How important is this? I know about the rule of the thumb being that you place your stronger foot on the front pad but if the idea is to drive of BOTH pads why does this then matter? I experimented with this idea over the indoor period and found this:
Left foot on front pad: Explosive and balanced start (nice pattern of stride out of blocks) Left hand flick cue felt sluggish at times. Was able to get great extension from blocks. Its a shame I don’t have any video footage at hand to show both…I will and get hold of a digi camcorder soon so i start posting some action pics
Right Foot on front pad: Very explosive and fast but not balanced start (stride lengths differed) Reaction was great. Flick cue very fast with right hand. I’m not sure if the flick felt good because my stronger and quicker arm is my right. Charlie/forum any views or opinions? It would be interesting to know if anyone here has played with their block pads and found themselves starting/reacting better or worse.
To me is a little different, but i´ll try to explain;
Right Foot on front pad: ( My right is the soccer leg, i mean, the kick leg and the shorter leg too ) Not so explosive as my left leg, but the main problem here is that my left leg doesn´t have sufficient power to get off quickly from hear pad…so, my 1st stride is handicapped.
Left Foot on front pad: Very explosive and fast, my left is the longer leg, so, the right leg comes from hear pad with all the time in the world, given me a rasonable long 1st stride.
I don´t know exactly what are the muscles responsible for bring the hear leg to complete the 1st stride, but i´m all sure that this muscles in my right side of the body are stronger than left side. Could be ilipsoas ?
jason,you will automatically push off both pads natural occurance without thought.if you were to kick a ball what foot would you kick with? this is usually the foot which is placed in the rear block for some reason
This is the point I’m trying to get a greater understanding off!
Why is this the leg you place at the back? Why not place this leg at the front? Are there any tests that tell you what foot should be at the front and back? Charlie did any of your old crew (Desai,McCoy,Ben) change their front leg whether it be for experimental reasons or strength reasons?
Just like mine and i don´t know for what reason, maybecause the rear leg is moving in a movement “like” a kick ( from back to forward quickly ) while the leg in front pedal just pushed back.
All this having been said, some of us are strange…
While I am right-dominant (I would kick a ball with my right leg) I lead over hurdles with my left leg and it feels more natural to do starts with my left leg forward. HOWEVER, because of the step requirements of hurdles I had to train myself to start with the right leg forward in blocks, and now my starts are faster than they ever were with the other leg. I don’t think that having one leg forward or the other will necessarily give you a faster start- pick one and train with it consistently!
I’m pretty messed up . I write with my right hand, eat with my left hand (hold the fork), throw with my right arm, and lead with left leg (hurdling). As far as blocks go, I just keep them close together with my left foot a little bit farther in front that my right. I explode off both legs, and it took me a while to learn. I think you should just go with whatever feels comfortable for you and stick with it.
I’m doing some practice drive runs from my blocks in my garden…Its definetely my right foot at front! I’ve make some massive changes to the blocks and now I can actually feel myself pushing with BOTH pads rather that just one.!! Success! The feeling is awesome…
i started off with right foot forward as that was were i thought all the power would come from…i was so unco!! My coach then told me of a test he saw in which the rear foot applies more power on the foot plate yet has less contact time. so dominant foot in the rear i would say. I don’t think it really matters in the end…you can practice enuff to be Ambidextrous in other sports so if something feels good i say stick with it and you will become proficient.
St George I think you are very correct in what you say…Without contradicting myself too much although the start feels alot more powerful it doesn’t feel as balanced as the opp. feet on the pads. In fact in my last block session (about 4 weeks ago now as I have been injured) the starts didn’t feel too hot at all…Sure i was reacting fast but there was no speed just power. To be honest one of the main reasons I changed the block setting was to do with the execution of the hand flick. I found that the flick was far quicker with my right hand. Would this be natural anyway because I’m right handed? Should the correct diagnosis been to drill my left lead hand to flick quicker and keep to the neuromuscular status the same instead of confusing it and trying to do something that isn’t natural (starting with the right foot). Interesting stuff sprinting!
