17 Mental Cues To Improve Your Triathlon Biomechanics

Every athlete wants to improve. That is a simple fact. Most athletes will opt for the “more is better” approach. But if you move poorly in space and have lousy mechanics, then “more” just reinforces the bad.

As a coach, I will always opt for the “more better is better” approach. Good quality training involves working on technique. My goal is to make each and every athlete move better in space - which always involves working on the technical aspects of their sport training.

All motor programs for sport activities are under volitional control. Motor programs can thus be improved with training! But to do so, we have to keep in mind that the primary limiter when learning a new sport activity (or component of it) is neuromuscular fatigue. For example, when doing swim drills, there is a point of diminishing returns in which “doing more” will only reinforce bad movement patterns. From a neurological (central nervous system) perspective, the goal must always be one of quality, maintaining the goal movement pattern, and then stopping when neuromuscular fatigue sets in.

Oftentimes a key word or mental cue can be a starting point to improving an athlete’s sport biomechanics. Here are a list of 17 mental cues that can be used to improve your sport technique for each of the three triathlon disciplines.

Swimming Biomechanics and Technique:

Perhaps the most important of the three sport disciples technically is swimming. Water is a very dense medium through which to travel. Becoming more “streamlined” in the water is critical to long-term improvements in efficiency. Here are my top 8 cues to consider while swimming:

- “long” in the water (emphasizes body position);

- “reach and glide” (maximizes your distance per stroke);

- “sliding the hand into the sleeve” (helps to initiate the stroke and entry into the water and promotes the “reach” concept);

- “anchor the hand” (at the catch, which leads to the next cue);

- “pull the body towards the hand” (once the hand is anchored – the cue is to move the body relative to the hand instead of pulling the hand through the water);

- “push back across the hip” (extending the stroke fully past the hip in order to maximize distance per stroke);

- “high elbow” (once the arm leaves the water, during the recovery phase); and

- “turn the hips” (promotes long axis rotation and balance, along with ease of breathing bilaterally).

Cycling Biomechanics and Technique:

Bike positioning is integral to optimal force transfer and power output. The primary aspects that will affect these factors are seat height and fore-aft position. But significant improvements can be made by changing how you spin the pedals. Here are 4 cues to improve your cycling mechanics:

- “push the toes into the shoes” (across the top of the pedal stroke);

- “scraping mud off the bottom of the shoe” (pulling across the bottom of the pedal stroke);

- “counter-pressure” (on the upstroke, and not being concerned with actually “pulling up” as it is counterproductive to power generation); and

- “spin” (with a cadence of 90 to 100 rpm).

Running Biomechanics and Technique:

Running is like any other sport activity in that yes, you can change your running technique. As running speed increases, runners will move toward a midfoot strike. The elements to improve running mechanics can be attained via training drills and mental cues. Here are 5 cues to improve your running mechanics:

- “hips tall” (erect posture will tend to promote a more midfoot strike position);

- “head up” (also promotes erect posture);

- “crisp arms” (arm motions can be used to drive the stride frequency, with a goal of 80 to 90 steps per minute per leg);

- “brush the waistband” (promotes posterior arm swing, which assists the propulsive phase of running); and

- “crisp feet” (to decrease stance time).

Using these 17 cues as a part of your training sessions will help improve your sport technique. Improved triathlon times will follow!

Photo credits: Wikipedia