The Start is Actually the First Three Steps!

In his book, The Mechanics of Sprinting and Hurdling, the late Ralph Mann said he considers the first three steps to be the start because, "the magnitude of the change in Horizontal Velocity generated during block clearance and the next two steps of the Sprint race is radically different than any other portion of the race." Meaning that the athlete goes from being basically stationary, to moving really fast. I like to refer to at least the first two of these steps as "getting out". I believe that an aggressive first one or two steps lead to a bit of a balance challenge that the sprinter needs to work through to continue accelerating properly to continue through the drive phase. The third step should include a good knee lift that comes up and forward and then drives down and back. Adequate body control early on in the race should put the sprinter in position to produce an effective combination of stride length and stride frequency throughout the race. A lack of sufficiently aggressive initial steps with adequate body control, at best, requires a period of correction/recovery, before maximizing effectiveness for the rest of the race.

The distance the center of mass (COM) displaces off the start, as well as the speed of that displacement, are major factors. When you have the time, check out this Dwayne Chambers video on hip height. Hip height is a very important consideration as the athlete is poised to apply force at the start, as well as during execution of the early steps of the race.

When reading Mann's materials concerning the start, it is important to note that he refers to the first step out of the blocks as “Block Clearance,” and the next two steps as “Step One,” and “Step Two.” FYI - Although I often use the term "block clearance", I never refer to the step after block clearance as "step one" and the next one "step two".

Some Fundamental Aspects

Ralph Mann, very importantly notes, that the amount of vertical and horizontal forces produced during these first three steps is virtually the same. It may surprise many to hear about the importance of vertical forces being applied to the ground at the start, because this may seem to imply the "popping up" during the start that we know is not what we want our sprinters to do. This slow-motion video does a good job of showing how horizontal and vertical ground forces combine to take a runner from a starting position toward an upright running position while moving up the track. Sprinting does not occur in slow motion, however; and the athlete needs to learn to explosively coordinate movements, body positions, and force applications to generate an impulse that reflects the forces that Mann described. In his book, Mann thoroughly illustrates and explains how vertical force is required to both, "control rotation" and to deal with "gravity", during the start (important aspect).

Read my Fundamental Aspects blog for Mann's descriptions of the "Jump Start" and "Shuffle Start". It is important to realize that although Mann says that both methods can be beneficial, he observed that the best sprinters clear the blocks without literally pushing the leg through a full extension. In his words, "At the end of the push phase for both the rear foot and the front foot, note that the knee is not fully extended. This indicates that the athlete is not pushing the leg through full extension (just as will be seen in the full speed sprint). This action of actively pulling the feet off of the blocks prior to full knee extension is critical for the success of the Start because it does not waste time extending (and then flexing) the knee through the last 20-40 degrees of extension when the action produces only a small amount of additional driving force. The only thing the athlete must remember is that this recovery occurs at the end of the push effort, since some take this action to extremes and fail to get the most out of the initial leg extension action."

My Take

What Mann described above I feel is a main take away from the way I teach starts. In other blogs I point out how to effectively use the pushing and pulling elements of starting from various positions. For sprinters, first without blocks, then with blocks. When blocks are added then it is easier to carry skills over, especially when starting out using the lower pedal angles as I suggest. In my mind, sharper pedal angles, when not ready for them, can distract a sprinter away from positioning and balancing to effectively get out. In addition, adequately pulling the feet off of their starting spots contributes to success of the timing and execution of the total sprinting technique, hopefully leading to good front side mechanics from the very beginning, the feet being driven down and back to positions in relation to the athlete's COM that is appropriate for him/her, and begins the pattern of the body rising and elevating effectively.

Moving Right Along

Mann refers to the start as consisting of "three very short air phases. These are performed to minimize the Vertical emphasis while maximizing the time on the ground and, thus, the ability to produce forces to accelerate the body down the track". Full ranges of motion still should occur during these three very short air phases, and applying the forces in an effective direction, with the body in good positions should very importantly begin the pattern of having the hips to rise as the body unfolds and becomes more upright with each step.

If the hips aren't progressively rising from early on, then this needs to be addressed because hips that don't rise during the early steps likely won't do so for the rest of the race, thus, negatively affecting stride length and movement efficiency in general. There is also the element of during the initial strides there not being the degree of plantar-flexion of the foot/ankle that is present later in the sprint. Although coaches stress dorsi-flexion, plantar-flexion is present as the foot is ready to contact the ground, thus contributing some springiness. I will go more into this in other blogs.

High Post Position

It is important for the sprinter to be positioned and poised to put big enough forces into the blocks at effective angles, and to use big enough movements, to move up and forward, and up the track into what is referred to as a "high post" position (shown below). Part of this being poised is having pretension present in the glutes and gastroc-soleus complex muscles. The cues "violently" and "completely up" are good ones that describe the application of force and pushing into the high post position, yet, as I alluded to on the home page, the sprinter's coordination and ability to manage forces effectively is to be such that block clearance is to be followed by an effective second and third step.

From the starting position, although the front leg contributes the most to the push off into the first step, the rear foot/leg should also contribute as both feet should simultaneously be pushing together for a brief period (double leg drive) as the body moves up the track.

As the front leg continues pushing, in coordination with vigorous arm action, the rear leg should continue to explosively flex into the high knee position that you see above. If sufficient hip joint mobility is present, and the body is properly launched into the race, there should be a large split at the knees as the athlete moves up the track (also seen above). Some may refer to this split as the "thighs being separated". Establishing and maintaining this split/separation during acceleration is fundamental to good sprinting and is part of good front side mechanics, and general movement up the track. Dan Pfaff explains in this video how the hips and shoulders coordinate (oscillation and undulation). Dan demonstrated while in the upright position, but this short video shows how it looks during the first step from the blocks (block clearance). Executing this explosively and through a sufficient range of motion can be challenging, especially out of starting blocks, but the aim of this entire website is to help facilitate execution of an effective first three steps and building upon that for a successful race.

In Addition

Other important aspects of the high post are, the foot of the leg that is forward is to be dorsi-flexed, and the vigorous arm action demonstrates a good range of motion. Both of these aspects are seen in the photo above. One of the most knowledgeable sprint experts I ever had the pleasure of speaking to, Remi Korchemy, referred to this arm action during a drill we did, as "bird wings". I also consider what Jonas Dodoo points out from the 13-minute mark of this video thru the 17-minute 10 second mark. He speaks of "trunk discipline" and "shin discipline". Trunk discipline is required to maximize force application without over involvement of the back, and shin discipline alludes to staying away from excessively yielding at the shin area during force application.

Completing Step One and Beyond

When headed toward the ground to complete the first step (block clearance), the leg should be dropped back down aggressively and quickly, with the trailing swing leg called into action rapidly and as linearly as possible as the body continues efficiently up the track. When completing the first stride (block clearance), the arms come from the "bird wings" position, and according to Remi, "during ground contact the arms should be driven down with elbows moving toward the trunk, then immediately back and forth into pumping running actions" (in coordination with the legs for the ensuing strides).

Attached to Remi's Quote in the Previous Section

"This arm drive downward increases loading momentum during compression of the supporting leg, while the swing assists in decompression and unloading the leg. The decompression also coincides with the following ground reaction forces and active hinged pull of the trunk over the foot. These forces and actions determine the speed of the second step and trajectory of the body's center of mass. The more powerful the foot torque and the faster the hinged pull (angular velocity), the more ground reaction forces are delivered from behind the forward moving body mass. This leads to a better horizontal acceleration. The athlete who executes efficient landing and hinged pull, eventually is possessed with tremendous eccentric strength in the knee joint muscles.

FYI - Hinged momentum is the rotary momentum the center of gravity travels from the point of ground contact to the final moment of takeoff, ie; from the landing from block clearance to leaving the ground into the next step.

The Role of the Arms

As it relates to the execution of the first three steps, while the hands are on the track while in the blocks, there is the weight bearing aspect while in the blocks and exiting them. There is a sweeping type of action that the arms perform during the push off from the blocks. A common mistake is for the athlete to pretty much just pick up the hands and do some modest type of arm action. For arm action Ralph Mann said, "They are critical in the maintenance of balance, as well as providing a slight Vertical lift during each stride. " He also said, "Perhaps the most important contribution that the arms make is their ability to lead the entire body in its effort to shift the body movements to the front of the body during the Sprint (Front Side Mechanics)."

The Step After Block Clearance

Mann points out that for most proficient performers that the entire ground contact for this stride (stride after block clearance) should occur behind the COM, and he said, "The body is in an awkward, half crouched posture and must continue to raise the body to an upright position. This, combined with the challenge of maintaining body balance on one leg after a very brief air phase, makes this step the most difficult stride in the entire sprint race. It also is the most dangerous since it is the step where, if not done properly, can cause the athlete to stumble forward, rise up too quickly, over stride, or otherwise lose body balance."

I am not in favor of the toe-drag, but with the importance of needing to be able to effectively direct the stride after block clearance up the track, it is pretty easy for me to see why many may believe that dragging the foot to initiate the second stride makes sense, taking into consideration the vigor and low angles that some sprinters use to clear the blocks. I believe that toe dragging works against running efficiency, but I'll get into that in my "Initial Acceleration" blog.

Initiations of Important Progressions

Again, my main focus here is the first three steps. As far as "stride rate" is concerned for the first three steps, the two steps after block clearance are both executed faster than the block clearance. Below is a graph from Ralph Mann's "The Mechanics of Sprinting and Hurdling" that shows these steps and the one that follows being executed at a rate of 5 steps per second before the rate slightly lessens. I do accept this as representing part of a good race model. As for "stride length", the step after block clearance is about the same as block clearance, but the second step after block clearance is longer and each ensuing step continues to get longer. A critical pattern that should occur as the sprinter becomes more upright is that the feet spend progressively less time on the ground for each stride and the athlete spends progressively more time in the air for each stride. With good coordination and timing, the strides should grow in this manner with an effective blend of stride frequency and stride length on the way to max velocity. I'll supply a "Stride Length" graph in another blog that verifies that. As the sprinter becomes more upright, the hips should be climbing (getting higher from the ground) with each stride up to max velocity.