How to Increase Your Speed, Mobility & Longevity with Plyometrics & Sprinting | Stuart McMillan

Here are the top 20 key takeaways from Stuart McMillan's conversation with Andrew Huberman on plyometrics, sprinting, and movement patterns that can transform your fitness approach and improve longevity.

1. Skipping is an underrated plyometric activity

Skipping, often considered a children's activity, is actually one of the best plyometric exercises that people of all ages can do to build power, speed, coordination, and improve muscle, fascial, and nervous system function. It helps develop hip extension patterns and cross-body coordination while being less stressful on the body than sprinting.

Skipping allows for natural expression through movement while taxing the coordination patterns, tissues, and joints in ways similar to sprinting. It's a zero-cost activity that can be incorporated into anyone's fitness routine, either as standalone workouts or integrated with jogging. McMillan recommends starting with 30-second intervals of skipping alternated with walking or jogging.

2. The importance of eccentric force capacity

Most athletic abilities are differentiated more by eccentric force capacity than concentric force capacity. Eccentric force refers to the ability to handle breaking forces when muscles lengthen under tension, which is crucial for speed and control in movements.

Fast gaits like sprinting and striding are almost entirely eccentric in nature. Testing showed that among elite athletes, concentric force capacity did not differentiate between elite and sub-elite performers across various sports, but eccentric force capacity consistently did. This eccentric control is also vital for injury prevention and longevity, especially as we age.

3. Five distinct gait patterns exist in human movement

Humans have five distinct gate patterns: walking, jogging, running, striding, and sprinting. Each represents a completely different pattern with specific mechanics and velocity ranges. Walking occurs up to about 2.2-2.3 meters per second, after which instability forces a transition to jogging.

Jogging begins at around 20% of maximum sprint speed, then transitions to running as speed increases. Striding occurs between 75-95% of maximum sprint speed, and true sprinting is anything above that. These are not simply faster versions of the same movement but entirely different coordination patterns with unique biomechanical properties.

4. Let speed dictate foot strike

The speed at which you move should determine your foot strike pattern, not the other way around. Many people unnecessarily focus on whether they should heel strike or forefoot strike, but this approach can hinder natural movement efficiency.

At slower speeds like walking, most people naturally heel strike then roll through to toe-off. As speed increases to sprinting speeds, contact shifts more toward the forefoot and toes. If you're thinking about anything regarding foot strike, McMillan suggests simply thinking "flat foot" and allowing velocity to determine where on the foot you naturally contact the ground.

5. Cross-body coordination is fundamental to human movement

Humans are naturally rotational beings, with shoulders and hips counter-rotating during all forms of locomotion. This cross-body coordination creates a torsion system where the spine connects shoulder and hip rotation, contributing to more efficient and powerful movement.

The best movers effectively use this cross-body coordination, creating a coiled spring effect where energy transfers across diagonal lines from one shoulder to the opposite hip. This rotational pattern is often lost through modern lifestyles but can be reestablished through activities like skipping and proper running mechanics. McMillan discourages "anti-rotation" exercises, as they work against our natural movement patterns.

6. Running faster happens in front of your center of mass

Lower speed activities like jogging and running occur primarily behind your center of mass. You contact the ground and push back with a long propulsive phase. However, faster movements like striding and sprinting happen primarily in front of your center of mass.

With striding and sprinting, there's a longer eccentric (breaking) phase as you drive force into the ground in front of your center mass, followed by a very short propulsive phase. This difference in mechanics explains why simply running with faster turnover doesn't make you faster - true sprinting requires a fundamentally different movement pattern that most adults have lost the capacity to perform safely.

7. Most adults cannot truly sprint

Most adults have lost the tissue and joint capacity to handle the forces of true sprinting. While almost everyone can walk and jog, far fewer people can safely stride (75-95% of max speed), and almost no adults can truly sprint without risk of injury.

This capacity diminishes as we age because we stop practicing high-intensity movements. Our engines (cardiovascular systems) might remain relatively strong into our 30s, 40s, and 50s, but our tissues and joints lose the ability to handle the forces our engines can generate. This explains why many people pull muscles when suddenly needing to sprint unexpectedly.

8. Uphill running and skipping as alternatives to sprinting

Since most adults can't safely sprint, McMillan recommends two alternatives: uphill sprinting and skipping. Running uphill places less stress on tissues and joints while still providing high-intensity stimulus. Skipping allows for similar neuromuscular benefits with significantly reduced injury risk.

These alternatives help maintain the ability to express maximal movement capacity as we age. They develop similar coordination patterns and tissue capacities as sprinting but with less impact and lower injury risk. For middle-aged or older individuals, these activities can help preserve movement quality that might otherwise be lost.

9. Knee-behind-butt position is critical for movement health

Getting your knee behind your butt during movement patterns is crucial for proper hip extension, posture, and overall movement quality. This position, championed by mobility expert Kelly Starrett, helps counteract the typical sitting, standing, and walking patterns that keep most people in chronic hip flexion.

Activities like skipping naturally encourage this knee-behind-butt position, helping open the hips and extend the posture. The ability to achieve this position diminishes with age and sedentary living, contributing to poor movement patterns and increased injury risk. Deliberately seeking movements that promote this position can help maintain mobility and function.

10. Different gate patterns occupy different amounts of physical space

As movement patterns progress from walking to sprinting, they occupy increasingly larger amounts of physical space. Walking occupies the smallest space, jogging slightly more, running more still, striding even more, and sprinting the most space of all.

This concept relates to expressiveness in movement - faster gaits require and allow for greater physical expression. Elite athletes, especially sprinters, must learn to be comfortable taking up more space and being more physically expressive. This spatial awareness affects both physical performance and psychological comfort with expansive movement.

11. Finding yourself through movement

We discover ourselves through movement, developing personal connection to activities that suit our individual structures and temperaments. Great athletes find ways to express their authentic selves through their movement patterns rather than forcing themselves into standardized technical models.

McMillan shared the example of Jody Williams, who struggled for years trying to be a 100/200m sprinter because of her early success in those events. Only after discovering her connection to the 400m event - even though it was technically more difficult - did she reach Olympic-level success. This illustrates how important it is to find movement patterns that connect with your individual essence.

12. Individual movement solutions over standardized techniques

Elite coaches focus on finding each athlete's unique optimal movement pattern rather than forcing standardized techniques. This approach respects that everyone's biomechanics, morphology, and neurological makeup differ, requiring individualized solutions.

McMillan emphasized identifying what makes each person uniquely effective and building training around that rather than imposing external models. This applies to all fitness endeavors, not just elite sports. The best solution is one that works with your specific body and movement tendencies while still respecting fundamental principles.

13. Authenticity in performance is critical

The most successful athletes are those who bring their authentic selves to their performances. McMillan contrasted Usain Bolt's playful, expressive personality with Andre De Grass's quieter approach, noting both succeeded because they remained true to themselves.

He shared the cautionary tale of Asafa Powell, who despite being one of the fastest men in history, struggled in major championships because he kept trying to adopt others' pre-race personas rather than being authentic. This principle extends beyond sports - authenticity in expression leads to better performance in any endeavor, from athletics to creative pursuits.

14. Pressure and peace balance in human performance

Elite performance requires balancing opposing qualities like pressure and peace, power and fluidity, or violence and rhythm. This concept applies broadly to life beyond athletics - the ability to exert focused pressure (mental or physical) followed by periods of peace and recovery.

McMillan describes a 100-meter sprint as "50 meters of pressure and 50 meters of peace," representing the dichotomy needed for optimal performance. This balance applies to creative work, intellectual pursuits, and daily life - periods of intense focus and effort must be balanced with recovery and relaxation.

15. Genetics vs. environment in athletic performance

Athletic success, particularly in speed and power sports, depends on both genetics and environment. Genetic factors like muscle fiber type, limb length, joint structure, and tendon length create baseline potential, while environmental factors determine what's done with that potential.

McMillan notes that genetics "gets you in the room" but what you do in that room depends on environment, training, and mindset. This explains regional clusters of excellence in certain sports, like Jamaican sprinters or Kenyan distance runners, where both genetic predisposition and cultural emphasis create ideal conditions for success in specific athletic domains.

16. Reintroducing natural movement principles into exercise

Modern exercise often becomes disconnected from the natural movement patterns that humans evolved to perform. Weight room exercises like squats and deadlifts can be beneficial but are several steps removed from the functional, expressive movements that our bodies naturally perform.

McMillan suggests reconnecting with more natural movement patterns through activities like skipping, striding, and cross-body coordination exercises. He challenges people to question whether their current exercise practices are actually helping them move better and express themselves physically, or if they're just following fitness industry conventions.

17. The decline of performance-enhancing drugs in track and field

Contrary to popular belief, McMillan states that performance-enhancing drug use in elite track and field has dramatically declined since its peak in the 1970s-1990s. Modern testing protocols have made it extremely difficult to use PEDs without detection, especially in amateur sports.

While acknowledging there are still pockets of drug use (particularly state-sponsored programs), McMillan expressed confidence that top athletes in most events are competing clean. He emphasized that drugs don't make slow athletes fast; rather, historically, athletes would get fast first through training, then potentially use drugs to get marginally faster.

18. Expression through movement reshapes psychology

The way we move physically affects our psychological state. Activities like skipping that encourage bigger, more open postures tend to promote more positive, expansive psychological states compared to the closed, contracted postures of typical sedentary living.

McMillan repeatedly emphasized "expression" through movement - using physical activity as a way to express oneself rather than just for physical outcomes. This expressive quality creates a feedback loop where more open, expressive movement patterns contribute to more open, expressive psychological states, benefiting overall wellbeing beyond just physical fitness.

19. Training cues should evolve into mood words

For athletes, technical coaching cues should eventually evolve into broader "mood words" that trigger the correct technical patterns without consciously thinking about mechanics. This allows athletes to stay in flow states during performance rather than getting caught in technical overthinking.

McMillan described how he helps sprinters transition from specific technical cues to mood words like "pressure" and "peace" that encapsulate entire movement sequences and feelings. This principle applies to any skill development - technical proficiency eventually needs to transition to intuitive feeling to achieve peak performance.

20. Maximal sprint capacity as a marker of overall health

McMillan proposed that the ability to express maximal sprint speed (relative to one's individual capacity) might be the single best marker of overall health and vitality. This doesn't mean being fast compared to others, but rather maintaining the ability to sprint at your personal maximum capacity as you age.

This capacity represents not just cardiovascular fitness but also neuromuscular coordination, tissue health, joint integrity, and psychological willingness to express oneself physically. While most fitness metrics focus on isolated systems (like VO2 max or grip strength), the ability to sprint maximally integrates multiple systems and might serve as a more holistic indicator of physical wellbeing.