Training Series: John Smith Foot Contact

Training/Competition Videos
1

John Smith illustrates how the foot should make contact with the track at max speed.

2

And here’s the mpeg for you funsters to download. Remember, that’s a right click and Save Target As…

3

Nice shot, I wish I could see the next step
because all the HSI sprinters don’t really step over the opposite knee.

John Smith is still in pretty good shape huh?

Kenny Mac~~

4

Kenny: Don’t step over the support knee?? Look at Mo in the WR clip on this site.

5

Say I was looking over the video again, and Coach Smith could be demonstrating mechanics going over a hurdle for Wade.

Look at his arms. Hurdle tech.

Kenny Mac~~

6

as JS is only doing a demo on foot contact w’ll not be too critical.note the way his leg totally locks out and on impact the lockout is still in effect.a jarring effect on the knee.

this is not what happens during sprinting!! there will always be flexion in the knee joint and it will never lock out only during TE but still its has flexion.

i know its only a demo but there will always be people like me about to point this out

7

Is’nt John doing the whole negative foot speed thing(clawing the track). Charlie. are you not against this? (flicking the lower leg out and pulling back long into the track)

8

When was this shot taken, this year?

Kenny Mac~~

9

The One
I don’t know what John’s saying- only what the athletes are doing.

10

So many questions :slight_smile:

  1. There is no next step.
  2. I reckon they all step over very nicely thank you.
  3. He is demoing to Ato. Who was (for a change;) ) comparing himself to Maurice and feeling that Maurice’s foot contact is superior to his. Smith was showing how the foot should “snap back” rather than stop ahead of the COG and act as a brake.
  4. There wouldn’t be a lockout in the actual act of sprinting due to the forward momentum. It’s of course an over emphasis to get a point across.
  5. I think the whole description of clawing is to get a point across, elimination of braking forces, hip height etc. There is no real “clawing” during sprinting because of the forward momentum. The only “clawing” is in the stationery demo.
  6. It was in the leadup to Syd 2000.

There we go!

11

Originally posted by dcw23
Smith was showing how the foot should “snap back” rather than stop ahead of the COG and act as a brake.
There we go!

Does the sprinter feel this “snap back”? If not, why coach it. I always wondered why do drills like B skips and straight leg bounds/runs; why add a hoizontal component to the equasion when the sensation at max is up/down?

12

Originally posted by THEONE
Does the sprinter feel this “snap back”? If not, why coach it. I always wondered why do drills like B skips and straight leg bounds/runs; why add a hoizontal component to the equasion when the sensation at max is up/down?

The key word is SENSATION. Although it may feel like you’re just moving up and down, there is alot more happening than just that. The glutes, hammies and gastroc must have sufficient power to maintain the speed that you are running at. Although the sensation may be a verticle one, you are still trying to maximise horizontal velocity.

On another note, i had a chat with Tom Tellez a few years ago, and he advocated pushing down and back at top speed, and cued this with most of his sprinters. So it really depends on what perspective ur coming from.