Your arms swing opposite to your legs to cancel out the twisting your legs create, so your body stays straight and facing down the track. When researchers strapped athletes' arms across their chests, 30 m sprints were only about 1.6% slower, so the arms matter mostly for balance and staying square, not for directly driving your legs. The basics coaches agree on: elbows bent around 90 degrees, swing from the shoulder, front to back without crossing your body, and keep your hands relaxed.
Bend and drive
Bend your elbows to roughly 90 degrees. Let the angle open and close a little as the arm swings forward and back instead of locking it rigid.
a compact, bent arm that stays close to the same shape.
Swing each arm from the shoulder joint while your shoulders stay steady and square. The shoulders themselves don't roll or twist into the swing.
the arm swings like a pendulum under a still shoulder.
Front to back only
Drive one arm forward and up as the opposite knee drives forward and up. The front hand rises to somewhere between shoulder and eye height.
opposite arm and knee arrive at the front together.
Drive the elbow down and back until your wrist reaches your hip. Keep the elbow bent there; don't let the forearm straighten out behind you.
driving the elbow back and down, not reaching the hand forward.
Keep your hands on their own side of your body. Seen from the front, they should not cross the middle line of your chest.
hands brushing past your hips, tracking straight ahead.
Relaxed and in sync
Keep your hands lightly closed with no clenching, and your shoulders relaxed and down.
loose hands, no tension creeping up into your neck.
Match each arm to the opposite leg, every stride. The arms balance the legs' rotation so your chest keeps facing forward.
a steady rhythm where your trunk stays quiet and square.
Feel it
Your arms swing like pendulums from steady shoulders, front to back by your sides, with loose hands. Your chest and shoulders keep facing straight down the track. Think about driving the elbow back and down more than punching the hand forward. If your shoulders start twisting or your fists tighten, shorten the swing a touch and relax.
Fix-its
- Your hands cross the middle of your body Keep each hand on its own side and swing straight front to back past the hip. Film from the front to check.
- Your shoulders roll or twist with each swing Move the arm only at the shoulder joint and keep the shoulders square and down. Practise standing arm swings slowly until the shoulders stay still.
- Your arm straightens out behind you Stop the back swing when the wrist reaches the hip and keep the elbow bent. A long, straight arm behind you is a slow lever.
- You clench your fists or hunch your shoulders Hold the hands lightly closed and drop the shoulders. Tension in the upper body is wasted effort.
- Your arms fall out of time with your legs Pair each arm with the opposite knee. Rebuild the timing at slow speed in seated and standing arm swings, then in build-up runs.
Drill
- Seated arm swings: sit tall on the ground and swing your arms at slow, then medium, then fast speed, keeping the elbows bent and the hands loose.
- Standing arm swings: stand with your knees slightly bent and swing as you would when running, wrists to about shoulder height in front and back to the hip behind.
- Do both swing drills inside your warm-up, after some easy jogging, and stop each set when the shoulders start to twist or tense.
- Build-up runs: accelerate smoothly over a short distance while keeping the same arm action. Film from the front to check for crossing, and from the side (slow-motion if your phone has it) to check the back swing.
Sources
- Surf Life Saving SA — Beach Sprinting Coaching Manual, 5th Edition
- Athletics Ireland — Run Jump Throw Series: Sprints, Running Technique, Arm Action (2025)
- SMU Research — Arm movement and running speed: Is the partnership overrated? (Brooks, Weyand & Clark, Gait & Posture, 2022)
Last checked 2026-10-25.