I’ve heard that your stride rate is mainly genetic and only improvable about 10-20% after you pass puberty. If this is true then obviously the only way to get faster would be to get stronger and more flexable to improve stride length . If you get stronger it seems that since you are applying more force you will be covering more ground on the track.
Can someone explain this a little better. It seems to have more of a bearing on older athletes however Im trying ot get a better understanding. Or is there soemthing I am not understanding?
The problem isn’t how fast you can cycle your legs…virtually anyone can get well over 5 strides/sec if they are cycling in the air. The biggest issue with stride freqency is how fast can you cycle them while delivering optimal force into the ground. As you get stronger with the same rate of force development (RFD), you can keep the same stride frequency and improve stride length (which is what I think you were talking about.) On the other hand, if you improve RFD even without increasing the force delivered, you can get your feet off the ground faster while delivering the same force which increases stride frequency.
The myth is that improvement generally comes from the former and not the latter. However, I think Charlie has done the analysis to show that most of Ben’s later improvement came from improved stride frequency - the ‘unimprovable’ portion of the sprint equation!
Good point I think its even more complicated then that though…
I only partially agree with this
On the other hand, if you improve RFD even without increasing the force delivered, you can get your feet off the ground faster while delivering the same force which increases stride frequency.
The myth is that improvement generally comes from the former and not the latter.
Its my understanding that improving force delivered can also improve stride rate indirectly through shorter ground contact times, better force absorption, altered flight path etc… Limb speed which I believe you are referring to will also affect stride frequency but they are not one and the same…
So from what I understand improving strength and total force is able to improve stride length directly and frequency indirectly although it is only one factor of stride length the other being how quickly you rotate you legs which as you said is rarely a limiting factor…
Also its probably worthy to note that I have no proof that it happens it just makes sense to me…
Just did a search and found this… I know its not the most scientific article in the world and probably has a lot of flaws but I found these two paragraphs topical and interesting…
Increasing Stride Rate was a little more complicated for coaches because Stride Rate has two separate parts; the swing time (the time in the air when the feet switch position from back to front) and the contact time (one foot is touching the ground). It is difficult to train faster Stride Rates without interfering with running mechanics so this part of the speed equation generally received less attention or was ignored completely. Some brave coaches continue to use their own personal witches brew to speed up “turnover rate” to reduce swing time. …
…Recall that Stride Rate had two main factors: the swing time and the contact time. Coaches that work on increasing Stride Rate spend their time attempting to speed up swing time (or turnover rate). Weyand’s study showed that swing time was not crucial. In fact it was hardly of any consequence at all in speed training. Contact time was the more important factor in Stride Rate. Greater force causes the amount of ground contact time to decrease, so Stride Rates become faster by the amount of time NOT spent on the ground. Think of it like a bouncing ball, the harder you throw it against the ground the faster it bounces back up. Score another point for mass-specific force!