Sprinting: The Block Start

How to Be Explosive in a Race Start

If you are a track athlete and participate in short sprinting events, then perhaps the most frustrating element of the race to tie down for you will be the block start. For those of you just starting out, a block start involves using "blocks," a metal bar with two foot pads that one can adjust. Sprinters use these blocks in order to gain extra thrust during the starting moment of a race. If you push off of something angled in perpendicular to the direction you want to move in, then you will get much more force than if you push off of a surface parallel to the direction you want to move in (ie: the track surface). Remember Newton's famous law of motion that says for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction? Well, pushing hard against the foot pads on blocks will give you the reaction you want in sprinting: explosive speed.

Theoretically this is all well and good. We see olympic sprinters come perfectly out of their blocks with what seems to be rocket propulsion. Sadly, for the rest of us block starts are not that simple. Not only is there a certain technique that must be followed in order to get the right force in the right direction, one also must contend with the anxiety of the start of the race during setup in the blocks. In short sprinting events, plenty of things can go wrong during a race that only lasts between six and twenty-five seconds. However, most of these issues can be traced back to block starts and hopefully with this tutorial you will be able to improve your overall race time.