I know that generally stride length is improved by greater strength (more force applied into the ground), but I think I have a case here where my hip flexibility is really limiting the length of my strides.
As I mentioned in my other post, I’ve had a problem where I have been emphasizing too fast arm movement and it may have been causing me to take shorter strides. I have corrected that and now have my arms moving at an even rate with my legs, but yet someone still observed that I am taking really small strides considering my leg length.
They noted that when my foot begins to leave the ground to begin the recovery phase, my shin is at a really obtuse angle to the ground (almost pointing straight up?) - this is in early acceleration.
I don’t seem to be conciously pulling up early (rising my chest up too early in early accel)
I noticed that my flexibility in the static hip flexor stretch does not seem particularly bad, infact I seem to be reasonably flexible in that area as well as the quads.
Any ideas what my problem may be? Is it just a lack of dynamic flexibility which should be worked on with hurdle mobility drills or is it possibly not flexibility but just a technical fault with my sprinting.
Either way, I was hoping someone could help me with some drills to fix this problem. I would really like to have this fault addressed before I begin my maintenance phase.
David i’m sorry but i can’t fully understand what you are saying.don’t listen to what people say unless they know what the deal is.get your cam-corder out and have then tape you,let them explain in more detail what the problem is so that you can fully understand.
when you begin to understand exactly whats happening this will make you a better,more knowledgeable athlete.
Basically, I seem to be taking a lot of very small steps when I am sprinting. (my feet land fairly close to each other).
My knee comes up fairly high when I drive my support foot into the ground, but my back leg begins its recovery phase before it has fully extended behind me.
It basically looks like I’m running straight up and down and not really providing enough horizontal force along the ground.
I think this may have been caused by me trying to just pump my arms as fast as I could therefore cutting off stride length (making me take small frequent strides). I have stopped doing that and now conciously run with my legs and pump my arms at the same rate, yet I am still getting this short stride length.
I am currently working on my static flexibility through the hip flexors/quads incase that is a problem.
You should not conciously try to apply more horizontal force. Focus on the stride getting quicker (and longer) but mostly quicker. Once the forces are applied correctly, the stride should become longer. I think that your problem is how to apply force at the correct angle to the ground and allowing time for the forces to work. I get the impression that you are trying to get the feet off the ground too fast. Think in terms of getting the hips moving away from the ground, not the feet. As the hip moves away from the ground, it will bring the foot with it as contact is broken. Think force, not recovery. Recovery will happen while you apply force.
i think you are “darting”.this is caused by trying to pick the knees up which hinders the extension.don’t worry about knee lift as it will happen,just make sure you get full extension to the back.stride lenght will increase with strenght but flexibility must be in place,its a whole body movement which has to be well co-ordinated.
dcw will laugh at me now but try stadiums or hill runs which will teach you to extend and push properly.just relax run and let it happen
I understand what you’re saying, but then wouldn’t it make sense to conciously have more horizontal force against the track?
I kind of get what is going on… when I have been doing my plyos, I noticed that in an attempt to shorten my ground contact time, I pull up rather than apply force into the ground and let the ground reaction force push me up.
I have watched a clip of myself running and it definately looks like the key is to have more force going into the ground. I’m getting good stride frequency but it looks like each time the foot touches the ground, I am just ‘placing it’ rather than getting a good push off. It barely looks like I have any backside mechanics at all.
What would be the result of conciously clawing the ground backward? (applying horizontal force) - keeping in mind that I am only talking about initial acceleration (below 30m), since I never hit top speed in my sport anyway. If I shouldn’t conciously produce more horizontal force against the ground with my foot, what should I cue myself to do to produce more force at foot strike?
I suppose the other option is to worry just about getting from Point A to Point B as quickly as possible without thinking too much about leg mechanics and where to apply force - and in this case start doing plyos the correct way and hopefully that will have a carryover to the force I apply into the ground during sprints?
Nevermind, I think I’ve finally got it… geez its true I have been pulling up my foot instead of applying force all that time. I guess I used to think that was what you had to do to get short ground contact time and I never considered ground reaction force.
Phew… the difference feels huge. I can’t believe I have been running like that all that time. The last 2 years of training feel like a waste, but better late than never.
I’ll try to get some footage up on Monday for critique.
It is great that you have realised this. I have never liked the quick contact cue, because this is precisely the problem that it leads to. You are absorbing the free energy instead of making it work for you.
Quick contacts are not quick because you force them to be quick, they are quick because you have created a stiffer “spring” model.
Don’t absorb energy,… return energy.
The speed of contact will increase as you develop the neural and physical capactity to develop it. Trying to use it before it is there will consume energy and produce the opposite effect.
David its good that we have helped you slightly.as your speed improves you will notice that the contact times will decrease so it will take place by itself without thought.sprinting is a learning process just like riding a bike,once you master it you can reproduce it over and over.
David,
You got some very good advise from X-Man and dcw23. Patience is needed when applying force. The whole idea is that you follow through with the stroke and don’t abort the stroke. Good luck!
I did 20m reps today (couldn’t get the vid cam working): I think all is good now.
The first couple of reps I concentrated on applying force with the legs, making sure not to pull up my foot early. Also I opened up my hand for my arm swing (make the lever longer incase short arm action was causing stride to cut off). Stride length was good, but stride frequency poor.
The next reps after that, I concentrated merely on getting my body from point A to point B as fast as possible. According to my friend, both frequency/length were looking good. I guess now I just need to make sure this keeps happening and hopefully more speed will come.
david from my own experiences i have found and proven that when trying to force the start you will actually slow times down.don’t try to force anything from the blocks! doing so will make you spent too much time on the ground thus leading to slower times.just get out and relax.
as you said just run.when you just run you will notice the diiference both feel wise and mechanicallywise because you are letting the body move in the proper sequences.
David,
I think that you are worrying too much about stride length and frequency. They are not the causes of speed but the result of speed. Power, the ability to do work, is the key. Power is force with speed. The more power, the more work can be done. With increase power, you should have an increase in stride length and frequency but more so speed down the track. This means work through the full range of motion.
[when you just run you will notice the diiference both feel wise and mechanicallywise because you are letting the body move in the proper sequences.[/QUOTE]
I think the issues raised on this thread have been well addressed by dcw23 and the X-man. I would just throw in that the phasing of stride rate and length is locked into finding the harmonics or rhythm of the track and the runner.
If the runner’s personal rhythm matches the harmonics of the particular track surface he/she’s performing on, then a lot of other issues sort themselves out. Again, that’s tied up with “letting it happen” rather than forcing the process.
Kitkat’s description of “harmonics” of the track is very apt. You must ride the frequency of the track according to what it will give back. You can’t get ahead of the return rate or you’ll lose energy into the track. The implication of this is that the optimal execution pattern for the athlete may be slightly different race to race.
Would it be correct to say that if the athlete concentrates on just getting from Point A to Point B as quickly as possible, the proper rhythm for the harmonics of the track will automatically fall into place? Or does this take some concious thought and practice on the said surface.
