Is it easier to make a long or short strider faster?
I was watching Gardner's run mix on youtube and wondering the obvious question of how much faster he will get in college (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2tpF2Xo1tI). You can do drills, work on stride, fix a muscular imbalance, get more muscles, but I always wonder how much "faster" you can really get. To that question, is it easier to make a long or short strider faster or is the question really how much "fixing" that person simply needs with little concern with stride length?
The only thing I know on the subject is that short striders often cut better or can be more explosive out of a cut. By the time you are of college age, I assume you will be have a certain running style that will pretty much stay that way with only the ability to tweak your motion.
I would be interested in some education on the subject.
Apologies for not getting the hyperlink to work.
varibles to tell. Its been proven that world class sprinters have very similar techniques (Knees driven, arms relaxed, 90' angle, long strides.) But each and every person is different and different training techniques/programs will provide differing results.
If you wanted to have a answer a 2 year old could understand, it would probably be easier to have a shorter stride person show the same stride gains as a longer stride person and gain more speed.
Seriously, go watch some slow mo videos of bolt. His turnover rate/stride is crazy.
Sprinters have long strides? I was taught that long strides were inefficient, because of the less-frequent turnover, and that the impact on landing was harder on your joints. (I was a distance runner, though, so I guess it could be different for sprinting.)
Sprinters have quick, shorter strides. That's why the majority of sprinters are on the shorter side (Bolt is the exception).
There really isn't such thing as a long strider or short strider. Typically, a long strider has what are called backside mechanics. Backside mechanics are when they "kick" their legs behind their body rather than bring the heel directly to the butt and bringing the foot to the front of their body. These backside mechanics waste time, in turn, slowing them down. It also depends on what running phase they are in whether it be in acceleration or max velocity phase. During acceleration phase, the knee should be punching out and up without the hell coming to the butt. The higher the knee punch, the more force can be applied to the ground. So, larger acceleration steps are more explosive than short, choppy steps.
An individual can get a significant faster if they comprehend the mechanics and can feel a difference between the proper movement and improper movement. The majority of college football players preparing for the NFL combine/Pro Day are/should be working on their running mechanics to decrease their 40 times. I saw an athlete come in this year to prepare for their pro day and he ran a 4.95 forty. By the time he ran at his pro day it was down to 4.55. This decrease in time isn't always the case. Some people may only drop .1 in the forty from when they started. That speed also depends on their genetics and what they could do before they went into their college s&c program. Some programs don't focus much on speed and only on strength and they tend to lose some speed.
Can you link to material that the average person could use to improve their stride and acceleration?
I need to improve my 5.5 forty so i have a better chance of getting drafter higher.
IMO it seems like the long strider has had more success at receiver overall at the NFL level when it comes to longevity in the league. When you think of some of the HOF receivers (Rice, Largent, Reed, Swann, Monk, J Stallworth, Biletnikoff, Taylor, etc.) you always talk about the one with long strides and how long they played. I understand that is one position on the field and RB have a great success rate at short strides (Sanders, E Smith, Thomas, etc). I am just saying.
These muscles are seldom trained as they really haven't come up with a machine yet that specifically targets the area. Best bet is to use resistance bands or a cable cross machine. Check out the site athletic quickness for some information.
Isn't some of this just a product of how tall they are. I.E. short players (running backs, dbs) have shorter strides and taller players (wrs, qbs) having longer strides. In general, I feel like shorter stride equals quicker acceleration and longer stride means higher top end speed.
This is important stuff because we need to leg out a double instead of a single in our rec softball leagues...at least I do!
September 19th, 2009 at 4:42 PM ^
Yes it would be desirable 
September 19th, 2009 at 4:46 PM ^
What's with the thread-necromancing?