drive phase help

ive noticed that during my drive phase my feet seem to strike in line below my body as opposed to slightly out to the sides. ive heard that the reason for these strides having a slight side to side aspect is to allow for hip rotation, but because my mechanics are not correct, am i limiting my hips during acceleration? heres a video of ato boldons start where his feet hit the ground well outside his midline (at ground contact they appear to be slightly outside of his hip) -> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ae-9UgwVTXQ in contrast, my feet land by my midline, what can i do to stop this?

set the starting blocks up on the whiteline (lane line) cut back on the intensity and concentrate more on footplant either side of the line

i could definitely try that. any thoughts on cues? or if my problem has anything to do with strength imbalances?

Without seeing what is happening it is a bit hard.
suggest no more than 5 to 7 steps of the blocks, throw the stopwatch in your bag, you have to be looking down at the line, head at an angle to keep a posture.

ill try to get a video up some time (right now im playing baseball so im not spending much time with blocks)
and what exactly do u mean head at an angle?

If I knew how I would post a vid taken a couple of years back, send me an email address and I will attach a copy if you like. it just shows a front on view of a lad I coached.

dajbomb262@aol.com thanks

Also take a look at the post by pavel that shows Asapha run the 300m.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bACUl96_zcQ

The Brigitte race:-- the male second from the outside, his head is a bit proud at the take off but comes in line pretty quick, then the Asapha run. Both look pretty damn good. I am focussing on the imaginary line drawn along the back from the centre of hips to the top of head. My grandmother used to chat me when I was a kid, she called it posture.

asafa’s heel recovery looks significantly less than everyone elses

Probably something to do with the operation, you got to admit he looks efficient.

His heel recovery has always been very low. He occasionally drags a toe on the ground on his first step.

Teabag did you get the vids? As per email I don’t want you to show or pass on, in total it is about 2 minutes aimed at the first 2 seconds of a race, I think you have the idea. It is part of something that has taken me 20 years, Speed Dynamics it isn’t.

I seem to remember you saying in an earlier email somewhere you needed to improve to get a job you wanted.

Yes the heel recovery at the start is a lot lower. If you asked Asafa or Usain if the third step ever felt different I bet the answer would be yes, when you get it together you will know what I am talking about.

so should the time the heel spends behind the body be kept to a minimum in youre opinion?

i got the emails but my computer (a mac) opens them in some type of text format, ill try to figure it out this weekend when i have time

and i need to improve if i want to run in college, not really a job lol

yes, ive seen videos of this, but what i mainly saw in the video is that even at upright asafa’s foot spends less time in the air behind him. it seems to go from ground contact right to under his butt

i would work on Flexibility a lot. Get a good range of motion and the muscles/joints are free.

is that what he is trying to do or what we see.

If we were to watch a magician for example making coins disappear, how often do you see what is really happening or is it mostly guesswork.

i know what you mean, cues arent necesarily what actually happens and viceversa

i would consider myself a pretty flexible individual, though there is always room for improvement. which muscles/joints in specific would you concentrate on increasing rom for?

all muscles that attach themselfs to the hip, and there are a lot.
eg, hammies, quads, hip flexors, glutes and many other smaller ones around the area.