Nerdy deep dive into sprinting

        Speed is fun to watch. 

    When Usain Bolt set Olympic records in the 100m and 200m it was a marvel. Bolt made some of the fastest guys in the world look slow. When Dolphins receiver Tyreke Hill breaks free and makes grown men look silly. These examples of extreme speed are entertaining. What makes them so fast? Genetics play a significant factor. The predisposition of muscle fibers is pure genetics. Training is another factor. That blend of resistance training, plyometrics, and sprint training all play a factor into making someone fast. A third is technique. Yes, there is a technique pertaining towards running-not just move faster.

    Sprinting basics falls under two elements: coupled flight and support phases. Coupled flight is the time spent in the air; support phase is when your foot strikes the ground. The key to support phase is to have the least amount of ground contact time coupled with powerful strikes into the ground to propel forward. It's turning vertical force into horizontal force. If you're a car guy, then you get this concept. Engines in vehicles turn vertical force into horizonal force in order to drive down the road. Ensuring the foot strikes with a high force production in the shortest time possible is the sure-fire way to get faster. Increasing stride rate is like going full throttle on an engine the faster those cylinders move the faster the vehicle moves. Stride length is trickier as it applies to the displacement of mass or moving your body at a certain rate. The tricky part is to not increase the stride to the degree to displace the stride rate; under striding doesn't fully allow the foot to strike with maximum force. Over striding leads to braking and regeneration of force. Sprinting in humans is metaphorically similar to that of a train. The locomotion of the wheels is the perfect visual depiction. Flight is how long you are in the "air" between foot strikes. The power comes from individual foot strikes, so the least amount of time spent in the air is beneficial. Sprinting in itself has overall three parts: Start phase or coming out of the blocks, acceleration is coming out of the blocks into a upright running position (typically lasts 20 meters) then maximum velocity. From the acceleration phase to the max velocity phase stride rate decreases while stride length increases.