How A-Skips Can Improve Your Triathlon Running Posture — Triathlon

You’ve probably heard it 100 times: Good Run the form Performance is always more important than doing another interval session. But “running tall” and “landing under your body” can be difficult cues to master in the mid-run, especially. Off the bike When your legs have their own ideas about what running should look like.

This is where A-skips come in. This deceptively simple and slightly silly-sounding drill—with the under-leg clap—exaggerates the precise mechanics you’re chasing on race day, so you can actually feel it before you try to keep it up at speed.

“A-skips are one of my favorite running drills because they teach us many of the things we are trying to achieve when we run well,” says the triathlon coach. Marilyn Chicota. “The exercise itself is not the goal; it’s just a way to exaggerate good running mechanics so you can feel them and then carry that feeling into your run.”

Benefits of skipping

If you do it well, skipping with a clap can help you run tall with an upright posture while developing lower leg strength, encouraging knee lift, and promoting an effective foot strike. But the real payoff isn’t the exercise itself, but rather what it teaches your body to do once you stop jumping and start running.

“The goal is not to get good at A-jumps,” Chicota says. “It’s about becoming a better runner. Exercise is just a tool to exaggerate good running mechanics so you can recognize how you feel and then carry that feeling into your run.”

This transfer is the point, it does not happen automatically. “The most important part comes after the workout,” Chicota says. “Once you’ve completed your jumps, start running and try to stick to the same rhythm and posture for the first few minutes. This is where the real learning happens. Exercise builds awareness, but transferring that awareness to your running leads to lasting improvements in efficiency and economy.”

Who should do A-Skips, and how often

A-skips are a great exercise for almost every runner and athlete, regardless of experience or ability level. Whether you’re new to running or chasing a PR, good mechanics are always important, and this workout is low-risk enough to fit into almost any training week.

Incorporate it into your routine in one of two ways:

• As a warm-up Before training and races
• As part of the drilling routine After two to three of your easy runs during the week

Start with two 30-meter repetitions, then progress to 50-meter repetitions once you build strength and coordination.

Keys to performing A-Skips correctly

The biggest mistake Chicota sees is that athletes focus so much on the passing pattern that they forget the running mechanics they are trying to enhance in the first place.

“Think about how you want to run: long stance, knee moving forward, toe up, foot landing under your body, quick push off the ground,” she says. “Skipping simply helps you practice those situations.”

While you’re working out, prioritize quality over quantity. Stay tall throughout your pose, keep your hips under you, and make all contact with the floor quick and light. The movement should be rhythmic and comfortable, not forced or forceful. If you find yourself jumping high, leaning back, or extending your feet in front of your body, slow down the exercise and refocus on smooth, controlled movement.

Training cues to remember

• Run tall
• Knee
• Toe up
• The foot is beneath you
• Be quick off the ground

How to do A-Skip, step by step

1. Stand tall with your chest open, eyes forward, chin down, and heart slightly engaged.
2. Start moving forward with small, controlled skips.
3. Drive one knee up to about hip height with the toe up toward your leg, placing both hands under your hamstrings to clap them together when your knee reaches its peak.
4. Swing the opposite arm naturally, just as you would while running.
5. Bring the foot back down below your body instead of extending it forward.
6. Land lightly with a quick, springy connection before immediately driving the opposite knee up.
7. Continue switching sides while maintaining a smooth, comfortable rhythm.
8. Focus on the quality of movement rather than speed.