Does shorter Arm action = Quicker Leg Frequency???
Definitely IMO.
I have spent years training on my hand cycle, strengthening shoulders, arms, core, improving arm endurance, it shortened my arm action dramatically or decreased ROM & increased stride frequency greatly, improving acceleration. When it comes to frequency I’ve come to realise its arms, shoulders & core, the squat rack & deads did $hit for improving my frequency.
BUT & a big but…
I feel at the expense of stride length, due to the massive ratio differential in hip flexor to hamstring/quad strength due to the hours of road cycling I do. Faster arms, faster legs, faster frequency, but shorter strides.
I’m not a 100m sprinter, I’m a footballer (soccer player). 0-10m guy. Winger. The legs defiantly follow the arms IMO.
Not to stray too far off topic, but isn’t ground contact time, at least for an elite sprinter at max speed, simply a byproduct of speed? You go faster your foot spends less time on the ground. Assuming speed over ground remains the same, how can you reduce ground contact time without contacting farther back in the stride or toeing off sooner? If the force applied is greater, speed increases, therefore ground contact time is reduced. It may be semantics, but I see so many people talking about training to reduce ground contact time when, IMHO, the should be training to 1) apply more force per stride (power) and 2) applly at faster (RFD).
Segement contributions ( role of arms) to sprint running is always difficult to measure, the arms do have a role in transfering angular momentum which enables the trunk and COM to be in better position’s throughout the sprint cycle.
I’m not sure that if you are trying to suggest and advantage of short arms over long arms?
Usain Bolts’ arms are the longest and so his arms have the greatest vertical impulse influance of any sprinter.
It has been said that the lift of the rear elbow, and the raising of the front hand contricute significantly to vertical impulses. The length of the fore-arm, the power of the triceps, the speed of the down-wards swing, these help the foot land powerfully.
But I have noticed that sprinters with longer arms such as Usain and Asafa Powell, tend to have a slightly more closed arm when hand is raised, but still get an open arm on the down swing, so they have more change in r.o.m at the elbow.
Where-as Konstantinos Kenteris, and a lot of eastern european (especially triple jumpers and many white female sprinters for some reason) tend to have less closure of the arm on the up - swing.
What ever your arm length, peeps tend to adjust the way they use their arms, depending on various factors. Got to go, running late for an appointment… I’ll be more clear next time…
Anyone know if there is any truth in the quote below, regarding arm action?.
It is worth remembering however that your leg and arm speed is linked, your legs can only go as fast as your arms will move. Now this doesn’t mean that you have to move your arms up and down like a sprinter. What I am saying however is that by tidying up your arm movement and alignment you it can help tidy up your over all efficiency.
Wouldn’t moving the arms too fast “just spin your wheels” (insane leg frequency)?.