Cutting Mechanics

Cutting is a sharp lateral/diagonal change of direction performed off a planted foot. Two main strategies:

• Sidestep cut (plant-and-go): plant the outside leg (the leg opposite the new direction), with the foot slightly outside the body's line, then push off across the body into the new direction. Best for sharper angle changes; involves higher braking and joint loading.
• Crossover cut: the trail leg crosses over in front and the athlete redirects more gradually; preserves more speed for shallower angle changes / curved running.

Safe, effective cutting mechanics:

• Pre-load with deceleration: lower the COM, sink the hips, brace the trunk over the plant.
• Plant with the knee tracking over the toe (no valgus/inward collapse) — knee valgus on a plant is a primary non-contact ACL-injury mechanism. The gluteus medius/hip abductors control this.
• Keep the trunk leaning toward the intended direction and the eyes/head turning early; avoid a tall, upright "stiff" plant.
• Push off explosively with hip/ankle drive into re-acceleration.

Cutting is trained from closed/planned cone drills → faster approaches → reactive cuts in response to a stimulus, with strength (eccentric, hip-abductor) and lateral plyometrics (lateral bounds, skater hops) as supporting work.

• Cut strategies: sidestep (outside-leg plant, push across) and crossover (gradual redirection).
• Sharper angles favor the sidestep; shallow angles/curves favor the crossover.
• Plant knee tracks over the toe — valgus collapse is a key ACL-injury mechanism.
• Lower the COM, brace the trunk, lean and turn the eyes early, then drive out.
• Trained planned → faster → reactive; supported by hip-abductor strength and lateral plyos.

• cod-mechanics — cutting is the plant/redirection within COD.
• deceleration — braking precedes a safe cut.
• lateral-bound — lateral plyometric that trains the cut push-off/landing.
• gluteus-medius / hip-abductors — control the plant against valgus.
• knee-toe-relationship — knee-over-toe alignment on the plant.