1) Heal to toe

• Short vertical distance between your front heal and back toe will help you to take a shorter step
• Too much vertical distance will cause you to take a long step

2) Feet + knees in line with shoulders

• Keeping your feet + knees in line with your shoulder will make it easier to move forward
• Feet + knees outside of shoulders points your weight in the wrong direction

3) 90 degree angle in front leg

• A 90 degree angle loads your hips so you can burst forward with power
• Below 90 degrees puts your weight back too far
• Above 90 degrees makes it too hard to lift your hand off the ground

4) Front hand horizontally in line with front of head

• The vertical alignment of your hand determines weight distribution
• If your hand is too far forward you won't be able to pick it up off the ground
• If your hand is too far back you'll stand straight up and get knocked back

5) Off hand locked and loaded

• Your hands are your weapons. Having your off hand ready will help you get your hands into the O-lineman's chest quicker
• Resting your hand on your knee makes it harder to punch your opponent

6) 50/50 weight distribution

• In a perfect run stance you should have 50% of your weight on your front foot and 50% on your hand
• Too much weight front or back makes it hard to get your hands on the O-lineman

7) Practice both you right and left handed stance

• Almost all high school, college and pro defenses need D-linemen to play both the left and right side, so make sure to practice your left and right hand stance equally
• If you only practice one stance you become a player who can only play one position. This limits the amount of opportunity you have to make a difference for your team.

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