Lashawn Merritt Video

Demonstrating Vertical
Displacement
July 1, 2014

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My top three secrets for sprinters are muscle reactivity & elasticity, hip
mobility & flexion, and pelvic stability.

In plain English, that is specific application of force during ground

contact. Because we know there is nothing you can do in the air to apply
more force and cover ground (i.e. move forward) faster.

Biomechanically speaking, you must put your body into the best possible
position to apply forces (horizontal and vertical) from a motionless crouch
position, to acceleration, then to max velocity. The vectors change with
every step until MaxV!

So what am I leading to?

Hip Height and Vertical displacement!

Hip Height

You’ve heard the expression “STAY TALL” by so many coaches, but there is
so much more than this vague statement.

We’ll reference the image below, created by Derek Hansen for Charlie
Francis’ material. The red runner has the lower hip height, whereas the
yellow runner has a higher and better hip height.

Increased hip height has 6 good reasons:

1. Increased hip height means shorter ground contact times. I’ve

 covered the topic of ground contact in
several past articles.
2. Increasing hip height increases flight time
and more distance covered because the
increased hip height provides a “toe off”
occurring closer to the center of mass
location. See Jon Goodwin article and
video on Why Usain Bolt Run So Fast.
3. A better positioning in toe off means
greater forces applied, which means a
greater max velocity.
4. Increased hip height means less energy is required to stay above the
center of mass.
5. Using assisted devices for overspeed training (i.e. harness and bungee
cord, or training partner) will actually reduce hip height as the
artificial forward force will pull your COM into the ground, thus
reducing hip height.
6. A high hip height allows for the follow through of the back leg and foot
to pass under the hips, and drive the knee in a powerful position to
drive down and back. Some coaches like Latif Thomas recommend
punching the ground in a powerful yet forceful way to increase
speed.Remember the pendulum in the Grandfather clock? It’s not the
weight that affects the oscillation, it’s the length of the string. Shorter
strings produced faster frequencies.

For more information, see the 30 minute video from Derek on Hip Height
& Running Mechanics as he discusses more about Hip height and its
implications for running speed, running economy, movement velocity and
injury prevention.

Vertical Displacement

Below is a chart that speaks a 1000 words.

Cut and paste the text directly from the chart, we see the weaker sprinter’s
center of gravity (COG) almost drops immediately during the flight phase
and must be raised excessively during the next support phase or ground
contact.

Whereas Elite sprinters COG continues to rise in ta ballistic arc well into
the flight phase, resulting in a much higher hip height at the start of the
next ground contact.

image credits: Derek Hansen, Twitter @DerekMHansen

Lashawn Merritt Video demonstrating Hip Height and
Vertical Displacement

In this video On YouTube, we have a super slo-mo of Lashawn Merritt.

What is good about the video is the chain fence in the background as a
reference point. Watch the video, and with my above 6 points, you can
clearly see he is doing a lot of things right.

Of course, the obvious thing is his positive vertical displacement of his

hips relative to the fence.

Do you see a positive vertical displacement as in the chart above?

Watch his dorsiflexion of the ankle joint just prior to ground contact.

Watch carefully the ground contact, and how he applies force to the
ground, from the landing of the foreplate, right up to the toes. (Shon
Grosse and I discussed this in our webinar on spikes and why shoe
companies are trying to maximize this for the sprinters and middle
distance runners)

Note how the action of sprinting involves more of a pushing action

against the ground. (You may argue it’s a pulling action)

We can learn a lot from this video. I like it.

I am a Masters Athlete and Coach currently based in London UK. My other
projects include the Bud Winter Foundation, writer for the IAAF New
Studies in Athletics Journal (NSA) and a member of the Track &
Field Writers of America.

Related

Yoga, Resistance Stretching,

and now Pilates Exercise?
I had a funny feeling Pilates was
going to be popular with Track
and Field athletes one day,
along with the Alexander
technique. In the personal
fitness industry, we've seen the
fad go from step classes,
spinning bicycles, Tae-Bo,
Bikram Yoga, Kettlebells, swiss
balls, bosu balls and other
"core" fads.…

October 6, 2008
In "Abs & Core"