I'm Dan Scheldon and in this video I'm going to teach you the 12 worst training mistakes that I see athletes make. Mistake number one, beating the drum. Beating the drum is when you pump your arms at the elbows instead of driving them with your shoulders as you run. Beating the drum creates a waisted and inefficient movement in your body mechanics. So make sure your arm drive always originates at the shoulders and that your arms are working to help drive your legs. Mistake number two, knees over toes squats. The biggest mistake I see young or untrained athletes make is letting their knees pass their toes when they squat. This causes a lot of excess stress on the knees and often contributes to muscle imbalances or worse ACL injuries. To squat correctly, your first move should be your hips shifting back as you begin your squat. Then drop down until you form a 90 degree angle at your knees. See how your knees don't pass your toes when you squat correctly? Mistake number three, not in an athletic position. Starting a drill lazily or in an unathletic position can cause you to not get the full benefit out of each drill. In every drill or exercise I teach, I emphasize starting in an athletic position. So what is an athletic position? Bend at the waist, shoulders leaning forward. Weight on the balls of your toes, arms up and ready. That's an athletic position and how you should start every drill. Mistake number four, chin up when you run. When your chin rises as you run, it causes you to stand up straight and you lose that good forward momentum. This will affect your center of gravity and prevent you from proper acceleration. Always keep that chin down when you run and your eyes up. This will allow you to keep that good forward lean we need to accelerate. So we're kind of keeping that chin down when you run and that core tight to keep that good forward lean. Mistake number five, rising up in your brakes. Beating up in your brakes has numerous negative effects. It is a wasted movement that can cause you to cut on your heels and lose balance. It also displaces your center of gravity while making transition movements. Anytime you make a break or transition movement, keep those shoulders over your toes throughout the cut and your feet underneath you so you can make a crisp, efficient change of direction movement. Mistake number six, fall starts. Our first movement should always be in the direction we want to go. Only slight movement or hesitation in a different direction can result in wasted energy and inefficient acceleration. The goal is to eliminate any and all wasted movements when we start a driller spread. This will help you reduce inefficient movements and make you a more mechanically sound and polish definitely. Mistake number seven, headbombing. Headbombing means your head is popping up and down and leaving its horizontal plane when you perform a drill. Headbombing alters your center of gravity, creates wasted movement and throws off high level. The goal is to keep your head still when you run or perform any drills. Let all movement take place in your hips. If your momentum is moving forward, your head should remain still. Record yourself and make sure you are not headbombing in any of your drills. If so, make the change and start to correct that mistake. Mistake number eight, clinch in your fists. Knitting your fists when you run causes you to tense up in your forearms, elbows and shoulders, creating wasted energy that hinders proper arm drive. That is why I teach pinching your thumb and index finger together when you run. This creates the right amount of tension in the arms so they don't tense up and hindere your proper arm action. Mistake number nine, flailing elbows. When your elbow starts to flail out and get away from your body when you run, it creates wasted energy and movement in your arm action that counters your forearm momentum. This is why you want to keep those elbows tight to your body when you run so your arm action is always directed forward to allow for efficient forward momentum. Mistake number ten, not finishing. I am here to teach you how to be a great athlete, not an average one. So when you finish a drill, always sprint through that final cone or finish line. Don't pull up early and get lazy. You have to practice like you play and always finish hard. If you can't finish a drill hard, how do you expect to finish a big play in the game? Remember, the only person you are cutting short when you don't finish is yourself. So if you want to be a great athlete, practice finishing strong. Mistake number eleven, a poor warm-up. Not warming up properly can decrease flexibility and increase your chance of injury while training or competing. You should warm up with dynamic stretches and not static stretches. This will allow you to warm up that core temperature while actively stretching and priming your muscle for activity. Mistake number twelve, neglecting the core. The core is the central and most important part of the body. It is where all of your functional strength originates. A weak core can result in poor mechanics that can drastically open you up to injury and bad habits. No matter what core exercise you are performing, keep that core tight and strong and focus on proper mechanics and technique. So go eliminate these twelve mistakes so you can start to become an overall better athlete.