Optimal Step Width Out of the Blocks (plus Stride Length and Frequency)June 21, 2015 by Jimson Lee Leave a Comment What is your step pattern after leaving the blocks?o!erful an" !i"e, or narro! an" close to the center #imaginary line bet!een lanes$ as possible?%long !ith a goo" reaction time, Coaches usually instruct athletes that a narro! step !i"th an" ahigh step fre&uency are re&uire" for a goo" start in the sprints'( !rote last !eek on Jimmy )icaut*s + ,tri"es for the first 10 meters but ( "i"n*t talk about his step pattern'( have !ritten enough articles on ,tri"e Length an" ,tri"e -re&uency #as !ell as ,pee" .n"urance, of course$ along !ith the famous /roun" Contact "ebate' #too numerous to link$0o! let*s look at step width coming out of the blocks'Christophe Lemaitre (fast forward !")Christophe Lemaitre sho!s the classic !ay to start from the blocks, an" that is, feet in a straight line'-or every inch you lose going !i"e, you are losing going for!ar" #accor"ing to theory, but there is more1 !ait for it$#yson $ay and %sain Bolt (fast forward to &!')2oth 3yson an" 4sain come out of the blocks !ith a slightly !i"er step !i"th than Lemaitre'(aurice $reene and )safa *owell0ote ho! 5o /reen 6"rifts7 to his left, an" here is %safa o!ell*s early years')safa *owell Collection (with others)3his vi"eo has a great montage of %safa o!ell in his later year'8ou can see his left leg 6going !i"e7 !hich ( attribute to his Jamaican toe "rag, along !ith increase" po!er an" strength over his career'9f course, this comes at a cost of an increase" groun" contact time'3o!ar"s the en" of this vi"eo, you can see 9luso:i -asuba !ith a straight line approach'erhaps!e can get his coach ierre;Jean )a