I have had two pretty fast HS sprinters in the last two years who had a common trait in their running. As I look at incoming sprinters I see a couple who have the same characteristic.
If you watch them from the frontal view their feet seem to be landing almost directly in front of one another. SF and SL does not appear to be affected but their seems to be excessive rotation at the hip level.
I am a believer that if it is moving sideways that counts as time lost.
thoughts?
i remember one of CF’s training methods was running on the lane
What do you mean by moving sideways?
What would come to be our best sprinter had a ton of hip rotation as a freshman. I think hip rotation/mobility is a desirable trait.
I am not speaking of hip mobility, I did wonder howver if that contributed to the feet stepping one in front of the other. (Not as in sobriety testing. 
)
Once again, my main concern was if the the foot landing in the same plane as the alternate foot during cycling was counterproductive.
i believe charlie states that hip mobility is one of the key areas. that one foot has to land directly in front of the other. as if you are running on a line.
So, its a good thing
Have you looked at them or had them looked at by a therapist for postural abnormalities?
Thanks
PJB was saying the same thing, I just didn’t catch it because of the typo.
appreciate the help
Hip mobility is fundamental,but feet don’t have to land on the same “line”.
Look at front slow motion of Asafa/Gatlin and you’ll see.
As you move into the full upright position the feet do tend to move closer into line when the hips are loose. Not exactly on the same line but close. It’s very hard to get a clear view of this unless the film is shot from straight in front, while most front shot coverage is slightly from an angle.
Fulkrum, I have studied alot of front shot footage and what Charlie says about the feet placement is correct. I first studied this when it was mentioned on the GPP DVD when the girl was running on the line and Charlie talks about the free movement from the hips.Gatlin is a perfect example of this. Asafa also, but not to the same degree as Gatlin. Maurice also displays this. I was thinking…would the ability to do this for longer over the 100m contribute to these guys domination over the 100m the last few years?
Charlie would I be right in thinking that the movement of the knee coming towards mid line is a demonstration of what happens with great hip mobility and eventually making each foot land in front of the other?
If I can I’ll up load the front view of Pre 05 with Crawford,Asafa and Gatlin. Until then I’ll post a few shots that have found before of the foot placement issue.
As promised…Check the foot placement… 
Yes is right,in the PERFECT front view the feets seam even more close.
The point is would you let your athlete to run over a line in training or you prefer it happens naturally when he will gain in mobility(and posture).
I don’t like the first aprroach,even if sometimes i could let him do this for a couple of runs for having some feedbacks.
Ah thanks Jason for the pics.
very good material. Thanks
This is an interesting thread. i currently have an athlete whose feet both go well BEYOND the center line, and I’m sure it’s increasing her ground contact time and hurting her race. I’ve tried having her run on the lane line, but thus far it’s been unsuccessful. Any suggestions? Thanks
I had the same experience with a girl I´m coaching. I also tried the “running on line” thing - it didn´t really help. The problem was solved however when she increased her hip/core strength.
This made me conclude, that the problem was caused not by a technical flaw, but because she didn´t have the strength to stabilise the hip upon ground impact - she “folded”, which made the leg cross over.
Hip/core strength is the culprit I would guess…