Re: sprint starts,
i was watching the head-on video of Mo Greene running at the sydney olympics, and noticed during his start he sways from side to side during the first few steps, but ceases to do so as he becomes upright.
in the end, is this him just trying to get lower to the ground to drive harder by spreading his legs, or a consequence of being THAT powerful. ive noticed not every sprinter does this.
or am i just being too picky?
where can i get those videos from? i dont suppose anyone has any posted online, or knows of sites that do have them?
any running videos at all would be appreciated
Check carllewis. com that site has a few races.
DWatling
You can get videos of the 2000 Olympics from USATF Development Projects at http://www.track-tech.com/tapes.htm. Prices are in US Dollars so it may be a little expensive but they will ship internationally and its the only place i have seen tapes of this kind for sale on the net. I ordered some at the start of January and am waiting on them to arrive, so they may take a little while to get to Australia.
Cheers!
dcw23. I guess we are thinking the same then. good deal.
Whatchuknowboutblocks&alldat?
The swaying motion is, what i’ve heard, skating. Mo uses it to stay low and to push off better with his legs. The result: explosive steps nessessary to get out if front of the pack
I have noticed skating in underdeveloped athletes as well, which leads me to think they are trying to push off to gain more acceleration, since force was not generated as high coming out of the blocks. What are some thoughts?
i’ve seen this from football and hockey players coming out of blocks when they first try and run track. i think dlive is onto something here. if they are not using the blocks correctly they must try and generate more force by trying to push off side to side. this is what they have to do in their other sports (football and hockey)to get that acceleration.
Fluke,
to give a little more insight, when I have an underdeveloped athlete come in, I tend to see this occur and after a solid year or two of strength-training, the problem naturally goes away, which leads me to think that you cannot correct this problem that will remedy itself. But if the athlete is properly developed, what should we cue?
Maybe but its also caused by incorrect start mechanics where the athlete either has the option to overstride or step wide to keep momentum.
dcw,
do you think that this would relate to our thread on starts (going over arm mechanics)? What I mean is, if you block off the full range of motion in the hips, by focusing on driving the arm back instead of front, then you would have the tendency to overstride? Sorry if this does not make sense, but hopefully you will understand what I am asking. 
so if ben and mo are doing it is it that bad a thing?
We may be talking at cross purposes. When I heard the term “skating” I was thinking that we were talking about splayed steps when clearing the blocks?There is no way Mo does this.
DWatling what do you mean? The active arms and shoulders give mobile hips which help in the acceleration - i.e. a good thing - is this what you are talking about?
Have a look.
Originally posted by dlive11
What I mean is, if you block off the full range of motion in the hips, by focusing on driving the arm back instead of front, then you would have the tendency to overstride?
Hi Brad, you’re talking about the focus being driving the back arm back then? I would reckon that this would cue the front leg to do all the work and as you say, probably end up overstriding due to reduced exit power (or stepping wide of course).
The reason I think this is because focussing on moving the back arm back will move the back leg forward prior to momentary weight transfer/push off this robbing you of back leg power.
I think the front arm focus will bring in the back leg automatically should block settings be optimal due to weight transfer and reaction.
Whatdayareckonaboutthatthen? 
maybe i was overanalysing it when i first posted, but if you look at that gif that u posted, dcw23, youll see his whole upper body swaying from side to side with each step. all i was asking originally was whether this was normal for stronger runners, or just a habit mo has.
note:notice he takes a shorter second step, almost like he stumbles?
p.s: great clip dcw23, post anymore you have like it please 
I think we have different definitions of W-I-D-E
BTW, look at the energy return from his feet/lower leg. Awesome!
is maurice flicking his hand in this clip. i am trying to get a visual for better understanding of how it should look. if there are any other clips of sprinters using the tech. please tell me where to go.
thanks
nextlevel,
Maurice is not really flicking the lead hand forward . Instead, it looks likes he’s concentrating more on driving the rear arm back. I think this might be related to Johm Smith’s drive phase emphasis on keeping the head and torso down at the beginning. If you drive the arms back forcefully, it causes the torso to stay bent over.
DWatling,
In the seminar that I went to, when we were going over video clips of Ben’s races (especially the slow motion clips), Charlie observed that the first few steps out of the blocks are always a bit of a scramble becuase the explosion off the blocks is so great and difficult to control. That’s why it’s so important to just focus on the arms and let everything else fall into place.
I agree with charlie a very explosive start!!! Just like mine. 