Zeitschrift für sportliche Verbesserung

A Case Study of Two National Standard Sprinters Completing a Pose and Traditional Sprint Start Technique

Graham Fletcher, Roger Bartlett and Nicholas Romanov

A Case Study of Two National Standard Sprinters Completing a Pose and Traditional Sprint Start
Technique

The purpose of this study was to determine the kinematic and kinetic differences between two elite sprinters completing a traditional and Pose sprint start. A traditional start technique teaches driving out of the starting blocks whereas the Pose start teaches pulling the hands from the ground first and then immediately pulling the back foot out of the starting block towards the buttocks. The findings indicated both starts showed maximal starting block force occurred before the hands left the ground, except for the front foot vertical force in the Pose start. Both sprint starts showed a proximal-to-distal lower limb muscle activation for the back leg during the starting block phase. The Pose start had less time when muscles were active during the starting block phase and showed an increased back leg knee angular extension-flexion velocity. Finally, significantly greater horizontal displacement after 1 s was achieved by the Pose start.