 | Improve your SprintingThis is an idea that everyone can use: During a race or in Training, Count someone's steps for the 100m, get their time from the results and you will know their Stride length and Frequency. (Speed is, put simply, stride length x stride frequency; you will be able to produce similar tables for any distance if you know the simple formulae.) I have highlighted in Yellow a typical good time for a 12 year old boy, who might be ranked in the UK around number 135 and performs with a personal best time of 13.7 for 100m. Without measuring their Stride length or frequency a Coach or Athlete would not know what to work on in Training. So, count the Steps. You can do this by counting only the right foot, (then doubling it). Go to the right hand column and, say a boy had 53½ steps, then go to the nearest steps number (53.48) and work across to the time, then you have the Stride length 1.87 m and frequency 3.9 strides per second. Only a Coach would know whether the Athlete is capable of increasing either and in what order. With young people, one often increases Stride Length then Frequency; then Stride Length then Frequency; then Stride Length.... and so on. It looks as if better increases in performance come from increases in stride frequency at first glance, but on closer examination, you might notice that 5cm in stride length gives the same increase as a 0.1 increase in stride frequency. With young people, stride length is often ignored by those without top level coaches, whereas the top coaches will use specific exercises to gradually increase both and will be continuously measuring and reviewing both. Everyone has a genetically inherited maximum stride frequency that they can achieve ("fast firing muscles" and so on) and then there is only stride length to work on. This usually slows the stride frequency and this then gives you back a second aspect to work on.
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