By Gene Coleman, Ed. D., RSCC*E
When accelerating and sprinting at top speed, your arms and your legs are synchronized. Speed is the product of stride length x stride rate. Ideally, you want your arms to move from your shoulders and your hands to move up to your shoulder/cheek and down past your pocket as your legs cycle forward and backward. Your arms, control your legs. If your arm range of motion is short, e.g., up to your chest and back to your hip instead of up to your shoulder/cheek and down past your pocket, your stride length will correspondingly be short. The result will be slower acceleration and top speed. Some sprint coaches say – “Your legs get you to where you want to go, but your arms control what your legs do.”
To achieve faster acceleration and top speed, think of your arms as a weapon. Your legs follow your arms, not vice versa. Why? Your arms have less mass (about 1/4th of the mass of your legs), less inertia, and are easier to move. Since your arm and leg movements are synchronized, when your move your arms farther (up to shoulder/cheek and down past your pocket), your stride length increases. Likewise, if you move your arms faster, your stride rate will increase. Remember, speed is stride length x stride rate.
Top speed and stride length. Try this to increase stride length. Jog for 10-15 yards and then accelerate for 10-15 yards, but instead of trying to take longer strides, forget about your legs and move your hands up to your shoulder/cheek and down past your pocket. Since your arms and leg movements are synchronized, your stride length will increase in sync with the increased range of movement by your arms.
Top speed and stride rate. Now, try this to increase your stride rate. Jog for 10-15 yards and then accelerate for 10-15 yards, but instead of trying to move your legs faster and then awkwardly forcing your arms to catch up, pump your arms faster, i.e., move them up to your cheek/shoulder and down past your pocket faster, and see what happens to your stride rate. Since your legs and arms work in harmony, your stride rate will increase. When you do this, you will feel like you are running up on your toes/forefoot instead of back on your heels. You will feel faster.
Acceleration vs. top speed. Acceleration and top speed require different running mechanics. When you accelerate, the angle of your body to the ground is lower, your steps are shorter, and your ground contact time is longer than when you are sprinting at top speed. As you transition from acceleration into top speed, your body becomes more upright, ground contact time decreases, and stride length increases.
Practice using your arms when accelerating from a stationary start. Pump them hard from shoulder/cheek to past your pocket when accelerating from a secondary lead or rounding a bag. When you start to get tired going first to third or second to home, forget about your legs and focus on pumping your arms up to your shoulder/cheek and down past your hip. Your arms work in sync with your legs, have less inertia, and require less energy and effort to move and help accelerate your body.
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Gene Coleman, Ed. D., RSCC*E, FACSM has over four decades as a head strength and conditioning coach (Astros 1978-2012) and strength and conditioning consultant (Rangers 2013-2020). He is Professor Emeritus in the Exercise and Health Sciences Program at the University of Houston – Clear Lake and Website Education Manager https://pbsccs.org/