Attack the Ground Before It Attacks You

Ground contact isn’t something that simply happens to the athlete.
 
It’s something they can actively prepare for.
 
Every time the foot interacts with the ground, the athlete has to manage forces, organize the body, and create an opportunity for the next action. The quality of that interaction is influenced by what happens before contact, not just what happens at contact.
 
That’s why we emphasize the intent to “attack” or “punch” the ground before the foot arrives.
 
This doesn’t mean stomping into the ground, over-tensing the body, or trying to manufacture stiffness. Instead, it’s about developing the ability to organize the body in advance, so the athlete is prepared to interact with the ground rather than simply reacting to it.
 
What Is Pretensioning?
 
Pretensioning is the process of creating an appropriate level of organization and amount of stiffness before ground contact. Think of it as preparing the system for the conversation that is about to happen with the ground.
 
The athlete is beginning to establish the positions, tension, and coordination needed to manage the forces that will arrive immediately after contact.
 
Instead of: Contact > React > Organize
 
We want to create: Organize > Contact > Express
 
That distinction becomes especially important during acceleration, deceleration, jumping, landing, and changes of direction situations, where the athlete has very little time to organize once the foot is already on the ground.
 
Why “Attack” the Ground?
 
The cue to attack or punch the ground is less about a specific technique and more about influencing intent.
 
It encourages the athlete to become proactive with the ground interaction.
 
This can help:

• Improve stiffness & timing by creating greater organization before contact.
• Enhance energy transfer by reducing unnecessary movement or leakage through the system.
• Reduce breakdown & collapse by preparing the body to accept & redirect forces.
• Improve responsiveness by allowing the athlete to transition more efficiently from one action to the next.

 
The goal isn’t to become rigid. It’s to become appropriately stiff at the appropriate time.
 
Too little organization and the athlete may collapse into the ground. Too much tension and the athlete may lose the ability to adapt.
 
The skill is finding the right amount of preparation for the task.
 
Before the Foot Hits the Ground
 
One of the biggest lessons we want athletes to understand is that ground contact doesn’t begin when the foot hits the ground. The interaction starts before contact. The athlete’s shape, limb position, intent, muscle activity, and coordination all contribute to how the body will meet the ground.
 
This is why we use a variety of activities that expose athletes to different ways of preparing for contact. We manipulate speed, direction, surfaces, positions, and constraints to help athletes discover how much pretensioning is necessary for different movement problems.
 
Rather than teaching one “perfect” way to contact the ground, we want athletes to develop a broader movement bandwidth. They learn to sense the upcoming interaction and organize themselves accordingly.
 
From Reaction to Preparation
 
High-level movement isn’t simply about what an athlete does after something happens. It’s about their ability to anticipate what is coming and organize themselves before it happens.
 
That’s the value of pretensioning.
 
The athlete begins to understand that what happens before the foot hits the ground often determines what happens after it.
 
Attack the ground. Prepare for the contact. Then use that interaction to create the next action.
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