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accelerate308
Question:
What muscles are used to push back for increasing running speed?
Asked by accelerate308 - 4 answers - 5 weeks 2 days ago
The quadriceps muscles contract hard across the front of the knee to pull the lower leg forward. That is what the quads do when absorbing the landing and then tossing you up the entire time the foot is on the ground. That running action pushes the foot forward against the ground. The foot rolls so the top of the leg goes forward. Is a backward push for speed then possible?
ianecondon4
Glutes & hams surely. They contract powerfully to push and lift the foot off the ground as quickly as possible. However, too many of us have underdeveloped glutes and therefore over rely on our hams. Hence, the great number of torn hams around, particularly at times when we put them under great stress!
Submitted 5 weeks 2 days ago by ianecondon4GG
im not too sure what u mean so im goin to hazard a guess that ur refering to when ur limbs cycle back wards i.e the forcing leg or oushing back arm? well i think the glutes and quadriceps as well as the gastronemious of course and the arms i would think would be your latisimus dorsi rhomboids deltoids and triceps
Submitted 5 weeks 9 hours ago by GGosteopath
Unfortunately you've all missed the point in what muscles push off in the toe off stage, The hip flexors ( psoas, iliacus and TFL ) all contract
concentrically to bring the thigh and leg forwards towards stance phase, the leg straightens through quadriceps function and work concentrically, but the hamstrings are the most important player here by controlling leg extension. They work eccentrically to allow dissipation of force during ground contact. The body is propelled into stance. The major muscles playing here are the lateral pelvic muscles to prevent lateral pelvic tilt. The foot mechanics goes through various stages of biomechanics ( too much to say on this subject )heel strike, stance and toe off, in which is called Supination, pronation and back to supination,and the whole process is continuous each step in gait.
Of course all the kinetic chain is working, ie the core muscles ( TVA, multifidus, rotatores, obliques ) as well as shoulder girdle stabilisers.
Submitted 4 weeks 2 hours ago by osteopathTry walking or running with your arms by your sides and see how much power is lost. Sorry it's long winded this is the shortest version I could think off.
So summary is hip flexors (psoas and iliacus )and hip extensors (gluteus max) for movement of the leg forward and back. Glute medius the lateral stability
Hamstrings to control leg extension, quadriceps to straighten the leg. Foot invertors and evertors to control pronation.
Good luck
Alfie ( osteopath )
AlexWolf
The entire leg and low back posterior chain are involved in the 'pull back' action of running. The hamstring complex has a large contribution in the hip extension with the glute complex, it is not just a stabiliser as implied above (control leg extension). The hamstring also hass a large role in terminal knee extension of the swing leg by eccentrically contracting to slow and ultimately stop knee extension. This process pre-loads the hamstring for an agressive hip extension through stored elastic energy, stretch shortening.
I disagree that the hamstrings work eccentrically during stance phase as the hip is still extending until toe off. There is little hamstring activation during the swing phase until the hip flexors drive the knee forward. As for force dissipation, on ground contact, a good athlete will remain stiff utilising newtons third law of action-reaction. Dissipation implies the energy from mechanical work is lost on contact and you imply this is the required process of ground contact when it is clearly to utilise stored and mechanical energy to transmit to the ground for a huge ground reaction. If force/energy is purposefully lost on contact while running, then an athlete would look like they are running in sand. The athlete that remains stiff will trasmit the majority of energy to the ground with little energy leakage to propel them forward. Force dissipation on ground contact is a result of poor running mechanics.
Submitted 3 weeks 1 day ago by AlexWolf