in need of help. One of the guys i train with and help coach has an issue coming out of blocks and in general flight. He rocks side to side. In that his legs move side ways instead of straight forward i think you understand, what can be done to stop this cos he is loosing ground due to it
One thing that can help the zig-zag action is to make sure the elbow is up during the start. That is, in the flicking of the hand to initiate the starting action, the elbow should also be up and not well behind the hand when fully extended in the start.
Don’t keep the elbow tight to the trunk in the starting action-I don’t mean the set position but rather the starting action. I’ve heard some coaches advocating throwing a forearm shiver to achieve this effect as this, supposedly, negates or absorbs the torque that occurs during the start.
Another point is to make sure he’s completely squared up when he’s in the set position and not angled outward in his block placement/how he lines up to start. The shoulders and hips must be as squared up as is possible in the direction of the sprint.
not sure i fully understand, do you mean a good extension to the rear of the arm in an angled position
At full extension in the start, the hand is out, don’t keep the elbow in . The entire forearm will be out or in front of the torso/head.
It can be more fundamental than this: Is the athlete getting triple extension to begin with? If you don’t have video, look how far in front of the line the first footstrike touches and compare with the slow-motion video with Asafa, for example. You do not want to concentrate so much on developing absolute maximum power on the first push that it slows down the application of power, but you need to concentrate on the first push enough to obtain triple extension.
If you concentrate on the push (and not the sound, which can also be a problem here) and you are not able to achieve triple extension, then the strength level is likely not sufficient for the departure angle. In this case you have to do more squats and/or not come out as low.
While there definitely can be other causes and ways to correct such, I was trying to provide one possible solution.
The quickness of the movement is certainly more important than trying to put force into the movement. As CF has said, the more power you can generate, the less you will feel the movement and there’s less of a sense of the pushing action though it’s still present.
The forearm being delivered out and up with the lead hand can assist in absorbing the torque and reducing the side to side motion. If the elbow is kept in, the arm has not traveled in a straight line but rather an inward arc.
Regardless of the mental cues, you NEED to develop triple extension in the first place. That’s what I mean about basic fundamentals. If you don’t achieve triple extension (or don’t have the power to achieve it by the first footstrike), it can (and does) lead to wasteful side-to-side motion because block clearance is not sufficient.
Side-stepping in the first part of the acceleration phase is normal as the athlete attempts sub-consciously to make space for the pelvis/hips to come through. If the lateral movement does not improve into the race, then it may be a mobility issue around the hips/pelvic girdle. In this case, get the athlete tested by your physical therapist for Range Of Movement and get specific massage to remedy. If the lateral movement continues, get the athlete to do all of his straight run-throughs etc on the lane-line rather between the lines: Get the athlete to use the lane-line as a visual aid because s/he may be having proprioceptive problems and this would help. If you use this practice, make sure the athlete runs with one foot either side of the line-line. The feet should not land on the line. Pay particular attention then to the arms which may be a major help to controlling the straight-line runs. kk
I don’t disagree which is why I posted,
"At full extension in the start, the hand is out, don’t keep the elbow in. "
thanks pioneer i understand now what your saying, thanks that makes sense. Ikh i think what your saying is more what it would appear. Being too low too low and possibly not strong enough
No doubt some degree of it is normal but it sounds-as in the thread starter- that the side to side motion was a bit excessive since it seemed to be significant enought to point it out relative to his other guys. Since we can’t see it we can only go by that statement and guess how much of it exists or if it is a real problem or normal.
Maybe he could post a video.
The elbow out/hand up has been a help to some of my guys in the past as well as making sure they are lined up/squared up properly.
The arms, as you say, can most definitely help to keep all of the athlete’s forces moving forward if executed properly.
hi guys there is a you tube video, if you type in birmingham games and its the 2009 race with dwain chambers. My athlete is the 2of athlete nearest the camera
you can clearly see he is left from the pack as he side steps. His form has never been the best 
He looks like he’s just plain not strong enough. He doesn’t look like like he’s overcoming the inertia at the start, and compensating to continue moving forward by going side to side.