I’ve read a few posts asking for advice on biomechanical problems. I usually refrain from giving any advice because of the uncertainty of the cause.
To get the best advice on biomechanics, It is crucial that one provides pics/clip. If the problem is a strength/ fitness issue and not biomechanical in nature, then attempting biomechanical changes could be counter productive and even dangerous.
biomechanical problems are very common.if you have the expiereience of mechanical issues you can get the idea of whats happening by reading the about the problem.alot of the guys here can’t/haven’t got access to digital cameras so all they have is a brief note on the issue.a simple problem can be easily improved providing you know what the cause is and how to address the problem.also you can go into greater depth with the athlete with a greater insight to what is really happening with more of an explaination.
what i say to athletes is to look at the likes of carl lewis,inger miller,mike marsh,frank fredericks and understand what the basics are.these athletes are great mechanical sprinters with everything in place.if you point out exactly what is happening throught video tapes your athlete will learn what is right and whats wrong.
sprinting isn’t that complicated but it is made so by overcomplicating theories.all the movements involved in sprinting are natural and every person can achieve good mechanical running unless there is something really wrong!
I don’t think pics or vids are completely necessary, but think about how difficult it is to acertain a problem with one of your athletes even on a good day, in realtime-real life.
Video analysis is sometimes the only way to determine a problem. However, video can be deceiving as well, and even moreso with pictures.
herb i find if you show your athletes themselves runnning on screen helps them immensely.sometimes athletes think they are doing x action when in fact they are doing the total opposite.what you have to do is show the athlete what exactly they are doing with the screen and tell them to get the feel of how that particular movement felt.
one particular athlete i trained with was so in tune he knew exactly what was happening.this was through expiereience and being in tune with himself.his coach had him look at videos of himself running and getting the feel for what was write/wrong and remembering what the sound movement felt like so he could duplicate it whenever he liked
sometimes the feel can be effective…video is key though.
I remember seeing myself on video for the first time. It almost made me want to quit the sport altogether. What amazed me though was that my coach never told me how awful I was or tried to fix things. That was the day I started taking things into my own hands. I could not believe how different I looked from how I felt.
exactly herb.when you understand what exactly you are doing you can make big changes.
Thats why I have a clip in my sig 