It dawned on me the other day during a workout that I run much better when I vizualize myself running well and remind myself to try to relax my upper body. I’m not a competitive sprinter, and I know very little about form, but I thought it might be useful to have a short checklist to run over in my head regarding good sprinting form before every run. I don’t want to get tangled up with small details, but just for a short list of the big points what would you guys recommend?
Interesting…I have started to do the same and the results have been great especially over the 100m. After I have driven hard out of the blocks, I tell myself that I’m looking good…this causes me to relax,drop the shoulders and let the natural talent I have take over! 
ever since i started training maybe 16years ago i seen a clip of a certain sprinter running.i was so impressed that i studied and studied and studied videos of him running and training.with the consisitant analysis i was doing everyday it somehow stuck in my brain.it got to the stage that i could correct flaws in my sprinting by just understanding what is correct and not.this model sprinter was the very best and the best model anybody could possibly imagine.he had no flaws what so ever.if i had problems with a cetain aspect iwould visualise this model and then perform.
what i am trying to say guys is,have a model of someone in your mind.learn all you can about the movements.if you look at this athlete as a whole it will effect your sprinting.
That´s my problem…i use to watch many many times elite sprinters running “perfectly”,
many times MO, many times Ben, Carl, Asafa, Ato, Gatlin, etc, etc, etc…but i don´t have any specific sprinter to concentrate, i´ll try analyse just one of them and that will be Gatlin, since my “stride stile” is somekind same as Justins stride.
If you are going to analyze and mimic someone make sure you know the differences between “actions” and “reactions”.
Same goes for me…I have used Gatlin as my ‘model’ and it has worked perfectly for me…When I run now I have a picture of him in full flow in my head and make the adjustments mentally to replicate the feeling that I should have. Infact emulating him and my other models (Bernard Williams, Maurice Greene and Jon Drummond) has done wonders for me.
X-man once again u hit the nail on the head…Study and be a student of the sport to become the best YOU can be.
Oh yeah, i won´t try to imitate, not it all.
Actions & Reactions ? What you mean exactly ?
i’ll be honest guys.powell runs very very good but gatlin i can’t watch.justin is an exceptional athlete but mechanically i just can’t watch.i would be more inclined to look out for athletes such as kim collins(great rythem,relaxation and range),ob(can’t spell his name :o but mechanically very sound),malcom(great range and all aspects can be clearly seen).
*******NEVER ever try and run like them,this is a NO NO! instead look at the co-ordination,relaxation and great rythem(i know i am spelling it wrong).i’m 5-9 and my model was 6-2 so it was stupid of me to ocpy him but instead i looked at his arm range/relaxation etc.
the only elite sprinter i ever sen running like a donkey was a guy called daniel effiong,his career is a different story but anyway
A better choice of words could be “cause” and “effect”.
Let say you study Maurice and decide you want to run like him. You notice on the down stroke of his arms the elbow joint opens a lot. You also notice his lower leg flings open before ground contact and there is limited backside mechanics when he runs.
Now, if you don’t know the difference between “actions” and “reactions” you would go out there and try to flick the lower leg out, cut off your recovery mechanics and break at the elbow joint in an attempt to run like Mo.
However, if you knew the difference you would realize it is the force of the down stroke that cause the elbow joint to open, the rapid change of direction of the thigh(if the leg is totally relaxed) causes the lower leg to fling out, and the hips being high(power) causes the legs to leave the ground earlier during recovery.
So instead of running like Mo, the focus should be on a powerful and relax arm action, a totally relax running style, and increasing your power output. And however you end-up looking that is your unique style.
You´re right on this X, i know that Gatlin is far from perfection, but as i said, my actual stile is more like him, so, if i have to choose someone, i´ll pick Francis Obikwelu, he knows how to run relaxed, but i´m not sure about the quality of his start method, besides i´m 6.2 and he is 6.3 tall.
Tks THEONE, i´m working my english over this, let´s see how much i´ll take from it. Tks
An important point to keep in mind when evaluating your own technique (versus watching someone else’s) is that there is a difference between what you subjectively feel and what you objectively do.
I learned this lesson when training with Charlie in late April. Specifically, I was exaggerating the knee lift. Subjectively, I was simply trying to properly step over the support knee. However, the knee lift was to high, which forced me to lean slightly backwards and caused my hips to drop, as well reducing stride frequency due to the excessive range of motion.
After Charlie changed my step over technique it now feels like I’m simply stepping over the opposite ankle, about mid shin. It kind of feels like I’m just stamping the feet up and down really fast, even though the range of motion in the swing leg is considerably greater than it feels.
Interesting…very interesting. Food for thought right there. Would you say that there are sprinters (elite) who have too much knee lift? If so who?
Charlie’s better qualified to answer that.