Brandon, you’ve missed the boat.
Acceleration mechanics is mostly about how to position your body (limbs etc) to apply forces to optimally accelerate faster than the competition. There is no such scientific thing as “the right way” howover, there are optimal mechanics that are desired to output maximal forces. Objective is to run fast buddy…
In some ways (be it far fetched) saying 30m time doesn’t matter is like saying horizantal force at the start doesn’t matter. Tell that to Ralph Mann
You are missing my point. in the grand scheme of things emphasizing speed to 30m over technique is wrong. How fast you get to 30m doesn’t matter if you are doing it wrong and you can tell ralph mann or anybody else I said that. Every part of the race is important but I’m not going to emphasize getting to 30m faster if they are already doing it correctly.
PRETTY MUCH IF A KID IS DOING IT CORRECTLY AND COMING THRU 30M IN 4.0, YOU SAY “GO FASTER THATS SLOW.”
I will just say thats not how I would approach it. Once they are doing it correctly then I’m really going to put the things into my program that will make theis 4.0 turn into a 3.8. Yeah they could go faster but at what costs?
1. tying up after 30m
2. Losing the race
They will get faster to 30m as time goes on and they mature and get stronger thru weights, sport age, etc.. A sprinter will come thru 30m at a consistent time if they are doing everything right, sometimes a little off and sometimes a little faster. However you can’t ask them to go faster if they are doing it correctly with max effort. So why emphasize time of the 30m if, they are hitting the proper mechanics and giving you max effort? You are saying you would OVERLOOK DOING IT CORRECTLY and say “you have to be fastER to 30m.” iT’S PHYSICALLY IMPOSSIBLE TO GO FASTER WITHOUT THE TOOLS TO GO FASTER, tHE BODY HAS TO HAVE THE RESOURCES TO GO FASTER. iF THEY DON’T HAVE THE STRENGTH THEY WON GO FASTER UNLESS THEY TRY TO BE QUICK. lol thats WRONG. You get their technique down and let the speed come dont force it.
The goal isn’t to accelerate the fastest. For me it is to accelerate the longest and most efficient. Be in the pack or ahead at the end of acceleration WITHOUT USING ALOT OF ENERGY and then the race starts.
Meaning dont go from 0-12m/s in the first 10m.
When you say accelerate the fastest, I REPEAT YOUR QUOTE:
“Acceleration mechanics is mostly about how to position your body (limbs etc) to apply forces to optimally accelerate faster than the competition.”
does that mean hit top speed at 15m? i MEAN THATS WHAT YOU ARE ASKING THEM TO DO WHEN YOU SAY ACCELERATE THE FASTEST. Great now you will be a great 65m sprinter. Don’t know any races that distance.
The way you are describing the mechanics is correct but the way you are wanting them to use their energy is waaay off. You want to be in the pack without using alot of energy. Most sprinters just DONT run a fast first 30m and still finish strong because they don’t know how to use their energy correctly. Their are some that do BUT ALOT MORE THAT DONT.
But you look at the majority of guys that follow the race pattern you described above, and that pattern is correct, however when you are so obsessed with so much speed IN THE first 30m, it doesn’t matter how that they are in the 45degree angle applying horizontal forces, you can still strain and lock the muscles up and begin the process to tense up in the drive phase position. Like maurice greene says even in the drive phase position you have to be powerful without using alot of energy. And when you emphasize so much speed to 30m this is exactly what happens. Most sprinters are straining while in that position and they are so tense from trying to be fast to 30m they tie up after 30m. Every sprinter I know goes into a drive phase in order to follow the rules you stated above, however alot of them still don’t run fast because they use their energy the wrong way while in that position. So my friend you can still do the mechanics of the race and STILL USE YOUR ENERGY THE WRONG WAY. Its up to you as a coach to say
“be powerful not quick, i don’t care about your 30m time, because you tense up after 30m, when you TRY get there fast instead of just letting it happen. Lets try to push the blocks as hard as we can, not as quick as we can and gradually raise the shoulders and see what happens.”
And when you emphsize trying to be fast to 30m, the athlete is thinking “if I get to 30m first then I’m going to be victorious.” WRONG You will be first to 30m and last to 100m.
If a high schooler goes from 10.9 to 10.5, then he could be a better sprinter than Usain Bolt as far as executing the race the right way. bolt just may have more natural gifts then him. but he may be closer to his max potential in the 100m then Bolt and executing the race better. Fast is whatever the max your body can put out and even though alot of sprinters run 10.0-10.2 they could go so much faster if they corrected a couple things. So when you say 10.00-9.9 is fast I say it’s slow for some of these guys because they are still running the wrong way. A major problem I see is alot of sprinters are too fast to 30m. I literally told my guy to stop trying to beat everyone to 30m and look to be more powerful and save his energy for the end of the race. He took off .2 from his 100m time in a matter of about 6 weeks just from this small correction and it wasn;t a one time thing. He went 10.42 3x and never saw 10.6 are above unlessen he was letting up for a prelim or he felt a hammy tweak. His speed endurance wasn’t good at all, he was just able to execute his race better.