Guys,
im working with an athlete whos heels touch the ground significantly whilst running. Is this almost certainly a strength issue?
thanks
bumped for a response please
I doubt it is “certainly” a strength issue. One of the strongest kids I knew in high school (squatted over 400) had significant heel strike.
As far as how to fix this, there are many others on this board better suited for an answer than myself.
A few ideas…
-the athlete’s feet are landing a little too far forward
-the athlete is over-striding, resulting in the previous problem, as they don’t have enough time to bring their foot back under them before it hits the ground
-they could be trying to force some power into their footsteps, which might result in longer ground contact times, which could lead to prolonged heel contact
I’m not an expert, so I could be totally wrong.
Thanks, that is similar to my thoughts. A search on over striding resulted in the following thread
http://www.charliefrancis.com/community/showthread.php?t=14872&highlight=striding
which contained a bit about pain behind the knee being a possible symptom. That is something I have had the past 4 or so days. I have also recently dropped down to 200 / 150 / 120 SE reps from 300 / 250 / 200 ones so wonder if this could also be a factor 
So how to overcome that? Possibly make knee lift a focus? I took some vid yesterday and it looks a bit too low…as usual :rolleyes:
By running, do you mean flat out sprinting?
in my case yes, certainly it is flat footed :mad:
Having reviewed the vid from yesterday I am certain over striding is an issue as is low hips…same old …same old :o
I actually think this may be the wrong way of going about it. I did a tempo session today and found that focusing on improving my heel recovery automatically improved knee lift (DOH! :rolleyes: ) this got me thinking that too much backside mechanics is another cause of over striding (double DOH! :rolleyes: ) …bear with me people 