[John Grace]

John Grace on September 24, 2013 at 2:15 pm #120390

A common misconception of the arm swing at max velocity is that it will help propel the athlete horizontally, increasing stride length. Think of two people hooked up by a single rope and they were told to run in opposing directions. Assuming both people were running at the same velocity, once the rope reached it’s full length, the middle of the rope wouldn’t have moved in either direction. Just

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[andrew.maclennan@gmail.com]

andrew.maclennan@gmail.com on September 25, 2013 at 11:13 am #120570

I think this is an interesting point to consider. I can see how your reasoning works in relation to vertical impulse etc but I would also add that, out in the field, get an athlete to swing their arms not very far (through the shoulder) and compare this with a fuller range of motion through the shoulder and what is the difference between the two? Fuller range of motion at the shoulder (i.e decent arm swing) will mean greater stride length. As Dan Pfaff says, what happens at the shoulder will affect what happens at the hip. Good range through the shoulder means greater range through the hip, thus greater stride length (and not what I would call over-striding).

[John Grace]

John Grace on September 25, 2013 at 5:51 pm #120573

I agree that a full open to closed arm swing can benefit and should’t be discounted. More so just saying that over exaggerating the arm swing to increase stride length can be detrimental. The arm swing mainly contributes to counterbalance the momentum of the legs. If you try increase stride length by manipulating most variables (other than more force into the ground), you run the risk of decreasing stride frequency. The two are inversely related so when you try to force one to increase without it happening naturally the other generally suffers.