What's wrong with landing on the balls of the feet and not letting the heels touch from a depth landing (say 10"-30" depending on the athlete)? Doesn't that mimic the landing in the sprint stride somewhat?
I see a couple problems with it:
- You really overload the achilles tendon.
- You put a much greater sheer stress load on the patellar tendon.
- You make one of the weakest joints in the body the limiting factor in one of the highest load activities in all of sports training.
- You dramatically increase amortization time thus reducing the elastic response of the muscles that really count (the quads, hams, glutes).
I'm sure many people differ in thought but in my opinion, the pros (increasing tension in the gastroc-soleus complex) don't outweigh the cons. I actually don't really even think it's all that necessary for sprinters, at least not as they are usually done (from 30-48" boxes). The loads are just simply too great and MUCH more than one would ever experience in sprinting where the vertical displacement is measured in centimeters not meters. I think their could potentially be a benefit from doing low altitude drop catches with a minimal knee bend on landing and a focus on sticking the landing with the heels just slightly off the ground.
ELITETRACK Founder