I remember a few years ago I was watching front onfootage of a heat. greene had won it in a time of around 9.9, from memory.
I replayed it over and over, comparing his technique with the other sprinters to see what he was doing differently. after looking closely at everything, one thing stood out in my mind more than anything else.
with all of the sprinters you could only see the laces of their shoes at any given time. with MG you could see his spikes right up until the time his foot landed.
The angles that Powell achieves while stepping over are better than any other 100 meter World Record holder before him. I base that statement off of analzing countless hours worth of film while also being able to take the races apart frame by frame. Technically, when one looks at how Powell moves such as in this clip, you begin to realize how close to perfection it is. The arms are being driven down on the back swing with the wrists moving in an arc slightly lower than the hip of the forward moving leg. The shin of the recovery leg is parallel to the track when stepping over. No other sprinter has executed to such an extent. Trevor will look at the film of this race just like he has with most of Powell’s races and try to make Gatlin achieve similar angles. Just like he has already…
I am yet to be convinced that a higher step over height has any consequent effect on speed. All I’v heard is ‘turnover’ and ‘ROM’, but I don’t see either of these guys doing anything majorly different in those respects.
RE: Dorsiflexion
How important is the stretch-shortening cycle in foot action? Surely premature flexion of the foot leads to greater dissipation of elastic energy stored in the calf muscle.
Further, stretch under load leads to greater potential elastic energy. What does this mean for dorsi-flexion technique? :eek:
Do you mean such rotation that leads to supination prior to contact? There seems to be limited pronation (during “release” from the ground) in Asafa’s running – particulary when looking at photos taken from the front (e.g. 3rd pic. in #81 and #172). Intresting differences in #172: Asafa appears to have supination in both feet whereas Pognon has supination in the “release-foot” yet tends to find the “lead-foot” slightly pronating. The guy on the left of Asafa is in a different phase, but indicates much more pronation during “release” than Asafa and Pognon.
Looking at the differences #174 and #175, we see two totally different reactions during/after “step-over” (Asafa vs. Marion): Asafa with supination and Marion with pronation, although Marion seem to be very close to the end and perhaps is already throwing herself towards the finishing line, hence not overly representative in terms of differences.
If you make a test on yourself, leaning slightly forward and bringing the foot to the front – over your knee – you’ll probably notice a distinct difference, if the foot is pronating, straight or supinating, in terms of pressure to the hip/groin area. I guess there’s plenty of individual characteristics involved here, but for me, there seem to be less “friction” when the foot is kept slightly supinated (but close to straight). Of course, during sprinting, such conscious control is absent, but perhaps here’s a slight difference in the “look ‘n feel” when one athlete seems to be “pushing” and the other seems to be “riding”?
Luca, I guess we should make a difference between ’cuing’ step-over and ‘observing’ step-over. Cuing step-over seems to be very useful for many athletes, without the necessary observable consequences in how the actual step-over is altering the angles. The reaction might be so little that it escapes our eyes from one particular perspective, yet noticeable in relaxation, feel, power distribution, timing and… the result.
As the sprinting action is a cyclic action, every phase affects every other phase.
For example, it is easy to understand the connection between the less than full extension that Powel achieves at takeoff and the horisontal direction of the shin during step over.
Compare it with the recovery leg after takeoff into the second to last stride of a long jump approach. There is not full extension at takeoff as the athlete attempts to lower his center of gravity and the recovery leg will consequently undergo a very different movement.
As a whole, Powel’s shin undergoes a much smaller range of angular motion during a sprint cycle compared to most other runners. In this film sequence the range of motion for Powel’s shin seems to be about 120 degrees, while almost 180 degrees for others.
Sorry, there really ought to be pictures to illustrate my points…
Does anyone else have the feeling from looking at TMSSF’s motion cap that one reason why Powell can do this is because of his massive positive vertical displacement? Compare him to the guy most prominant furthest away from him who’s shins go above horizontal on rearside mechanics. Now look at the lift powell gets with each stride. When I jump for a layup my shin angles are similar to powells. Its just an intinct but i feel the upward motion is somewhat responsible for this shin angles, its as though the upward motion carries the leg through in this way rather than leaving it moving backwards (as may happen if the time in which the foot is in contact with the ground is longer so it is further behind you on take off?) - see CF’s illustrations on the VAN’02 DVD.
Through the Acquisition, Implementation, [b]and Execution[/b] of the following elements.
(Please note that these are not in any particular order)
–Optimal hip mobility
–Optimal Quadriceps/Hamstring Flexibilty
–Optimal Flexion and Extension in both legs
–Great Max strength (Glutes/Quads/Upper body)
–Great Eccentric strength in Hamstring/Glute/Lower back
–Great Foot/ankle strength
–Actively pulling the recovery leg through the “step over portion”
–Repeated sprints at Top Speed etc…
By enhancing any of these elements, a sprinter will run faster as along as nothing else is being sacrificed. Improving all of the elements together yeilds tremendous results.
I have been utilizing this method and initially my sprinters are getting slower, although hip height has been dramatically improved. FYI, they are already strong and for some this is their 3rd yr sprinting. We are just using a new method. SO why are they getting slower over the first 30 mtrs?
Asafa Powell, Jamaica, centre, winning the 100m final, setting new stadium record of 9.86sec at the DN-Galan meet, IAAF Super Grand Prix in Stockholm, Sweden Tuesday July 25, 2006.
From left; Xavier Carter, US, Marcus Brunson, US, Asafa Powell, Jamaica, Tyson Gay, US, and Shawn Crawford, US.
