My track coach told me you need to take small, minimal effort steps before coming out of the blocks before lengthening your stride. When I watch pro’s and people who know what there doing, they look like they are taking large, exaggerated full steps right from the sound of the gun. Which approach is right? To me it makes sense to take long powerful strides till you get up to speed and upright. Which is the right way if there is one.
Don’t respond if you don’t know what you’re talking about I hate people that write back saying "LOL OMG!! HAHA UM WELL U NEED 2 LYK UM RUN FAST AND STUFF!! THEN IN THE BLOCKS U JUST EXLPODE!! HAHAHA LOLOLOLOL!
firstly welcome and enjoy your stay.i do know what i’m talking about and i will answer your question,whether you use my advice or not is your choice.
depending on your block set up and strenght levels etc will have effects on your SL out of the blocks.the pro guys have both!!
the first step from the blocks will be the shortest and its pure natural.as you progress after the first step the SL will increase naturally as you push off the ground leading to the SL increasing.
now my advice to you is simple.let the arms predict the SL from the gun.do not try to take big steps…do not try to take small steps…just power out of the blocks with the arms as the legs will follow.
One of the cues that I use is with my arm. All I’m focused on from the sound of the gun is exploding out with my right arm (I’m right foot forward in the blocks). Then after that my legs basically follow the cue from the arm and they move out naturally.
Actually, now that I read X-Man’s post, his advice is pretty much the same thing. The only other thing I can say is try not to rush things. Be patient and focus on the arms and it’ll fall into place.
I recall reading somewhere your lead arm movement should be like trying to catch a butterfly, too many people jump out ala Ben but simply don’t have the strength and cause themselves problems.
As X-man said don’t worry about what you feet are doing - they should take care of themselves.
The most important thing is that you’re getting triple extension through your lead leg as you exit the blocks; emphasis on arm split should encourage this to happen naturally.
Other than your first movement, arm movement should be long and powerful - drive your elbows back hard.
