In Rushall's paper on sprinting he recommends the forward leaning start.Several years ago I read an article on a forward leaning start,but that was a grab start. I practiced it for awhile and went to a local meet. I was disappointed with my results and a referee I respect told me that I needed to practice it more if I was going to use it in a meet as I was unsteady on the blocks and near a DQ.I gave up on it as a waste of time until I read Rushall's article. I tried it with a track start a couple of times.I felt steady on the blocks and fast off the block,but I didn't feel my jump was as strong. The only pool I use that lets me use the blocks regularly suffered storm damage and is closed at least a month so I haven't had the chance to get times to 15M to see how it compares with my standard start.I have never seen anyone use this start at a meet. Do any Forumites have experience with it and what are your results?
I tried various starts with a coach yesterday.The forward leaning start was 0.5 sec slower to 15M. Slingshot track start (leaning back) was about the same as neutral position track start( weight not front or back) but felt stronger. YMMV
I'm curious. Did you pull out much before the 15m mark? You said you "felt stronger" with the slingshot track start. I wonder if you gave up something on the dive which you made up on the first couple strokes. Would be nice to know speed at 15m. Even with the same time to 15m, it would be preferable to be going faster at that point, even if not by much...
I did a BR pullout/breakout which I think was fairly reproducible. The forward lean from a track start seemed stable,but I got no thrust from my arms and little from my back leg. The neutral position gave me more thrust from my back leg and arms,but still seemed that front leg was the main source of thrust.From the slingshot I could really pull(jerk) with my arms and I could sense more drive from my back leg. The coach thought that on a fin block the back leg may be more engaged in the neutral position than on a regular block and posited that the force advantage of the slingshot would be less on a fin block so that neutral may be faster. In the slingshot I felt more like a coiled spring ready to explode.
I have found with some of the people that I train that they lean back in track start position, obviously this is mental trick the brain seems to think that you will get more power from trying get momentum off the blocks. The answer is simple if Micheal Phelps, James Magnuessun and other Olympic level swimmer don't do it then neither should others. From what i have seen if the swimmer can use the track start and hold the balance over the ball of their front foot then the reaction time seems to be slightly fast. However it does take some training to get used to.
However these are my thoughts and welcome feed back :)
