Does landing on your toes add to speed and make the landing softer?
Download our free sports training reports. Enter your email address below: (As a bonus, you'll also receive our free weekly newsletter, Sports Performance Bulletin.)
accelerate308
Question:
Asked by accelerate308 - 3 answers - 1 year 46 weeks ago
Does landing on your toes add to speed and make the landing softer?
Coaches teach that landing on the toes add speed and make the landing softer.
Landing on your toes adds speed only in a sprint. The foot is carried back so fast that a heel to toe landing would slow your ability to get off the ground fast enough for the speed. In slower running staying on the ground for a medium stride length is more comfortable than a short choppy stride and your speed can be equal both ways.
Running on your toes for distance runners is hard on the calf and plantar muscles. It causes injuries.
Landing on toes should not be taught as it is a mechanically incorrect while also increasing risk of injury. Landing on ball of foot while sprinting is correct. Keeping a stiff ankle to increase the utilisation of stored elastic energy while also resisting the leakage of energy from allowing the heel to drop is also important for sprinting. If the ankle is not stiff and you allow the heel to drop while sprinting then you wasting energy and time on the floor.
With endurance runners including middle distance, the bulk of the race will be with a midfoot ground contact not a heel contact. A heel contact is effectively breaking your ground force impulses as well as momentum with every step. A mid foot stance allows the heel to contact the ground but it is not the first point of contact with foot contact. In good runners, the contact may not have the heel contact because of the stiffness and strength that endurance athlete can possesses.
it is the best possible ways to increase speed.