I have a technical problem with my arms, however guys on my team are saying there’s 2 problems, the other with the elbows. And that im “breaking” and not keeping it locked at 90 degrees. My question is… does it have to be locked?
elbows at 90 degrees
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Participant
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Member
I’ve heard that they can be from around 70 to 120 degrees with no problem. you might actually hurt yourself by overthinking it though in your acceleration phase instead of focusing on driving down with your legs. My 2 cents tho..
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ParticipantMy problem is my left arm seems to be straight during acceleration…i’ve seen a few athletes do this…not sure the reason tho…
When i do remember to bend it, i run faster and more relaxed…so i do think it helps.
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KeymasterArms should definitely not be locked at 90 degrees. This is one of the biggest fallacies of running mechanics.
In fact the arms actually are not static and actually go trough a flexion-extension-flexion cycle with each arm stroke.
I’ve seen quite a few athletes with open arm swing (almost straight) during acceleration and sometimes it can cause problems with foot placement with respect to the midline but in most cases it seems to not really be anything to worry about as long as the magnitude and timing of the swing are roughly matching the movement and flexion-extension patterns of the lower body ipsilaterally.
ELITETRACK Founder
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Keymaster
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Participant
Thanks for the replies.
Just that everyone on my ass about this and saying to only move through the shoulders.On a side note, my arms tend to be going to the side rather than pumping straight. This wasnt AS much of an issue last year and seems to happen after i made a 100 pound increase in my bench press.
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Participant
By benching more, you might be tightening up your pecs. Maybe try doing some lower trap / lat work to rotate your shoulders back a bit more. I have a similar problem in that I do a lot of bench, but so much back work. My arms come across my body quite a bit too, but I dont consider it a massive problem. There are other things I could work on for more improvements – perhaps the same is for you?
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Participant
While I agree it is fallacy, I think part of the reason for that “myth” being perpetuated is many young athletes open and close at the elbow and think they are actually moving through quite a range of motion at the shoulders SO a way to get movement at the shoulder is to “lock” the elbow, that way movement must be at the shoulders.
I think the trouble is if the word “only” is used. -
Keymaster
While I agree it is fallacy, I think part of the reason for that “myth” being perpetuated is many young athletes open and close at the elbow and think they are actually moving through quite a range of motion at the shoulders SO a way to get movement at the shoulder is to “lock” the elbow, that way movement must be at the shoulders.
I think the trouble is if the word “only” is used.Might be true but my observation tells me most coaches go overboard with it and end up spending a lot of time coaching something that WILL NEVER HAPPEN and if it ever did would be detrimental to performance.
I’m serious when I say it won’t happen even if you try. You might be able to get closer to a static angle but the human body is smart enough to never let the arm angle stay in a static position even if the brain is dumb enough to tell it to.
ELITETRACK Founder
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Keymaster
Most athletes bench too much. This is especially problematic in today’s culture where student-athletes spend extended time for years of their life in seated slouched positions. The anterior chain gets locked short and you see big kyphosis. This is why I like to include pullups very frequently in the training program.
ELITETRACK Founder
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Participant
Most athletes bench too much. This is especially problematic in today’s culture where student-athletes spend extended time for years of their life in seated slouched positions. The anterior chain gets locked short and you see big kyphosis. This is why I like to include pullups very frequently in the training program.
Bench pressing is an exceptional lift for me because of the giant progress i made (250 – 265 bench at 16 years old/146 pounds body weight) so i just enjoyed doing it.
So do you reccomend more lat/trap work like suggested above? -
Participant
…On a side note, my arms tend to be going to the side rather than pumping straight…
Arms swinging more laterally seems to be a natural occurrence with a couple of my athletes. They’ve made reasonable performance improvements, however I believe more so from other unrelated factors.
However, I wonder if this could become a limiting factor as strength and related biomotor characteristics mature. Perhaps “nipping it in the bud” now so to speak would be the preferable course of action.
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Keymaster
Unless it’s REALLY extreme I wouldn’t be worried about lateral arm movement. In fact, when viewed from the front I like to see the arm approach the mid-line. This is partly due to the natural internal rotation of the humerus but also because the shoulders and hips should rotate meaning that on the forward arm swing the forward side shoulder should be rotated forward giving the appearance of more midline movement than is actually occurring.
ELITETRACK Founder
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Participant
Thanks Mike. I did tweek one of my athletes today with some verbal cues to bring the arms up as they past the hip (moving forward). While doing repeat SE work (straightaways), it was apparent that it helped during the maintenance phase of these runs.
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