hey guys. im dong a biomechanics paper and presentation on sprinting on a high speed treadmill as opposed ot flat ground. i was wondering if any of you can provide or direct me to some references to help me out. I know we had this discussion a while ago but it seems it has dissappeared.
Thanx alot.
Hi quick, I have used one a high speed treadmill so can give you first hand information.
My speed did not increase but my technique got much better. My hip flexors became stronger because most of the runs are done at an incline at around 12-15mph. However, I did mess up achiles tendon due to the incline work.
I read an article that said, a high speed treadmill is a load of… because the tread moves backwards, thus you place your foot behind your centre of gravity and screw up your running technique. Dr. Yessis does not agree with any sort of incline work. I will try and find the article for you. When I spoke to other athletes there, they said that they use the treadmill to peak. Most of them said that it did not increase speed.
Hope that helped
thank you for your reply…if you get to it id like ot see that article.
also question…
how do you get on and off a high speed treadmill without breaking your a$$?
can someone summarize the kinematic differences in high peed treadmill running as opposed to flat ground so i can get a general idea.
Quik, here’s a link from the forum that has some information on what you’re looking for.
http://www.charliefrancis.com/community/showthread.php?t=1605&highlight=biomechanics+sprinting
sorry, that’s about all i can find.
Accidents happened but there was a bar across the front that I would have to grab hold of when getting off. The one at my uni has a belt that is wrapped round the athletes waist and will pull you off it!
The bar was too close to the arms, which caused a fault in technique because you had to sprint with your arms less then 90 degrees, if you didn’t then your hands would smack the bar.
How did it improve your technique if you couldn’t use your arms in a proper way?
Exactly! High-speed treadmill running is a recipe for disaster. Remember sprinting relies on the generation of “negative foot speed” (Your foot must be moving backwards faster than the ground is moving backwards under you or you can’t impart acceleration . In sprinting, you’re either accelerating or decelerating, so you have, at most, one step as you reach the “crest” before you drop off. If you impart neg foot speed on a treadmill, you’ll go off the front! If you don’t, you’re just along for the ride.
The best thing you can do with a high-speed treadmill? Unplug it!
(If you own one- see if you can sell it to Harvard!)
Very true, the treadmill removes physical acceleration from sprinting. The sprinter is not accelerating at all, they are just moving their legs up and down on a strip of rubber. There is no real horizontal force application.
Thor, the arms would only hit the bar when the tread was on an incline of 30 degress or more. However, there would be sessions where a harness would be strapped on to the thighs and you would hold on to the bar and exagerate knee lift. Also, when the treadmill was flat, I did not have a problem of the hands hitting the bar.
To avoid the problem of having the hands hit the bar, you would have to come back a bit and have the coach hold you so that you did not fly off. This helped me and other guys of my height. When guys of 6 foot or above stepped on, they had problems. This is not to say that all high speed treadmills are like this. The one I used was Frappier who obviously had the cheapest treadmill there was. Like I said the one at my university is looks totally different. It is much bigger and more spacious. I can not say that it is more effective because I have not used it.
I would not use one again.
Another disadvantage with high speed treadmill running is longer strides lengths and decreased strides rates, this occurs because a fast moving belt is a highly unstable surface and inorder to increase stability ground contact time is increased. For sprinters this is bad news since shortening of ground contact time is of great importance: unfortunately treadmill running teaches the opposite.
Very good point. (Did I say that) 
Here is a high speed treadmill article I had kicking around for discussion purposes…
Comments?
VERY GOOD ARTICLE! That basically sums up al the research i personally have done on the subject. The Frishberg article was one i read too and it was a good one.
There is some horizontal force- IN THE WRONG DIRECTION.
Remember that Ottey decelerated (error) during the late acc phase in 1996 and it shows that humans are not perfect like 26 mph tredmills. One error could spell face plant.
Variations in the acceleration are normal, usually following the breathing pattern (if you’re still breathing after your face-plant!)
I am straying from the original topic, but…
I am curious as to thoughts regarding the usefulness of an inclined treadmill for slower speed runs for non-sprinters. The benefit’s I could see might be to allow relatively specific exercise indoors on bad weather days and consistent footing. An incline increases the work required, though as discussed it is not “the same” kind of work, requiring vertical “climbing” acceleration of the body not horizontal acceleration. Nonetheless it will rev up the lungs, and heart, though admittedly not the leg muscles in a completely specific manner.Schemes of bungee type contraptions and using fans to create wind resistance can also be conceived to give something for horizontal force production to push against. Of course at some point one might say, why go through with all the bother…Fair enough.
As discussed, horizontal force production on the treadmill is different than sprinting, but could that not be a good thing if one were to use a horizontal treadmill at slower speed, as a way of active recovery exercise? Or if the treadmill was designed to be very low impact or soft, might not barefoot running be useful during winter months in a frozen environment (as it is here in Toronto right now) where grass is unavailable?
Or is the risk of ruining form, whether it is sprinting or long distance , too high?
Hy Fellows,
here in Brazil, we have much more Mechanic Treadmill than Electronic/Motor Treadmill. ( Because of the costs, you can buy a mechanic for U$ 70 but a electronic motorized treadmill it´s about U$ 300…)
So, i have a mechanic treadmill and in rain days i do something like
Overspeed work at treadmill.
The surface is originally stoped, so, you have to do some force ( against the inertia ) to move the surface, like a rolling wake…i set the tdmill 5 degrees position and start to run…
The purpose here is not to develop technique, but i guess, to develop capability to move legs very fast.
Diferent from a Electronic Tdmill where you only do up and down movements, in a mechanic you have to push the surface backward ( like when you run ).
My sessions are:
2 or 3 sets of 4 reps 10s each, from start ( stoped ) position to maximum velocity ( velocity of legs not of treadmill ).
My goals are attain an average of 5 steps per second ( i´m doing 4.2 at moment ) but without lose much technique.
For me it´s a good exercise, a far diferent from conventional speed work at track, but as i said, the goal is move fast ( Charlie, may i said it is a SNC work ? ) 
The only problem that i have,
i live in a apartment, so,
the noises is very strange and loud… 
I´m thinking in record and send for the forum,
but i dont have any idea how do this. ( OK i have a recorder and that´s it ).