Andy-O. i’m only going to tell you this once. I’m getting sick of your mouth. Shape up or you’re gone!
andy o,please lighten up.this is agreat site for people who want to learn or give sound advice,if you have sound advice with solid back-up then fire away.in your case you don’t and please don’t insult anymore of my site members ok
I’m jujust surprised at how much this particular topic has evovled from a simple question about block starts to a full-blown debate 
. You know you’ve gone to far if CF himeself says he’s sick of your mouth. Let’s keep this pg 13 gentlemen 
:rolleyes:
This is a typical response when someone cannot further argue the point and they start making personal attacks. I seem to have acted like a child some times on this forum and would use a titfortat strategy when it came to namecalling or when people would use the straw-man method. I would like to believe that I have matured somewhat since being on this site; therefore, for once in my life I’m not going to say anything negative towards you or belittle you in some manner, “I’m going to keep my mouth shut and take the high road”
P.S. I guess miracles do occur! LOL! 
Damn! I was waiting for your responce!! I know the OLD SuperVenom would have said some thing back!! Bring back the old guy!!! LOL
On a serious note…Lets keep it real here guys…no need for the verbal slanging matches…Just to add my 2 pence in…I was actually coached by a well know UK coach who advocated the LONG Rangy start. He drilled and drilled this into our heads that this was by far the best way to start…that was until we all started gettin a spanking over 60’s and 100’s and doubts started to show. At the same time I’m not a massive fan of short strides out of the blocks. I have found myself looking at guys like Justin Gatlin,Mo,Boldon and Drummond and feel inspired. The way these guys come out of the blocks is awesome. They show how to get the optimal range out of the blocks and thats with a knees to chest action. Its as simple as that.
What are you talking about. This is typical UK bullshit. I am sick of it. The same class of premise is held in football relating to short and tall defenders and midfielders…Diego Maradonna and Roberto Carlos would not have made it in the UK. Leg length is a factor but it is not such a huge advantage. There has always been tall and short sprinters. There have been times when short sprinters dominated and there have been times when RELATIVELY tall sprinters dominated. But there has never has been a 6ft5 plus sprinter that has dominated in the 100m sprint and its not going to happen too soon. Ground contact time does not rely as heavily on leg length as people may believe. Its the ability of the elastic, muscle and nervous system to work together to produce force in simple terms. Andre Cason was certainly not hindered by has dimiunitive stature and has ran faster than ALOT of tall sprinters.
Remember what you think to be true or what you believe to be true is usually the opposite.
It should be elementary knowledge that just cuz you’re tall doesn’t mean you’re strides are gonna be longer.
I do agree that the taller sprinters are coming out of the blocks quicker now adays, but it’s not because of long strides coming out of the blocks. Asafa doesn’t take long strides out of the blocks. Obikwelu doesn’t either. There’s no need to sacrifice efficiency by forcing your body to do something it isn’t ready to do. Taller sprinters being slow out of the blocks happened in the past becuase everyone expected it to happen, and allowed it to happen.
Just by counting the steps of all the guys in Athens, Gatlin & Mo had the longest strides in the beginning. Gatlin took 7 steps to 10m, but his 7th step was just past the 10m mark. So you can say he took 6.9. Greene took exactly 7, and his 7th step was right in front of the 10m mark.
So of the three tallest guys 2 had shorter strides than Greene early.
Gatlin - 6’1"
Francis Obikwelu - 6’4"
Asafa Powell = 6’2
Hopefully, a bit of common sense here…The fact is that Asafa Powell is 6’2" and I belive Obikwelu is 6’3", and those aren’t the only tall sprinters right now. We’ve gone through periods with tall sprinters (Tommie Smith, John Carlos) and shorter sprinters (Mo, Tim, Ato). There were “experts” saying a few years ago that shorter sprinters had some sort of advantage, but that’s not clear, especially if Asafa takes a run at the WR as now seems likely. From Pierrejean’s breakdown of Asafa’s 9.84 (which can be found in the videos):
DISTANCE : Intermediate time, section time, Stride Length, Stride Frequency, N° of Steps
000-030M 3.84 - 3.84 - 1.83 - 4.31 - 16.4
030-060M 6.41 - 2.57 - 2.41 - 4.85 - 28.9
060-080M 8.10 - 1.69 - 2.49 - 4.76 - 37.0
080-100M 9.84 - 1.74 - 2.57 - 4.48 - 44.7
Asafa may have shut down a bit in the last 20, but there is not much here to suggest tall sprinters are much different than anyone else. While Asafa certainly appears to have triple extension during the acceleration phase, just as certainly he is not running with a higher turnover after 60 meters.
Regarding taking large steps, take another look at the Jon Drummond start sequence from Advantage Athletics:
http://advantageathletics.com/2005/?page_id=32
Drummond is 5’9" but those are NOT small steps! He is one of the all time best starters and he is getting full triple extension in every single step. I don’t see it any different for those of us over 6’2": The size of step you can use is depenedent on strength level, but, at least for me, you still reach peak turnover in the 30-60 meter range.
so which is it? long or short?
A sprinter’s stride length should occur naturally; meaning, that nothing should be forced, this includes trying to take big steps through the acceleration phase. The only acception to this rule is that a sprinter’s first 2 steps should be as big as possible and what I mean by that is that he tries to get his knee (to his chest) as high as possible and wait till the absolute last minute before putting his foot down. After that the rest of the steps should not be forced! If you try to take bigger steps than normal you will run slower bc you are sacrificing stride frequency for stride length; as well, you don’t want to be thinking about taking long strides, I believe this is where the whole hindbrain/forebrain issue comes in. Don’t think about it, Just do it (starting to sound like a Nike commercial now)!
Well hypothetically if I was going to respond to such to a verbal insult it with go something like this,
It’s called respect! I have respect for Mo, CF, Forum members, something clearly, which you have for no one including yourself!
Since you are so concerned with going back in time I thought maybe if we went back a little further to the good old days I guess in the 1800’s we could settle this mano e mano!
To quote Billy the Kids famous last words, “I’ll make ya Famous!” Will see how good your long strides are then!
Speaking hypothetically of course!
any of u can say sorry. these are my words, asafa powell 6ft4 and long strides. ha ha!
:rolleyes:
You think your going to be the next Asafa Powell?
HA HA
Seriously though, are you in some sort of midlife crisis?
Just out of curiosity, what do you think an increased stride length actually means?
The answer might suprise you!
Andy’s premise being that a taller sprinter should take longer strides in the beginning and cut the stride length toward the end, Pierrejean’s stride analysis of Powell’s 9.77 does not support this. Powell’s stride length essentially increased for the whole race, and his frequency peaked at 50-60m like shorter sprinters, then declined.
You continue to ignore the facts that disprove your contention.
First, you were an expert on the technique employed by Tim Montgomery. Now you are an expert on the technique of Asafa Powell.
Now try shutting your mouth and opening your eyes.
The video of Powells World Record run is here on the site. In addition, Pierre-Jean, a highly respected coach and Olympic Technical Consultant to L’Equipe- the world’s largest sporting newspaper, has done a complete analysis of this and comparative races, including stride length and frequency averages by 10m segments.
This site provides a learning opportunity for those prepared to learn. Can YOU learn?
Speaking of the 80’s- Some of you born in the Mid-80’s have alot to learn.
Rupert-
Add this to the -
WTF is wrong with people?
List