Both his parents were track coaches right? Anyone can have solid technique like Carl if they are drilled enough at a young age by a good coach who can elimate all technical ineffieciencies and you’d assume by having a coach/parent that you’d be well educated on what the right running position was and what wasn’t.
Interesting that many of Tellez’s athletes of that era had similar high kneelift with such high foot recovery, like they stepped over their opposite knee on every single stride. One model applied to different body types and athletes with different strengths and weaknesses.
I always thought Mike Marsh had a fairly similar technique to Carl. Can’t say I noticed it with Burrell or Witherspoon. Never seen Joe DeLoach run, so can’t comment on him.
Going back to the ground contact issue, I’m going to have to side with Sharmer, although for a slightly different reason. I think that increased ground force is in large part responsible for decreased contact time. Once the foot makes contact with the track it becomes a fixed point. The faster the body travels over this point, the quicker the intuitive stride mechanics can occur—not because you are consciously trying to, but because greater speed is allowing you to. In order to travel faster over that fixed point, a greater ground reaction force from the stride before must initiate the process. Also, I’d like to touch on the plyo issue. Of course plyos can help to decrease CT. Not because it is specific to that quality, but because it does improve the organisms ability to exert force,therefore providing the body more potential to perform. Weight training, multi throws, etc. can also accomplish the same outcomes, but for slightly different reasons. Can a sprinter do without it? Absolutely. But the ability must be obtained somehow. If not endowed genetically, then developed through other means-----weights,plyos,etc. Carl Lewis certainly is not the norm. Mother Nature was very kind to Carl. The rest of us may have to resort to different training methodologies to obtain the same results.
Nature was kind to Carl by providing the frame and the nervous system, but the power was provided by the work done, whether through sprinting, plyos, weights, or throws.
I agree that the power was provided by some means—probably more sprinting than by other methods. However this doesn’t justify his training for all individuals. Most athletes will benefit greatly from the addition of strength training. The issue is not as simple as choosing some form of CNS stimulation. I believe that elite sprinters have certain power requirements that must be met. For most, weight training can help reduce the power deficit. Obviously, for Carl his training was sufficient and correct. Others may need a different approach.
In my opinion, I think that all we can conclude is that there was enough strength work for Carl. Not to be argumentative, but I feel this is a fundamental issue affecting a basic approach to training. I can’t get past the notion that limited strength training works best for most athletes. Actually, I have no idea how Carl really trained other than bits and pieces I’ve heard from others. My point is not to detract from Carl’s/Tellez’s methods–which were quite obviously very good for Carl and others that TT trained, I simply would like to support the idea that increasing general organism strength in the prime movers via weight training is a way for athletes to develope power levels that usually cannot be developed otherwise. I think that research and observation would show that most elite sprinters exhibit the ability to SLJ 3m+ and STJ 9.5-10m+. If an athlete is going to run like a 10.0 then he needs to exhibit the characteristics of a 10.0 sprinter. This is an extension of “looks right, flies right”, except we are using certain measurable parameters to define our intended outcome. If we want to build a race car that will compete then it needs to have the necessary horsepower. If we accept that elite sprinters have a set of characteristics that enable them to perform, then we need to set about to developing them. Improving strength to bodyweight ratios is key to many performance parameters.
Don’t use the term "limited strength work’. Use the term “appropriate strength work”. The is a definite limit to the amount that is appropriate, and that limit is reached exponentially sooner by those with the greatest capacity for power development (another term for natural talent).
If you have developed a better strength base during the off-season, does it take time for your body to apply this force when you start sprinting properly or will the strength gains show up immediately?
Not until the first man to land and set foot on the sun will we know what the fastest possible ground contact time is for humans!
If you have followed a vertical intergrated program, where one has been training all components relevant to sprint training throughout the program, (rather than moving from one component to another through each phase) then the strength benefits in respect to ground forces should be noticed gradually as you get deeper into the program. The body will not adapt over night. Like everything, it takes time for it to develop.
If you have followed Verkhoshansky’s concentrated loading protocol, the strength benefits relative to speed (including but not limited to ground contact) will also be noticed gradually as you progress to more technical work and allow for the effects of the concentrated loading to present themselves.
In either case, the effects of the work present themselves gradually. There is NO free lunch.
