Olympics – pulling the ground backwards

It is wonderful to observe the long strides of athletes such as Bolt, Rudisha, Blake, K. James and the other athletes mentioned in posts. Bolt’s stride is 10 feet. If you watch them you can see them pulling the ground back with the hamstrings and gluteus.  The successful athletes do not bring their legs up and forward, they plant the foot and pull (or push) the floor back to propel their bodies forward. As mentioned in Movement Perspectives (p.124 in the Movement Analysis chapter) when you walk you should think about pulling the floor back. It seems to correct a lot of gait problems. We always work on this technique during the client’s Pilates session.