Okay so I looked through the forum and I couldn’t find exactly what I was looking for on this topic.
I have seen many threads saying “oh the drive phase is bad”, “Ato Boldon is nuts” and on the opposite end people say “Charlie is dead wrong” and so forth. So I’m wondering what you guys would classify as the drive phase and what the alternative would be. I kind of have an idea but I just want to clarify things. Because I know what I do and what I show people and it seems to help them.
From what I can see, the difference between someone like Ben and someone like Asafa, Obikwelu, Ato or Mo is that Ben keeps his body is a much straighter line and is up at about 20m, whereas the others are down for about 40m but do not have a straight line through the body. Anyone can correct me on this, I’d liek to know for sure.
Unlike alot of people here, I don’t think the drive phase is the antichrist - but I do think it is oversold. The likes of Maurice Greene, Ato Boldon, and John Smith have everyone convinced that the drive phase is the only way to go.
The drive phase can’t be all that bad when you look at the results of Boldon, Greene, Gatlin, Powell, and many other athletes who make use of the technique.
I think physiology and race technique should dictate whether or not a drive phase is optimal for a particualr athlete.
Ben Johnson certainly would not have benifited from a drive phase, but at the same time there are not alot of athletes around who can approach the level of explosiveness that Ben had. I don’t think we’ll see Asafa Powell utilizing a Ben Johnson style any time soon.
People need to stop trying to emulate great runners, because not everyone should be doing the same things to run great.
Well said, White Chocolate.