Elite sprinters tend to have very muscular/large arms and sprint programs generally include an emphasis on increasing arm strength. I was wondering what the exact effects were from arm strengthening. Does arm strength alone actually make a person run faster, or does it simply allow them to make use of more leg force? And is having a large upper body beneficial, or is strength the key with upper body training? Thanks
Elite sprinters tend to have very defined arms, however size is not always the case. Most sprinters dont weight more than 185, the high density of the fibers and low body fat give off an illusion of being larger than they appear.
Also, the genetics of most elite sprinters tend to be more ‘naturally’ muscled with more type II fibers.
Arm strength alone would not make someone run faster, however the strength gained could indirectly increase the general strength in other areas via the crossover effect.
The arm strengthening will contribute by increasing the overall strength of the organism.
This gets into the agrument of general vs specific training. Which if you search through otter threads here will give you more of an idea of what type of lifting contributes to a sprinters program. also you could check out the weights for speed bundle.
how exactly does the “crossover effect” work? and what is “speed bundle”?
as charlie says "exercise anywhere strengthens muscle everywhere via the “crossover effect”.
The nervous system controls movement, thus training one movement may not train other muscles directly but will still have a neural effect that is transfered elsewhere.
Check this thread out for more info:
http://www.charliefrancis.com/community/showthread.php?t=4139&highlight=crossover+effect
“Weights for speed bundle” is a product here in the store section, click on the link up top for more info on that
If someone with weak arms runs a 200m, their arms will be extremely fatigued by the end.
Well, it’s more that when you stimulate bigger muscle groups or use exercises stimulating a larger part of muscle fibers in the body (squat,clean,deads,sprints) you tend to have gains everywhere and in every part of the force-time curve. For instance, in very general terms, a squat can be a great stimulus also for arms while a arm curl has a lower effect on legs (speaking of muscles, not organismic strength)
yes, of course
can someone explain or post a link so i can understand the force-time curve?