I’m a white guy, just trying to run like the black guys.
I would really like a video analysis from CF, or anyone else here, but the camera I used to use wasn’t mine, and I don’t have access to it anymore. I have been looking to buy one for myself, so when I do, you can bet that I’ll send in a video.
Should I have the video shot from the side?
What about flexibility guys? How heavy would this come into play?
Give me a freakin’ break.
Leg Press and sprint times are just a coincidence. Believe me. Unless you’re into bodybuilding (quad mass only) don’t use it.
Training wise - you still have a good deal to go before you plateau. I will disagree that you’re not capable of getting better. Of course you are! You should read Charlie’s article on relaxation and sprinting. I think it’s the best article on the subject of relaxation and effort regarding sprinting. It’s a MUST read!!!
On the topic of coaches, I’m not here to bash any coach. There are only a couple out there anyway. John Cannon and Stu McMillan. John’s has developed some very good 400m women. His program goes from long to short. Stu McMillan is along the lines of a Dan Phaff. He helped Glen Smith to 13th in the 1999 Worlds. Stu is a GREAT soft tissue thearapist. This is from personal experience. I haven’t been in contact with him for a few years but he’s very good. The only thing is that he charges a fair bit of money. Unfortunate for the student/athlete situation.
Hey, I’m a black guy but would have LOVE to sprint like Kevin Little (I think that was his name) from the US. Just because you’re white doesn’t mean that you can’t sprint. Look at the women’s side. Privalova was one of the most talented women athlete’s in history from 60m to 400mH.
Hey…it’s not the end of the world…there are genetic differences…show me ONE white guy that has broken 10s in the 100m…it’s the people who don’t recognize the strengths and weaknesses of genetics that have the race problems. As of now white guys don’t have the genetics to break 10 sec…no matter who it is training them…how many white corners do you see in the NFL?? or D-1 for instance…or running backs???..think they’re just not training as hard???..I say BS…black athletes have better genetics for certain events…as do white athletes for others…no big deal…just reality
Nic M from Canada did it. 9.9s
Cheers,
Legal wind??
to tell you the truth i dont believe that white guys cant be as fast or even faster than black guys. by the 2012 olympics i say were going to have a sub 10 100m guy, quote me on that
Yeah…there’s been SO many in the finals lately knocking at the door…gimme a break.
I think it was slightly illegal. I believe he ran a 10.0 legal though. (It was a while ago so I can’t remember exactly)
Cheers
Chris
im black and they’re plenty of white people/women that are faster than me
genetics dont play a roll into a elite level IMO
IN GENERAL…for the percentage of the population they make up…blacks of west african descent smoke the white guys in the sprint distances…
Instead of looking at it from a color perspective look at it from a structure perspective. There are certain structural characteristics that are ideal for sprinting. Even though there is lot’s of variance certain characteristics stand out. You can take any coach worth a lick and line up 100 random athletes and it’s pretty easy to pick out who’s got the structure to run fast and who doesn’t - at the extreme ends anyway. Few white people have that build. The ones that do can run pretty fast.
What does race have to do with top end speed? Its sad the stereo types still float around in 2005!
Not only do they smoke white guys they smoke brown guys, yellow guys, red guys and other black guys.
I can agree with that aspect…but you still don’t address the fast twitch/slow twitch ratio…I’m sure there are certain genetic lines that are superior for sprints…just like horses, dogs,etc. A boxer and greyhound are sure both dogs…but I’ll take the greyhound for a race.
Stereotype???..just factual observation
Goat,
I know both John Cannon and Stu McMillan…cool that you do too.
I know you weren’t asking who my coach was to bash him/her….I just thought that given the circumstances, I should keep my coaches name private.
Chris30,
I know the race you are referring to….It was either last year, or the year before when he ran that sub 10, and you are right; it was an illegal wind.
Back to Goat:
I too will disagree that I’m not capable of getting better. I’ve got some good suggestions by the replies so far, and I’ll implement some of them this summer.
To everyone else on the black/non-black issue:
From what I have read thus far - and only considering real journal publications from sources such as “Science Weekly” - there are very probable explanations for why no non-black athletes have ever ran a legal sub 10. Here’s something for you all to read - I pulled it off of the web, but it talks about real facts that have been concluded in studies that have been published…The article is from July 2004:
…Whereas East Africans dominate long- distance running, West Africans have surged to the fore in short-distance events. Little research has been done on West Africans, but there’s powerful circumstantial evidence for some physical advantages, as presented by Jon Entine in his book Taboo: Why Black Athletes Dominate Sports and Why We’re Afraid to Talk About It. Athletes of primarily West African descent–which includes the majority of U.S. blacks–hold all but six of the 500 best times in the 100-meter race, “the purest measure of running speed,” says Entine, whose book set off a broad debate on the subject.
Various studies have shown that West African athletes have denser bones, less body fat, narrower hips, thicker thighs, longer legs, and lighter calves than whites. But the differences between East and West Africans are even more striking. The fabled Kenyan runners are small, thin, and tend to weigh between 50 and 60 kilograms, whereas West African athletes are taller and a good 30 kilograms heavier, says Timothy Noakes, a prominent exercise physiologist and researcher at the University of Cape Town.
The differences don’t stop with body shape; there is also evidence of a difference in the types of muscle fibers that predominate.
In the 1980s, Claude Bouchard’s team at Quebec’s Laval University took needle biopsies from the thigh muscles of white French Canadian and black West African students. They found that the Africans averaged significantly more fast-twitch muscle fibers–67.5%–than the French Canadians, who averaged 59%.
Endurance runners have up to 90% or more slow-twitch fibers, Saltin reports. Bouchard, now at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, says his team looked at two enzymes that are markers for oxidative metabolism and found higher activity of both in the West Africans, meaning they could generate more ATP, the energy currency of the cell, in the absence of oxygen. The study suggests that in West Africa there may be a larger pool of people “with elevated levels of what it takes to perform anaerobically at very high power output,” says Bouchard.
Badgerman,
it seems to be much on the same lines as you have been saying.
Back to top end speed:
So does anyone have an opinion on the importance of flexibility towards stride length, and if so, where should the flexibility most importantly be?
Also, I copied this from a thread on this site, and I added a question, which follows:
- Elasticity
a) Energy from a falling body is absorbed by a contracted muscle, forcibly lengthening it which in turn rebounds with great force
(1) Recently Bosco found in a drop jump that muscle actually shortened a small amount as the whole system lengthened. This implies that connective tissue is the elastic part of the system. This means that max strength is even more important. The muscle is almost static so ATP is not required. Thus the energy cost in elastic force production is very low.
(2) The elastic component augments the contractile component for force production
b) When utilized, contributes to much longer stride lengths without compromising sound technique c) The ability to anticipate the need for force production is important in elastic force production
Here’s my question:
From b) in the above statement, which reads, “When utilized, contributes to much longer stride lengths…,” how do you utilize the elastic component? Is this something that you can work on to better exploit?
That’s an interesting statement, but in some of the other “very high power output events” such as Olympic Weightlifting, there seems to be a dominance of athletes of (eastern) European descent.
My take: the issue is less about genetics and more about cultural influences.
I would have to agree with this as well. I think it is a balance of both. 
in these places (congo gulf?), do guys performe WLing?
and then, quality for sprinting (such as biomechanic) are important such as in WLing?
WLer are different in body type.
I’m italian (sorry, for my english!) and i can watch NFL
I know that in USA there are many ispanic/mexican (and of cours caucasic)
But, why are all running back black man?
and i Know a little number of wr that are white
Again: don’t white and ispanic play in these positions of the field?
many TE (tall, strong with a good speed) are white i.e.