If you’ve ever had to run, you’ve also had to stop. Whether in sports or in life, you’re ability to speed up is almost irrelevant compared to your ability to change direction. But have you ever thought about the process of stopping or what it takes to do it more quickly or efficiently?

The first step to controlling movement is to slow it down and teach the body to strike the ground in the proper pattern. A simple method of achieving this is bounding. Bounding involves leaping from one foot to the other as opposed to a hop, which is one foot to the same foot.

Linear bounds are performed in a straight line with the initial strike in the heel to initiate deceleration with the posterior muscles. The foot makes contact and the hips drop. Landing should be soft and under control. The bound should increase till control can no longer be maintained.

Transverse bounds occur at 45 degree angles to the body. The landing shifts to the ball of the foot and the big toe with the foot pointed straight ahead. All other mechanics remain the same.

Jaime Gamache M.Ed., CSCS, is Owner and Head Strength Coach of The Way Human Performance Institute ( www.thewayhpi.com and www.facebook.com/pages/The-Way-Human-Performance-Institute/11774282495465 ) Any questions or requests for future topics, please email jgamache@thewayhpi.com