That about covers it!
Just trying to work my way through some of these cues. During acceleration, the athlete focuses on stepping down? During max velocity sprinting, the athlete focuses on stepping over and then stepping down? Or is it just stepping over?
Just step down. Don’t over complicate it. That’s the point. The actual mechanics of the athlete will naturally differ throughout the race due to changes in the body angles as the athlete accelerates. But this doesn’t mean that the athlete should consciously try to emphasize any of these different mechanics. That was what I was referring to when I mentioned inappropriate coaching cues.
Many coaches try to coach the athlete according to what the athlete should be objectively doing in space, versus what the athlete should feel. Hence, they have different cues for each segment of the race according to the biomechanics of that segment. The result is that the sprinter is consciously trying to manipulate and control his movements differently throughout the race, instead of just running.
At least, that’s my take on it. I could be wrong.
My coach says I should step down during the first part of the race and step over as I get faster.
When you feel fast (as previously suggested) and/or when you notice a change in speed, are you conscious of what is happening from the COM down? Is the movement a bounce-type on and off the ground? Or rather extended and laden?
The transition in that feeling will come naturally as you become more upright and there is greater recovery of the swing leg over the support knee. But the key in both instances is the vertical sensation of the legs.
The cues are very similar in effect (the reason you may need to think of stepping over later in the race is to keep the lever short and reduce the workload on the hip flexors.) Just make sure you think of only one cue at a time.
when Ben tried to come back in 1991, he was there for a few months, but I was his only coach from 1977 to 1988.
tell you what, Loren is a pretty decent guy who used to love track (prob still does). He’s also trying to survive making a living at what he loves. Can’t condemn him for that. He’s taken bits and pieces from all sorts of experts and combined them into a coaching philosophy but he’s also a lateral thinker who originally carried ideas out of ice-skating (hockey etc) of all things to the track. He’s not a big head. In fact he’s a heap of fun. But as has been stated so many times in this forum, there are many ways to skin a cat and it’s a case of finding what works for each individual. Like Herb, I didn’t like too many of Loren’s drills, but I picked up a couple of things and for that I was grateful. Everyone you meet, fast or slow, strong or weak, smart or stupid will have something you can learn because no one (wo)man is the reservoir of all knowledge.
To me, on this board- there’s only one ben! lol
I only brought up lorens comments as a conversation piece an not an attack on loren. I agree with kitkat loren is a cool guy to talk with & hang.