradually pick up the pace, and just keep practicing, advises Lyles.”Some people are really good at it, some aren’t, again, just keep practicing you will get better. You can’t get better at something if you don’t try to repeat it multiple times.”
(Image credit: Christian Petersen)
6. Fast legs (right and left)
Lyles says this is a good drill to learn how to control your nervous system and get it firing as you try and get up to top speed. For this drill, only one leg is producing the power to propel you forward (in the A-skip position), while the other leg stays straight and just taps the floor. Once you’ve done these on one side, swap over and do them on the other side. Lyles suggests warming up with some toe taps to get your legs in the right motion for this move.
7. Stick it drill
Lyles says he calls this the ‘stick it drill’ because you’re sticking your feet to the floor and not wobbling. The drill requires you to strike the pose of the A-skip, mid-air, and then rapidly moving your arms and pushing through your foot, you swap to the other side, so you’re holding the A-skip position on the opposite side of your body. It’s meant to be explosive and powerful. “The key points of this drill is to make sure you turn your core on, your glutes, your calves, and even your arms,” says Lyles, as this is what will help your body remain stable.
8. 1-2-3 drill
This is one of Lyles’ more advanced drills. It’s where, again, you’re starting in an A-skip position and doing three hops along the floor with the foot remaining on the floor, before switching. Tempo is key here, as well as engaging your core, glutes and calves for optimum power. “You want to have really good activation on all of those if you want to make it through this drill because you’re constantly going to be repeating a step then switching to the other side,” says Lyles.
